It's been a fantastic 12 months for rock 'n' roll. Any of the top 10 albums listed here could easily have taken the No. 1 spot in a different year. Buy (or burn) them all. The only surprise was that, bar Kings of Leon, none of the new garage-rock upstarts hitching a lift on "The White Strokes" bandwagon managed to deliver a truly great album, but that was more than compensated for by the post-punk revival led by bands like The Rapture and The Kills.
1. Super Furry Animals -- Phantom Power (Epic-Sony)
Improving on 2001's "Rings Around the World" album -- a No. 1 on this list -- was a daunting task. For any band less than the Super Furries that is. Six superb albums in nine years says it all. The record kicks off with the upbeat "Hello Sunshine," but it soon becomes clear that this is simply ironic as "Phantom Power" is their darkest album to date. Less of the infectious melodies and psychedelic pop and more of the melancholic folk give it a seamless, dreamlike quality. One lyric talks of doing a deal with the devil at a roundabout. Guess that explains why they're so good.