Top 10 Albums of 2017 Part 5 (Final Part)

Happy holidays/Merry Christmas/Happy Chaunukah/Happy Yule/Happy Kwanzaa/Happy New Year/etc.! By now I imagine you guys know the drill with this. I'm taking the last week that I will be posting this year to list what I feel were the 10 best albums to come out this year. 2017 had some pretty good stuff released, so I'm looking forward to posting two of them a day till the end of the week after which I will be taking the rest of the year off to enjoy the holidays. These albums will not be listed in any particular order because as I've said in the past, it's a pain trying to place all of them. All that aside, let's wrap this up!

9. Carry Fire, by Robert Plant

Although people for years have been begging for a full on Led Zeppelin reunion, singer Robert Plant has just given them the finger and kept on doing his own thing by once again putting out another solo album, titled Carry Fire. While this in some ways is disappointing, I respect him for having the artistic integrity to keep pushing forward and growing as an artist even in old age instead of just being a jukebox singing his old songs that he doesn't connect to any more.

Carry Fire has a lot of that peculiar experimental world music sound as the main premise of the album's overall theme, but there are moments where a bit of old style rock n' roll is brought back into the mix in some small subtle ways. I guess even though he has grown past his old way of doing things he will abandon rock n' roll altogether. It's definitely worth listening to at least once.

10. We're All Alright!, by Cheap Trick

I LOVE that Cheap Trick after so long is still at it and making rock n' roll with as much drive, energy, and fun as they did back in their 70's heyday. This year they put out a new album titled We're All Alright!, named after the outro lyric to their hit Surrender. Kind of a nice way to give a nod to where they've been while still keeping on moving forward.

We're All Alright! doesn't tread into any new musical territory, but honestly that's not necessarily the kind of thing we look for from Cheap Trick. I put them on when I want to let my problems go and have a speaker pounding good time for a little while. If you're a fan of their classic material, then this is definitely the album for you. You won't be disappointed in the slightest.

Writer's Moment:

Hard to believe yet another year has come and gone, right? It's been a lot of fun, though. A lot of stuff happened this year in the world of rock n' roll and it's been my honor and privilege to report it to you all. At this point I'm not entirely certain what the future of Young Ears, Fresh Perspective holds. I have no plans to end it any time in the foreseeable future, but things very well could change at a moment's notice. However, I assure you that if anything is going to change I will give you as much notice as possible.

That said, I want to thank each and every last one of you who have been keeping up with this blog over the years as well as the newer readers. I never thought that I'd still be doing it by this point in time. It means a lot to me that as many of you as there are keep coming back daily to read what I have to say. I appreciate it more than any of you will ever begin to be able to fathom.

For now though, I am going to be taking the rest of the year off to enjoy the holidays with all of my loved ones. Business as usual will resume on January 3rd, 2018. From there I'll be hitting the ground running and giving you the best articles possible. I look forward to finding out what the new year will hold for rock n' roll. Until then though, merry Christmas, happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, blessed Yule, happy new year, and whatever else any of you might celebrate! Enjoy this magical season with those you hold most dear and crank some high voltage rock n' roll while you do it!