10 Best Albums

By Josh Tyrangiel

1. WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT'S WHAT I'M NOT ARCTIC MONKEYS

THEY RIPPED OFF THE BEST BITS of Franz Ferdinand and the Strokes--speed, swagger and hooks upon hooks--but instead of hipster navel gazing, Arctic Monkeys' singer Alex Turner looked at the world with a working-class smirk and turned a number of memorable phrases. ("There's only music/ So that there's new ringtones.") The first rock album in ages that feels dangerously smart.

2. ST. ELSEWHERE GNARLS BARKLEY

IT'S A MYSTERY WHY CEE-LO, one of rap's most appealing personalities, never became famous on his own, but teamed with Danger Mouse, his caterwauling made Crazy the indelible hit of 2006. The rest of the album mixes neosoul loops with Cee-Lo's view from deep space: "Way over yonder there's a new frontier/ Would it be so hard for you to come and visit me here?"

3. SAVANE ALI FARKA TOURE

SAVANE OPENS WITH A FEW NOTES on a single-stringed African violin. Then Toure comes in with a guitar riff worthy of onetime boss John Lee Hooker, and Pee Wee Ellis, James Brown's ex-saxophonist, blows on through. And there you have it: the journey of the blues from West Africa to the Apollo in just a few seconds. It's rare that world music actually contains multitudes, but Toure, a hero in his native Mali, picks the pocket of any culture with something to offer. There's a stew that makes you optimistic about the future, even if Toure, who died before the CD's release, won't get to see it.

4. FOOD & LIQUOR LUPE FIASCO

HE RAPS, SO HIS DEBUT GOT FILED under hip-hop by default. But this Chicago-born Jay-Z protege relies on orchestral swells far more than beats, and his subjects range from an indictment of rap fantasies ("Now come on everybody, let's make cocaine cool/ We need a few more half-naked women up in the pool") to a gentle skateboard romance as innocent and sincere as Annette Funicello.

5. TAKING THE LONG WAY DIXIE CHICKS

THE INCIDENT, AS THEY CALL IT, took a commercial toll, but musically the Chicks have never been stronger. The instrumentation on their fourth album keeps a toe in country, yet the songs are the best kind of pop--smart, instantly memorable and fussed over until they sound effortless. Not Ready to Make Nice broadcasts their grievances, but Bitter End and So Hard (a sing-along about infertility) prove that complicated songwriting for the masses still flourishes.

6. RETURN TO COOKIE MOUNTAIN TV ON THE RADIO

BECAUSE THE MEMBERS OF THIS band look like students in a math Ph.D. program, you expect their songs to sound cleverly tortured and insufferably internal. They are clever--note the use of unconjoined in their lyrics--but their rock experimentation owes more to David Bowie (who cameos on Province) than to John Cage. Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone's harmonies radiate awkward warmth, while the rhythms pause just long enough to reveal surprising melodies.

7. YS JOANNA NEWSOM

THE SECOND ALBUM FROM THIS ululating California harpist ... Hey! Where ya going? O.K., so no record released this year sounds less appealing when described--or more transporting when played. Songs shift moods and tempos gradually, moving from sweetness and light to gothic black with the assuredness of great storytelling.

Z8. FUTURESEX/LOVESOUNDS JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

THERE'S SOMETHING REFRESHing about a pop star whose goal is no grander than "bringing sexy back." Timberlake leans heavily on producer Timbaland for stuttering beats and dense, humid melodies that sound the way a packed club feels. Then he levitates into a falsetto that honors Prince and Michael Jackson without stealing from them.

9. THESE DAYS VINCE GILL

TOSSING THE DULL BALLADS THAT made him beloved, Gill dives into bluegrass, jazz and Southern rock on this four-disc set of originals, showing off guitar chops that seem to have come from nowhere. Meanwhile, his singing, stripped of its usual Nashville production dross, delivers numerous heart-piercing moments.

10. MODERN TIMES BOB DYLAN

A GOOD EFFORT FROM DYLAN beats a great one from most other musicians, which is why this least interesting of his still-got-it-era albums belongs with 2006's best. Barely. The lyrics are playfully obtuse ("Walkin' with a toothache in my heel"), and the grooves, when they come, deep and satisfying. If not quite the masterpiece claimed by gushing Dylan-holics, it's still, you know, good enough. o