Top 10: Albuums By Musicians Over the Age of 40

Last week I opened up my weekly Top 10 post to part of a Yo La Tengo contest. The person who came up with the best Top 10 list would take home a pair of tickets to see the band tomorrow evening at Roseland Ballroom. Well I got a wealth of fantastic submissions, some of which I hope to use in the future, but for now one stood out above all the rest and that was the one suggested by Timothy Erwin who will now be seeing Yo La Tengo on Friday night. I hope you enjoy his idea for the list, my list based on his idea, and his own submitted list all of which can be read below. As always feel free to submit your own Top 10 in the comments or to debate the merits of what me and my contest winner chose as our own Top 10's.

10. U2 All That You Can't Leave Behind; Laugh all you want at my inclusion of U2 on this list, but it is hard to deny the global impact the band has had throughout their career. Even in the last few years amid less than stellar records they still manage to draw out crowds well into the thousands, selling out arenas all over the world, while doing some good and giving back all the while. When they release All That You Can't Leave Behind it was basically thought of as a comeback album, a return to form after almost 10-years of releasing mediocre music. This album is loaded with solid tracks that people still fawn over every time they hear them live.
U2 - "Walk On"

9. Bruce Springsteen The Rising; After the tragedy of 9/11 the United States was left reeling. Pop culture in particular was being hit hard with images of the World Trade Center being ripped from TV shows and movies, songs being banned from the radio, and censorship running rampant all over. The Bruce Springsteen stepped up to the plate and with his blue collar roots gave people an inspiring group of songs to help lift them out of the scared, anxious state the terrorist attacks had left them in. It's impact alone makes it important, but to say it was the best Springsteen album since the late 1980's would be an understatement. The songs on this record were tight, emotional, and poignant, everything Bruce Springsteen had forgotten to be until then.
Bruce Springsteen - "The Rising"

8. Scott Walker The Drift; When The Drift was released it had been more then 10-years since the world had last heard from Scott Walker. At times reclusive and private, the hiatus was nothing new to Walker but when he rose up and released The Drift people were forced to take notice. The record once again made him relevant, possibly more so than he ever had been before, sticking to his experimental roots and expanding his world of influence to a new generation of music lovers. The album itself is a dark record full of eerie, touchy subjects like disease, torture, and 9/11, making it an uncomfortable but uncompromising album to listen to .
Scott Walker - "Cue"

7. Mission of Burma OnOffOn; For more than 20-years Mission of Burma lied dormant, a promising band derailed by Roger Miller's debilitating case of tinnitus. Then suddenly the band announced a few reunion dates and a full blown phenomena was launched. People flocked to see the band, selling out venues wherever they went to young and hungry music fans who had only heard the band's music through the grapevine. The band realized it and decided to record some new music for the first time since the Reagan administration and amazingly they picked up right where they left off with the same kind of dynamic post-punk they had built their legend upon. The band are still touring and recording with a new album coming next month but this stands as one of the finest comeback records ever released.
Mission of Burma - "Max Ernst"

6. Sonic Youth Murray Street; Seeing Sonic Youth these days you have to be amazed how a band that are scraping their early 50's still have so much youthful energy to play the kind of music they do. Obviously they had better ear protection then Mission of Burma, but this band has been together and releasing brilliant, experimental noise since the early 1980's, never once stopping to take a break or tend to their growing families. Instead they continuously pop out new and exciting music and picking just one of the albums they've recorded since turning 40 proved difficult. I went with Murray Street because personally out of all the ones released in the last decade I like it the best. It has the same kind of energy it's just a bit more refined in certain areas and dirtier in others that makes me like it so much.
Sonic Youth - "Rain on Tin"

5. Bob Dylan Modern Times; Dylan has recorded a ton of albums since he turned 40 but I don't think any of them connected as well as 2006's Modern Times did. The album was ranked at the top or near the top of just about every year end poll that matters, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Pazz & Jop, you name it and he was right there. But beyond the critical success he had with the album it was also one of his biggest commercial successes in recent years, meaning it was accessible and deep all at the same time. Of course part of all that hubbub was due to Dylan's legendary status but even if he weren't a legend Modern Times if full of enough genuinely excellent songs that it would have connected regardless.
Bob Dylan - "Rollin' and Tumblin'"

4. Johnny Cash American IV; Johnny Cash was an American legend and had put out so much great music since he turned 40 in 1972 that it was almost impossible to narrow down an album that I wanted to include here. Heck, he could have had his own Top 10 of albums after 40 and it would have been a compelling enough read. So I did whatever I do in those situations and went with my personal favorite of his, American IV: The Man Comes Around. The record is full of brilliant originals mixed with some truly remarkable cover songs, "Hurt" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" are particular favorites of mine but it's really difficult to narrow any of these songs down to one favorite or one that was the best. Instead this is a record that absolutely glows in the twilight of a legend's life.
Johnny Cash - "Hurt"

3. The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots; The Soft Bulletin may be a better record, but Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is so full of dreamy imagery and wonderful music that it's hard to really argue against it. Oh, and Wayne Coyne wasn't yet 40 when he made The Soft Bulletin so here's Yoshimi. This record is full of the mystic songs that The Flaming Lips have been known for their whole career. Sticking to the idea of the concept album doesn't seem all that tough for Coyne and he paints a wondrous scene for us detailing all that goes into defeating these evil pink robots hell bent on destroying the human race. Thankfully he also does a great job giving us the little, but strong and determined Yoshimi to stop them. This is the very definition of a psychedelic record.
The Flaming Lips - "Yoshimi Versus the Pink Robots Pt. 1"

2. Tom Waits Mule Variations; You might have noticed that most of the people on this list are men and that most of them don't have the most pleasant voices ever heard on record. I don't know what it is but when you think of over-40 musicians men are all that pops into your head and the gravely voices seem to dominate the landscape of these musicians. Maybe it's because they're so world weary and worn down that we're attracted to their music, sitting and taking in every drop of their wisdom, or maybe it's something else entirely. Whatever it is Waits is definitely the very epitome of the graveled, hoarse voice singing us songs that are a little darker then most of the pop music made by kids.
Tom Waits - "Big In Japan"

1. Brian Wilson Smile; When Brian Wilson started to write and record Smile he was still very much a young man. More than 30-years later he was no longer the young man but he still had a lot of that young man's ideals and talents and he put them to good use in finally finishing his long anticipated opus. The album is loaded with the lovely harmonies and intense melodies Wilson so perfectly crafted for The Beach Boys back in the day, and it still held on to a lot of the sunny wonderment he wrote about back in the 1960's as well. It was exciting to finally see his work come out and it was even more exciting that it was almost worth the 30-plus years it took him to make it.
Brian Wilson - "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow"

Timothy Erwin's Top Ten Albums By Musicians Over the Age of 40:
10) I Want To Go Where Things Are Beautiful- Nimrod Workman (Age:87)
9) Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle- Bill Callahan (Age: 43)
8) Infidels- Bob Dylan (Age: 42)
7) Beyond- Dinosaur Jr. (Ages: Lou-40, J-42)
6) Mule Variations- Tom Waits (Age:50)
5) Obliterati- Mission Of Burma (Ages unknown but well over 40)
4) New York- Lou Reed (age: 47)
3) Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots- Flaming Lips (Age: Wayne-41)
2) New Skin For the Old Ceremony- Leonard Cohen (Age: 40)
1) Bitches Brew- Miles Davis (Age:44)