Mark insists I write one of these lists this year, demanding I throw SOMETHING out there to pacify the poop list masses. I ask myself “what would Johnny Damon do?” and know in my heart he would write a poop list. I wish I had something funny to write, but I am still suffering from post election withdrawal, Doug Brien shock and seasonal affected disorder. I may have something funny to say by April. Top 22, in some particular order… Buy from amazon 1. Saturday Looks Good To Me – “Every Night” Influenced by Phil Spector and Motown as much…

Buy from amazon 1. Mark Lanegan- BUBBLEGUM Buy from amazon 2. Devendra Banhart- REJOICING IN THE HANDS Buy from amazon 3. Bonnie Prince Billy- GREATEST PALACE SONGS Buy from amazon 4. Wilco- GHOST IS BORN Buy from amazon 5. Robyn Hitchcock- SPOOKED Buy from amazon 6. Anders Parker- TELL IT TO THE DUST Buy from Amish 7. P.G. Six- THE WELL OF MEMORY Buy from amazon 8. Iron and Wine- OUR ENDLESS NUMBERED DAYS 9. Calexico- CONVICT POOL Buy from amazon 10. Tribute to Alejandro Escovedo- POR VIDA Buy from amazon 11. Joe Lovano- I’M ALL FOR YOU Reissues: Danny…

Buy from amazon 1. Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 6, Live 1964 Bob Dylan’s legendary performance Halloween night 1964. Some of the greatest folk music ever performed and the first hint of what was to come. Can you imagine being in the audience and hearing Gates of Eden and It’s All Right, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) for the first time! Buy from amazon 2. Michael Franti and Spearhead – Everyone Loves Music Songs from The Front Porch: An Acoustic Collection Everyone Love Music actually came out in the fall of 2003 but I wasn’t paying attention until 2004….

Despite the fact that my choices hardly ever effect the PoOP standings, I still feel it is my duty to muze and music to have a go at PoOP. I didn’t hear much that grabbed my ear musically, this year, so my list is rather subdued. I suspect that this is a symptom of the Post-Election Trauma Syndrome (PETS) that I and a lot of my friends and neighbors are experiencing as well. While I was not particularly fond of the Democratic candidate, anything promised to be better than the doofus fascist who apparently won thanks to the people in…

2004, hmmm. Well, I know I heard new music this year, but there are so few records I remember. I know, every year I start off with the same bitter rant. I’m the music nerd equivalent to the old high school jock longing for beers after the game with the guys. Indie rock of the 90’s? Now, that was when music was real. Flash back to better times, POOP 1993, 1994, doesn’t matter: Sebadoh – Bakesale; Giant Sand – Center Of The Universe; American Music Club – Mercury; David Gray – A Century Ends; Uncle Tupelo – Anodyne; Matthew Sweet…

ALBUMS Buy from amazon 20) Camera Obscura – Underachievers Please Try Harder – file under “Scottish indie rock that once again gets mistaken for Donovan” rock Buy from amazon 19) Blood Brothers – Crimes – file under “whatever heading you feel fit so long as it is followed by the word ‘core.”‘ rock Buy from amazon 18) Head Automatica – Decadence – file under “white boy dance rock” Buy from amazon 17) The Get Up Kids – Guilt Show – file under “emo for thirty somethings” \ Buy from amazon 16) Fiery Furnaces – Blaeberry Boat – file under “pretentious…

Isis – Panopticon         Buy Burnt by the Sun – Perfect Is the Enemy of the Good         Buy Old man gloom – Christmas         Buy Pig Destroyer – Terrifier         Buy Neurosis – The Eye of Every Storm         Buy Sunn 0))) – White 2         Buy Tusk – Tree of No Return         Buy These Arms Are Snakes – Oxeneers or The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home         Buy TV on the…

Buy from amazon BRIAN WILSON- Smile: What was previously a disjointed mess is remarkably pulled together. Even taking into consideration the passage of time and new additions, it’s a wonderful snapshot of the unlimited potential that seemed to exist in 1967. Wilson apparently had visions of being rock’s answer to Aaron Copland. Pet Sounds remains the masterpiece and this probably would have been a commercial disaster in 1967 but it would have been remembered along with the best of that year. Bring on the box set! Buy from amazon GREEN DAY- American Idiot: Career album that survives the hype. Jesus…

Buy from amazon Nirvana – With the Lights Out (DGC): This unreal 3cd plus dvd box set deserves more than a mere paragraph to do it justice but let’s just say that it shows how unbelievably talented a band they were. Each disc offers stuff that has not been issued before. I have 4 different "unofficial" box sets of theirs and there are at least 20 tracks I don’t have. The highlights include an outtake of "Verse Chorus Verse" that sounds nothing like the version that is on the "No Alternative" disc…and it’s BETTER. Also the Outtake of "Old Age",…

Buy from amazon Buy from amazon TODD SNIDER – East Nashville Skyline MOUNTAIN GOATS – We Shall All Be Healed Two literate and witty songwriters. Great songs about Linda Blair, the real meaning of “Louie Louie”, and wrestling with guilt and sin. Buy from amazon GUITAR SHORTY – Watch Your Back A Texas blues journeyman puts some rock in the mix and releases his one claim to greatness – besides being related to Jimmy Hendrix. Buy from amazon DAVID MURRAY, Pharoah Sanders and the Gwo-Ka Masters . . . Gwotet The most underrated saxophone player of our time concocts a…

Buy from amazon The Arcade Fire – Funeral (Merge) In 1971, the quirky cult film “Harold and Maude” was released catapulting Bud Cort into the spotlight for his portrayal of a teenage boy obsessed with death. Cort didn’t react positively to the newfound attention and proceeded to turn downoffers left and right. Quirky director Wes Anderson rescued Cort from obscurity this year with a small role in “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”. Now why all the talk about an obscure actor? Let it be a cautionary tale to these death-mongering Montrealeans by way of Texas. They have a unique…