Most Disappointing Albums of 2007

Not to be all Mr. Negativity, but not everything up here can be a rave. There were a couple 2007 albums for which I had high hopes that turned out to be pretty meh. I'll probably have some dissenters (if anyone's even still reading this blog), but these are, after all, just my opinions. No links on this post since I'm not really encouraging anyone to check these things out.

1.) The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Chutes Too Narrow had to have been a difficult album to follow up--it's probably in my top 10 of the decade so far. I didn't expect the next album to be as good necessarily, but I was hoping to enjoy it more than I did WtNA. I gave this CD several chances, but it just never grew on me. I'm reminded of another band (cough, Weezer, cough, cough) that had a pretty good debut followed by an excellent sophomore album followed by an OK third album. If the comparison is really apt, the fourth album by The Shins will be barely OK followed by a critical disaster by album five.



2.) Okkervil River - The Stage Names
Again, considering how much I enjoyed Black Sheep Boy, maybe I just had my hopes up too much. I actually really like a few of the songs on this album, but I find it tiresome to listen to from beginning to end. I'm generally not too picky about vocalists (I mean, how many indie rockers can actually sing, really?), but Will Sheff's voice started getting on my nerves after a while. Clever lyrics will only go so far if the voice that's singing them becomes grating.


There were a few more albums I didn't particularly like, but I can't really call them disappointing because I didn't really have high expectations. They Might Be Giants' The Else was neither better nor worse than their last "adult" album, The Spine. I will always have a special place in my heart for TMBG, but I have come to accept that either I've outgrown them to some extent, or they really did peak over a decade ago. This won't stop me from getting their children's CDs for my son, and I'll probably continue to buy whatever they put out for as long the Johns can continue to tolerate each other, but I doubt we'll see another Flood or Apollo 18 from them.

Pretty much the same story for Charles Thompson/Frank Black/Black Francis. He hasn't really done much I liked since the last album with the Catholics, Show Me Your Tears. I actually hated Honeycomb enough to sell the CD (something I almost never do), and this year's release under the Black Francis moniker, Bluefinger, is about the same standard of mediocrity as last year's Fast Man Raider Man. I was listening to Teenager of the Year not long ago, and I couldn't help but think, what happened to that guy? It makes me sad. At this point I'm expecting disappointment from him, so if he actually produces an album I really like again, I'll be ecstatically surprised.