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Listener Poll: The Best CDs of 2008

Login to vote for your favorite albums of the year. 

 
paul mccartney; credit: ruth ward

Exclusive Preview: Paul McCartney

Hear the entire new album by Paul McCartney and Youth, as The Fireman. 

 

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A spectacular live recording of Neil Young performing in 1968, made just before the release of his very first solo album, is about to be made available for the first time ever. Sugar Mountain won't be out until December, but we've got the title track for you here as a sneak preview. We've also got an exclusive preview of new music from Sweden's Loney, Dear. The new album, Dear John, is due out in January, but you can hear the track "Airport Surroundings" now.

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Recently on All Songs Considered

Monday, November 10, 2008

 
The Year's Overlooked Gems

We receive several hundred CDs a week at All Songs Considered and do our best to listen to a bit of everything. But there's only enough time and space on the show to cover a tiny fraction of them. That means a lot of great albums get missed. Fortunately, as we compile our ballot for the year's best CDs, NPR listeners have been helping us find some of those buried and overlooked musical gems. On this edition of All Songs Considered we share some of those picks: the best of the CDs we missed this year, including music from Flobots, Department of Eagles, Human Highway, and more.

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Monday, November 3, 2008

 
More Recordings To Hear Before You Die

On this edition of All Songs Considered we continue our talk with NPR reviewer and author Tom Moon about his new book, 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List. Tom describes the exhaustive research required to compile the list, and reveals some of his dumb-luck discoveries, like the late blues guitarist Blind Blake and reggae artist Hugh Mundell. We also look at some of the obvious classics that didn't make it in the book, including music from the psychedelic rock Moby Grape and jazz legend Dave Brubeck.

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Monday, October 27, 2008

 
Swedish Pop, Exotic Creatures of the Deep, The Elephant 6 Orchestra, More

Sweden has been producing some of the best pop music of the past decade. On our latest mix we've got new music from singer Lykke Li (pronounced Leaky-Lee), and the sprawling, 30-member group I'm From Barcelona. Also on the show: the British band Wild Beasts with their oddly titled new song "Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants;" the wildly strange and wonderful Sparks; twin sisters and the former drummer for Secret Machines form the band School of Seven Bells; and the influential Elephant 6 Orchestra reunites for a magical and historic live performance.

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Monday, October 20, 2008

 
Paul McCartney and The Fireman, Oasis, More

Paul McCartney is about to release a new album he recorded with bassist and producer Martin Glover, a.k.a. Youth. Calling their project The Fireman, McCartney and Youth have put together an inspired mix of vocal pop and rock songs called Electric Arguments. It's due out in November, but we've got a sneak preview of it for you. Also on the show: Oasis, Lambchop, and a Vic Chesnutt-Elf Power collaboration.

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