Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman.
I'll probably regret posting this sometime next week, when I'm at work, bored, and looking for something to put in my livejournal. Also, even though the Oscars are in Februrary now, not March, the list-making mediapeeps seem to make best and worst of '03 lists earlier and earlier. The only one I could offer to do any kind of informed way would be movies. PopMatters will be publishing my Top Ten of '03 in early January, allowing for the fact that there are a few potentially important movies I didn't see before the deadline (Cold Mountain and Peter Pan, which are high on the to-see list, and All the Real Girls, for which I have no real excuse).
I think about music and TV in these capacities, too, probably because I've been reading Entertainment Weekly for about ten years. But most years, this year especially, I didn't really do enough on either front to warrant real best lists. Even in a good year, I tend to be a little behind on music. My number one album of the year for '02 was The Breeders' "Title TK", but with more listening time, Sleater-Kinney's "One Beat" and Rilo Kiley's "The Execution of All Things" would have been stiff competition, at least-- but I didn't know the RK album at all until this year. That, then, is probably my favorite album in 2003. But it's not really "of" 2003; nor is Palomar's "Palomar II", which is less amazing but has songs that rocked my socks off.
In fact, I think I only own eleven or twelve albums with a 2003 release date, if that. That's counting "Let It Be...Naked", which I just got in my stocking today (and am listening to for the first time now-- so far only "Long and Winding Road" sounds much different, except for improved sound quality all around), and "Kish Kash", which I also got today and haven't listened to yet. And it's not counting "Speakerboxx/The Love Below", which I somehow don't have (and haven't heard much of) yet, but have some giftcash now, so soon. So why don't I just rank the remaining 2003 CDs. This isn't my best list. This is just a list of the 2003 albums that I know. I might be missing a used-bin acquisition or two.
* = I saw them live this year
1. "Elephant", The White Stripes*: Reading the end-of-year stuff, even the complimentary write-ups, you'd think this album didn't sell a million copies or something. Wait, maybe it didn't. It sold a lot, though. But I understand the feeling that the world is largely "over" the White Stripes. That's fine, this album doesn't need the world behind it to rule. And it really does rule, it's harder and harder for me to understand how anyone could listen to this album and not think it's the best thing they've recorded. It will save space for me to just mention the handful of tracks I'm not too crazy about: "Little Acorns" and (sometimes) "You've Got Her in Your Pocket." That might be it.
2. "Think Tank", Blur*: And we come to the second album to not make Pitchfork's top 50 albums of the year. Yes, Pitchfork is convinced that they heard 50 albums this year that are better than either of these. Wow, those 50 must be fucking awesome! Or they're on crack, because, damn, "Think Tank" is really fucking good. Blur has found that Radiohead groove of how to make every album different yet still "totally Blur." This album is "13" meets world music meets fun. I imagine that if I heard a music-critic-level number of albums this year, "Think Tank" and "Elephant" would both stick hard to the top of my list.
3. "Hail to the Thief", Radiohead: I don't like it as much as the last four albums (even Amnesiac) (*especially* Amnesiac!!), but I love Radiohead, if this is what the worst Radiohead album since Pablo Honey sounds like, we just won the music lottery with these dudes.
4. "Dear Catastrophe Waitress", Belle and Sebastian*: I really like "Fold Your Hands...", so whatever. The last three songs on this CD are amazing. The whole thing is pretty great.
5. "Welcome Interstate Managers", Fountains of Wayne: Yo, "Stacy's Mom" is great, I don't even care that frat boys love it now, it's one of half a dozen FoW songs that deserves to be an overplayed hit. It's a track three, too! This album can only sound *amazing* if you haven't listened to their other two albums, and even then, you're stretching it. I like most of the songs, but towards the end it veers a little too closely to sounding like a sequel to "Utopia Parkway." But the first three tracks are stellar, and "Supercollider" is an aces Oasis parody (right?!).
6. "Give Up", The Postal Service*: This wins the "The Menace" award for best first chunk of an album (another belated sidenote: Okay, "Title TK" is the awesome album "The Menace" could've been). The first four songs on this thing are close to flawless, the other ones just aren't as good, but I like 'em a lot more than Death Cab, who you'd think I'd like, right, but I dunno. Full disclosure: I didn't buy this, my roommate burned it for me. But then I bought it my mom for Christmas, so karmically I'm okay, right?
7. "Long Knives Drawn", Rainer Maria*: Not as good as "Better Version of Me", kind of abrasive in parts of this, but I played the crap out of this before Elephant came out.
8. "Electric Version", The New Pornographers: Another album my roommate burned for me. You know, I don't want to bust on these guys, because they're capable of making songs that consistently knock me on my ass, and render mixtape-making a lot easier. But this album is kind of hard to listen to all the way through. I can't quite figure out why. It's a sensation not unlike eating a whole bag of swedish fish too fast.
9. "Attention! Blah Blah Blah", Atom & His Package: This was on half.com when I barely knew it had been released. It's fine, I get the impression "Redefining Music" is a lot better, Mountain Goats covers and all.
10. "Reality", David Bowie: Mar swiped this for me from work, it's pretty good, not as good as what I heard of "Hours" and "Heathen", but pretty cool.
11. "Liz Phair*", Avril Lavinge: Fine, cheap shot. I don't hate this album. Some of the songs are fine, and I only really hate three of them. But my favorite Liz CD of 2003 is "Whip-Smart", which I belatedly realized fucking rules this year. By the way, Rob, have you seen that promo on The N where two girls scream about how much they hate Avril? Sublime.
12. "Masked and Anonymous", Soundtrack: Another free one. I haven't listened yet.
Can I also just say Spin is on crack for putting "Crazy in Love" at number 20 for singles of the year. 2 or 1 or bust. And "In Da Club" is fucking boring as Coldplay.
Any other thoughts I have on music will be reserved for if and when Rob does a good music news & views email/LJ post.
My new year's resolution is to write more. Stories, not reviews, reviews are easy. If anyone wants to request a story about anything, my lines are open, I'll do it for hire and free and it'll be good!
I think about music and TV in these capacities, too, probably because I've been reading Entertainment Weekly for about ten years. But most years, this year especially, I didn't really do enough on either front to warrant real best lists. Even in a good year, I tend to be a little behind on music. My number one album of the year for '02 was The Breeders' "Title TK", but with more listening time, Sleater-Kinney's "One Beat" and Rilo Kiley's "The Execution of All Things" would have been stiff competition, at least-- but I didn't know the RK album at all until this year. That, then, is probably my favorite album in 2003. But it's not really "of" 2003; nor is Palomar's "Palomar II", which is less amazing but has songs that rocked my socks off.
In fact, I think I only own eleven or twelve albums with a 2003 release date, if that. That's counting "Let It Be...Naked", which I just got in my stocking today (and am listening to for the first time now-- so far only "Long and Winding Road" sounds much different, except for improved sound quality all around), and "Kish Kash", which I also got today and haven't listened to yet. And it's not counting "Speakerboxx/The Love Below", which I somehow don't have (and haven't heard much of) yet, but have some giftcash now, so soon. So why don't I just rank the remaining 2003 CDs. This isn't my best list. This is just a list of the 2003 albums that I know. I might be missing a used-bin acquisition or two.
* = I saw them live this year
1. "Elephant", The White Stripes*: Reading the end-of-year stuff, even the complimentary write-ups, you'd think this album didn't sell a million copies or something. Wait, maybe it didn't. It sold a lot, though. But I understand the feeling that the world is largely "over" the White Stripes. That's fine, this album doesn't need the world behind it to rule. And it really does rule, it's harder and harder for me to understand how anyone could listen to this album and not think it's the best thing they've recorded. It will save space for me to just mention the handful of tracks I'm not too crazy about: "Little Acorns" and (sometimes) "You've Got Her in Your Pocket." That might be it.
2. "Think Tank", Blur*: And we come to the second album to not make Pitchfork's top 50 albums of the year. Yes, Pitchfork is convinced that they heard 50 albums this year that are better than either of these. Wow, those 50 must be fucking awesome! Or they're on crack, because, damn, "Think Tank" is really fucking good. Blur has found that Radiohead groove of how to make every album different yet still "totally Blur." This album is "13" meets world music meets fun. I imagine that if I heard a music-critic-level number of albums this year, "Think Tank" and "Elephant" would both stick hard to the top of my list.
3. "Hail to the Thief", Radiohead: I don't like it as much as the last four albums (even Amnesiac) (*especially* Amnesiac!!), but I love Radiohead, if this is what the worst Radiohead album since Pablo Honey sounds like, we just won the music lottery with these dudes.
4. "Dear Catastrophe Waitress", Belle and Sebastian*: I really like "Fold Your Hands...", so whatever. The last three songs on this CD are amazing. The whole thing is pretty great.
5. "Welcome Interstate Managers", Fountains of Wayne: Yo, "Stacy's Mom" is great, I don't even care that frat boys love it now, it's one of half a dozen FoW songs that deserves to be an overplayed hit. It's a track three, too! This album can only sound *amazing* if you haven't listened to their other two albums, and even then, you're stretching it. I like most of the songs, but towards the end it veers a little too closely to sounding like a sequel to "Utopia Parkway." But the first three tracks are stellar, and "Supercollider" is an aces Oasis parody (right?!).
6. "Give Up", The Postal Service*: This wins the "The Menace" award for best first chunk of an album (another belated sidenote: Okay, "Title TK" is the awesome album "The Menace" could've been). The first four songs on this thing are close to flawless, the other ones just aren't as good, but I like 'em a lot more than Death Cab, who you'd think I'd like, right, but I dunno. Full disclosure: I didn't buy this, my roommate burned it for me. But then I bought it my mom for Christmas, so karmically I'm okay, right?
7. "Long Knives Drawn", Rainer Maria*: Not as good as "Better Version of Me", kind of abrasive in parts of this, but I played the crap out of this before Elephant came out.
8. "Electric Version", The New Pornographers: Another album my roommate burned for me. You know, I don't want to bust on these guys, because they're capable of making songs that consistently knock me on my ass, and render mixtape-making a lot easier. But this album is kind of hard to listen to all the way through. I can't quite figure out why. It's a sensation not unlike eating a whole bag of swedish fish too fast.
9. "Attention! Blah Blah Blah", Atom & His Package: This was on half.com when I barely knew it had been released. It's fine, I get the impression "Redefining Music" is a lot better, Mountain Goats covers and all.
10. "Reality", David Bowie: Mar swiped this for me from work, it's pretty good, not as good as what I heard of "Hours" and "Heathen", but pretty cool.
11. "Liz Phair*", Avril Lavinge: Fine, cheap shot. I don't hate this album. Some of the songs are fine, and I only really hate three of them. But my favorite Liz CD of 2003 is "Whip-Smart", which I belatedly realized fucking rules this year. By the way, Rob, have you seen that promo on The N where two girls scream about how much they hate Avril? Sublime.
12. "Masked and Anonymous", Soundtrack: Another free one. I haven't listened yet.
Can I also just say Spin is on crack for putting "Crazy in Love" at number 20 for singles of the year. 2 or 1 or bust. And "In Da Club" is fucking boring as Coldplay.
Any other thoughts I have on music will be reserved for if and when Rob does a good music news & views email/LJ post.
My new year's resolution is to write more. Stories, not reviews, reviews are easy. If anyone wants to request a story about anything, my lines are open, I'll do it for hire and free and it'll be good!