Best Rock Album in 2010

Another fan of The Suburbs. As Keithr and Bongofury suggest, it's really an amazing album. As for the compression issue, it really opened up for me when I changed my speakers (from Dynaudio X12s to Snell K/IIs).

Holy crap! I can't believe I haven't mentioned Tame Impala earlier. Innerspeaker is one incredible album and may end up as my pick for the year. You guys who think "they don't make good music anymore" might actually even like this one. Sounds like Lennon, Harrison, Dungen and the production style of The Flaming Lips in a blender.

Martykl, thanks I wasn't aware of Ron Wood soloing again. However notwithstanding nostalgia "I Feel Like Playing" is lackluster. Nothing from him really hits the mark since "I've Got My Own Album to Do" and "Now Look"-- IMO both of which surpass the Stones during those years.

Yep, Mumford & Arcade Fire are among the best of 2010. The Arcade Fire LP doesn't sound compressed, though there is a bit of wall of sound going on there.

Dgarretson,

I really like the second half of Wood's "I Feel Like Playing" - a lot! The first handful of tunes almost put me off, but on repeat visits the last 7 tracks are very good - IMHO. You might want to spin it up one more time. If it still doesn't move you, we'll chalk it up to "different strokes".

Marty

Marty, perhaps you're right. My reaction on first pass was the same as with Elton John on the Leon Russell duet album. Through aging or booze, both are so down in vocal range as to be unrecognizable and drained of energy. Maybe the compression on Napster has something to do with it, or my expectations being frozen in the past.