MY BEST ALBUM OF 2006 MOG!

And the pointless title goes to . . . ARCADE FIRE for "FUNERAL"! Yep, that is definitely the best album of 2006 and it was released in 2004! Such is the power of AF. Seriously, today I got an e-mail from NPR's "All Songs Considered" reminding me again to vote for the best album of 2006 and I could think of nothing. I don't mean to disrespect any artists that have released an album this year and certainly don't consider myself a connoiseur of contemporary music, I don't even claim to have good taste in music in general, but I really wasn't incredibly impressed by anything of recent memory. I looked through my iTunes and came up with nothing. Perhaps that's unfair. I could think of a "Best of '06" but that best was no "Funeral" or "Illinoise." In the end, I dropped my two cents in the bucket and gave Josh Ritter's "The Animal Years" my stamp of approval. I do think it is a fantastic album (and he's even better live) especially with songs like "Girl In The War" and "Thin Blue Flame" but my vote feels slightly empty because there are LP's from recent years that may not have won the title the year they were released but would win handily this year. Examples: "Takk," "Apologies to the Queen Mary," or "A Ghost is Born." Perhaps, the real problem lies not in the albums released this year but that it is slightly crazy to judge an album so immediately after its release. What about the test of time? Surely that should be a factor. Music has different effects at different times and during different moods. I don't think a CD can really be tested if it hasn't passed through all of the seasons. And while I'm at it, I voted for Josh Ritter more because of his live performance than his album. As previoulsy stated, "The Animal Years" is great but the live version is far superior to it, as it should be. So can we stop compiling best album lists and make best performance lists (if we're going to continue to rank things)? That surely is a better judgment of an artist's abilities than a studio album.With that said, what albums have I missed this year and what performances must I check out if given the opportunity?