Favorite Albums and Songs of 2000

Jan 1 02:56 UTC 2001

OK, fellow critic wannabees!  It's time to get those "Best of 2000"
lists turned in.   By my rules, it's a 2000 album if you bought it
in 2000.
 
A significant number of you are now taking your music one MP3 
file at a time, so please give us your list of favorite downloaded
songs.
 
Please try to say something about each entry, so this doesn't
become just a dry list of title.

  ((( Linked between Agora and Music conferences. )))

response 2 of 33:

Jan 1 15:47 UTC 2001

  I'll enter a response when I get back to Washington..  Right now I can't
  even remember the musical highlights of 2000, which I suppose is a bad sign.

response 4 of 33:

Jan 1 18:18 UTC 2001

SInce I buy so much friggin' music, I can actually do a top 10 for 2000
copyrights, from stuff I own. =} I have 43 titles in my handy-dandy database
to choose from.

Top Ten CDs from my collection:
In my usual split=personality way, I"m split between heavy metal/agro-rock
and aesthetic fluffpop. I wasn't as impressed with the output of some of my
traditional faves (Beautiful South's Painting it Red, AC/DC's Stiff Upper Lip
and Tracy Chapman's Telling Stories were all mostly "more of the same"; Todd
Rundgren's "One Long Year" and ROllins Band's "Get Some -> Go Again" fell
short of past work). Since I can't get my list down below 11, I'll give an
honorable mention to the Blair Witch Project 2 Soundtrack, since some of that
music is pre-2000, and that gives me these 10:

10) Alphaville, "Salvation." Definitely one of the best albums from a New Age
band that disappeared for over a decade but reappeared to try to exploit the
Retro craze. Also, as far as I can tell, one of the most overlooked, perhaps
because the apparent single off the album -- "Monkey on the Moon" -- is at
once catchy and annoying. Although, that said, it's surprising it didn't catch
on with pop radio, since "catchy and annoying" seems to be the best
description of most of the radio music these days ("Thong Song" and
"Independent Women" being two prime examples that leap to mind).

9) Sammy Hagar, "10 Thirteen." Speaking of catchy and annoying, that's one
thing Sammy Hagar finally decided not to be on "10 Thirteen." I'd given up
on him long ago, then heard "Serious Juju" without knowing it was him until
it was too late and I already liked the song.

8) Cowboy Mouth, "Easy." It's tempting to label this "more of the same," and
write it off, but Cowboy Mouth is still energized enough that more of the same
doesn't sound tired. Yet.

7) Poe, "Haunted." The best concept album of 2000. Poe tells us in the liner
notes that, after her father died, she and her brother found some tapes of
her father's voice. She decided to weave them into an album about regrets,
love, grieving, and change. The title song is also used for the closing
credits for BW2, although it's not on the BW2 ST.

6) Nina Gordon, "Tonight and the Rest of My Life." Veruca Salt co-founder's
solo album is a decent effort, and indicates which half of Veruca Salt it was
that I liked (I heard some of Louise Post's solo version of Veruca Salt and
wasn't terribly impressed).

Ok, people who wanted suggestions for light stuff can turn away now, at least
for my album list. We're down to the Tipper Sticker stuff.

5) Kid Rock, "The History of Rock." This was on my heavy rotation for a while,
but now it's started to fade into the background. For a year or so there, I
was firmly in the Kid Rock camp (as opposed to the Eminem camp), but Mr.
Mathers has started to sway me.

4) MDFMK, "MDFMK." Reverse the letters, change personnel, it's still KMFDM.
But definitely one of the more solid albums by them.

3) Cold, "13 Ways to Bleed on Stage." Everytime I go to Hot Topic in Great
Lakes Crossing, I make it a point to listen to everything at their listening
station that I haven't heard of... that's usually three or four of their ten
CDs. I've gotten some of my favorite CDs that way, although two of them (both
on this list) have started to work their way onto mainstream radio. This is
one of them.

2) Eminem, "The Marshall Mathers LP." All right, I admit it. I berated
"catchy and annoying" and this is #2. Marshall Mathers is a spouse-abusing
asshole, and this is #2. If it weren't for those two strikes, this would be
#1... so I *do* have some class. =}

1) Disturbed, "The Sickness." Another Hot Topic find. Agro-rock, goth, and
industrial covers of classic 70s and 80s songs are nothing new (MM's "Down
in the Park," "Sweet Dreams," and "Suicide is Painless"; Dope's "You Spin Me
Round"; KoRn's "Lowrider"; Type O's "Summer Breeze"), but they're usually
either sloppy or deliberately iconoclastic. Disturbed's cover of T4F's "Shout"
is neither, nor is it a smarmy paean, it's what a cover should be: A new song
that happens to have the same words and melody. Disturbed is also one of a
new crop of agro-rock groups with singers who can sing (Staind, Dope) rather
than just groan a la Manson.

Since I'm in a talkative mood, and there were 32 albums passed up for the list
above, here's my TT for songs on the other CDs:

10) Gary Numan, "Pure." There's always been an odd place in my musical heart
for Gary Numan, even when he forayed into "white funk" crap in the mid-80s
and artificial-sounding pseuotechno in the early 90s. Now he's decided to be
goth. Ok. "Pure" is one of the stronger tracks, and he sounds like MM should
sound if MM had any real talent.

9) Marilyn Manson, "The Fight Song." All right, it wouldn't make sense for
me to bitch about MM and then put him on the list. But I rarely make sense.
While "Holy Wood" is definitely the weakest link in the triptych formed by
it, "Mechanical Animals," and "Antichrist Superstar," it does have some decent
tracks on it. And the opening riff on "The Fight Song" sounds so similar to
a song that I absoultely DETEST that I have a way to escape that other song
now. ;}

8) Linkin Park, "Papercut." Yet another Hot Topic find. A flat album that's
trying too hard to make money and not hard enough to make music, but the RATM
and agro-rock merges are cool, and this is the track that got me to buy the
album.

7) Kid A, "The National Anthem." Although I don't quite get the critical
orgasms this disc has been receiving, it does have its moments, and I couldn't
get out of a list mentioning 20 different groups without at least giving it
a nod, and this is one of my favored tracks.

6) Todd Rundgren, "Bang on the Ukulele Daily." The thought of Todd doing
bassanova scared me off, so Todd covering his own "Bang on the Drum All Day"
on ukulele should be enough to keep me up at night. But hey, it's just f***ed
up enough to merit serious mention.

5) PJ Harvey, "The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore." Somehow, PJ merited
a Tipper Sticker without actually swearing anywhere. My best guess is that
it was this track and "Big Exit" (superficially extolling the virtue of
guns) that warranted such labelling. Any song that merits a Tipper Sticker
merits at least a mention.

4) A Perfect Circle, "Sleeping Beauty." The first time I heard "Judith," a
caller called into the radio and angrily prootested that Maynard isn't Tool
(APC is fronted by Maynard James Keening, who also fronts Tool). I agree, and
that bulk of APC's "Mer De Noms" is overly-pretty music tied to Maynard's
usual lyrics. "Sleeping Beauty" is one track where the strength of his lyrics
and songwriting overpower fairly mediocre musical support.

3) Saint Etienne, "Heart Failed (In the Back of a Taxi)." Believe me when I
say this: This song is extremely catchy and annoying. Only Saint Etienne could
manage to do that to a song with that title (Madness came close way back when
with a song about a heart attack, but they didn't have Sarah Cracknell's voice
to lilt their way through it). So, while I generally eschew annoying and
catchy, Saint Etienne deserves highest kudoes for out-cuteing even Todd's
"Bang on the Ukulele Daily" with a song about a heart attack.

2) Nine Days, "Absolutely (The Story of a Girl)." Dammit, I keep saying I
eschew this sort of song. Overplayed on the radio, dripping with schmaltz,
hopelessly catchy, gets stuck in your head with peanut butter until you're
searching for the powerdrill to make a hole so it can leak out. But damn, this
one is good.

1) Uncle Kracker, "Heaven." Music is one thing. Patriotic chauvinism is
another. And if somebody's going to write a song about the street that's a
mere block away from me, it's going to be #1 on my song list. "If heaven ain't
a lot like Detroit, I don't wanna go / ... / If they ain't got no 8 Mile /
like they do up in the D / Just send me to Hell or Salt Lake City / It'd be
about the same to me." And this is a song that only a Detroiter would be proud
of: Two rappers say that if you come to Detroit, you'll end up in a body bag,
and then Kid Rock guests on to brag about himself and not even talk about
Detroit. Cue happy little chorus. For a city that boasts "Detroit: Where the
Weak are Killed and Eaten," the song makes sense.

response 6 of 33:

Jan 2 18:14 UTC 2001

You probably hate James Brown, too, eh?

response 8 of 33:

Jan 2 20:50 UTC 2001

The only CD that impressed me this year was PJ Harvey's Songs of the city,
songs of the sea.  PJ went back to playing her electric guitar after a
couple of albums of affected moody pseudo electronica and it works.  These
songs are heartfel and hard drving in the best tradation of Patty Smith,
who PJ acknowlodges as an influnce on "Horses in my dreams."

response 10 of 33:

Jan 3 04:26 UTC 2001

Count me as another liberal who doesn't see Howard as a standard bearer for
American Libralism.  Pah.  Who is Denis Leary?

response 12 of 33:

Jan 3 15:01 UTC 2001

Sturn isn't political; and if he was he'd probably be a wishy-washy
conservative.  Limbaugh is very politica.  Whether or not you view him as
entertainment, many people listen to his show and take his political
statements as gospel.

response 14 of 33:

Jan 3 19:09 UTC 2001

For me the best album of 2000 was and is Leftfield's Dusted. You may not know
this band from England, but they are becomming really big in Europe. They
bring a combination of Dub, Ambiant, Techno, HipHop in a mysterious way, and
I think they are really grown up in the scene. 

response 16 of 33:

Jan 4 00:16 UTC 2001

Okay. Drift off, please? :-)

Um. On my list are:
The Full Monty Live Cast Album (from the Broadway musical) -- surprisingly
good, very listenable, and has some lovely songs... including a love duet
which is tender and adorable.

Excalibur: The Mythic Concert (French import) -- live recording of the concept
folk album -- featuring Gabriel Yacoub, Fairport Convention, and several
others. I really like this. 

Ilgi, Ilgi -- from Latvia. This one's a ringer, since my boss brought it back
from her summer in Lithuania, and I haven't yet scored my own copy, but I
adore it, and am trying really hard to get one. Very crunchy and enjoyable,
almost like early Hedningarna.

I'll continue later (I knew those three off the top of my head, but am not
sure about details of the others in my thoughts.)

response 18 of 33:

Jan 4 22:03 UTC 2001

Okay, this is always hard for me to do, and this year is especially
difficult to pick from, because of the way my musical horizons
seem to be expanding. I spent a goodly portion of my listening
time getting acquainted with an amazing number of artists' back
catalogues, and all the while remaining aware of, and entertained
by current artists.

My favourites include (in NO particular order):

Christy Moore, "Traveller" - This was a very unexpected change of style for
one of my oldest folk favourites. I heard the updated version of "Raggle
Taggle Gypsies" on the folking.com radio show and knew I had to have it.
Earlier in the year, I had finally procured a CD copy of "Prosperous," the
1973 effort by Christy in his proto-Planxty days. Comparing the two versions
of Raggle Taggle Gypsies became my favourite obsession for many weeks. I
love all the songs on this CD, and I really enjoy the way the mostly
traditional tunes are interpreted. This is not the typical 'zook & fiddle
instrumentation through which I had become so used to hearing these
types of songs interpreted. Stands outs for me include the
eerie "Tell it Unto Me," "Rocky Road (to Dublin)" & "The Well Below the
Valley"
--------------------------
Emmylou Harris, "Red Dirt Girl" - This was another unexpected discovery for
me (incidentally from the very same folking.com show). I can't play this
CD enough, even still. It's rare for me to find any single album on which I
adore every single song, and yet this CD comes close. "J'ai Fait Tout" is
the only song I tend to skip over. Fine musicianship, too, with Buddy
Miller contributing guitar on a few tracks, Bruce Springsteen & Patty
Scialfa helping on another, Kate McGarrigle, Dave Matthews (duet
vocals on "My Antonia"), and let's not forget the wonderful vocals
of Julie Miller.
--------------------------
Nick Harper, "Harperspace" - This was released early in 2000,
and I picked it up at the same time I ordered the remainder
of Nick's back catalogue (Seed, & Smithereens --- I already had
his first, Light at the End of the Kennel). I am consistently
amazed at Nick's guitar playing (must be in his genes --- his
father is the great Roy Harper) and song writing abilities.
Stand-out tracks include: "The Verse Time Forgot,"
"Karmageddon," & "Kettledrum Heart." This CD also gets
my vote for nicest cover art (Nick's mug shining through
a view of a HST view of some galaxy).
--------------------------
Kornog, "Korong" - No, that's not a typo. ;) The title, which aside
from being a clever anagram, is also the Breton name for a river
beside which the band recorded most of this music. I am almost
embarrassed to admit that I wasn't familiar with any of Kornog's
music before this, but when I learned that the band was coming
to Texas to play a benefit show, I picked this CD up to get better
acquainted before the gig.

I am so glad that I did. This is truly interesting music: complex
while remaining graceful and thrilling, and sounding at once
ancient and contemporary. I remain in awe of the amount
of sound these four acoustic musicians produce, and the
energy level they can maintain throughout.

I must admit that the songs, with the Scot, Jamie McMenemy
on vocals, are my favourite tracks --- especially "Child Noryce,"
with it's complex, lilting rhythm in two different time signatures.
--------------------------
June Tabor, "A Quiet Eye" - I have a June Tabor obsession,
and last year I managed to fill in many gaps in my collection.
This new release took me by surprise, about midyear. What
a pleasant surprise! From the first notes from Huw Warren's
piano, I knew I would be pleased, but when the rest of 
The Creative Jazz Orchestra joined June's earthy voice on
the second song, "A Place Called England," I was instantly
hooked. As on most of her solo albums, there are a few
traditional arrangements, pop standards, and Richard
Thompson covers ("Pharoah," in a dramatic brass-laden
version, and "Waltzing's For Dreamers"). There is also
the wonderful story-song, "The Writing of Tipperary/
It's a Long Way to Tipperary" that paints such a
brilliant picture of Edwardian England, and my all-time
favourite cover of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,"
the wonderful song penned by Ewan MacColl. 
--------------------------

I'll probably think of more as soon as I post this, so
I'd like to reserve the right to make additions. ;)

I haven't even begun to think about the mp3s
that I've collected.

response 20 of 33:

Jan 6 15:55 UTC 2001

EMI released a boxed set of Vaughan Williams last year.  For "about 
$60" (I got it for Xmas) you get eight CDs with all nine symphonies, 
plus Job, the Concerto for Two Pianos, the Tallis Fantasia, The Lark 
Ascending, etc., etc.  Very nice, if you like music in some category 
other than "Shit That No One Will Remember Two Years From Now."

response 22 of 33:

Jan 9 07:00 UTC 2001

One CD springs to mind even in my current sleep-deprived state.  My
father, whose musical taste is questionable and whose musical knowledge
is minimal, struck it rich this year in his Christmas shopping:
"Perceval:  La Que^te du Graal, Vol. 1" by La Nef.  It seems to be
modern imitation of medieval music, doubtless influenced by modern
tastes.  Whatever it is, it's damn good.  Some brief but good mp3's can
be downloaded from www.la-nef.com

response 24 of 33:

Jan 9 15:27 UTC 2001

So what were some of the older albums, Ashke?  And what about particularly
interesting downloads?