SCQ's Honorable Mentions of 2011

In 2010 Skeleton Crew Quarterly broke tradition by expanding its annual Top Twenty Albums list to a Top Thirty. At the time it felt like a necessary indication of growth; SCQ was consuming a great deal of music so it made sense to expand the site’s year-end accolades. But even as I hastily posted them last Christmas, something was amiss. All of the well-meaning excuses I could think of didn’t negate the fact that I was indeed diluting my year-end list. Those additional ten albums that made the grade for 2010’s feature are still deserving in my mind but they incidentally lowered the bar. At best, those titles should’ve been Honorable Mentions.

So here we are. The worthy events that slowed SCQ’s pace in 2011 have at least restored my appeal for tradition, as this year’s Top Twenty Albums list has proven competitive right up to its final deliberations. I’ve listened to just as much – if not more – music this year but written about less, and I’d like to think that anything worth writing about either has been, or is awaiting last minute coverage on SCQ’s Top Twenty. Surprises abound and, no, they don’t feature Adele.

SCQ’s Top Twenty Albums of 2011 will post by the end of this week. In the meantime, here are the top five records that fell just short of Skeleton Crew Quarterly’s Top Twenty (arranged alphabetically by artist name).

Cheers,

~ SCQ