I suppose it's time to round up those "Top 10" lists for the year's best tunes. And I'll get to that, but I'll get the easy one out of the way first...the year's best movies. I don't think there's ever been a worse year for films. Maybe some of the late December releases will give the Academy enough choices for some Oscar picks, but it HAS been pretty bleak & weak. My faves: 1. Chuck & Buck 2. Wonder Boys 3. Eyes of Tammie Fay (not sure if this is officially a 2000 release or not) Now, on to the music, and happily this was a superb year for new music. Whittling down from the discs I bought this year was VERY tough, and sadly many didn't make my top 10 but are still excellent records. Here's my 10, in alphabetical order, not in order of preference. It would be impossible for me to do that as I couldn't pit any of these against the other: 1. Erykah Badu, "Mama's Gun": This is a fine if not overly long awaited follow up to Baduizm. She could've played it safe and made Baduizm II but instead she branches out all over the place. Some of these selections sound like Billie Holiday singing Stevie Wonder songs. Imagine how sublime that would be and you have a sense of the beauty of this record. 2. Brian Blade Fellowship, "Perceptual": Between Brian's quiet leadership, truly outstanding musicianship and solos throughout, accessible melodies, and the skillful production of Daniel Lanois, this is one memorable disc. The highlight for me is "Steadfast" with the Joni vocal. Haunting as can be, it hints at how creative a partnering of Joni and Lanois would be. 3. Ani Difranco, "To The Teeth": My discovery (thanks to you guys) of the year! Ani is the Joni of her generation, with her lyrics ranging from light and humorous to poignant to enraged and sometimes all at the same time. Musically she's all over the map, introducing new colors and sounds on every track. This disc features rock, jazz, funk, hip-hop, and folk sounds and she makes every second of it work. And I love her guitar playing, she uses it almost as a percussion instrument sometimes! On the strength of this one, I bought about 7 more Ani's and none of them disappoint! 4. EmmyLou Harris, "Red Dirt Girl": EmmyLou proves herself to be an excellent songwriter as well as an interpreter of others' songs. Her songs here are all memorable, her singing is strong and sensitive, and her duet with Dave Mathews on "My Antonia" is simply beautiful. Trying to pick a favorite song on this one is tough because each song you hear seems to top the one you just heard! 5. Rickie Lee Jones, "It's Like This": Rickie recruits some crack talent; Joe Jackson, Ben Folds, Dan Hicks, Taj Mahal, and takes songs that are familiar yet instantly makes them her own. Great production, the various instrumental arrangements and sometimes sparse instrumentation (I LOVE just her voice with a stand-up bass) keeps the record fresh and surprising. "One Hand, One Heart" w/Joe Jackson is the duet of the year. 6. Shelby Lynne, "I Am Shelby Lynne": I've enjoyed this one all year long - she's been described as a cross between Dusty Springfield & Patsy Cline, and that's pretty accurate. Especially "Dusty in Memphis". My only complaint with this one is that it only runs a little over 30 minutes. The songs are all instantly likeable. Typically after hearing it, I give it a second run-through, and that's rare for me. She does some great Phil Spector wall of sound harmonies as well. 7. Radiohead, "Kid A": Rolling Stone described Thom Yorke's vocals as sounding like mercury, and that's pretty apt. I'm not sure what the "concept" of this record is, except that it's about alienation, or so I've been told. It's hypnotic and cryptic. It's rock, it's electronica, it's space music. It's Pink Floyd for the 21st century. And has anyone else discovered the booklet hidden under the disc holder? This record is derivative of nothing, and I'm curious to see where Radiohead will go next. 8. Patti Smith, "Gung Ho": This one was my #1 for a goodly portion of the year. Patti is at the top of her game, and this band rocks hard and seems to push her vocally even as her emotional vocals push back. "Strange Messengers" is one of the most moving things I heard this year, and in a perfect world would be a rock anthem like Stairway to Heaven & Free Bird. I'm a sucker for a powerful guitar hook and this disc is loaded with them. Of course, you know that lyrically Patti's gonna be on the mark, and she doesn't disappoint in that arena either. 9. Steely Dan, "Two Against Nature": Whodathunk the Dan was gonna make a "comeback" like this! It's like they fell asleep for 20 years, and woke up and decided to make a record on their own terms with no assimilating the last 20 years of pop music, and thank God for that! They're still writing about obscure things like "Gaslighting Abbie" and still playing the roles of the dirty leering uncles. Same clean guitars, same state of the art production. They don't show any signs of growth, but who cares when they can be this stellar! And congrats to them for landing their rightful spot in the R&R Hall of Fame! 10. XTC, "Wasp Star/Apple Venus Volume 2": This was the second collection of songs they've released since joining TVT records. Where AV1 was orchestral and more acoustic, this is more power-pop and "Black-Sea"-ish. And can these guys write hooks! "The Wheel & The Maypole" alone has more brilliant ideas than most artists come up with on an entire disc. Honorable mentions: Bubbling under the top ten, I have to mention these discs which didn't crack the top but are really fine nonetheless: 1. Eels, "Daisies of the Galaxy" 2. Joan Osborne, "Righteous Love" 3. Paul Simon, "You're The One" 4. Elliott Smith, "Figure 8" 5. U2, "All That You Can't Leave Behind" (just haven't listened to it enough but it's probably top 10...a great return to form!) Bob NP: Neil Young, "Farmer's Song" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient of this message you are hereby notified that any use, review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, reproduction or any action taken in reliance upon this message is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of the company. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
