There's been a lot of real good music released in the first 3 months of 2011. Here's a quick ranking of my ten favorites so far. These are not based on any initial ratings I gave these albums but on how I feel about them currently.
10. North Mississippi All Stars - Keys To the Kingdom: A fine tribute to Jim Dickinson and a solid album of blues based roots rock.
9. The Strokes - Angles: It's not the masterpiece I was hoping for but there's a lot of enjoyable stuff present on the Strokes long awaited return.
8. Lucinda Williams - Blessed: Lucinda rocks a little harder and looser than in the past and the results are quite fulfilling.
7. Gregg Allman - Old Country Blues - One of the Allman Brothers singer's best solo albums, Gregg is in fine voice throughout.
6. Social Distortion - Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes: This is the long running punk bands most Stones influenced album and features a nice mix of classic Social D and some new wrinkles.
5. R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now: It's safe to say that R.E.M.'s comeback is complete. Collapse Into Now is a fine collage of all sides of the band.
4. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Scandalous: The best party record of the year so far.
3. Screeching Weasel - First World Manifesto: Yeah Ben Weasel can be a giant asshole and the band has already broken up (again) but I can't help it. I love this record.
2. Drive-By Truckers - Go Go Boots: Going from hard rock to soul is not something a lot of bands could pull off effectively. The Truckers are one of those bands and Go GO Boots is awesome.
1. The Decemberists - The King is Dead: I have never been into this band at all but I just can't stop listening to The King is Dead. It may ape early R.E.M. but at least it's a gorilla and not one of those monkeys that throw their poop at the zoo.
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