John, don't forget U2 which have done superlative work this century. I would put their new album with the new records from Dylan and Springsteen as the best of the year. U2 have been together 33 years, the same number, I believe, of albums Dylan has produced, and the band has always strived for and achieved such transcendent, emotional sounds and lyrics, not shallow, stale popular at the moment music. They have soul, a social and political conscience, and enough musical ability to experiment and change their sound like they did on this last record. If their last two albums were classic U2 full of beautiful melody and poignant lyrics, then this new album is raw experimental U2 that has a spirituality not seen this strongly since The Joshua Tree. Through it all and like any great artists like Dylan and Springsteen, they have a passion in their music, an ambition to make songs that stir the soul, whether it is addressing the state of the world or the individual joys and griefs of life.

And Bono, although not in any way having the vocal instrument Dylan possesses, also gets a lot of flak for his non sugarcoated, non studio engineered voice. Actually, both new albums, lyrically, not only reference James Joyce and the Bible, but also deal in lost or broken down characters trying to make sense of their experience. On a optimism about life scale, Dylan's album is the most pessimistic, including that amazing, pissed off final track; U2's would be at the center--hard times for the character but a chance at redemption; and Springsteen's is the coda of a life and love well lived, filled with loss and tough times but showered in grace by transformative love.