After a 3-month hiatus I’m back in the saddle. Just in time to talk about my favorite albums of 2011. Looking back on the year, 2011 proved to be a great year for music.  We may not look back on 2011 as a year in which any one album loomed larger than the rest.  However, the roster of album releases in 2011 is as deep as it is wide.  Anyway, here are my favorites of 2011, I hope you get a chance to check out a few of them.

Happy Holidays!

20. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Belong

If, like me, you are a child of the 80s, you will appreciate these kids. No doubt, listening to this NYC-based outfit will make you feel like you’re stuck in a time-warp. While they’re relatively young in age, they’ve somehow managed to get the 80s-John Hughes-film-soundtrack feel down to a science. At times the record sounds like one long song, but individually, there are some real gems here, like the title track and “Heaven’s Gonna Help us Now.”

Select Cuts: Belong, Heaven’s Gonna Helps Us Now, Strange