Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers -
Mojo: It physically pains me to leave the first Heartbreakers album since 2002 off of my top 30. This album didn't fully connect with me, though. This is because it is a 100% blues album (guitar-driven blues though it may be). I love some of the tracks, like the rest. This album is most notable for guitarist Mike Campbell, a truly bad-ass, criminally underrated guitarist, going apeshit. He's usually so restrained and tasteful, but this material called on him to unleash himself. And he does. And the results are pretty damn fun.
Bobby Watson -
The Gates BBQ Suite:
Jazz legend and UMKC professor Bobby Watson released an album this year very important to Kansas City. It is, as the title suggests, an entire jazz suite dedicated to Kansas City barbecue. That's right: KC BBQ legend Ollie Gates had TWO albums named after him this year. If Arthur Bryant were still alive, he'd be pissed. Obviously, I get a boner over the inspiration of this album. But I was also supremely impressed with the record itself. I don't listen to a lot of modern jazz, so I can't really say for sure if this is the most vital jazz album of 2010. But it sure feels like it.
Kanye West -
G.O.O.D. Fridays:
This is a cheatyface inclusion, I suppose. Kanye recorded a lot of music this year. A lot of it was great, but didn't fit the artistic project of
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. So Kanye released those killer tracks once a week, each Friday. So I'm giving an honorable mention to the whole collection. For those people who wanted more pure rap out of MBDTF, these tracks will be all the balm they need. 2010 is the Year of Kanye in many ways, and these tracks are a large part of that.