Stand-out CDs of 2006

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Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys

It’s been a good year for Lily Allen

Gnarls Barkley's Crazy dominated the hip hop chart

Cat Power made an interesting step away from minimal balladry

Scissor Sisters returned with new album Ta-Dah

Bob Dylan garnered much critical praise for Modern Times

The tasteful tones of Corinne Bailey Rae were a vital dinner party feature

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The music world had something for everyone in 2006. Our pop critic David Smyth directs last-minute shoppers towards the year's stand-out CDs...

FOR THE EASY-LISTENING MUM

With no Coldplay or James Blunt to swoon to this year, Britain's mums had to make do with the next best thing. Snow Patrol's Eyes Open (Polydor) had Gary Lightbody's tender voice, nonthreatening guitars and plenty of hummable tunes. It quietly overpowered the Arctic Monkeys hype to become 2006's biggest seller.

Close behind was James Morrison with Undiscovered (Universal) - his soul man's rasp caused numerous hearts to melt. The tasteful tones of Corinne Bailey Rae on her eponymous debut (EMI) were a dinner party feature as vital as After Eights, while the soft jazz cover versions sung by Madeleine Peyroux on Half the Perfect World (UCJ) sounded both timeless and extremely beautiful.

Those in need of something equally pretty but more substantial should be directed to Damien Rice's 9 (Heffa/14th Floor) which used pleasant acoustic guitars to express deep emotional pain. Or if she's feeling less adventurous, you could always point her to the musical gift equivalent of a mug tree: Westlife's The Love Album (RCA).

FOR DRIVE-TIME DAD

Safely ensconced in his Mondeo on the commute, Dad needs to feel as if he is on the Highway to Hell rather than the A406 to Edmonton, so dashboardthumping classic rock is in order. Muse triumphed with Black Holes and Revelations (WEA), an overwhelming blast of lunatic prog that will be well suited to the first gigs at the new Wembley Stadium next summer.

Razorlight also aimed high on their self-titled second album (Vertigo), which was short but overloaded with fine tunes. Jack White's new band The Raconteurs gave the White Stripes guitar genius the freedom to move away from blues rock towards exhilarating power pop on Broken Boy Soldiers (XL).

Older stars were on fine form too, with Bob Dylan garnering as much critical praise as ever for Modern Times (Columbia), and Bruce Springsteen making vintage Americana relevant again on We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (Sony BMG).

And if Dad really wants to imagine he's roaring out of a volcano on a Harley-Davidson, try Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (Mercury).

FOR THE INDIE VIRGIN

There were few better years for curious youngsters to discover the pull of indie rock, with Arctic Monkeys bursting from Sheffield into the mainstream with Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (Domino), a cocky, jagged debut that recalled the initial thrill of hearing a young Oasis. Glasgow's Fratellis also came from nowhere to sell huge piles of their ramshackle debut Costello Music (Island).

Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was one of a few inspiring women doing great things - her band's Show Your Bones (Polydor) broadened their trademark bass-free sound into something truly special.

Tamer thrills were offered by The Kooks, whose Inside In/Inside Out (Virgin) became the singalong favourite of thousands, while The Killers bidded to escape the indie ghetto altogether on Sam's Town (Vertigo), which boasted a sonic expansiveness to rival U2's.

If your child is still too young to have learned the art of discernment, you could inflict Milburn's Well, Well, Well (Mercury) on them - the sound of a band trying so hard to be the Arctic Monkeys that they forgot to write any decent songs of their own.

FOR THE HIP HOP HOODIE

Hip hop was dominated by a song rather than an album this year - Gnarls Barkley's Crazy, defiantly odd but undeniably catchy number, which became the first track ever to soar to number one on download sales alone. The rest of the pair's ceaselessly inventive debut album, St Elsewhere (WEA), wasn't bad either.

In more conventional rap music, former Wu-Tang Clan man Ghostface Killah enthralled the critics with Fishscale (Def Jam), which detailed more than you really need to know about the cocaine trade over ominous beats.

In the absence of Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor (Atlantic) had the best tunes, while Jay-Z's return from retirement, Kingdom Come (Roc-A-Fella), may have been substandard for him but was still finer than most.

The award for parent-scaring goes to Brit rapper Plan B, whose Who Needs Actions When You Got Words (679) was packed with more disturbing imagery than all those news stories about John Prescott's affair. Or there's Chamillionaire's The Sound of Revenge (Universal), which seemed to be more popular in ringtone form than on CD.

FOR THE DANCEFLOOR DIVA

There has been plenty to enjoy for those less enamoured with guitars, most noticeably the return of the Scissor Sisters with Ta-Dah (Polydor). The album title's missing exclamation mark was the first indicator that it lacked the carefree gaiety of the New Yorkers' debut, but droves lapped it up nonetheless.

More colourful were sex-mad Brazilians CSS, whose Cansei De Ser Sexy (Sub Pop) was packed with dazzling electropop and bizarre lyrics. Punk-funk band The Rapture produced another great party album in Pieces of the People We Love (Vertigo), while Hot Chip scored a Mercury nomination for The Warning (EMI), which sounded just as good at home as in the clubs.

Most striking, though, was Silent Shout (Rabid) by enigmatic Swedish duo The Knife, a haunting swathe of electronica that brought a genuine beauty to machine music. Also aimed at the clubs was Robbie Williams's Rudebox (EMI), a confused, uncharacteristic mess that won over a few critics while alienating billions who already counted themselves as fans.

FOR THE EMO IN YOUR LIFE

The brand of rock they call emo finally made it big this year, the musical equivalent of a million teenagers screaming "It's so unfair!" and slamming their bedroom doors at once. The flagship band was New Jersey's My Chemical Romance. who thankfully displayed a sense of humour on their breakout album The Black Parade (WEA), a slightly silly, theatrical concept album that even found room for a cameo from Liza Minnelli.

Long-established New Yorkers Taking Back Sunday made a slightly less conspicuous breakthrough with Louder Now (WEA), while Panic! at the Disco also featured men in make-up, ridiculously lengthy song titles and numerous anthemic tunes on A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (Fueled by Ramen).

Our own LostProphets proved effective at playing the Americans at their own game on Liberation Transmission (Visible Noise), a collection of weighty rock songs thrilling enough to make even the most self-pitying child crack a smile. And goths from the first time around would have descended from their belfries in excitement this year, thrilled at the prospect of a range of remastered reissues from both Sisters of Mercy (Rhino) and Siouxsie and the Banshees (Universal).

FOR THE SCREECHING TWEENAGER

The youngest member of the family can be kept quiet with the year's plentiful selection of quality pop. No one could miss Lily Allen in 2006, a Beano character come to life whose day-glo debut Alright, Still (Regal) was the undisputed sound of the summer.

Amy Winehouse did nearly as well, her Back to Black (Island) blending vintage horns and slangy lyrics to make an uptothe-minute soul-pop winner.

Justin Timberlake didn't dominate the music world like he did when he first went solo, but his Futuresex/Lovesounds (Sony BMG) still featured plenty of effortlessly funky electropop.

But pop is a world of great singles, not albums, hence two of its essential purchases being greatest hits collections.

Both Girls Aloud - The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits (Fascination) and Sugababes - Overloaded: The Singles Collection (Island) are the first must-own albums by

either girl group. The charts became a much brighter place thanks to these young ladies, and your home will, too.

Those too young to appreciate even these simple pleasures might dribble with delight at the Save the Children charity compilation Colours are Brighter (Rough Trade), which featured hot bands including Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol and Belle and Sebastian performing songs for the very small.

FOR THE BEARDED BLOGGER

Those who spend too much time on websites theorising about Sufjan Stevens B-sides were offered an array of albums to take too seriously in 2006. They found their poster girl in Joanna Newsom, a pretty waif of a harpist whose extraordinary Ys (Drag City) consisted of five epic, complex compositions that sounded hundreds of years old and no less beautiful for that.

Fellow ingenue Cat Power made an interesting step away from minimal balladry on The Greatest (Matador) which she recorded with Al Green's old band, her place in the softlysoftly school of music being taken by Natasha Khan, aka Bat for Lashes, and her exquisite debut Fur and Gold (Echo).

Elsewhere, Zach Condon from Santa Fe did wondrous things with Eastern European folk on his first album as Beirut, Gulag Orkestar (4AD), and

Texas quintet Midlake came up with my personal album of the year, The Trials of Van Occupanther (Bella Union). Their mesmerising, multilayered folk-rock sounded old-fashioned only in that it already sounded classic.

And if that beard really needs some serious stroking, how about The Rose has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast (Matador) by San Francisco electronica boffins Matmos? It's a concept album of "sound biographies" of dead homosexual icons including Joe Meek and William S Burroughs, which samples the sounds of grinding teeth, burning flesh and geese.

 

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