This is traditionally the time when I persue the albums I bought over the course of the year to determine my own useless year-end Top 10 lists.

But I’ve been hampered and side-tracked by a troubling rediscovery in my collection.

A few weeks ago, I was flipping through my CDs and stumbled upon my well-spun copy of The Wallflowers’ “(Breach)”. Now, I’ve never not been a Wallflowers fan. I was fine with their string of hit singles from 1996-97 (including the stellar “6th Avenue Heartache” and the Grammy-winning “One Headlight”). But it was “(Breach)” in 2000 that really bowled me over.

Jakob Dylan will forever be compared to his father, but it was on the 2000 follow-up to the band’s breakthrough that he came into his own as a lyricist and melodicist. Jakob’s less like his dad, Bob, and more like his dad’s Traveling Wilbury’s brother - Tom Petty: An everyman songwriter boiling turmoil and love down to universal truths and catchphrases. The album is pretty flawless: 11 tracks of literate pop, roots and road-rock, produced by Andy Wallace and (the great) Michael Penn, and guest-stars Elvis Costello on a track.

But the song that caused this rediscovery and all this fuss is ”I’ve Been Delivered.”

It’s got to be one of the best songs written in the last decade. It’s only 4-minutes long, but the depth and flow of the lyrics make it feel like an epic. A few lines in particular knock me on my ass:

“I have drawn blood from the neckline
When vampires were in fashion
You know, I’d even learn to cut my throat
If I thought I could fit in
‘Cause I, I once heard that you gotta learn
How to blend in to this mess
Where nothin’s hard,
Nothin’s precious,
And nothin’s smooth or flawless”

(You can read the full lyrics here)

And the arrangement - which bears all the hallmarks of Michael Penn’s deft production - builds in intricate layers with each verse, but never feels fussy.

It seems like this happens to me every few months or so. I’ll dig back into an album, band or song I’d forgotten about for a while. This year, I’ve done it with Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, ABC, Rufus Wainwright, The Pixies and Edwyn Collins.

To me, it’s more proof that we never really get to the bottom of anything. Just when I think I’ve reached the end of musical discovery, something will surface and bite the line.

What artists, albums or songs have you rediscovered this year? Sadly, I’m thinking James Brown will be at the top of many people’s lists here shortly.