I bet many of you don’t care much about polls. Good music is good music. Music you like is the music you like. You probably don’t need to know what thousands of other people think to form your own opinion and tastes.
But polls do serve a real function in a community. They’re effective for ascertaining the location of the collective consciousness. And that is important. It’s the beliefs of the collective consciousness that eventually survive and shape the future, despite our best attempts at individualism and idiosyncracy. It’s in the collective consciousness that the stories get told, the legends laid and trends charted. I’m always reminded that Native Americans and Leif Erickson discovered America long before Christopher Columbus. But they didn’t tell anybody about it. It was Columbus who spread the news and it was his legend that came to dominate our origin stories. So it is with polls. You can listen to the greatest recorded masterpiece in the comfort of your home, but if no one knows about it, it dies in your living room.
There’s a reason why The Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction and The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band consistently top polls for the best all-time single and album respectively, 40-plus years after their release. They’ve become a part of our collective story in a way that perhaps Count Five’s Psychotic Reaction and Love’s Forever Changes maybe quite haven’t, despite being good records. Though having said that, in certain corners, those recordings may tell the story of another group of people.
The 2007 Best of Echoes Poll is our attempt to tell our story, to melt the year down to a certain essence. It isn’t everything. Your selections will result in a Top 25 list. But we played more than 240 new CDs this year, and I picked them all because they had something special about them. But which ones may live to tell the story? That’s up to you. You make your voice heard by voting in the 2007 Best of Echoes Poll, now open.
This isn’t American Idol. So don’t try and game the poll by voting for your friend’s album or getting your family and buddies to vote for you. Pick the albums you really hope will be around to tell your story. And in the process, you can win all of the Echoes Top 25 CDs or a copy of Resonance: The Echoes Living Room Concerts Volume 13.
The Polls are open. They close at 11:59PM, December 6, 2007.
You can hear the results on ECHOES, Monday, December 10.
John Diliberto
Comment posted by
at 11/19/2007 8:35:27 AM
And just a further note to AbbyLadybug: Ian Boddy is represented in the Poll through his duo, Arc, with Mark Shreeve. Their album is Fracture.
Comment posted by
at 11/19/2007 3:38:27 AM
Ludovico Einaudi has to be the best pianist I have heard in many,many years! The song Diveniri is haunting and beautiful. I had it playing thru my head all day long after hearing it on the show!
Comment posted by
at 11/23/2007 6:50:54 PM
Ludovico Einaudi was a really nice recommendation. Thanks for this. Patrick O’Hearn’s “Glaciation” is a pleasure.
Comment posted by
at 11/20/2007 2:41:28 PM
Thanks, John, for your responses. Too bad I voted before I received your reply about Ian Boddy/Arc. (I could’ve sworn Tommy Emmanuel’s “Mystery” was a 2007 release, but you’re the expert!) Keep up the great work!
Comment posted by
at 11/17/2007 5:41:14 PM
John, the only reason people believe Columbus discovered America is because he had Ed Bonk doing promotions for him. 
Plus, Chris posted a whole lot of myspace bulletins requesting votes as the “explorer of the year”. Erickson never stood a chance….
Comment posted by
at 11/18/2007 11:06:21 AM
Is it possible to get the entire poll list so I can actually find some of the artists I haven’t listened to this year?
Comment posted by
at 11/18/2007 4:43:51 PM
The entire poll list is in the drop down of each entry column.
Comment posted by
at 11/18/2007 6:02:11 PM
I LOVE polls! But how is it that Tommy Emmanuel didn’t make it to the list this year? I really wanted to vote for him…
Comment posted by
at 11/18/2007 8:15:39 PM
One more thing… What about Ian Boddy and Ryan Farish?
Comment posted by
at 11/18/2007 8:32:21 PM
Tommy Emmanuel, Ian Boddy and Ryan Farish did not release new CDs in 2007
Comment posted by
at 11/14/2007 8:15:11 PM
I tried to do the poll, but I received a “we’re down for maintenance” message. I hope that my attempt to access the poll won’t be counted as my having completed it…
Comment posted by
at 11/15/2007 8:44:16 AM
I’ve gotten reports of that but it seems to be working fine now. Please try again.
John
Comment posted by
at 11/15/2007 7:57:49 PM
Yes, it’s working great now; thanks!
Comment posted by
at 11/22/2007 3:30:29 PM
To Tommy: I have to agree with you on that! Yet, I’m a General Fuzz fan here. I just love his work. I listen to Echoes late at night though… I wonder if Echoes airs during the day as well. I’m from New York, by the way. May the best artist wins!