I saw this on Idolator.com and thought it would be a fun exercise. 1970 and 1971 proved to be hard years [70: Traffic's John Barleycorn Must Die, Rod Stewart's Gasoline Alley, Michael Nesmith's Magnetic South and Loose Salute, Santana's Abraxas; 71: Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Stewart's Every Picture Tells A Story, Lennon's Imagine, Alice Cooper's Killer, Elton John's Madman Across the Water, Led Zeppelin IV, Bowie's Hunky Dory] . 2000 was a good year for compilations, but not much in my catalog for great releases [Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker, Neil Young's Silver and Gold and Budd being the only real standouts]. 2007 was a really good year for me [the two Harold Budd / Robin Guthrie collaborations Before the Day Breaks and After the Night Falls, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's Baby 81, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Raising Sand, Watts' One Below the All Time Low].

Hope this inspires a walk through your record collections!

1967 – After Bathing At Baxter’s by Jefferson Airplane

1968 – Beggar’s Banquet by the Rolling Stones

1969 – Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stones

1970 – John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band by John Lennon [close 2^nd: Rides Again by the James Gang]

1971 – Who’s Next by the Who

1972 – Harvest by Neil young [2^nd: Burgers by Hot Tuna]

1973 – Blueprint by Rory Gallagher

1974 – Bad Co. by Bad Company

1975 – A Night at the Opera by Queen [2^nd: Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd]

1976 – Rocks by Aerosmith

1977 – Marquee Moon by Television

1978 – The Cars by the Cars [2^nd: This Year’s Model by Elvis Costello and the Attractions]

1979 - London Calling by the Clash [by 2 weeks] [2nd: Cheap Trick at Budokan by Cheap Trick]

1980 – Get Happy!!! By Elvis Costello and the Attractions

1981 – Discipline by King Crimson

1982 – All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes by Pete Townshend

1983 – More Fun in the New World by X

1984 – Learning to Crawl by the Pretenders

1985 – Town and Country by the Rave Ups

1986 – Tones by Eric Johnson [2^nd: Life’s Rich Pageant by R.E.M.]

1987 – Pleased to Meet Me by the Replacements

1988 – Talk Is Cheap by Keith Richards

1989 – New York by Lou Reed

1990 – Bloodletting by Concrete Blonde

1991 – Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden

1992 - The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion by the Black Crowes

1993 – Friday Night is Killing Me by Bash ‘N’ Pop [2^nd: Anodyne by Uncle Tupelo]

1994 – Amorica by the Black Crowes

1995 – Here’s Where the Strings Come In by Superchunk

1996 – Being There by Wilco

1997 – Stranger’s Almanac by Whiskeytown [2nd: Love Songs for Underdogs by Tanya Donelly]

1998 – Mermaid Avenue by Billy Bragg and Wilco

1999 – Come Pick Me Up by Superchunk

2000 – The Room by Harold Budd

2001 – Global A Go Go by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros

2002 – Stereo / Mono by Paul Westerberg [2^nd: One by One by the Foo Fighters]

2003 – Getting’ Up the Rent by Nope

2004 – Paper by Rich Robinson

2005 – Howl by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club [2^nd: Martha Wainwright by Martha Wainwright]

2006 – The Greatest by Cat Power [2nd: Black Cadillac by Rosanne Cash]

2007 – The Better Angels of Our Nature by Glossary

2008 – Warpaint by the Black Crowes [ONLY PURCHASE]

Pens Get Scraps, Jagr on the sidelines...

In a deal more suited to the Nashville Predators [Sorry, Marty!] the Pens sign Islanders cast offs Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko. Satan, if motivated, could pot some goals alongside Crosby - Fedotenko could be a serviceable grinder. Apparently they were pushing hard for Nasland, but the Rangers, tired of waiting for Jagr to make up his mind, swooped in. It's not outrageous to think the Pens couold sign Jagr, but with goalie Marc -Andre Fleury agreeing to a long term deal, I don't see the cash.

Jagr to Nasville? Jagr to Long Island? Jagr to Russia as rumored? With Marty Straka returning to the Czech Republic, could the Rangers sign Jagr to a 1 year low pay, high bonus deal?

AM Update:

ESPN.GO.com is reporting that Russian Superleague team Avangard Omsk has signed Jaromir Jagr. Jagr played for Omsk during the lockout of 04-05.

It's official: Tampa Bay is going to try to win games 9-7. It's reported this morning that defensemen Dan Boyle and his $ 4.5 million/year contract and Brad Lukowich have been shipped to San Jose for young defenseman Matt Carle [read: cheaper] and a couple draft picks. Wow. And we though lousy goaltending was Tampa's issue last year.

On the other hand, this works out good for San Jose, who also just signed former L.A. Kings and Avalanche defenseman Rob Blake. Blake, like Chris Chelios has clearly lost a step, but tries to make up for it by smart positioning. I think Carle would have been a very very good for a long time in San Jose, but they needed someone to quarterback the PP after Brian Campbell left for Chicago and that is just beyond Blake at his age. But in Boyle, Blake and Lukowich, the Sharks get the experience of guys who have all won the Stanley Cup.

Oh, the Madness... When Will This Madness End?

UP FIRST - the Man Now to Be Referred to as "The Lying Motherfucking Ass Munch":

Yes, I mean YOU MARIAN HOSSA. How can you pass up security and a good payday and a chance to pad your stats out the ass playing a power play with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin? You could have had 50 goals and 125 points for the next 5-7 years! A lock for the Hall of Fame... well, maybe not since Glenn Anderson took so long getting there. But Jari Kurri went in pretty quick! That's good company! But no, you pull THIS shit:

Hossa signed a one-year contract with Detroit on Wednesday, and a person in the NHL told The Associated Press the deal is worth $7.45 million.

He had rebuffed a chance to re-sign with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were reportedly offering $7 million a season as part of five-year contract after they lost the Stanley Cup finals to Detroit last month.

“It was a really tough decision for me to make,” Hossa said. “When I compared the two teams, I felt like I would have a little better of a chance to win the Cup in Detroit.”

I will be booing you every time you touch the puck, now. You will hear me from Funkytown when you play in Dallas. You've just replaced Jaromir Jagr as the most despised man of Penguins fans. And considering how they boo Jagr, that's not a nice place to be.

Other hits and misses:

Brooks Orpik re-signs with the Pens - FOR LESS THAN MARKET VALUE. Evgeni Malkin re-signs with Pens - DITTO! Okay, the fourth line is gone and the 3rd line is hanging by a thread - still, the Pens re-signer Pascal Dupuis to ride shotgun with Crosby and for a reasonable amount. One more scoring winger. Jagr is a rumor. Markus Nasland could regain his scoring touch on Crosby's line...please sign Yannic Perrault to teach these guys how to win faceoffs!

DAMN, I just read Kristian Huselius is off the board! To Columbus? My, those boys have been busy! Yeah, they lost journeyman Ron Hiansey to Atlanta, but they did fleece the NY Hockey Rangers for two servicable defensemen in Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin. Adding also Mike Commodore from Ottawa and Raffi Torres from Edmonton... looks like management has decided to play for a playoff spot this year.

And just when it seemed like the Rangers were in good shape on the back end, too. They got Wade Redden out of Ottawa and re-signed Michael Rosival and they have their most solid D-corps since 95-96... and they trade Backman and Tyutin for two SPARES like Dan Frtische and Nikolai Zherdev? Now Backmand and Tyuitin were not the second coming of Scott Stevens and/ or Brian Leetch. but as third pair they would be safe! This deal only makes sense if it frees cap space for Jaromir Jagr AND Martin Straka AND... but I don't know now. They did add character guys in former Shark Patrick Rissmiller and Wild Aaron Varros.

Doug Weight moves to Long Island to reunite with his old buddy from Edmonton and St. Louis, Bill Geurin. If those two can find magic again at their age, it will allow the Islanders to season some young guys for one more year. The adding of defenseman Mark Streit from Montreal will help, but they need a whole second line.

Let me see if I have this right: The Dallas Stars walk away from they guy they know is a good and dangerous penalty killer and who can chip in offensively and let him sign with Toronto for 4 years / $ 12 million and bring in an unknown quantity with a big mouth for 4 years / $ 15.5 million? No, this is not Jamie Langenbrunner and Brett Hull we're talking about - it's Nik Hagman and Sean Avery. Avery is an agitator who plays hard, but is also injury prone. I don't see this as a good move. We'll see.

The New Jersey Devils let go of a much younger and just as talented Sergei Brylin and bring in Bobby Holik, who couldn't get out of Jersey fast enough after the 2003 Cup win? Brian Rolston, yes! He's a good scorer and has some speed left. Holik is a traffic cone on the ice.

The cream of the defensemen crop , Brian Campbell takes the bucks and goes to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks also add goalie Christobal Huet, he who kept the Washington Capitals in the playoff hunt. Now all they need is a scorer who can take up the slack when [notice, I did not say IF] Martin Havlat goes down. And it better not be Pavol Demitra... although they could keep the spot in the IR warm while the other plays 10 games before going down again.

Why Philadelphia traded Vinnie Prospal back to Tampa is a mystery. He seemed to have some chemistry with Daniel Briere and he would be an insurance policy if Simone Gagne goes down again...

Huet out in D.C., Jose Theodore in? It feels like a drop, but it could end up being a push.

WHY DID PHOENIX LET RADIM VRBATA WALK?

Colorado adds no one and likes it. Who's their starting goalie? And Darcy Tucker? Give me a break. Oh, well, Peter Forsberg is still signed.... HA HA! Let the re-tooling begin!

Cory Stillman is going to be very lonely as the only scorer for the Florida Panthers.

Lots of backup goalies moving... who cares?

No word on Markus Nasland and Mats Sundin appears to be taking his time mulling over $ 20 million / 2 year offers. Jagr says he wants to stay in NYC.

QUIET... TOO QUIET: San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, Phoenix Coyotes, Nashville Predators, Montreal Canadiens...