Annual Report: 2001

I was tempted to talk about '69 and '71, but thought it might be better to spread out the years more. So let's hit a year in more recent memory, when– admittedly – both Charlie T and myself were in our "music-listening primes." I guess by "prime" I mean the time when you have sort of graduated from what you grew up listening to and moved into a new phase (at least for me, that's how it worked. I was less fixated on the Zeppelin-led classic rock of junior high and two-pronged jamband/alt-rock of my high school days). You listen with different ears. Whether they are more refined and less jaded is debatable, but at the time you sure think they're authoritative.

So, 2001. We survived Y2K, Ricky Martin, and boy bands. 9/11 happened. It will always be a banner year for a billion reasons unconnected to music. But the music also happened to be really great.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (free release) // Wilco
Time (The Revelator) // Gillian Welch

Two of my favorite albums of all time. I'm fortunate because I felt the same way when I first heard them, mind blown, ears appeased, heart filled. But, unlike some of the other albums that have since been demoted to bins like Overhyped, Failed The Test Of Time, and worse, these have stood strong. That they are both approaching America from such different angles and yet still seem somehow related (strong writing maybe? pure singing? nostalgia?) is a testament to the strength of 2001. Welch's "I Dream A Highway" might be the only 15-minute song featuring just 2 guitars and 2 voices that I ever wished was twice as long. And Wilco's entire album has survived time, which a lot of "glitchy production, studio experimentation" albums fail to do. With songs like "Jesus, Etc" and "Radio Cure", it's no wonder. The production wasn't veiling bad songwriting, it was adding texture to amazing songs.

Is This It? // The Strokes
White Blood Cells // The White Stripes
Oh, Inverted World // The Shins
Gold // Ryan Adams
Agaetis Byrjun // Sigur Ros

Debuts or not, these were the albums that buzzed, that introduced us to new voices in American music. Disaffected NYC hipster elite. Mondrian-inspired minimalistic, raw blues rock from Detroit. Smart, melodic indie rock. A prolific singer/songwriter who embraced his influences and excesses. Glacial soundscapes with an angelic voice sung in the supposedly made-up language of Hopelandish. There were better albums this year, but not many buzzier.

Amnesiac // Radiohead (I don't dare add to the superlatives. Let's just say it's still great.)
The Blueprint + Unplugged // Jay-Z
Love and Theft // Bob Dylan (I'm more of a Time Out Of Mind guy. Sue me.)
It's A Wonderful Life // Sparklehorse (RIP)

The Argument // Fugazi
Things We Lost In The Fire // Low

Maybe 2 of the albums I go back to most? Two great, smart, trend-oblivious bands at or near the peaks of their creative output.

Bleed American // Jimmy Eat World
musicforthemorningafter // Pete Yorn
One Nil // Neil Finn

I love a good pop song. Melodic and memorable. If the words are great too, then it's legendary. Some of these split the difference. Pete Yorn's album blew me away for awhile and was a nice patchwork of pop and indie rock and singer/songwriter and more. Neil Finn was just going about his usual business of spitting out great melodies. And Jimmy Eat World? Well, there's nothing cool about liking Jimmy Eat World. But I still love this album– its dramatic builds, its dreamy and desperate vocals, its drums, its college heartbreak. I remember going to lunch with a friend in 2001. Her much-hipper friend shows up and we're talking music and, before I know what I'm doing, I ask what he thinks of the new Jimmy Eat World. My stupid "hipster filter" kicks in and I try to control-Z, but it's out and it's even clearer how cool I'll never be. But, in the loudness of the restaurant, this guy thinks I asked about the Jim O'Rourke album. And he starts going on and on about it. And my friend shoots me a look and I sorta wave her off like, "It's not worth clarifying." The guy still thought I wasn't cool, I guess. But I never had to try to sell him on Bleed American.

Field Songs // Mark Lanegan
Old Ramon // Red House Painters
What's Next To The Moon // Mark Kozelek

My two favorite Marks. Kozelek closed the chapter on Red House Painters and opened up a whole new can of worms (a whole album of Bon Scott-era AC/DC covers?) and basically wrote his own license to do whatever. Lanegan, meanwhile, continued to do what he does best, which is write harrowingly, sing hauntingly, gargle gravel, and be one of my favorite odd rock icons. Plus, he contributed to the cactus weird of Desert Sessions.

Green Album // Weezer
Hot Shots II // Beta Band

Two quirky iconic bands say goodbye. Wait. What? What's that you say? Weezer kept making albums after the Green Album? Really?

Stephen Malkmus // Stephen Malkmus
Ancient Melodies of the Future // Built To Spill
Girls Can Tell // Spoon
Isolation Drills // Guided By Voices

Songs In A Minor // Alicia Keys
Aaliyah // Aaliyah (2x platinum, RIP)
No More Drama- //Mary J Blige

Apparently 2001 was a year where female neo-R&B struck a chord (A minor perhaps?) with me. Blige's voice, maybe our greatest contemporary R&B singer, and persona have always resonated with me and her song "Family Affair" is undeniable. I wish she'd make a record with Mark Ronson & The Dap Kings because it would be insanely great. Joe Henry producing would come in a close second. And of course, Alicia Keys and Aaliyah's hits were unavoidable. As a sidenote, pop/R&B legend Michael Jackson released what no one would've guessed was his final album (Invincible) in 2001

Souljacker // Eels
Gorillaz // Gorillaz
Vespertine // Bjork
The Photo Album // Death Can For Cutie

Songs from the West Coast // Elton John
Poses // Rufus Wainwright
Rockin The Suburbs // Ben Folds

It was a good year for piano men. Elton had a temporary revival with is best batch of songs in years. Poses still sounds amazing with standouts like "Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk", "In A Graveyard" and the title track. And Folds' debut sounded an awful lot like BF5 minus the kind of editing/filtering that a band provides. Still, it spawned at least 4 classic Folds' tunes.

Brushfire Fairytales // Jack Johnson
Room For Squares // John Mayer

It was also a good year for guys with guitars. Campuses across the country were flooded with fratboys in pooka shell necklaces scraping to learn "how to play some Jack" for the ladies. Bodies were wonderlands. Banana pancakes were made. Actual songwriters on college campuses were a little bit bummed. Clearly not my cup of tea, but deserving of mention, I suppose.

Amelie soundtrack // Yann Tiersen
Rock Steady // No Doubt (set up Gwen for megastardom)
10,000 HZ Legend // AIR
End of Amnesia // M Ward
Lateralus // Tool

Annual Report: 1989

And now for a year that I actually remember pretty well. One look at this list shows that things were shifting, broadening. There's mainstream rap, alt-rock, classic rock, top 40, industrial, the seeds of grunge, folk, metal, jamband. Even if some of the drum sounds are unforgivable, it was a good time to make music.

Full Moon Fever//Tom Petty

One thing we have to make clear here is Tom Petty's place at the table. For whatever reason, I don't feel like he gets his due for being a songwriter (and a hitmaker) on the level of the legends. And, friends, he is. This album is not my favorite TP album (might be 3rd?) and still is pure proof: listenable top-to-bottom with songs that jumped out at teeniebopper radio listeners ("Free Fallin'") and resonated with Johnny Cash ("I Won't Back Down"). The mix of hits and singalong anthems with songs that bring the sadness like "Face In The Crowd" and "Yer So Bad."Petty and Jeff Lynne were on fire between this record and...

Mystery Girl//Roy Orbison
Like A Prayer//Madonna
Rhythm Nation//Janet Jackson
Seeds Of Love//Tears For Fears

Doolittle//Pixies
Disintegration//The Cure
Paul’s Boutique//Beastie Boys
Bleach//Nirvana
Don't Tell A Soul//Replacements
Pretty Hate Machine//Nine Inch Nails

The birth of alt-rock? No, I know you want me to say it was Big Star or the 13th Floor Elevators or Velvet Underground. But this is when it broke through and even MTV had to pay attention. These (with the arguable exception of Bleach and Don't Tell A Soul) are seminal, career records for each band. The Beasties got serious(er). The Pixies put their flag in the ground. The Cure made the record that, 20 years later, they'd be asked to devote entire concerts to. And Trent Reznor brought industrial music to the masses.

New York//Lou Reed
Freedom//Neil Young

Two all-time legends dig in. I still remember listening to Lou Reed's "Dirty Boulevard" and knowing that it was something special and rawer than the rest of the produced stuff I was listening to in junior high. And as a Neil Young loyalist, I'm here to remind you that he destroyed in the 90s, starting with this album's bookending "Keep On Rockin' In The Free World." Oh how I love that man.

Spike//Elvis Costello
Flowers In The Dirt//Paul McCartney

My introduction to Elvis Costello, unlike many early adopters, was through his late-80s/early-90s work. And, to this day, it's my favorite era. My friend Matt and I wore out a taped-off-the-radio tape of "Veronica" while at basketball camp one summer. When I found out McCartney had co-written it, it seemed only natural, being a young Beatlephile as I was. Then, Matt's sister was dating a Macca fan, who turned us on to Flowers In The Dirt. A little uneven maybe, but it gave us "Figure of Eight" and most importantly the Costello co-written "My Brave Face." Such a great song.

Oranges & Lemons//XTC
Heart Shaped World//Chris Isaak
Margin Walker + 13 Songs//Fugazi

13 Songs. Where to start? Somehow it crept past my Classic/Modern Rock filter and landed a giant punk (postpunk? anti-BS?) haymaker in my ears. This album pushed me around, challenged me, and demanded I rethink what great music was. The fact that this could co-exist in the same year as Full Moon Fever and Like A Prayer makes me very happy.

Crossroads//Tracy Chapman
Indigo Girls//self-titled (both of these are still listenable. I will hold them up to any contemporary folk record)
Steady On//Shawn Colvin
Nick of Time//Bonnie Raitt
Flying Cowboys//Rickie Lee Jones (89 predated Lilith Fair by quite a bit, but was responsible for planting its seeds)

Oh Mercy//Bob Dylan
Dylan & The Dead

"Most Of The Time" and "What Was It You Wanted" are classics. Read the chapters about the making of Oh Mercy in Chronicles and you'll at least reconsider its place in history. As for Dylan & The Dead? Well, it's Dylan and the Grateful Dead, so if you were expecting smooth edges, you were disappointed.

Dr. Feelgood//Motley Crue
Pump//Aerosmith
Shine//Mother Love Bone
Sonic Temple//The Cult
Louder Than Love//Soundgarden

Hard rock/heavy metal was in a time of transition, still on top of the heap, but about to be undercut by a little album by a band called Nirvana. These five records represent a stratification of hard rock in 1989. The Crue was pure L.A. hedonistic party metal. Aerosmith was the east coast version that had more songs your girlfriend liked. Mother Love Bone (not well known, I know) were a bridge between the grunge to come and metal as it was. If you listen to Andrew Wood on some songs, you might think it was Steven Tyler, except Wood's sexual metaphors were less lazy and pedestrian. Then there was The Cult, who never really fit into any of the cliques-- too new wave for hard rock in the mid-80s, too hard rock for alt-rock in the 90's. But the songs were good. And then Soundgarden, a metal band that went back to Sabbath School, loved odd time signatures, and twisted it all in their own way.

Mother’s Milk//Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Real Thing//Faith No More (and then two bands trying to fuse rock/funk/rap-- Fishbone's important Truth & Soul was a year earlier)

In Step- Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
Yellow Moon- Neville Bros
The Stone Roses// self-titled

Automatic//The Jesus And Mary Chain
Key Lime Pie//Camper Van Beethoven
Suck On This//Primus
Cosmic Thing//The B-52s
Blind Man's Zoo//10,000 Maniacs
Devil's Night Out//Mighty Mighty Bosstones

The next tier (not in quality, but commercial success) of alt-rock. A nice variety, you gotta admit. A fan favorite by JAMC (controversial at the time for its synthesized drums and bass), namedropped by the Death Cabs and Jimmy Eats of the next wave; a proper farewell for CVB that gave us the immortal "Pictures of Matchstick Men", a live debut from Primus who would weird their way into the top of alt-rock through the 90s and spawned a horde of Claypool clones (but nobody had the storytelling chops, much less the bass ones); a solid showing from 10,000 Maniacs with the hit "Trouble Me"; and a hardcore ska showing from Boston's own MMB. Like I said in the intro, don't knock 89's variety.

Big Daddy- John Mellencamp
Avalon Sunset- Van Morrison
Journeyman- Eric Clapton

Workmanlike efforts by Hall of Famers. Journeyman is too slick but had hits and the gem "Running On Faith." Big Daddy is decent but forgettable in light of what else JCM had done. And Avalon Sunset was touted as a VM's return to the muse, but resulted in us having to hear Rod Stewart slaughter "Have I Told You Lately." Ugh.

Junta//Phish
Brain Drain//Ramones (Dee Dee's last. Gave us "I Believe In Miracles", "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)" and "Pet Semetary.")
Let Love Rule//Lenny Kravitz

Annual Report: 1967

When asked about the best year in music, 1967 is among the most popular responses. And it's no wonder with powerhouse, pantheon, test-of-time releases like:

(Now, I wasn't there. So I'm warily trusting a mix of Wikipedia, iTunes, and random other googling.)

The Beatles//Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

For a long time, this record was considered the gamebreaker, the most important album, the best album, the measuring stick. Then, fickle tides turned and journalists learned they'd sell more magazines and get more click-thrus if they went with something more controversial (less obvious) or unexpected. I'm not saying it's my favorite album (a distinction Charlie T outlined expertly in the previous post), but it's gotta be up there with the best. Especially in the historical (an artist no less than Jimi Hendrix was covering Sgt Pepper mere days after its release), break down the walls (a concept record that stretched the studio-as-instrument concept) context. And especially because it has the song "A Day In The Life" on it. And then consider that "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever"– both released as singles– could technically be on this record? Goodness gracious. Oh, and they also released Magical Mystery Tour this year.

Jimi Hendrix//Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love

Speaking of Jimi Hendrix and two-albums-in-one-year, this pair is ridiculous. And, no offense to Magical Mystery Tour, but it's no Axis: Bold As Love. Try "Little Wing" and "Castles Made of Sand" and "Spanish Castle Magic" and "Stone Free." That's insane. I don't think today's generation understands what we lost when we lost Hendrix. He showed more greatness in a few short years than the careers of most bands today combined. Pardon me while I go yell at the kids on the lawn.

Aretha Franklin//I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You
Love//Forever Changes
Cream//Disraeli Gears
Big Brother & The Holding Company//s/t...janis...
The Velvet Underground & Nico
Miles Davis//Neferiti
Bob Dylan//John Wesley Harding

It gets lost in the shuffle of Insanely Great Dylan albums, but this is solid. And culturally relevant. Try these reviews on for size:
"For an album of this kind to be released amidst Sgt. Pepper, Their Satanic Majesties Request, After Bathing at Baxter's, somebody must have had a lot of confidence in what he was doing ... Dylan seems to feel no need to respond to the predominate [sic] trends in pop music at all. And he is the only major pop artist about whom this can be said." -Jon Landau//Crawdaddy

And it gave us "All Along The Watchtower" which was covered memorably (to the point of changing Dylan's view on the original) by- wait for it- Jimi Hendrix.

13th Floor Elevators//Easter Everywhere

"Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, a band out of Texas. They were basically the first psychedelic-rock band. 1965. And if you listen to old 13th Floor Elevators stuff—Roky Erickson especially, his voice—and then go back and listen to early Led Zeppelin, you know that Robert Plant absolutely copped everything from Roky Erickson. And it's amazing. And Roky Erickson is sitting in Austin, Texas; he's just there. And Robert Plant had a huge hit. It always goes back to those guys, you know? I love those fucking guys." -Johnny Depp//2005//Esquire Magazine
With Roky Erickson's deserved resurgence over the last couple years and triumphant album with Okervill River this year, we see once again that Johnny Depp was ahead of the curve. Robert Plant, you're on the clock.

debuts by The Doors and Grateful Dead
solid showings from Pink Floyd, The Who, The Small Faces, the Stones (a kind of pathetic reaction to Sgt. Pepper, but with some ok songs), Buffalo Springfield...

and that's ignoring albums by seminal artists I'm less familiar with like Wes Montgomery, BB King, Roy Orbison, Howlin' Wolf, and Coltrane.

The sheer volume of great music coming out of 1967 may not compare to that of other years, but the longstanding greatness does. We will find years with more great music, but will we find years with greater music?

2010: Bracing For The Pantheon?

Not to get all Bill Simmons on you, by which I mean "immediately and rashly overreact to an isolated incident, impregnating it with more meaning than it ever ought to have ("HOOPS ARE DEAD IN CLEVELAND AFTER LEBRON'S LAST LOSS"), spitting out superlatives ("THE CELTICS ARE AN EMBARRASSMENT" and "RONDO IS THE BEST PG IN THE LEAGUE!!" within weeks of each other) like they ought to be etched in stone ASAP*. But, here I go: is 2010's year of music angling to be a pantheon year? I know it's early and many of these albums still have to measure up to the ol' test of time, but I don't think the question is wrong. It feels like a supernaturally good year and it has to be asked:

Will 2010 go down as one of the great years in the history of music?

The National//High Violet

I know it's early, but it's about time TBC got a chance to counter all the Animal Collective and Beach House premature hype over the past year with something we think is actually deserving. I can't remember the last time I heard an album all the way through and wanted to hear it over again. And again.

The Hold Steady//Heaven Is Whenever
Josh Ritter//So Runs The World Away

Two TBC perennial favorites with what I suppose you could call transitional albums. On our initial listens, we agreed that Heaven Is Whenever gave us a great new chapter in the Hold Steady canon. We disagreed on the highpoints of So The World Runs Away, so that jury is still out

Broken Social Scene//Forgiveness Rock Record
Mose Allison//The Way Of The World
The Black Keys//Brothers
Dr. Dog//Shame
Anais Mitchell//Hadestown

There were 2 weeks where this albums sang the words "ALBUM OF THE YEAR" to me every day. Somehow the musical-hater in me could swallow a folkie musical based in mythology with guest spots by Justin Vernon, Ani Difranco, Greg Brown, and the dude from the Low Anthem. I am a sucker for ambitious high concept that's well executed (Janelle Monae, we'll get to you). And adorable voices like Anais Mitchell's.

Retribution Gospel Choir//2
Damien Jurado//Saint Bartlett
Frightened Rabbit//The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Jason Collett//Rat a tat tat

Four albums from some TBC usual suspects. Will they fare as well as Stay Positive? Or will they go the (still respectable but kind of disappointing) route of Yonder Is The Clock, following up a great record with a good one? I have my guesses, one of which is pretty obvious by the fact that I haven't dared buy the Jason Collett record yet.

Jakob Dylan//Women & Country
Patty Griffin//Downtown Church
Neon Trees//Habits (come on. Animal is catchy as catch.)
Peter Gabriel//Scratch My Back
Broken Bells//And I just got too lazy to look up album names. Bad journalism? It's a BLOG!
Jonsi's solo album
Horse Feathers
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
Bettye Lavette
Sarah Sample
Sayde Price
Spoon
Mumford & Sons
Tallest Man On Earth
Beach House
Drive By Truckers
New Pornographers

And still (potentially) to come:
The Arcade Fire
Tift Merritt
Blitzen Trapper
Sun Kil Moon
Nada Surf
The Roots
The Weepies
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Stars
Wolf Parade
Crowded House
Los Lobos
Fleet Foxes
Eels
Beastie Boys
Robert Plant//Band of Joy (his follow-up to Raising Sand)
the actual release of Sparklehorse + Danger Mouse

And stuff I should check out:
Roky Erickson + Okkervil River
Avi Buffalo
Caribou
Carolina Chocolate Drops

Maybe the most interesting to me. NPR will do that with their special, literate, elitist Kool-Aid

Janelle Monae
Flying Lotus
Titus Andronicus
LCD Soundsystem
Merle Haggard
Laura Marling
Morning Benders
Sleigh Bells
Angus & Julia Stone
White Hinterland
Crystal Castles
The Besnard Lakes

Now, on a mass scale, I don't know that anything ever (especially in the post-mp3 world) will ever compete culturally and on a massive scale like a year that includes the Beatles and Stones and Dylan and Cash and...yeah. But as far as great and meaningful music that matters? This year has to at least sit at the kids' table while we wait for the results of the test of time.

Last year had a solid top 15 albums, but both Spike and I found a lackluster overall year to be saved by a few stellar albums. This year doesn't look like it'll have that problem.

I've often asked friends if they could only pick one YEAR of music, what year would it be?

In this new series, Annual Reports, we'll list albums from particular years and maybe even try to rate the years against each other. Some of it will hopefully help us see how 2010 fits in context and some of it will help those of us who maybe weren't there (or alive) to see/hear music in a new contextual lens, and the rest will just be an excuse to talk about music.

As the year goes on, we'll return to this post, revisit the names, see how they're shaking out. Next stop, though, is the nearly universally heralded 1967.