50. Diamond Rugs, “Christmas In A Chinese Restaurant” John McCauley gets drunk, finds an out-of-tune piano, and sings the loneliest, saddest Christmas carol imaginable, somehow managing to rhyme “how’s the ham?” with “moo goo gai pan.” Best part: a street-corner Santa digs a saxophone out of a dumpster and solos on the bridge. 49. Beach [...]

Spin magazine has announced their picks for this year’s best albums — and their tastes are nothing if not eclectic. Taking top honors are Canadian hardcore band Fucked Up. The list also makes room for Britney Spears (Femme Fatale, #50),the new Roots album (Undun, #44) and Kurt Vile (#4, Smoke Ring For My Halo), while [...]

End of the Year Lists — they’re the seasonal treat that keeps on giving. Rolling Stone published their Top Albums and Song lists today, with Adele landing the coveted no. 1 spot for her striking sophomore album 21 (no. 3 on our own Top 50 Albums list.) Below are the quick and dirty results. Nice [...]

NPR Music has voted on their 50 Favorite Albums of 2011. Is their list as good as ours? Of course not. But it’s very, very solid. You can view the complete list, read reviews and hear selections from each album here. Here’s the alphabetical results (because NPR has eschewed numerical order). Adele: 21 Alexandre Tharaud [...]

Pink Floyd A Foot in the Door: The Best of Pink Floyd (Capitol/EMI) Rating: The only single disc overview of Pink Floyd’s extensive career is hamstrung by the band’s tendency towards creating sprawling albums, rather than concise hits. Even early songs such as the revelatory “See Emily Play,” Syd Barrett’s lone appearance here, seemed like [...]

(Pictured above: Minimoog Voyager) As the music industry prepares for NAMM, the annual winter trade show which runs Thursday January 14 through Sunday in Anaheim, California, American Songwriter counts off our 25 favorite musical products of 2010. American Songwriter‘s Top 25 Products Of 2010 Reason 5 The Swedish masterminds at Propellerhead unleashed their newest version [...]

To view #11-50, click here. OK, I admit it: These aren’t the best 50 country songs. In fact, I’ll submit that there is no such thing as the “best” or the “greatest” when it comes to songs. Making “Long Black Veil” arm-wrestle with “Sunday Morning Coming Down” is silly and fruitless. Championships are for sports, [...]

Your Favorite Song from 1984-2009…?

Your Favorite Song of the Past 25 Years: Anniversary Contest