All of the above-mentioned albums would make my list of the best of 2007, probably with "Sky Blue Sky" also being at the top, so I'll just add a few more that warrant a listen if you like this kind of music (I quit buying discs partway through the year in anticipation of buying an iPod, so there are several 2007 albums I can't wait to download that very easily could have made this list, by the likes of Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, M.I.A., Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Kanye West, Amy Winehouse, Iron & Wine and The Hives, to name just some):

6. "Icky Thump" by The White Stripes - not the best WS album on the whole, but spiked with some of the hungriest tracks in the band's entire catalogue - I'd rate the tune "Icky Thump" and the video as possibly the Stripes' finest recorded moment: think a new-millennium Zeppelin for the weird; and "Little Cream Soda" may give the false impression of being a song your mother may have listened to while wearing her poodle skirt and saddle shoes at the sock hop, but it's a wolf in sheep's clothing: it's as blistering as anything Jack White has ever put on tape; in between the rockers, there's lots of experimentation, for better and sometimes worse.

7. "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" by Modest Mouse - after the unparalleled greatness of the band's last album, "Good News ...," almost anything they could have put out next would have been a letdown of sorts, but "We Were Dead ..." is definitely an album in the truest sense, sticking loosely to nautical themes and tightly to a ponderous indie-rock/pop groove, and it doesn't disappoint, even if it can't match its predecessor; the addition of ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr adds a new melodic dimension to the Modest sound, and the use of Shins singer James Mercer for backing vocals on several songs adds a lot of spice; "Fire It Up" stands up to anything in MM's canon, and there's plenty more wonderful, weird and even wistful tunes here to fill out an album.

8. "Wincing the Night Away" by The Shins - when Natalie Portman said in "Garden State" that this band would "change your life," I was skeptical, and they have yet to spur an early midlife crisis in me, but I can't deny the songcraft of this album - why these guys are still considered alternative and aren't repeatedly banging the top-40 bell is a mystery to me - this record sounds like a Beach Boys for this decade; the song "Phantom Limb" is indie pop in its most sublime and accessible state; and the singer still found time to lay down tracks for the No. 7 selection.

9. "New Moon" by Elliot Smith - it's kind of spooky when dead people manage to release some of the best work of their career after crossing the divide, so I wonder if Smith and Tupac share the same manager in the sky; despite the tragedy of having ended his own life over four years ago, Smith's estate has now added a second posthumous triumph to his discography: while "From a Basement on the Hill" was essentially finished at the time of his death and continued to further push the boundaries of pop exploration in lock step with the arc of Smith's career up until the end, "New Moon" is a double album's worth of wayside nuggets, mined mostly from demo sessions captured during a three-year creative burst in the mid-'90s, giving fans of his austere early work what they'd been longing for since he began adding more lush arrangements to his officially released work at about the same time; so many good songs here, but "Riot Coming" sticks out as a strong representative.

10. "Your Favourite Worst Nightmare" by The Arctic Monkeys - kind of revealing how few albums I actually bought this year by including this one, which doesn't match the immediate impact of their vaunted debut, "Whatever People Say I Am ...," but this followup is nonetheless a solid album and a fun spin, showing that the young Arctic Monkeys are maturing in a listenable way, even if they couldn't find the combination for a single to tear up the British charts this time out; however, if the song "Teddy Picker" doesn't make you want to tap your foot and nod your head at the same time, you should have your pulse checked.

I have to add one more album to this list. "New Wave" by punkish outfit Against Me! is definitely a worth addition to anyone's list. The band was likely on the short list of up and comers to be signed to a major label this year and the first single, "Thrash Unreal", is as addictive as any upbeat song I've heard lately. The title track is also a perfect compliment to "Thrash Unreal" which I am going to say is the best single that not enough people have heard. Against Me! cemented their place in history and are here for the long haul.