Best of 2007 I--CDs

The best CDs I purchased in 2007, not the best released in 2007, not the best I listened to.*

1. Vince Gill, These Days. a marvelous 4-cd set, each devoted to a specific style.
2. Joe Glazer, My Darling Party Line, a brilliant collection of anti-Stalinist parodies recorded in the early 1950s, but timeless and available from Smithsonian Folkways. Also recommended Glazer's Songs of the IWW.
   
3. Joshua Redman, Back East, a tribute of sorts to the classic Sonny Rollins Way Back West.
   
4. Betty Lavette, The Scene of the Crime
5. Joss Stone, The Soul Sessions, I'm still not sure how to evaluate the whole neo-soul trend--Madeline Peryoux sounds too much like Billie Holiday, but I really liked Stone.
6. Dwight Yoakum, Blame the Vain
7. Dave Douglass, Meaning and Mystery
8. Merle Haggard, Blue Grass Sessions
9. Dexter Gordon Getting Around DG was one of the first tenor sax players I got into, right after Rollins and Coltrane. very under-rated player.
   
10. Various artists, Song of America, a 3 CD tour of American history in song. One could question some of the selections (I could have done without "Little Boxes") but it is enthralling to hear contemporary artists do these historic songs.
    

BOX SETS: I bought and listened to far more Rolling Stones than Byrds back in high schools, but the new Byrds There is a Season set opened my ears far than the older London Singles box set. The Stones set had a better, because larger, booklet.

LOCAL MUSICIAN CDs: I enjoyed the alternative rock of Snapback's Purgatory and the celtic music of Rowan's Tolls Through Time.

I transferred a bunch of LPs and tapes to CDs, but didn't keep a running list, which I probably should.