2009: Top 25 Albums

First posted 1/8/2021.

Dave’s Music Database: Top Albums of 2009

Based on a combination of year-end lists and overall status in Dave’s Music Database, these are the top 25 albums of 2009: Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) Mumford & Sons Sigh No More U2 No Line on the Horizon Susan Boyle I Dreamed a Dream The XX XX Michael Bublé Crazy Love Eminem Relapse Maxwell Black Summer’s Night Miranda Lambert Revolution Muse The Resistance Florence + the Machine Lungs Lady Gaga The Fame Monster Jay-Z The Blueprint 3 Bruce Springsteen Working on a Dream Green Day 21st Century Breakdown Grizzly Bear Veckatimest Michael Jackson This Is It Pearl Jam Backspacer Dave Matthews Band Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King Neko Case Middle Cyclone Lily Allen It’s Not Me, It’s You Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix Miley Cyrus Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack Bob Dylan Together Through Life Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Other Year-End Album Awards”

Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion released

Merriweather Post Pavilion Animal Collective

Released: January 20, 2009 Peak: 13 US, 26 UK, 25 CN, 63 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, 0.22 world (includes US and UK) Genre: alternative rock

Tracks: In the Flowers My Girls (single: 3/23/09) Also Frightened Summertime Clothes (single: 6/29/09) Daily Routine Bluish Guys Eyes Taste Lion in a Coma No More Runnin Brother Sport (single: 11/9/09)

Rating: 3.985 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Animal Collective have brought the celestial down to earth with each record, but they’ve never sounded simultaneously otherworldly and approachable quite like they do on Merriweather Post Pavilion. Their eighth studio LP, it finds them at their best – straining farther away from conventional song structure and accompaniment, even while doubling back to reach lyrical themes and modes of singing at their most basic or child-like.” JB “Where before AC expertly inserted experimental snippets into relatively straight-ahead songs, Merriweather Post Pavilion sees them reach some kind of denouement where pop music ends and pure sonic experience begins – the sound is the only structure. Dismantling the framework of a pop song almost entirely (but using recurring passages in a very poppy way), the group offer a series of overlapping circular elements, all of which occasionally come together for a chorus but then break apart just as quickly.” JB “The music itself, at least what’s describable about it, consists of deep bass pulses and art-damaged guitars with overlapping vocal harmonies that rise in a holy chorus. This may sound much like previous Animal Collective highlights, but where those records seemed like a series of accidental masterpieces – the type of work that sounds brilliant only because it’s been culled from hundreds of hours of tape – Merriweather Post Pavilion is a perfectly organized record, not a note out of place, not a second wasted. It has the excitement and energy of Sung Tongs, the ragged sonic glory of Feels, and Strawberry Jam’s ability to make separate parts come together in a glorious whole. Like the best experimental rockers surging toward nirvana – from the Beach Boys to Mercury Rev – Animal Collective have not only created a private soundworld like none other, they’ve also made it an inviting place to visit.” JB

Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Animal Collective JB John Bush, All Music Guide First posted 3/30/2010; last updated 4/30/2022.