Okay, I screwed up. Two readers — one of them an editor I wrote for nearly 20 years ago — caught me committing factual hara kiri in “Smelled so sweet,” my take on the recent Cleveland Raspberries show.

For one, the group last played the city July 15 ‘05, at Scene Pavilion; their reunion show, after 30 years, was Nov. 26, ‘04. That was the one that sold out in four minutes. For another, “I’m a Rocker” is a Raspberries tune, not an Eric Carmen tune; they second Carmen tune they played was “That’s Rock and Roll.” My bad. My sincere apologies.

If I seem a little rusty, it’s because I don’t go to that many concerts as I used to or listen to as much music. I do more reading than listening these days. But I did manage to come up with a Top 10 CD list. No, I haven’t listened to the new Kanye, Rihanna or Dap-Kings. I thought Amy Winehouse was pretty cool but that her album was too calculatedly old-school. This list speaks to what I heard and liked. I list the CDs first, then add remarks on other stuff. I’m finally beginning to download, by the way. And if I’d bought it before I put together this list a few weeks ago, I would have included the Alison Krauss-Robert Plant “Raising Sand” album on Rounder; it’s haunting and amazing. Anyhow…

1. Radiohead
In Rainbows
ATO (as of Jan. 1)

I list Radiohead at the top more for the group’s subversion of the record industry than its music, though I think these tracks are largely beautiful (my version of “In Rainbows” is a Beijing-bought double bootleg CD I acquired in November on a mind-blowing China trip for US$2; what’s that you say about intellectual property?).

2. Michael Brecker
Pilgrimage
Telarc

Brecker’s posthumous album is the toughest modern jazz of the year. Everybody in this trophy group plays for his life, making jazz of the rarest order: essential.

3. Feist
The Reminder
Cherrytree/Interscope

For the diversity and texture of her Europop; in particular, for “Sealion.”

4. Fountains of Wayne
Traffic & Weather
Virgin

Count on smart pop from these Jersey guys;  what’s extra-cool is their take on consumerism and desire, in tunes like “Yolanda Hayes” and “Strapped for Cash.” Subversiveness rarely sounds so tuneful.

5. Maria Schneider Orchestra
Sky Blue
ArtistShare

Big band jazz at its most lyrical and expressive; this soars and more than lives up to its title.

6. St. Vincent
Marry Me
Beggar’s Banquet

Annie Clark is a punchy singer and a resonant writer, making “Marry Me” one of the most striking alternapop (does the concept even work anymore?) CDs of the year.

7.  Various Artists
I’m Not There
Columbia (soundtrack)

A concept album of Dylan covers for a concept movie about a real guy. Or is he? The songs are, that’s for sure. Fave: Charlotte Gainsbourg and Calexico pillow-talking “Just Like a Woman.”

8. Suzanne Vega
Beauty & Crime
Blue Note

A meditation on New York and film noir, Vega’s underappreciated jazz-label debut delivers what Norah Jones, that smoky folkeuse, hasn’t all these years: character and wit.

9. Bruce Springsteen
Magic
Columbia

The Middle East meets Phil Spector in this sequel to “The Rising,” a resonant, politically charged return to E Street Band form. Greatest pop surprise (and a step forward for Springsteen): the gorgeous “Girls in Their Summer Clothes.”

10. The Redwalls
The Redwalls
MAD Dragon

For the fun of it.

Singles: Timbaland, “The Way I Are”; Christina Aguilera, “Ain’t no Other Man”; T-Pain, “Buy UA Drank”; Alicia Keys, “No One”; Crushcrushcrush, “Paramore.” Standout rock track: “Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart,” from Against Me: New Wave.
Reissue of the year: Miles Davis, “The Complete On the Corner Sessions,” Legacy
Best rediscovery: Primal Scream, “Live in Japan” (Sony Music Japan International). Recorded in November 2002, this is one of the best live albums of all time. Makes you want to go out and scream — alone, in company, really doesn’t matter. Neither does whether it’s in joy or anger. Guess that’s what makes it great rock ‘n’ roll.

My wife and I had never seen the Raspberries until we caught them Dec. 14 at the State Theatre, a fitting venue for so quintessential a Cleveland group. The old vaudeville house was about two-thirds full, which I thought was strange considering these hometown favorites hadn’t played Cleveland in over three years, when a House of Blues reunion show - after 30 years-plus - sold out in four minutes.

The Raspberries were very good and occasionally great. They soared on “I Don’t Know What I Want,” the Beatles’ “Ticket To Ride” (featuring fabulous Wally Bryson vocals and guitar), the Who’s “Substitute” (Eric Carmen sounded and looked triumphant here) and the final encore, their thrilling “Go All the Way,” one of the best pop songs of all time; I rank it with the Who’s “I Can See for Miles” and Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” as a tune that shouldn’t end, it’s so transporting.

It was a cool show, and to their credit, those “musical differences” that sundered the group in 1975, mainly due to tension between Carmen (the group’s more polished heart) and Bryson (its gruffer, edgier soul), didn’t surface. They even played several Carmen solo tunes, including a fabulous “All By Myself” (the longer version) and “I’m a Rocker,” one of those generic, pulsating tunes of the ’70s that you can’t help grooving to.

Carmen’s voice didn’t always reach its former heights, and Bryson sounded rough, if true. Dave Smalley shone on his “Should I Wait,” a sweet slice of proto-country rock; Bryson’s “Last Dance” was - Bryson will cringe if he reads this - sunny and lovely. The show did better when it rocked harder, equalizing the mix between Carmen’s powerful voice, Bryson’s slashing guitar and Jim Bonfanti’s indefatigably exciting, Keith Moon-styled drumming.

Nostalgia, however, only goes so far, and nostalgia may be all the Raspberries have to offer. Raspberries tunes are largely pre-political, pre-social consciousness. There is little questioning, skepticism or irony in them; above all, there is yearning and desire. “Go All the Way,” “Ecstasy,” “If You Change Your Mind,” “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record),” “Don’t Want To Say Goodbye” are all, essentially, love songs (”Overnight Sensation” cleverly conflates commercial and sexual ambition), harking back to a simpler, more personal time, a time when the Raspberries - and their audience - were so much younger. That subtext made the show both exciting and bittersweet. What it means for a Raspberries future, only time will tell. There’s no question that their past, even their second life, is glorious.

It’s Sunday afternoon: chilly, grey, a typical Cleveland day for well into December. I’m winding down my vacation, five days off from work. I worked hard this week, however: I took a pocket watch repair course at Lakeland Community College in Mentor, about 15 miles east of where I live. It was hard. I feel like I accomplished something: I can pretty much tear down a size 16 or 18 vintage pocket watch, clean it and reassemble it.

The reason I took the course was, first of all, prompting from a friend who took a course in grandfather clock repair; secondly, I figured if I learned about the workings of a watch, I might be able to maintain and even repair my own wrist watches (I have a collection that, depending on what I buy and sell, ranges from a dozen to 20). I learned, for sure; I can at least identify most of the components of a watch now. But I doubt I’ll be able to service my own wrist watches, because they’re a) a lot smaller than pocket watches and b) they’re much more sophisticated, even complicated.

Still, taking the course was instructive. The teacher, Lehr Dircks, an amazingly dexterous man from central Ohio, was the soul of patience; he told me the last day that as the most obvious novice in this class of seven (and one of only two still working), he was worried, on the second day, that I wouldn’t make it. High praise indeed; I felt pretty good about that.

It’s good to step outside your comfort zone. It’s even better when it’s about working hard and learning a little bit about mechanics (not my field, for sure) and, better yet, patience.