ReZoom

We made it through another year and the good news in music is that, amid all the Spears family scandals and teen-pop so toxic it could have come from a Chinese toy factory there was plenty of real rock, country and blues to celebrate.

Some 2007 highlights

1. Comebacks of the year. The Led Zeppelin survivors reunited to pay tribute to Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, but tour rumors soon deflated . John Fogerty made a strong return with Revival, making peace with his rocky CCR past. But rock’s Comeback Kid was Levon Helm, the weathered soul of the Band, who came back from vocal chord cancer with Dirt Farmer. In country, no contest – Porter Wagoner’s comeback/swan song, Wagonmaster, released a few months before his death in October, reminded us he wasn’t just a guy in fancy suits who discovered Dolly Parton.

2. Springsteen makes more Magic. After his “What was he thinking?” Seeger Sessions, the Boss was back on the road with his E Street Band and a great album capturing the times in songs like “Radio Nowhere.”

3. Lucinda goes West. Singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams continued to define “Americana” with another fine album. But before reuniting with Led Zep, Robert Plant joined Alison Krauss to make Americana’s album of the year, Raising Sand.

4. Mavis Staples takes us there again. The smoky alto voice of the Staple Singers gets rediscovered every decade or so. With the powerful We’ll Never Turn Back, her latest comeback may be her biggest.

5. Hope for the future. Foo Fighters proved no-frills rock is alive and well, while Arcade Fire brought back eclectic prog-folk-rock . Ryan Shaw revived classic soul a la Sam Cooke, while Lily Allen added some ska to the mix. Looking for new music? You can’t go wrong with any of these.

6. Meet the Beatles 9.0. Paul McCartney released Memory Almost Full; George Harrison returned on the deluxe Traveling Wilburys two-CD, one-DVD reissue. Ringo’s got a new studio set due the first quarter of 2008, and the band reigned in Vegas with Cirque du Soleil’s magical production of The Beatles Love, complete with producer George Martin’s fab remixes.

7. Bob Dylan, ubiquitous enigma. Dylan was everywhere in 2007 – a weekly radio show, Theme Time Radio Hour, on XM Satellite; his Live At Newport DVD played as a high-profile PBS fundraiser; the artsy homage, I’m Not There, briefly hit the multiplexes; and along with the new three-CD Dylan retrospective, he’s a big part of that Traveling Wilburys collection.

8. Death of the shed. The big outdoor amphitheaters that turned boondocks like Indiana’s Deer Creek and Ohio’s Old Coney into must-stops for the biggest summer tours declined rapidly in 2007. Nashville’s Starwood closed, while other sheds plan downsized venues on site to fit the shrinking music biz.

9. Guitar Hero makes classic rock cool, sorta. Yes, your kids (and grandkids) now know “Paranoid,” “Barracuda” and “Smoke on the Water,” but they learned them from a video game played with plastic guitar-shaped controllers. South Park caught the bizarre cultural moment, echoing every parent’s complaint, “If you only spent that much time with a real guitar…”

10. Never too old for a GRAMMY. Pinetop Perkins, the 94-year-old Delta bluesman who backed Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy Williamson and taught young Ike Turner to play piano, has three GRAMMY nominations for February’s awards.