The girls are up in LA to see Wicked and it’s just me and the boys who just spent the last half hour chasing each other through the house and up and down the stairs with chewies hanging out of their mouths, stopping briefly every few minutes to hump each other… which is probably just like your Saturday night but with less drool. Or maybe not.

Since there is not much to write about this evening (at least until it’s time to do Five Brothers) I thought I would dump off my list of favorite CD’s from 2007.

This year, I’m playing it straight and only listing CD’s that were released in 2007 as opposed to ones the I only got around to hearing for the first time this year. That means that Alex Chilton’s A Man Called Destruction (1995) is way past its like-by date as are the Honeydogs 10,000 Years (2003), and Julian Coryell’s Rock Star (2004)

Before I start, I ‘ll point out the obvious omissions:

Radiohead – In Rainbows. I don’t get Radiohead. Like the Deptford Trilogy and polenta, I lack the critical x chromosome that allows me to appreciate what makes them so wonderful. I walk away from a Radiohead listening in much the same way that other people walk out of a viewing of My Dinner With Andre.

Arcade Fire – Neon Bible. The discerning and likes-to-sing-along-with-songs-and-that-annoys-me mrs tbogg and I were on our way to LA and we popped Neon Bible in. Thirty minutes later she asked me if we had been listening to the same song for the past thirty minutes. I couldn’t answer. I eventually gave my copy to a fellow employee who liked the Arcade Fire’s previous CD and told her to keep it. She didn’t like it either and gave it to someone else who, I am led to believe, felt the same way and also gave it away. If someone gave you a used copy of the Neon Bible…it’s probably mine. No. Really. Keep it. Please. I insist.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand. Outside of Emmylou Harris, I think that Alison Krauss has one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. Just chilling. Having said that, this CD makes me nervous and I haven’t bought it yet. Just not big on Robert Plant, I guess.

White Stripes – Icky Thump. Yeah, right. I’d rather listen to Jack Black pass gas than Jack White sing.

Kanye West - Graduation. I’m not a frat boy. I don’t say that things are "tight". Pass.

Although I probably purchase about 100-150 CD’s a year I never got around to hearing new CD’s from M.I.A., Spoon, Panda Bear, and LCD Soundsystem. Can’t win ‘em all or listen to ‘em all.

What I did like, in no particular order:

Amy Winehouse- Back To Black

The Shins – Wincing the Night Away

The National – Boxer

Bedouin Soundclash – Street Gospels

Sea Wolf – Leaves In The River

Wilco – Sky Blue Sky

Manu Chao – La Radiolina

Neil Young – Live At Massey Hall

The Fratellis – Costello Music

Okkervil River – The Stage Names

…and they probably shouldn’t count because they’re "best of" CD’s, Yo-Yo Ma’s Appassionato, and Ani DiFranco’s Canon

I’m finding, as I get deeper into my fifties (kee-rist I’m getting old) that I would rather listen to world music, techno, industrial, or just appreciate the craftsmanship evident in a finely turned phrase in a good pop song than the self- indulgent musical prowess of the bands that I grew up with. I guess I have just learned to love the big beat over the guitar. Layla would make me want to kill myself from the boredom these days. Why that is, I can’t explain.

You may kibitz about this in the comments…