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Best of 2010 - Music

Best Album

CD Cover Image. Title: I Learned the Hard Way, Artist: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

I Learned the Hard Way Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (CD)

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Inevitably, hard times invite nostalgia. It's no coincidence that some of the year's best music looked back, from John Legend's conscious-soul salute with The Roots to Bettye LaVette's masterful reimagining of the classic-rock canon. But it's the scrappy virtuosity of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings that inspired us the most. Possessing indie cred, a rags-to-riches backstory, and a tenacious grip on myriad soul styles from Memphis to Motown, I Learned the Hard Way is a throwback classic. Arcade Fire's magisterial The Suburbs also harkened back, if only to the '80s, offering an arena-rock balm to their peers' whispy meanderings. And a complete bonus disc of classic-era Rolling Stones via their Exile reissue? That's the kind of nostalgia trip we never mind taking.

  1. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, I Learned the Hard Way
  2. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
  3. The Rolling Stones, Exile on Main St. [Deluxe Edition]
  4. Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden, Jasmine
  5. Mavis Staples, You Are Not Alone
  6. The National, High Violet
  7. Yo-Yo Ma, Mendelssohn: Piano Trios [B&N Exclusive Version]
  8. Bettye LaVette, Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
  9. AfroCubism, AfroCubism
  10. John Legend & The Roots, Wake Up!

Box Sets

CD Cover Image. Title: The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story [3 CD/3 DVD], Artist: Bruce Springsteen

The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story [3 CD/3 DVD]Bruce Springsteen (CD)

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This year's crop of large-format releases yielded the usual retrospectives, but two bolstered the rearview glance with a trove of new tracks. The aforementioned Exile on Main St. does right in a two-disc set, and less so in an LP-pressing box. Springsteen's The Promise, though, looks at the missing two years after 1975, when the Boss was out of the studio and mired in a legal dispute. Offering two discs of tracks that plot the course from Born to Run to Darkness at the Edge of Town (plus a concert DVD, a documentary, and a remastered Darkness itself), it's essential rock history, period. 

  1. Bruce Springsteen, The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story [3 CD/3 DVD]
  2. The Rolling Stones, Exile on Main St.
  3. Miles Davis, Bitches Brew: 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition [CD/DVD/LP]
  4. John Lennon, Signature Box
  5. Jimi Hendrix, West Coast Seattle Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Anthology
  6. Orange Juice, ...Coals to Newcastle
  7. Bob Dylan, The Original Mono Recordings
  8. CTI Records: The Cool Revolution
  9. Paul Lewis, Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos
  10. Tom Zé, Studies of Tom Ze: Explaining Things So I Can Confuse You

Alternative

CD Cover Image. Title: The Suburbs, Artist: Arcade Fire

The Suburbs Arcade Fire (CD)

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The sheer variety of sounds in the indie/alternative world made 2010 an impressive year. From the Arcade Fire's Billboard-crashing The Suburbs to the dance-floor-ready sounds of LCD Soundsytem and Sleigh Bells to the dark discs by Nick Cave's Grinderman and Gogol Bordello, we were anything but bored. At time cozily nostalgic (The National's '80s-redolent vibe), the year ushered in what promises to be an exciting decade of music.

  1. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
  2. The National, High Violet
  3. Belle & Sebastian, Write About Love
  4. LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening
  5. Grinderman, Grinderman 2
  6. Karen Elson, The Ghost Who Walks
  7. Deerhunter, Halcyon Digest
  8. Gogol Bordello, Trans-Continental Hustle
  9. Band of Horses, Infinite Arms
  10. Sleigh Bells, Treats

R&B and Rap

CD Cover Image. Title: I Learned the Hard Way, Artist: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

I Learned the Hard Way Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (CD)

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What a year it was for vintage soul sounds! Veteran voices such as Mavis Staples and Bettye LaVette made vital new albums, contemporary crooners like John Legend reached back to the golden era of R&B, and of course, the feisty Sharon Jones wowed us once again.

  1. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, I Learned the Hard Way
  2. Bettye LaVette, Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
  3. Janelle Monáe, The ArchAndroid
  4. Mavis Staples, You Are Not Alone
  5. Eminem, Recovery
  6. Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot...The Son of Chico Dusty
  7. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
  8. Sade, Soldier of Love
  9. Cee-Lo Green, The Lady Killer
  10. The Roots, Wake Up!

Rock

CD Cover Image. Title: Exile on Main St. [Deluxe Edition], Artist: Rolling Stones

Exile on Main St. [Deluxe Edition] Rolling Stones (CD)

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Guitar rock provided good, dirty fun for kids of all ages this year -- from wizened axemen such as Keith Richards and Neil Young to younger bands such as The Black Keys and the Gaslight Anthem. If anything, 2010's best proved conclusively that you're never too old to rock 'n' roll.

  1. The Rolling Stones, Exile on Main St. [Deluxe Edition]
  2. Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs, God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise
  3. Robert Plant, Band of Joy
  4. The Black Keys, Brothers
  5. Neil Young, Le Noise
  6. Bruce Springsteen, The Promise
  7. Elton John & Leon Russell, The Union
  8. The Gaslight Anthem, American Slang
  9. The Derek Trucks Band, Roadsongs
  10. The Dead Weather, Sea of Cowards

Jazz

CD Cover Image. Title: Jasmine, Artist: Keith Jarrett

JasmineKeith Jarrett (CD)

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In a reunion 30 years in the making, Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden deploy the casual virtuosity honed through lifetimes in jazz on this stripped-down set. Outstanding discs from old-timers Herbie Hancock and Dave Brubeck also made our list, while newcomers Trombone Shorty and Esperanza Spalding represent for the music's vanguard.

  1. Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden, Jasmine
  2. Herbie Hancock, The Imagine Project [B&N Exclusive Version]
  3. CTI Records: The Cool Revolution
  4. Esperanza Spalding, Chamber Music Society
  5. Trombone Shorty, Backatown
  6. Miles Davis, Bitches Brew: 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition [CD/DVD/LP]
  7. Cassandra Wilson, Silver Pony
  8. Dave Brubeck, Legacy of a Legend
  9. Abbey Lincoln, Through the Years: 1956-2007
  10. Stan Getz, People Time: The Complete Recordings

Classical Music

CD Cover Image. Title: Mendelssohn: Piano Trios [B&N Exclusive Version], Artist: Yo-Yo Ma

Mendelssohn: Piano Trios [B&N Exclusive Version]Yo-Yo Ma (CD)

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When three of classical music's most illustrious performers -- Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, and Yo-Yo Ma -- join together for a CD of Mendelssohn's chamber music, the results are as stellar as the participants. Our exclusive edition tacks on a set of meltingly lyrical "Songs Without Words" -- bonus treats that are worth the price of the disc alone.

  1. Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Itzhak Perlman, Mendelssohn: Piano Trios [B&N Exclusive Version]
  2. Yuja Wang, Transformation: Stravinsky, Scarlatti, Brahms, Ravel
  3. Juan Diego Flórez, Santo - Sacred Songs
  4. Zuill Bailey, Bach: Cello Suites
  5. Stile Antico, Puer Natus Est - Tudor Music For Advent & Christmas
  6. Stephen Hough, Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos; Concert Fantasia
  7. Jonas Kaufmann, Jonas Kaufmann Sings Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven & Wagner
  8. Paul Lewis, Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos
  9. Christine Brewer, Great Strauss Scenes
  10. Elora Festival Singers, Eric Whitacre: Choral Music
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