Happy Holidays and a great 2010 to all the Lake Listeners….

It’s that time of year for end-of-the-year lists from every sort of Jack and Jill, and rest easy that I am sure to deliver my own year-end lists as well, but right now, I want to talk about the big enchilada: The #1 Album of the Decade.

It’s never too early to start looking at the last ten years, and some of the big music stories that happened. The biggest story would be ”Future Shock” (or how the music industry got blindsided by the internet), followed by the second biggest story “The Death of the Retail Record Store”. Those would be fun to talk and read about, but the reason I bring them up, is that they relate directly to the #1 Album of the Decade. 

This album I speak of came out at the beginning of the decade, right as some of these musical trends of the past took a toll on album sales. The musicians who recorded this album were born over half a century ago, and the songs on the album were recorded before anyone had heard of digital recording or mp3’s.

By now you know where this is going. According to Soundscan, the #1 Album of the Decade is The Beatles “1″, the compilation compact disc of all the Beatles #1 hits in America. It sold over 11million copies, none of which were digital downloads.

The Beatles are also the #2 album selling artist of the decade, with over 30 million albums sold: again, not one a digital download. The #1 artist of the decade by the way is Eminem, probably selling quite a lot of digital downloads.

Other notable artists in the Top 50 list include Michael Jackson at #22, U2 at #24, Elvis Presley at #25 and Pink Floyd at #36.

More lists to come I’m sure, but this one couldn’t wait.

29 years ago today, John Lennon was murdered in cold blood by a despicable coward.  Lennon was not just a great songwriter and musician.  He used his fame to advance the idea that humans are capable of sharing this planet in peace.  Like anyone, he was not perfect.  His music endures and inspires because it  was “real” and challenged us.  Give it a Chance.

“Christmas Time Is Here Again” sang The Beatles on their mid-sixties Christmas album (sent out to the Beatles Fan Club Members), and here we are again. What, pray tell, looks good this year, for your music loving Christmas gift recipient?

Well, since I mentioned The Beatles, you can look at one, or all, of the recently remastered Beatles Recordings (depending on your budget). They also come in two different box set configurations: stereo and mono recordings (the group actually mixed their own mono releases, leaving the then new stereo format to the EMI engineers). They have also announced a digital format in the shape of an apple (as in their record label) and a soon to come vinyl box set.

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers has released a box set in time for the holidays called “The Live Anthology”, with a hand-picked selection of live tracks from the mixing board over the years. This box set is also available in several different forms: a 4-CD Box set, a 5-cd and 2-DVD Deluxe Box Set, a 7-disc vinyl Box Set and 48-track Digital Set.

For Neil Young fans, there is a huge box set released earlier this year on DVD and Blu-ray called “Archives Volume 1”, which covers his career from 1963 to 1972. And for good measure, he is about to release a new, live compact disc called “Dreamin’ Man Live 1992″, recorded as he promoted his “Harvest Moon” CD that year.

Ray Davies is coming out with “The Kinks Choral Collection”, covering Kinks Klassics with help from the Crouch End Festival Chorus. And Jimmy Buffett is back to his usual one-album-per-year schedule with “Buffett Hotel”. Not to mention end of the year greatest hits compilations from The Foo Fighters, The Who and Heart.

All in all, there should be something for that special someone on your musical gift-giving list.