By Chris Moore:

With this being the season of togetherness and all, it only seems right to present the “Best Collaborations of 2010” category.  This is a pretty short one, as there are so many collaborations of different sorts throughout the music industry — I wanted to highlight only a few standouts.   Number one with a bullet, at least for me, has to be this year’s Beach Boys reunion on “Don’t Fight the Sea,” a track on Al Jardine’s solo album that found not only surviving Beach Men Jardine, Brian Wilson, and Mike Love but also Carl Wilson collaborating on lead and background vocals.  This was, of course, due to Carl Wilson’s vocals being posthumously remastered and added to the mix.

The next collaboration is one of the great partnerships of recent years: rock/alternative pianist Ben Folds and novelist/lyricist Nick Hornby teamed up this year for some of the smartest sounding rock the former has turned out in years.

Danger Mouse has been extraordinarily productive in recent years, but his collaboration with Sparklehorse — a particularly quirky one at that — is one of the darkest albums of the year, and a standout among this year’s music releases.

My honorable mention belies the soft spot I have for all things Wallflowers-related, one that is not nearly satisfied by Jakob Dylan’s solo catalog.

So, enjoy this brief list today, and check back for a top fifteen tomorrow!

BEST COLLABORATION

1)  Al Jardine, Brian Wilson, Mike Love, & Carl Wilson (“Don’t Fight the Sea” – A Postcard from California)

2)  Ben Folds & Nick Hornby (Lonely Avenue)

3)  Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse (Dark Night of the Soul)

Honorable Mention: Court Yard Hounds & Jakob Dylan (“See You in the Spring” – Court Yard Hounds)