Our Ten Best Albums of 2009 continues. I'm running out of time, breaking promises left and right. But I'm at work for the next few hours, and I'll do my darndest to crank out as many of these as possible. In case you missed them, here are Nos. 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6.
I'm most excited about listing Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix as the fifth best album of 2009 because I think some of our readers who might have been turned off by Nos. 10-6 could absolutely get into Phoenix. They pass all the Dan Requirements: They earned serious air time on the radio this summer. They don't employ any female singers. They are featured on major TV commercials:
And although you can't classify their sound as country, they qualify as soft-rock/pop. Yes, they're French, but they are as accessible and likeable as, I don't know, French kissing. And we all know Dan never turns down French kissing. (I have no idea what that means, but I feel like I've offended at least Dan. And probably Alex, too.)
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix isn't the first Phoenix record -- and certainly not the first one that's any good -- and you can tell it's the result of a band who's evolved into their own pop-music sound. They've fine-tuned it down to what they like, nothing superfluous, just a bunch of sweet hooks and toe-tapping. Not to mention the best one-two opening punch of any album of 2009:
Fifth Best Album of 2009: Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
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