Year’s best CDs refused to be defined by ability to deliver hit singles

Much is being made about how downloading and iPods are turning music into a singles-driven industry that minimizes the impact of albums.

But if singles and EPs are the wave of the future, a funny thing was happening in 2009. A small, but notable number of artists were seemingly rebelling and celebrating the album as an art form like it was the prog-rock heyday of the mid-1970s.

The Decemberists, Green Day and Dear Hunter were among the bands that made full-blown concept albums. And several prominent acts challenged listeners with albums that were more complex and rather singles-resistant. U2’s “No Line on the Horizon” was a prime example. Bruce Springsteen’s “Working on a Dream” found “The Boss” revisiting the kind of epic story song format of his first three albums.

The trend at top 40 radio was toward lightweight, party-starting tracks. But my picks for the top 10 CDs of 2009 lean toward the acts that brought substance and ambition to the music scene this year. Here are this writer’s picks for the year’s 10 best CDs.

1. U2: “No Line on the Horizon” (Island Records)

This latest release from the Irish supergroup hasn’t been the blockbuster hit that most expected. Maybe it was too mellow or it had too much electronic flavoring. But songs like “Moment of Surrender,” “White as Snow” and the title cut are achingly beautiful, while “Get on Your Boots” and “Stand Up Comedy” rock forcefully. While “No Line” may not be U2’s best CD (although it’s close), it proves the Irish band is still pushing creatively, still trying to live up to its ambition of remaining rock’s best band.

2. The Avett Brothers: “I and Love and You” (American/Columbia)

With songs that range from arresting piano balladry to graceful rock and winsome country, the Avett Brothers took an impressive leap forward in its command of roots musical styles on “I and Love and You.” In doing so, the band easily escaped the bluegrass label that had followed it and joined the elite of the alt-country scene.

3. Pearl Jam: “Backspacer” (Monkeywrench)

On its latest CD, Pearl Jam gets back to hard-rocking basics, and the result is a bracing, catchy and energized album that ranks with the group’s best efforts and reaffirms its status as one of rock’s premier bands.

4. The Decemberists: “The Hazards of Love” (Capitol Records)

With “The Hazards of Love,” the Decemberists made the kind of full-blown concept album it had hinted at in the past. Drawing on seemingly disparate styles that include folk and healthy metal, along with punk, pop and edgy rock, the Decemberists created a rich musical work that is at turns graceful, pretty, forceful and foreboding.

5. Wilco: “Wilco (The Album)” (Nonesuch)

With standout songs like George Harrison-esque rocker “You Never Know,” the tense and unsettling “Bull Black Nova” and the achingly beautiful ballad “Country Disappeared,” “Wilco (The Album)” joins previous Wilco CDs such as “Being There,” “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” and “Sky Blue Sky” in what is becoming one of the most impressive strings of albums ever assembled by a rock act.

6. Metric: “Fantasies” (Last Gang Records)

This CD had everything it took to be the breakthrough hit many have predicted for Metric. The stylistically varied CD built around a catchy pop-rock sound that included several hits in waiting (“Help I’m Alive,” “Stadium Love” and “Front Row”) leaves one wondering if “Fantasies” didn’t make Metric stars, what will it take.

7. Green Day, “21st Century Breakdown” (Reprise)

Green Day followed its thematically based CD “American Idiot” with another concept album. “21st Century Breakdown.” If not quite the triumph that the preceding CD was, it’s a worthy and ambitious successor to its predecessor.

8. Mastodon: “Crack the Skye” (Reprise)

No heavy metal band thundered as convincingly as Mastodon on this epic seven-song collection, which is full of blasting riffs, compelling hooks and instrumental segments that invite full immersion.

9. Maxwell: “BLACKsummers’ Night” (Columbia)

After an eight-year absence, from the music scene, Maxwell returned in style with a rich, delightfully organic sounding and lyrically thoughtful collection of songs that deserved to qualify “BLACKsummer’s Night” as a modern soul classic.

10. Brandi Carlile: “Give Up the Ghost” (Columbia)

Carlile established herself as one of the best artists in today’s crowded “girls with guitars” field with this emotionally honest and melodically strong collection of ballads and sprightly rockers.