The Top 50 Albums of 2007

3 Jay-Z
American Gangster (Roc-A-Fella)
Jay-Z hasn't sounded so fired up since The Blueprint, and like that classic, American Gangster is tripped out on a Seventies-funk fantasia. The Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield samples provide a bittersweet soundtrack to the old-school hustler fatalism of the lyrics. Jigga's dense wordplay may follow the Denzel Washington movie, but that doesn't get in the way of his original concept, which is himself and how bad he is ("Ya boy is off the wall, these other niggas is Tito"). The music makes him larger than life — the nutty organ solo in "Success," the Miami beatbox in "Party Life" and, above all, the unstoppable horn riff in "Roc Boys."

4 Arcade Fire
Neon Bible (Merge)
An ocean of sound, shaped into songs about religion run wild, weather gone haywire, privacy under siege and other coming bad times. The majestic sweep and sense of purpose recall U2 or Springsteen, neither of whom ever achieved the Cure-like intimacy that comes so naturally to these indie community builders, a seven-piece band that makes joyous noise out of fear and foreboding.