1. The Streets, Original Pirate Material (Vice)
It might not blow you away at first listen, with its rather weak beats and innocuous, conversational “rapping”, but once you give Original Pirate Material a few spins, you begin to sense a lot of power in this little homemade album. Twenty-two-year-old Mike Skinner blends elements of UK garage, hip-hop, dub reggae, spoken word poetry, and punk’s DIY aesthetic to create a sound all his own, but the real clincher are his lyrics: Skinner chronicles a typical “day in the life of a geezer”, powerfully depicting the ennui, the humor, the rowdiness, and, most importantly, the passion of lower-class life, with the self-assured wit of a poet. This album is brilliant.
2. Doves, The Last Broadcast (Capitol)
Manchester’s Doves followed up their fine debut album, Lost Souls, with a masterful follow-up that combines shoegazer, New Order’s dance influence and epic song lengths, and contemporary British rock. Forget all the Radiohead comparisons; on The Last Broadcast, songs like “Pounding”, “Satellites”, “Caught By the River”, and especially the ecstatic “There Goes the Fear” have Doves reaching the soaring, uplifting, emotional heights that U2 used to reach. The only disappointment is that Doves aren’t a huge worldwide smash. Yet.
3. Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head (Capitol)
Coldplay was always a good little band, and their Parachutes album was quite likeable, but who knew that they had this in them? After stumbling onto major success both in the UK and in North America, they’ve returned with an album that’s a quantum leap from their debut, proving there’s more to them than “Yellow”. “Politik”, “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face”, “The Scientist”, and the title track show Coldplay as a much more mature band, with Chris Martin’s vocals sounding powerful at times. They started out as four unassuming guys playing honest music; now they’re ready to conquer the world.
4. The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner Bros.)
Uncool person that I am, I never owned a copy of The Soft Bulletin before this year. Still, as great as that Flaming Lips album is, I’ve really grown more attached to 2002’s Yoshimi. Whether you see it as a concept rock album or merely as a great pop record, this one’s something to behold. There’s more of the incredible studio wizardry, but Wayne Coyne and co. add touches of electronic enhancements that adds a nice little sparkle to the songs. With such life-affirming tunes as “Fight Test”, “It’s Summertime”, “Do You Realize??”, and “All We Have Is Now”, Yoshimi makes you feel glad to be alive.
5. Meshuggah, Nothing (Nuclear Blast)
Sweden’s metal kings have been grinding away for the past decade, pretty much staying loyal to their formula of ferocious, churning grindcore music, but on Nothing, they shifted gears just a little bit, yet the difference is astonishing. The time signatures are now so complex you have to be a math whiz to figure them out, and the band stretch out their tuned-down notes extra long, enough to rattle your insides (play “Nebulous” real loud . . . take my word for it). There’s a reason why Jack Osbourne wanted these guys on this past summer’s Ozzfest and Tool asked them to open on their fall tour: simply put, they’re now the most innovative and vital metal band on the planet.
6. Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)
The duo of Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri continued to take stoner rock into uncharted territory on this album, a big, sprawling, hard rock epic that had the Queens making an all-out bid for stardom. Intense, yet catchy songs like “No One Knows”, “First It Giveth”, “Go With the Flow”, “Do It Again”, and “Another Love Song” continued where Rated R left off, but under all sure-to-please-the-masses tunes are the real gems, songs that mine the deepest, darkest depths of the Black Sabbath catalog, culminating in the spectacular title track.
7. Steve Earle, Jerusalem (Artemis)
Thank heaven for Steve Earle. While aging stars opt for easy sentimentality, country acts spout right-wing dogma, and younger rock acts continue to ignore political issues in these increasingly frightening times, Earle has the courage to step forward and say what’s needed to be said. On Jerusalem, his best album since 1988’s Copperhead Road, he sounds more passionate than he’s ever sounded. “John Walker’s Blues”, a song the world needed to hear in 2002, dares to put a human face on someone many people consider a villain, while the rest of the album serves as Earle’s own State of the Union address.
8. Blackalicious, Blazing Arrow (MCA)
I’ve never been the biggest hip-hop fan, due to the fact that there has been little innovation in the mainstream in recent years. Thankfully, some of the more “underground” acts are starting to make some much-needed noise, and Blackalicious is at the top of this year’s heap, in my books, with their wild, psychedelic opus. “Sky Is Falling” sounds like a twisted outtake from The Nightmare Before Christmas, “Make You Feel That Way” is downright poetic, and Gift Of Gab lives up to his name on the mind-blowing “Chemical Calisthenics”. But what do I like best? The fact that they prove you don’t have to be a pottymouth to be a good rap artist.
9. Neko Case, Blacklisted (Bloodshot)
After moonlighting as a member of the Canadian pop geniuses The New Pornographers, the reigning queen of alt-country came back with a very strong follow-up to 2000’s Furnace Room Lullaby. Weaving an entrancing spell with her incomparable siren’s voice, Case takes listeners on a bit of a darker journey than on her previous album. It’s a more consistent sounding one, too, as guests Calexico, The Sadies, Jon Rauhouse, and Howe Gelb provide an unsettling, yet beautiful vibe throughout, and Case also starts to show some remarkable depth in her lyrics.
10. Marianne Faithfull, Kissin’ Time (Virgin)
While Carlos Santana wasted his time collaborating with mainstream hacks like Chad Kroeger and Michelle Branch, the always-cool Marianne Faithfull was working with younger artists with actual talent, such as Beck, Blur, Billy Corgan, and Pulp. Beck provides some of his trademark electro-blues, both Blur and Faithfull sound in peak form on the title track, and Corgan supplies some helpings of unabashed pop music, but Pulp steal the show on the Jarvis Cocker-penned “Sliding Through Life On Charm”, which has Faithfull looking back on her career in dignified, candid, and typically classy fashion.
Honorable Mentions:
11. Ron Sexsmith, Cobblestone Runway (Nettwerk America)
12. …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Source Tags & Codes (Interscope)
13. Sleater-Kinney, One Beat (Kill Rock Stars)
14. Sigur Rós, ( )
15. Koop, Waltz For Koop (Quango/Palm)
16. Joey Ramone, Don’t Worry About Me (Sanctuary)
17. N.E.R.D., In Search Of…
19. Badly Drawn Boy, About a Boy (Soundtrack) (XL/Beggars Group)
20. Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch)
The Best of the Rest (live albums, reissues, compilations, etc.):
1. Bob Dylan Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Revue (Columbia)
2. The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico (Deluxe Edition) (Polydor/Universal)
3. The Band, The Last Waltz (DVD)(MGM)
4. Iron Maiden, Rock in Rio (Capitol) (CD and DVD)
5. Leonard Cohen, The Essential Leonard Cohen (Columbia)