But this is still a good place to put my “favorite music of 2008″ post.  This year, I got used to using my iPod and iTunes to put ratings on songs.  I rated each song 1 through 5, and I now present my top ten favorites according to their average scores.

Methodology: It’s nothing fancy, just a straight average of all tracks for an album after throwing out the lowest score (because even great albums usually have one bad track).  I looked at using a harmonic or geometric mean rather than flat arithmetic means to account for different numbers of tracks, but the more complex calculations didn’t really affect the final list, so i kept it simple.  Also, I realize this more math than science, but you’ll have to pardon the running Electric Pulp joke.

1	Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid	3.72
Elbow - Grounds for Divorce
2	Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious	3.60
Mike Doughty - I Wrote A Song About Your Car
3	Flobots - Fight With Tools	3.54
Flobots - Mayday!!!
4	REM - Accelerate	3.50
REM - I’m Gonna DJ
5	Man Man - Rabbit Habits	3.45
Man Man - Mister Jung Stuffed
6	Bob Mould - District Line	3.22
Bob Mould - Return To Dust
7	The Hold Steady - Stay Positive	3.20
The Hold Steady - Sequestered in Memphis
8	Murder By Death - Red Of Tooth And Claw	3.20
Murder By Death - Comin’ Home
9	Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs	3.09
Bob Dylan - Dreamin’ Of You
10	Portishead - Third	2.90
Portishead - Machine Gun

Just missing the list by .07 stars was Chad VanGaalen’s Soft Airplane.  Hey, Chad, life is hard.

Also, there are the rainbows

“It shoots little rainbows that are so cute the bad guys’ heads pop off.”

location: Cardiff Wales

boblink: http://bobsboots.com/CDs/cd-c06.html

opener: Humming Bird

personal favorites played: Tangled Up In Blue, Things Have Changed, Moonlight

Bob factor: This is one of those nights when Bob just wants to get through things. The performance isn’t bad, but he prominently features the trick he described in his Chronicles book of rushing up to the 3rd beat of the measure. We’re used to it, and apparently so is he. But in some places in this show, it gets in the way as he stumbles to keep his vocal in rhythm.

performance: This version of the band featured two highly competent sidemen, blues guitarist Charlie Sexton and multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell. They start out with an acoustic attack that is sharp and bright, if perhaps a little too neat. This runs into a very album-like 60s take on “It’s Alright Ma” that gives no hint of the blues burner it would become later in that summer. Whatever else might be wrong with the performance, punters certainly got their money’s worth. The program runs almost 2 and a half hours without resorting to filler from other shows.

recording: Another liberated bootleg. I’ve never figured out why all the soundboard recordings seem to come from Europe these days. Perhaps American venues have tighter security or something. Regardless, this one is in fabulous condition. The acoustic guitars are jarringly crisp at times, but everything is fairly well-balanced.

highlights: The early 80s song “Solid Rock” is a seldom heard gem. 2002 is the year when “Tangled Up In Blue” came to full fruition. “Wicked Messenger” is a nice rocker and a pleasant surprise.

lowlights: Back-to-back 7-minute versions of shelf stock “Positively 4th Street” and “Lonesome Day Blues” are a bit wearing, even if the sound and musicianship is top-notch. As much as I love “Visions Of Johanna” 9 minutes pushes even my patience.

decision: Another great show, in great quality.