The Best Album of 2009 That You’re Not Allowed to Own if You Live in America

I became a fringe fan of Cornershop, as many people did, with the release of When I Was Born for the 7^th Time – the album that carried the catchy tune “Brimful of Asha” along with a bunch of other great tracks.

I’d recently heard they released their first album since 2002 and was surprised I hadn’t heard anything about it anywhere. I immediately searched iTunes with the intent to buy the album, entitled Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast, but it wasn’t there. So I went to Amazon.com, only to find that it was only available as an “Import” for $36.98 (yikes). Turns out they decided not to release the album stateside, only in the UK.

0 for 2.

I finally ended up on cornershop.com and found the album for download for ₤7.99 ($13.27 US) via PayPal. Could they make this album any more difficult to own? By this point I was ticked off – making it this tough to find an album is a pretty big misstep by a great band that’s been around for almost 20 years. Unfortunately, they’re still operating like it’s 20 years ago. I don’t think I’ve heard the term “Import” since the early-90’s.

Even though Cornershop really didn’t want me or anyone else in America to own this album, I went ahead and begrudgingly bought it anyway. I honestly feel like mailing those guys a steaming bag of poop with corn in it for my trouble. But I’m happy I bought it – it’s really good and it’s as catchy as Swine Flu. It’s the kind of upbeat music you need in Chicago when it’s negative 1 million degrees outside. Standout tracks include “Soul School,” “Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast,” “Free Love,” “The Roll Off Characteristics”…heck, the whole thing is great. Here’s a taste of one of the other standout tracks, “Who Fingered Rock ‘n’ Roll.” You can stream a lot of the album on www.cornershop.com.