The Best Albums of 2002:
At Street Level
Introduction
Album of the Year:
The Streets - Original Pirate Material
One thing I always love, either in books, movies, or records, are stories about regular people living their lives. It could be the novels of Irvine Welsh, movies like Mike Leigh's Naked and Kieslowski's Decalogue, or albums like Blur's Parklife or Pulp's classic Different Class…those tales of people who try to find redemption among the lower classes seem to resound with much more honesty than everything else. It'' a bit odd, though, that we rarely get any music from North America that touches on that subject, and if we do, it's almost always hip-hop. I don't know what it is about tales of gritty, UK life, but I've always been a sucker for it. Must be partly due to being Canadian…nobody writes, sings, or makes movies about regular Canadian life (if they do, it never takes place in the present day), and nobody's interested, anyway.
It took me a while to get into The Streets. I had the first single, "Has it Come to This?", downloaded back in late 2001, after reading about its "UK Garage" sound. Okay, I thought, I like garage rock! Little did I know what the term really meant…the harsh shock of hearing the blippy, two-step sound proved t be a bit of a downer, and I ignored it, as the mp3 sat on the hard drive, untouched. Skip ahead to October, when I finally got around to hearing the album in its entirety, giving it a few close listens, and my views did a complete 180. This weird album, with its rather flaky, wimpy beats and the guy's curious "Mockney" accent, was a bit odd upon first listen: it wasn't hip-hop, it wasn't a flat-out two-step album, and the rapping was more laid-back than usual. It still didn't connect with me…that is, until I started following the lyrics closely. Under all the unobtrusive beats and lackadaisical vocals lurked a powerful story of what it's like to be young in the UK today. I was completely floored.
Original Pirate Material is the best depiction of British lower-class struggles since that aforementioned 1996 album by Pulp. A self-described "day in the life of a geezer", one-man-band Mike Skinner has created a cool little homemade album that overflows with life. "I'm 45th generation Roman," Skinner says in the opening seconds of the album, "But I don't know 'em/Or care when I'm spitting," perfectly summing up what Original Pirate Material is all about. "Let's Push Things Forward" confronts the hypocrisy of the young masses, when it comes to their predictable musical tastes ("You say that everything sounds the same/Then you go buy them!/There's no excuses my friend…"), and "Same Old Thing" colourfully portrays weekend pub life, showing how it can get as boring as weekday life: "Seems the only difference between mid week shit and weekend is how loud I speak." The powerful "Geezers Need Excitement" ("If their lives don't provide them this they incite violence") shows the pent-up rage bubbling beneath the surface, waiting to explode when provoked just the tiniest bit, and the sweet, soulful "It's Too Late" talks about one guy's girl troubles ("We first met through a shared view/She loved me and I did too"). The booze-fueled "Too Much Brandy", the guys-talk of "Don't Mug Yourself", and the pot vs. alcohol debate of "The Irony of it All" all add a humourous touch, while at the same timesticking to the album's theme, and never going overboard with the goofiness.
The album climaxes on the last couple tracks: "Weak become Heroes" is a spectacular, surprisingly poetic story of our hero hearing an old rave song in a fast food joint, and becoming lost in a vivid reminiscence on what his life was like almost a decade ago, before being tapped on the shoulder, and snapping back to present day. On the closing track "Stay Positive", Skinner gets right down to brass tacks, saying, "This world swallows souls/And when the blues unfold/It gets cold." The chorus of "just trying to stay positive" tries to end things on an optimistic note, but the vocal delivery of the line almost sounds slightly sarcastic, like a mantra someone desperately clings to before going completely postal. It's just the tiniest bit unsettling, and a great way to end the album.
Again, this music is very hard to categorize. Combining elements of two-step, hip-hop, spoken word, and the DIY ethic of punk rock, Mike Skinner has created a sound completely original. It might mark the beginning of a remarkable career, or it might be just another one-album wonder, but there's no denying this is a timeless album, a snapshot of life in 2002. Original Pirate Material is Skinner's own story of everyday life in his part of the world, depicting the ennui, the rowdiness, the rage bubbling underneath the surface, the humour, and above all, the passion of British lower-class life. There may have been albums that displayed more musical skill and creativity, but it's that very passion that pervades every single second of this album, and it's the primary reason why The Streets were the best of this year's lot.
2. Doves - The Last Broadcast
Manchester's Doves, with the release of their second album earlier this spring, were only one of two artists who, in my books, put out an album that is, to put it simply, perfect. For most of 2002, The Last Broadcast remained at the top of the top ten in my head; in fact, if it were not for a certain album that bowled me over back in October, this would have been my Album of the Year. Not convinced? Let me say something a bit bolder: this is the single, best rock album of the year.
If a band like Coldplay can hit it big in North America with their recent album, there's no reason why Doves can't be just as popular. But sadly, The Last Broadcast only has a cult following over here. As good as Coldplay's album is (hey, it placed third on my list here, so I'm well aware of how good it is), The Last Broadcast is a couple notches better; there's more of a spark in the songs, more of a feeling of exhileration and despair at the same time, more urgency. "Words", which opens the album, has shimmering guitars by Jez Williams and a propulsive beat by his brother Andy, with Jez singing, "Words/They mean nothing/So you can't hurt me," in an amazingly catchy combination of U2's and The Stone Roses' use of harmonies. The mellower "M62 Song" is actually based on King Crimson's old song "Moonchild", but instead of the hippy-dippy lyrics King Crimson used, Jez changes things around, singing new lyrics that bring more emotional power to the tune. "N.Y.", sung by bassist Jimi Goodwin, is a wonderful tribute to New York ("Put your finger on the map/Who cares where it lands/Cos we're all better off in New York"), while the beautifully soulful "Satellites" uses a Gospel choir to add further tone to the gentle melody. "Friday's Dust" adds an intimate, Donovan-like tinge to the album (complete with orchestration), the lovely "The Sulphur Man" sounds heavily influenced by The Smiths, and the title track adds a subtle hint of the house music from the late Eighties "Madchester" scene.
However, what clinches The Last Broadcast is the brilliant trifecta of "There Goes the Fear", "Pounding", and "Caught By the River". The lengthy "Caught By the River", which ends the album, is sumptuous, carried by an insistent acoustic guitar and Goodwin's plaintive voice, as more and more layers of guitars, drums, keyboards, and singers gradually build up until it reaches a dizzying, emotional peak, and when it suddenly concludes, you're left breathless. The catchiest song on the album, "Pounding", is so great that it should have been a huge hit Stateside. A straight-ahead rock anthem in the same vein as U2's best work ten years ago, "Pounding" is yet another exhilerating listening experience, climaxing with a perfect, Edge-style guitar solo by Jez. Still, nothing on the album, heck, nothing I've heard all year long, compares to the glorious "There Goes the Fear", a seven-minute epic that perfectly encapsulates the band's sound, incorporating modern British rock music with the techno aspects of New Order two decades ago. When the band gets to the choruses, the song simply soars, the sound of unbridled joy. A stunning album like The Last Broadcast makes you wonder why more bands don't try to sound like this. Too many artists keep their emotions hidden behind a wall of noisy guitars, muddled lyrics, and rock cliches, instead of laying it all out for the rest of us to experience alongside them. As listeners, we crave something, anything that's bears the remotest resembalnce to something that's real, and with The Last Broadcast, we get that, and then some.
3. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
Like their gets-under-your-skin smash single "Yellow", it took me a while to get into Coldplay's new album. I had downloaded all the tracks from A Rush of Blood to the Head more than a month before it was released (heck, I had a live version of "In My Place" for more than a year", and thought little of it), yet it wasn't until the week of its release when it got ahold of me, in a big way. I was completely taken aback...I thought, there's no way Coldplay can be this good. Their debut album Parachutes was quite good, in a sad, puppydog-eyed way, thoguh it didn't place in my 2000 top ten list. I was looking forward to their 2002 release, but I wasn't expecting something like this. Not in the least.
"Look at the stars/How they shine for you," Chris Martin sang on "Yellow"; as a bit of a response to that song, A Rush of Blood to the Head begins with the line, "Look at the earth from outer space/Everyone must find a place." That song, called "Politik" is the first of eleven tracks that confidently shove aside any notion that Coldplay were mere one-album wonders. You hear the change in the band's sound in the opening bars: the urgent, yet ethereal beat, the insistent guitar work by Jon Buckland, and Chris Martin's much more mature, more world-weary, more powerful singing; their transformation from a bunch of aw-shucks college kids into a world-class band is astonishing. "God Put a Smile on Your Face" has a soaring, uplifting chorus, highlighted by more gorgeous guitar work by Buckland (he's the band's secret weapon), while the piano-driven ballad "The Scientist" is beyond sublime: it's so good, it deserves to be placed alongside classic ballads like U2's "One" and Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees". Then there's the shimmering "Clocks", the folksy "Green Eyes", and the startling "Daylight", which bears a very strong resemblance to Echo & the Bunnymen. The album realy starts to soar at the end: the suite-like (semi-suite?) "Warning Sign", which sounds like it came from The Verve, back when they were at their creative peak, while "A Whisper" evokes thoughts of Dark Side of the Moon. The spectacular double-punch of the title song and "Amsterdam" are the two best songs the band has written so far, showing great lyrical depth, and a real majestic quality in the music.
You know you're hearing something special when the album's weakest song is the pretty, charming "In My Place". In less than a couple of years, Coldplay have transformed from geeky Britpoppers to artists ready to conquer the world. All the Radiohead comparisons that have been bandied about are completely unfair, but when you dare to compare the bands, there's an interesting similarity taking shape: both came out with good, albeit unspectacular, debut albums, and both shocked the world with follow-ups that showed astounding artistic growth. Could a Coldplay equivalent of OK Computer be in the works? Of course, it's totally unfair to put such expectations on Coldplay, but A Rush of Blood to the Head has raised the bar considerably. Besides, it doesn't hurt to dream a little.
4. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
This is going to be yet another "I am such a big idiot" confession: until this year, I didn't own a copy of The Flaming Lips' 1999 classic The Soft Bulletin. So, when their 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots came out, I felt I should wait a bit, and get more acquainted with the album people seem to almost universally agree is the band's best effort instead. And I did come to love The Soft Bulletin, with all of its Brian Wilson-like studio trickery melding with moments of pure pop genius. However, when I finally ponied up the cash for a copy of Yoshimi…, I seemed to gravitate to that album more, and as the weeks went by, I found myself preferring it to The Soft Bulletin.
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots continues where the previous record left off, providing more of the same magical pop rock moments, but this time, aided by Pro Tools (this is the best Pro Tools-enhanced album I have heard yet), it combines electronic elements with the band's trademark, guitar-based sound. There's more of a sheen to the album, but instead of overwhelming the songs, the techno beats, bloops, and bleeps warmly envelop them, creating a beatifully intimate experience. Led by singer Wayne Coyne and ace producer Dave Fridmann, the Lips prove again that they're simply without peer in the American pop rock genre. Theirs is a sound all their own.
The album can be read as either a straight-ahead concept album (about the character Yoshimi's struggle with those evil robots), or, more simply, someone's beautifully poetic musings on the human condition. On the memorable "Fight Test", Coyne sings, "I don't know how a man decides what's right for his own life/It's all a mystery," and on the achingly gorgeous "In the Morning of the Magicians", he intones, "What is love and what is hate and why does it matter?" Heady stuff, and proof that these guys are not your typical rock band. Although there are moments of melancholy, the emphasis on Yoshimi… is on the positive. "It's Summertime" is a song that's capable of cheering anyone up ("When you look inside all you'll see is a self-reflected inner sadness/Look outside/I know that you'll recognize it's summertime"), while "All We Have is Now" stresses living for the moment. The two high points on the album are wonderful. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1" is nothing but a pure, wide-eyed, deliriously catchy pop song, in which Coyne sings about the title character's preparations to take on those durned robots: "She's taking lots of vitamins/'Cause she knows it'd be tragic if those evil robots win." The magical "Do You Realize??" takes the cake, and is one of the best songs of the year; an uplifting, Phil Spector-like ballad, it has some of the prettiest lyrics you'll hear: "You realize that life goes fast/It's hard to make the good things last/You realize the sun doesn't go down/It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round." If you're looking for an album that's smart, catchy, sounds great, and is positively life-affirming, go no further than this one. It'll brighten your day.
5. Meshuggah - Nothing
I might have grown up with metal back in the Eighties, and have been enjoying a bit of a headbanger's renaissance over the past four years, but as much as I knew about metal bands, new and old, I sadly knew nothing about Swedish grindcore pioneers Meshuggah. That is, until I downloaded their song "Stengah" back in August…now I can't get enough of this band. They've been around since the late Eighties, developing their own distinctive sound, combining churning guitar riffs, complicated time signatures, and snarled vocals that actually pre-date the similar tuneless grunts that all nu-metalers use these days. They've been holding true to their trademark sound for the past decade, 1998's very good Chaosphere album being the most recent, but for 2002's Nothing, they tweaked their sound just the tiniest bit. And that subtle adjustment has elevated Meshuggah from a good band to a great one.
So what did they do on Nothing that blew me away, you ask? Well, they made three key changes: they switched from seven-string guitars to custom eight string guitars, allowing for astonishing range from high notes to hellishly gutteral lows; they slowed their songs down, just a touch; and as a result, instead of relying totally on speed, they often lay back and let those ultra-low notes sustain and rattle your insides. The result is like no metal album I have ever heard before: it's the most brutal, the most stylistically precise, the most innovative metal album I have heard in many years. It's also an extremely difficult album to get into; it's something you have to have a ton of patience with, but the more you live with it, the more you grow to love it. You begin to relish the little moments in each song: that sliding, low riff in "Stengah". The spectacular opening chords of "Rational Gaze". The startling lyrical creativity in "Perpetual Black Second". The remarkable, churning bridge in "Straws Pulled At Random". Drummer Thomas Haake's unbelievable intro rhythms on "Glints Collide". The surprisingly accessible "Closed Eye Visuals" and "Spasm". The climactic song "Nebulous" and the outro "Obsidian", two of the most gloriously, intensely heavy songs I have ever heard.
Like jazz artists Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman, and outsider rockers like Captain Beefheart, Meshuggah live in a musical world all their own, and are a band that you simply have to see in action to believe. I was extremely lucky enough to see them back in early October, and became a true fan as a result, seeing vocalist Jens Kidman alternatley screaming and jerking like a marionette to the insane rhythms, lead guitarist Frederik Thorendal shredding away, rhythm guitarist Marten Hagstrom and bassist Gustav Hielm sounding as precise as on record (while headbanging like it was 1984 again), and their leader Haake on drums, carrying each song with a Neil Peart-like proficiency. I only hope they don't wait another four years to record a follow-up; but in the meantime, I'll be playing this album a lot to tide me over. As should you, dear reader.
6. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For the Deaf
With their very good 2000 album Rated R, the Queens of the Stone Age garnered tons of attention from rock critics, and justifiably so. Taking the stoner-rock sound that guitarist Josh Homme and bassist Nick Oliveri perfected in the early Noneties with Kyuss, they started to add interesting new tweaks to their sound, such as full horn sections, piano, and a distinctive melodic style, thanks to Homme's lazy, drawled, yet attention-grabbing singing. Even though the critics and hipsters drooled, songs like "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" and "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" didn't quite connect with the masses. But the seeds were sown for something big.
And big is what the Queens gave us. The most highly anticipated hard rock album of the year, Songs For the Deaf had many of the same pummeling-yet-catchy songs, like "Gonna Leave You", "Another Love Song", and the phenomenal "No One Knows", and some trippy adventures into neo-psychedelia ("Sky is Fallin'"), but underneath all the pop lurked some nasty, dark, dank metal that sounds like it was mined from the deepest, darkest, smelliest depths of Black Sabbath's catalog. Both the dirge-like "Song For the Dead" and the bluesy "Hangin' Tree" are sung by part-time vocalist Mark Lanegan, yet establish the great ex-Screaming Trees singer as a potent force in the band. "Song For the Dead" especially packs a wallop, as Lanegan sings in a worn-out, screechy howl. "God is in the Radio" is a monstrously heavy blues jam that is every bit as sinister as it is catchy. The album climaxes with the prog-metal masterpiece "Song For the Deaf", with a churning bassline, various squeals, an out-of-this-world two harmony solo by Homme, and drums provided by Dave Grohl that sound like they came from the deepest pits of hell.
Speaking of Mr. Grohl, why the heck did he join the Queens, tour with them, record this album with them, then split for his lame, unoriginal, hack vanity project called the Foo Fighters? He's one of the best rock drummers on the planet, and does an amazing job on the album, yet he keeps going back to singing and playing guitar. The ego on this guy…stick to the drums, bud. Although it's peppered with tiring "let's make fun of the banality of radio" skits (one would have worked fine), Songs For the Deaf expertly blends the radio-friendly with the brutal. This album is an unabashed, ambitious attempt at rock stardom for Homme and Oliveri, and judging by their last two albums, they deserve it.
7. Steve Earle - Jerusalem
Man, oh man, do we need a guy like Steve Earle now. In this post-911, pre-desert war world, we see aging rock stars opt for cheap sentimentality and rah-rah rhetoric, mainstream country acts spouting vulgar, right-wing dogma, and a whole generation of young rock 'n' rollers completely unwilling and cowardly to speak out and question authority. In fact, as I mention below, only a tiny handful of pop musicians are daring to speak out. In 2002, Sleater-Kinney, Mr. Lif, and The Mekons all made powerful statements against the government, but Steve Earle drives it all home for us with the most passionate album of his career.
Earle's the type of liberal-minded dude who always has both a bur in his britches and something stuck in his craw, and on Jerusalem, he's the most focused he's been in years, offering his own State of the World Address for all to hear. He takes on the aftermath of September 11, America's health system, the war on drugs, the war on terrorism, illegal immigrants, the flawed prison system, America's false sense of security, and the continuing strife in the Middle East. Throw in a pretty duet with Emmylou Harris, a cowboy folk song, a breezy rocker, and one of his prototypical 'road' songs, and you have the best Steve Earle album since Copperhead Road.
"Lately I feel like the lonliest man in America," says Earle in his eloquent liner notes, and on the album, he sounds like the only sane man in a nation of lunatics, desperate to tell the real truth. "Ashes to Ashes" is a powerful look back at the World Trade Center tragedy ("Someday even man's best laid plans/Will lie twisted and covered in rust"), while the cynical "Amerika v. 6.0 (The Best We Can Do)" points fingers atpoliticians, talking-blues style. The humourous "Conspiracy Theory" has verses that ask questions ("What if I told you it was all a lie?"), only to be quietened by a creepily calm chorus ("Hush, now don't you believe it"), while "Jerusalem" sounds hopeful that there'll be peace in the Holy Land. The album's centrepiece, though, is the brilliant "John Walker's Blues", an elegiac ballad about captured American Taliban member John Walker Lindh. Over a funereal beat and some gorgeously ragged guitar work by Eric Ambel, Earle puts a human face on the kid, something the government and media did not want to do, and the song evokes the simple tragedy of a young man hoping for spiritual enlightenment who happened to fall in with a very bad crowd. In the same liner notes, Earle states, "Fierce vigilance against the erosion of its proven principles is the very heart of our peculiarly American brand of democracy." Too bad that President of theirs doesn't see things the same way.
8. Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow
Before I get to Blackalicious' great recent album, I have to get this out of the way: I was never, ever the biggest fan of hip-hop. I've always harboured little more than a passing interest…I've always been able to tell the good stuff from the garbage, but I've never been able to fully convert into a real fanatic of the genre. My hesitation to really get into rap was always due to the fact that when it came down to spending my dollars on tunes, rock always won in the end. Until this year, that is, when the amount of review cd's I received this past year allowed me to experiment a bit more in my actual cd purchases. So in 2002, I've come to greatly enjoy The Roots, N.E.R.D., and especially Blackalicious.
Blazing Arrow is the first hip-hop album to appear in my Top 10 list since the Beastie Boys' Ill Communication, and is, at least to this complete hip-hop idiot, is the best of the bunch this year. It possesses all of the characteristics I like to hear in a rap album: live instrumentation, invented melodies instead of lazily relying on samples, smart lyrics, and above all else, enough guts to experiment a bit. Blazing Arrow is a huge, 74 minute adventure in rap psychedelia: "I've got my arrow/I've got my bow I've got my fire/And I'm walking through the darkness slowly on a tightrope wire," they sing on the opening track, immediately promising to have a little adventure on this record.
The album puts an off-kilter twist on funk, as chief lyricist Gift of Gab supplies philosophic topics and turntablemeister Chief Xcel spins some astounding beats. It's nothing but great fun: the title track smartly lifts the chorus from Harry Nilsson's "Me and My Arrow", "First in Flight" features some powerful vocals by hip-hop legend Gil Scott-Heron, and "Paragraph President" has Gift of Gab weaving lyrical spells over a nasty, piano driven beat. "It's Going Down" boasts an extremely catchy chorus, "Brain Washers" (with Ben Harper on guitar and vocals) gets just plain trippy, while "Day One" has a lazy, summer groove to it. The best tracks are phenomenal: "Sky is Falling" combines sharp social commentary with a supercool Danny Elfman-style melody, and "Chemical Calisthenics" showcase's Gab's supreme skill at rhyming. The nine-minute opus "Nowhere Fast", featuring Roots drummer ?uestlove Thompson, rivals The Roots' great "Water" (see below) for the best experimental hip-hop song of 2002. The wonderful "Make You Feel That way" has some of the finest positive lyrics I've heard in a rap song, and the three-part suite "Release" has a (thankfully) brief appearance by Zach De La Rocha and a phenomenal poem by Saul Williams. Blazing Arrow takes hip-hop into new territory, and is the perfect album to open an amazing world of music for dullards like yours truly. If rap continues in this same direction, I'll be happy.
9. Neko Case - Blacklisted
Following her excellent 2000 album Furnace Room Lullaby, alt-country queen Neko Case decided to kick back and have some fun with her fellow cohorts in The New Pornographers, interrupting her solo tours with appearances as co-vocalist of the Canadian pop group. She was also gradually working on a new album, which was recorded in Tucson, Arizona. At last, this past summer, we finally got to hear Case's follow-up to her breakthrough album.
Blacklisted goes even further in establishing Neko Case as a major talent. More musically focused than Furnace Room Lullaby, Blacklisted focuses on brooding atmospherics, instead of upbeat tunes, and the result is wonderfully unsettling. It sounds straight out of a David Lynch movie, and the combination of Case's entrancing voice, the slow honkytonk waltzes, Dallas Good's surf guitar, Jon Rauhouse's superb work on myriad instruments, and the old-fashioned, echoey Owen Bradley-style production sound, makes you want to look furtively around you in case a backwards talking dwarf, or even worse, Frank Booth himself, is lurking behind your back.
More introspective and abstract than her previous two albums, Blacklisted is a taut 40 minutes of darkly moving music, from the spooky "Things That Scare Me" ("I'm a dying breed, who still believes/Hunted by American dreams"), the sad "Deep Red Bells", the romantic "Tightly", the wistful "Wish I Was the Moon", and the ethereal title track, but the album's centrepiece is the stunning "Pretty Girls". Originally used in the 2000 Sam Raimi film The Gift, it's the most perfect blend of dank instrumentation, passionate lyrics ("You'll see the world like a bird/Diving down low, flying up high/Through all of these saccharine/Gutters we'll ride and I won't/Say that I told you so"), and haunting melody on the record. A couple of great covers, in the form of "Look For Me (I'll Be Around)" and "Runnin' Out of Fools" complement the originals, all written by Case, perfectly. The sound is far from frigid, though, as the creepy chill of the music and lyrics are wrapped by Case's gorgeous voice, like a big, thick blanket. In my original review, written back in early August, I said, "On the song 'Stinging Velvet', Case sings, 'Cold and shivering warm.' I couldn't describe this album more perfectly." I still stand by that.
10. Marianne Faithfull - Kissin Time
There was a weird couple of weeks this past summer where Marianne Faithfull kept appearing. First, I received a copy of her astonishing new album, Kissin Time, and while I was getting to know it, I downloaded a bunch of earlier Faithfull cuts, like the biting "Why'd Ya Do It", her heartbreaking "Sister Morphine", and even her cutsie-wootsie "As Tears Go By". Soon after, I caught her excellent performance on David Letterman. Then she popped up on a Gap ad. Then I received a copy of the posthumous release of poet Gregory Corso's Die On Me, which was co-produced by Faithfull, and features readings by Marianne and conversations she had with the ailing Corso. Then I stumbled across her long-forgotten, late-Sixties movie Girl On A Motorcycle one late night. Was someone trying to tell me something?
Kissin Time is Faithfull's strongest album since 1979's Broken English. While stale veterans like Carlos Santana continue to collaborate with mainstream mediocrities to boost album sales (Michelle Branch? Chad flippin' Kroeger?), Faithfull had enough brains to at least enlist the services of some actual, talented artists. Beck pops in to produce the almost-electroclash "Sex With Strangers", the touching "Like Being Born", and a terrific cover of Becks song "Nobody's Fault". Billy Corgan shows his immense talent as a pop producer on the elegaic "I'm On Fire", the pretty "Wherever I Go", and the sweet, completely irony-free cover of Herman's Hermits' "I'm Into Something Good". "Song For Nico", produced by Dave Stewart, has Faithfull in full Leonard Cohen mode, singing about her fellow doomed Sixties muse, all but saying, "There but for the grace of God go I."
Best of all, though, is her collaboration with Blur on the title track (likely one of the last times we'll hear Blur with guitarist Graham Coxon), and especially the four minute masterpiece "Sliding Through Life on Charm", recorded with Pulp. Pulp's resident genius Jarvis Cocker wrote the lyrics after reading Faithfull's memoirs, and the song perfectly sums up her career in perfect, acid-tongued, yet classy, fashion, climaxing with the line, "I wonder why the schools don't teach anything useful nowadays, like how to fall from grace, and slide with elegance from a pedestal I never asked to be on in the first place." To paraphrase Tarantino: she's so cool. She's so cool. She's so cool.
11. Ron Sexsmith - Cobblestone Runway
I was never a huge fan of Ron Sexsmith. I've always been aware of his music and songwriting credits on other albums, but his stuff just never wowed me, until I went at the last minute to one of his shows back in late September. I lucked into a free ticket, proceeded to get totally blown away by his performance, and got a copy of his new album right after the show ended. Cobblestone Runway is Sexsmith's most musically adventurous album, which was recorded with Swedish producer Martin Terefe. He left the tapes with Terefe, for him to do whatever he wanted with them, and the wily producer went and added subtle hints of synths and electronic music, backing singers, some mild hip-hoppy beats, and strings. These types of studio tricks usually add too much sheen to a record, but on this album, it's tastefully done. As with every Sexsmith release, there are gentle ballads, like "Former Glory", "Heart's Desire", "Least That I Can Do", the hymn-like "God Loves Everyone", and "The Less I Know" (all beautifully done), but the best traacks include "These Days", with its backing singers, the sardonic "Disappearing Act", the disco-tinged (huh?) "Dragonfly on Bay Street", and the stupendous "Gold in Them Hills" (with Coldplay's Chris Martin helping out). This album is simply exquisite...Ron Sexsmith won himself a new fan this year.
12. …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes
Ah, it's like it's 1994 again…back then, in the heyday of American indie rock, I loved such straight-ahead, honest, yet ambitious guitar rock like this. I don't know if anyone else has considered this, but I think Trail of Dead's major label debut sounds like the great album that Superchunk never made. Every bit of Source Tags & Codes is big, from the (dare I say) emo-like melodies, to the layers and layers of guitars, to the utterly ferocious Keith Moon-styled drumming. But under all the hard rock lies a smart band, and their lyrics are all above average fare, from their own spin on Baudelaire's poetry ("Baudelaire"), to the sensitive lyrics of "How Near How Far", to the self-effacing (and darn catchy) "Relative Ways". But sheer power is what the band is best at, and it's best exemplified on tracks like "It Was There That I Saw You", "Another Morning Stoner", and the roaring "Monsoon". The whole album is like standing outside on a windy day, the roar of the wind creating a white noise, a noise so deafening it seems to give you a sense of inner calm. The #12 ranking I give this album doesn't really do it justice…in any other year, it would have been a serious contender for my Album of the Year.
13. Sleater-Kinney - One Beat
"Where is the questioning/where is the protest song?/Since when is skepticism un-American?" It took until the late summer of 2002 for a younger rock band to finally speak out against the Bush Administration. Sadly, Sleater-Kinney are the only high-profile (if you dare to call them high profile) rock band with the guts to make that kind of statement. It's sad, really, but at least we have these three ladies to offer a fresh perspective on things, and at this moment, Sleater-Kinney are as good as they have ever been. Sure, One Beat doesn't quite have the fire of Dig Me Out or Call the Doctor, but on the new record, they're actually a good band. They've been improving steadily with every album, and now they're a very solid rock outfit, displaying both power and some great pop hooks. "Oh!", "Prisstina", "Sympathy", "Funeral Song", and the killer "Step Aside" rank among the best songs they've ever written, but it's the duo of the 9-11 lament "Far Away" and the bold "Combat Rock" ("Is out guilt erased by the pain that we've endured?") that get ahold of you in the end. We badly need a band like Sleater-Kinney these days.
14. Sigur Ros - ( )
It's easy to bash Sigur Ros. After all, they wouldn't be half as popular had Radiohead's Thom Yorke not sung their praises a couple years ago. Cynics also add that this is just another band for hipster wannabe's, desperate to look cool, to get into and feel proud of their supposed indie cred. Plus, Sigur Ros's singer Jonsi Birgisson sings in a mutated form of Icelandic Esperanto. And add on the fact that they titled their latest album with a pair of parentheses, and, well, you have an easy target for the grumps out there. But what they're missing out on is some genuinely beautiful music. Unlike the grandiose, orchestral sounds of 2000's Agaetis Byrjun, ( ) is more of a straight-ahead group effort. The languid songs still follow the formula, ebbing and flowing gently, but this album sounds more up front, more intimate than the big sound of the last album, and more emphasis is placed on guitars and keyboards (there are no song titles, but the best of the bunch are tracks 3, 4, 6, and 8). There's nothing wrong with ambitious art-rock, and Sigur Ros does an admirable job. Besides, why can't Radiohead fans have their own chill-out music?
15. Koop - Waltz For Koop
This superultracool blend of jazz, electronica, and lounge music has been a big favourite of mine for most of the year. It's more of a jazz record than a straight techno album, as the Swedish duo of Oscar Simonsson and Magnus Zingmark use both sampled recordings and live instrumentation, and add on very subtle hints of electronic programming, creating an album that's smooth, warm, and organic sounding. Guest vocalist Celia Stalin provides breathy, sultry vocals to "Baby" and the title track, Mikael Sundin provides an equally smooth male counterpoint on "Tonight", veteran singer Terry Collier sings on the soulful "In A Heartbeat", and British beatniky-Tom Waits-type Earl Zinger adds a hipster vibe to "Modal Mile". What steals the show, though, is teenaged singer Yukumi Nagano, who simply shines on the breezy "Summer Sun" and the nocturnal "Bright Nights". What I also really like is the restraint Koop shows on the album; most electronic artists get too self-indulgent and carry on for 78 minutes, but Waltz For Koop is a quick 35 minutes, and you get the sense that not a minute was wasted. This one's great for very late nights.
16. Joey Ramone - Don't Worry About Me
What a gift Joey Ramone left us, in the form of his posthumous solo debut album. As he was dying of cancer, he still was plugging away, making music, and what great music there is on Don't Worry About Me. Although it's only Joey and guest musicians (including drummer Marky Ramone on a few tracks), this is still essentially a Ramones record, with some of the catchiest punk pop tunes this side of Rocket To Russia. "Stop Thinking About It" is as good as anything the Ramones put out in their heyday, "Mr. Punchy" is nothing but goofy fun, and "Venting (It's A Different World Today)" has Ramone taking stock of the world around him, while "I Got Knocked Down (But I'll Get Up)" and the title track have Joey commenting on his ailment while maintaining a positive attitude. Best, though, is his fabulously joyous cover of the standard "It's A Wonderful World" (if only folks would play this one at weddings!), and his googly-eyed love song to CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo, aptly titled, "Maria Bartiromo". From beyond the grave, Joey came back to remind us, to quote Jack Kerouac, "Live your lives out? Nah…love your lives out."
17. N.E.R.D. - In Search Of…
Back in 2001, N.E.R.D. released this album in the UK, where it received plenty of critical praise, but something about the record didn't seem to sit well with the group. So, instead of putting out the same thing in North America, they gave the album a complete overhaul, replacing the heavy synth and drum machine sound with real guitars, bass, piano, and drums, and the difference was incredible, the beefed-up production being a huge improvement over the UK release. The group, consisting of famed producers The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) and their buddy Shay, have put out an album that expertly blends rap, R & B, and hard rock: "Lapdance" serves up some social commentary with a nasty pop hook, "Rock Star" puts Fred Durst's corporate rap-metal to shame, "Things Are Getting Better", "Run To the Sun", and "Bobby James" echo 1970s soul, while the double-punch of "Truth Or Dare" and "Tape You" get things extremely steamy. In Search Of… goes on just a little too long, but its best moments more than make up for it. With this record, the Neptunes gave us something infinitely better than the kiddie pop and rap that they've prodiced in the past, something with actual substance and swaggering style.
18. The Roots - Phrenology
This is a tough album for me to assess right now, since it's the only December release in my top 20. Phrenology is an excellent hip-hop record, which has The Roots (led by drummer ?uestlove) stretching the genre further and further; it's an obvious lock for my top 20, but it's likely one that'll have to grow on me more as the months go by. That's not to say it's not lacking in some killer tracks that grab you instantly: "Thought At Work" has a killer beat and guitar lick, as well as some great wordplay by rapper Black Thought; "The Seed 2.0" has an utterly awesome funk guitar riff and smooth vocals by Cody Chestnutt, singer Jill Scott sparkles on "Complexity", and poet Amiri Baraka takes centre stage on the powerful "Something In The Way Of Things (In Town)". The real highlight, though, is the ten minute epic freakout "Water": after Black Thought tells the heartfelt story of his bandmate Malik B's substance abuse, the song then dissolves into an extended, psychedelic, Captain Beefheart-meets-hip-hop jam that will have your head spinning. The more mind-blowing The Roots try to be, the better they get.
19. Badly Drawn Boy - About A Boy
A year ago, if you had asked me which of Badly Drawn Boy's two 2002 albums would likely have been the better one, I, as well as the majority of BDB fans, would have predicted the album over the movie soundtrack. Incredibly, that wasn't the case, as the amiable, but bland Have You Fed The Fish? simply didn't measure up to the film music Damon Gough wrote for the very enjoyable Hugh Grant movie. Whereas Fish had one great song, in the form of "I Was Wrong/You Were Right", About A Boy had around seven. "A Peak You Can Reach", the hummable "Something To Talk About", "Above You, Below Me", "River-Sea-Ocean", the gentle, dare-I-say-Dylanesque "Walking In Stride", and the cute Christmas tune "Donna & Blitzen" have Gough in peak form, but he steals the show on the sublime "Silent Sigh": with its Lennon-like vocal and piano style, and its beautiful melody, it's the best song Gough has ever written. Stick in some nice little instrumental interludes, and you have a really good little soundtrack album. He may be inconsistent, but when he's on top of his game, Gough is one of the UK's best songwriters.
20. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Now, I know I'm going to catch some flak for this (heh…if anyone reads this, that is). After all, for over a year and a half, Yankee Hoel Foxtrot has been the subject of heaps and heaps of praise from critics and fans. And I haven't been totally in the dark: I've had the album downloaded for well over a year. That said, after all that time, I still believe it's a very good album, but just not a great one. Jeff Tweedy & co. have indeed put out the strongest album of their career: The beautifully psychedelic "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart", the pop gem "Kamera", the wicked Crazy Horse guitars of "I'm The Man Who Loves You", and especially the ultra-powerful "War On War" and "Ashes of American Flags" provide YHF's strongest moments. I don't dislike this album (it's in my top 20, for crying out loud!); I like this album a lot, but compared to, say, my top five albums this year, it just didn't knock me out as much.
Honourable Mentions of 2002:
(The best of the rest, in alphabetical order)
Badly Drawn Boy - Have You Fed the Fish?
A quality follow-up to his debut album, but I think we were all expecting a bit more.
Clinic - Walking With Thee
A contagious blend of garage rock and freaky harmonics. The title track is a fine, fine song.
Departure Lounge - Too Late To Die Young
Brits living in Nashville playing smart, catchy, genre-bending pop music. A real buried tresure.
Fu Manchu - California Crossing
Stoner rock does not get any better than this; the band sounds tighter and more melodic than ever.
The Gourds - Cow Fish Fowl or Pig
Call these guys alt-country dadaists...a bunch of talented musicians with a real demented streak.
The Sadies - Stories Often Told
Canada's best country act take their sound even further. Think the Byrds playing psychedelic surf country.
Sahara Hotnights - Jennie Bomb
This all-girl Swedish band delivers, big time. Intense, tuneful, and very tightly played.
Sing-Sing - The Joy of Sing-Sing
Former Lush guitarist Emma Anderson returned with a good album of light, fun space-pop.
Stereo Total - Musique Automatique
Freaky, insanely catchy, and loads of fun, this is one of the best synth-pop albums of the year.
Tegan And Sara - If It Was You
The cool Canadian twins followed up their debut with more pop rock than folk, and it worked very well.
Not included, but not forgotten:
The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious (technically a 2000 release), Echobrain - Echobrain, The Donnas - Spend the Night, Louise Goffin - Sometimes A Circle, The Mooney Suzuki - Electric Sweat, Bobby Bare, Jr. - Young Criminals' Starvation League, The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Behind the Music
The Best Ineligible Releases of 2002:
(This basically includes albums containing previously released material, like live albums, reissues, and compilations)
1. Bob Dylan Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Revue
Of all the cd's I reviewed this past year, the one that I was most anxious to get was this one, and when it arrived, it completely made my year. After 27 years, we finally have the definitive document that covers Dylan's legendary fall 1975 tour, and the album is loaded with spectacular performances by Dylan and his huge backing band. Bob himself is in fine form here, sounding harsh and angry once, sneering the next, and then as tender as he's ever sounded. This is one of the best live albums I've ever heard, and actually ranks right up there with my official Album of the Year. Simply spectacular, and something every cd collection should not be without.
2. The Velvet Underground & Nico (Deluxe Edition)
This new deluxe edition release of the classic album finally gives Velvets fans the perfect look at a timeless record. Both the stereo and mono versions are provided, and the previously unreleased mono version, with its heavier sound, offers listeners a different listening experience. Coupled with some great extra tracks from Nico's Chelsea Girls album and a lavish digipak layout (not to mention a peelable banana), this sucker is another must-have.
3. The Band - The Last Waltz (DVD)
I'm younger than 35, and I know I'm supposed to like stuff that's way cooler than this. I know this movie is bloated, that it's flawed, that it's nothing but a love letter from a coked-up Martin Scorsese to the preening Robbie Robertson, but one thing remains unchanged more than ten years after I first saw it: I love this movie. It's gorgeous to look at, it's heartbreaking, and it has some brilliant performances, both by the band and their guests, but the clincher for me is the late Rick Danko's vocals on "It Makes No Difference", the prettiest sad song ever written.
4. Iron Maiden - Rock In Rio (CD & DVD)
These releases were a real treat for us Maiden fans, as the metal legends played an amazing show in front of a quarter million Brazilians. The cd is great fun, but even better is the dvd, which has astonishing picture quality and some intense Dolby 5.1 surround sound, as well as a wealth of extra features. This made me feel sixteen again, but this time, in a good way!
5. The Essential Leonard Cohen
I've always loved Leonard Cohen's music, but amazingly, I've never owned a cd by him (opting for taped cd's), so this compilation was just what the doctor ordered. With the emphasis placed on his three best albums (guess which ones they are), as well as a lengthy parade of other classic tracks, this is a phenomenal introduction to Cohen's work. The best Sunday morning music you'll ever come across.
Honourable mention: The Ramones - End Of the Century (reissue), Fields And Streams (Kill Rock Stars compilation)
Introduction
The year started off slowly, which is always typical, with releases by Joey Ramone, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, The Hives, and Wilco leading the way...then, as spring got going, we heard stuff by Doves, Koop, and Blackalicious, but still, there wasn't much to get very excited about. Then summer and fall rolled along, bringing with it a huge onslaught of great albums...needless to say, the majority of my top twenty albums were released in the last half of 2002. This year, some old favourites came through with some outstanding pieces of work, a couple of veteran acts got through to me for the very first time, I actually purchased two excellent hip-hop albums this year (which is a first), a bunch of Swedish bands blew away much of what North America has to offer, a living legend released one of the best live albums I have ever heard, there were a couple of amazing releases by bands who I'd never thought had it in them, and two simply perfect albums released by two very different artists outshone everything else by a country mile.
First off, as always, the albums from 2001 that I was stupid enough not to notice until this year:
Past albums of the year (uh, please bear in mind I was sixteen when I started this):
1986: Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time
1987: Def Leppard - Hysteria
1988: Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
1989: Voivod - Nothingface
1990: Megadeth - Rust In Peace, Led Zeppelin Box Set (tie)
1991: Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
1992: R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
1993: Nirvana - In Utero
1994: Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
1995: Elastica - Elastica
1996: Pulp - Different Class
1997: Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind
1998: Monster Magnet - Powertrip
1999: Metallica - S & M
2000: Yo La Tengo - ...And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
2001: Bob Dylan - Love And Theft, The Langley Schools Music Project - Innocence & Despair (tie)
