1. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN- The Rising: This articulate and compassionate disc is easily the most impressive album of the year. Even the songs that at first blush sound like he could have written them in his sleep 20 years ago have a dark side that take on greater significance. 2. GEORGE HARRISON- Brainwashed: His best work since “All Things Must Pass”. It reveals a man totally at peace with himself and his God (if not necessarily with the rest of the world) who played a mean ukulele. 3. SONIC YOUTH- Murray Street: Their albums are usually hit or miss depending on…

SKIN-CRAWLING KING SIZE SHACKLES, GLAD TO HAVE ‘EM ON: FROM THE MOUTHES OF BROKEN TEETH IN 2002 Junior Kimbrough ­ You Better Run (The Essential Junior Kimbrough) (Fat Possum/Epitaph) Just what you¹d want to hear if you walked into any Mississippi backwoods juke joint in the 1990¹sŠnew blues the old ways, old men broke, versa, a busted make-shift stage wobbling defiantly and without care into the night. Ralph Stanley ­ Ralph Stanley (Sony/DMZ) Like it’s his first album ­ post-mortem; the songs of bluegrass spiritual heaven. Time has made this voice that of the reaper, always on the verge of…

The Hives -Veni Vidi Vicious (Burning Heart) Really it’s a 2000 release but tough poop! This is one of the catchiest CD’s I’ve heard in years. Their earlier releases have more of a straight up punk sound, but Veni is just good old garage rock with some supreme riffs. There are a couple of tracks that touch on the punk flavor…all the better. Hearing them on the radio kinda took away some of the “exclusive”, cool vibe but they deserve all the praise they’ve received. The Donnas – Spend the Night (Atlantic) A band who has shown some real progression…

Top Thirteen Solomon Burke, Don’t Give Up on Me Blind Boys of Alabama, Higher Ground VA None But the Righteous: Masters of Sacred Steel. Dave Holland Big Band, What Goes Around Peter Wolf, Sleepless Dixie Chicks, Home Spoon, Kill the Moonlight Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The Tyranny of Distance Norah Jones, Come Fly mth Me. She is an average singer who sings pop tunes – not jazz. She makes my list for what she doesn’t do. There are no triple octave leaps, with pretension of hip hop gospel and hands held high. She simply sings the melody without embellishment….

1. Beck Sea Change DGC/Geffen Records Once again, he’s outdone himself. Even Jackson Browne should be suitably impressed with this gloom n’ doom beauty. Take Mutations and remove any semblance of humor. 2. Aimee Mann Lost in Space Superego Records I don’t understand how Bachelor No. 2 got raves and this one seems to fly under the radar for most. If she has more of these in her misery treasure trunk, by all means keep em comin’! 3. Super Furry Animals Rings Around the World Beggars/XL Records A real mish-mosh of Beatle-pop, electronica insanity and 70s cliché-isms. A real feast…

These are a few of my favorite things. Albums of 2002 Fingathing: Superhero Music On their second album, Fingathing make hip-hop fun again by adding cello, long drum interludes and an array of vocal samples. Mum: Finally We Are No One Another sophomore release, this from an Icelandic band whose work recalls Bjork’s “Vespertine.” Music boxes, bells, and crisp layered sounds conjure images of snow and ice-covered lakes. Deadly Avenger: Deep Red An assortment of soundtrack flavors, breakbeats and old school funk, co-starring the Budapest Film Orchestra. The album comes with stickers too! Dom and Roland: Back for the Future…

New Order – Get Ready Yeah yeah, i know, I know… “New Order are a great singles band, but name one full CD masterpiece…” Hell, I dunno. all I know is that this CD feels like a real return to form. The typical bass lines, the sometimes idiot/ironic lyrics, the tentative (to put it charitably) singing, etc. etc. Despite all that, I sang along to it, I enjoyed the noises it made and i’m sure that there at least 3 great songs on it which will only show themselves to best effect when “Substance 3” comes out in 3 years….

How the time flies! I can hardly believe it’s time to be compiling the poop again already. Well, as usual, there seemed to be a lot of music that I liked this year, and also a ton that I missed out on. Fortunately, no longer working at a record store, I didn’t have to hear a lot of low grade crap over and over. Here’s a cheer to small blessings. I seem to be getting set in my ways as I age, and I’m going to be a whopping 52 this year, so you’ll probably see a number of familiar…

2001…I have purchased more music during this year than in any other single year that I can recall. Unfortunately for POOP purposes, very little of it was new music. I’d be hard pressed to come up with 10 top picks of 2001 based upon the new releases of this year. It’s not as though I’m jaded. I’m very enthusiastic about the music I found in 2001. So for my purposes and as if anyone really cares, I’m disregarding the original release date of my picks and listing those things that I have truly dug. Obviously dominated by 60s-70s Italian soundtracks….

Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot This record reflects the musical climate better than any other, and in a most unfortunate way, in that it’s impossible to discuss the music without first looking at the business end of things. It’s absolutely beyond my comprehension that the music industry has become such a quagmire of crapulence that the same company that released Van Morrison’s most challenging and rewarding works would reject this and set the band adrift. Welcome to the modern world. It is especially egregious when one considers the economics involved. This is a band with such a built in, die-hard audience…

What I listened to during this very difficult year… David Gray – White Ladder Joe Henry – Scar Lucinda Williams – Essence Pete Yorn – Music for the Morning After Ryan Adams – Gold John Mellencamp – Cuttin’ Heads Alison Krauss + Union Station – New Favorite Matthew Ryan – Concussion Gillian Welch – Time(The Revelator) Various – A Nod to Bob (Tribute to Bob Dylan) Shelby Lynne – Love, Shelby John Hammond – Wicked Grin Buddy & Julie Miller – Buddy & Julie Miller Raul Malo – Today Keith Jarrett Trio – Inside Out Jubilant Sykes – Wait For…

Every year, it’s the same thing. The contributors to the grand tradition of Poop List-dom are witty, brilliant and entertaining in their recounting of the previous year’s offerings. Every year, funny things are said, insightful comments made. This year is obviously no different. The only thing different is me. I’m here to provide my list as-is. There won’t be any embellishments or crazy phrase dropping. Names, thoughts, words. That’s it. To the point and without the usual brouhaha. Joy. As per usual, my list won’t descend in order from greatest to worst, but in whatever order I’ve managed to pull…

Top 10 of 2001 1.) Modest Mouse – The Moon + Antarctica 2.) Nick Cave – No More Shall We Part 3.) Lovage – Songs To Make Love To… 4.) Mogwai – Rock Action 5.) Bright Eyes – Oh, Holy Fools 6.) Tomahawk – Tomahawk 7.) The International Noise Conspiracy – A New Morning 8.) Fugazi – The Argument 9.) Murder City Devils – Thelema 10.) The Priests – Street Walker

It’s January 31,2002 as I write this and reflecting upon the year past, I think it’s safe to say that 2001 didn’t exactly go as planned. Between planes flying into buildings, anthrax, and the revitalization of that god damn Lee Greenwood song, there were enough disasters to last a lifetime. Thankfully, there was enough good music being released to get me through those dark days I spent fretting over the whereabouts of Dick Chaney. By the way, have we found Mr. Enron yet? It looked like some heartless, soulless robot at the state of the union address. Oops, my mistake,…

Fix’s Favorites of 2001 1. Wilco — – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 2. Divine Comedy — – Regeneration (Alphabetical) • BRMC — – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club • Bjork — – Vespertine • Cannibal Ox — – The Cold Vein • Fugazi — – The Argument • Ocean Colour Scene — – Mechanical Wonder • Jim O’Rourke — – Insignificance • Pernice Brothers — – The World Won’t End • Radiohead — Amnesiac And finally, can’t we please stop yapping about The White Stripes and The Strokes?!

1. Bob Dylan – Love & Theft 2001 was a great year for new music but this record is on a much higher level. That Dylan and his band were able to create this music in a couple of weeks is amazing! I can’t believe how great the playing is on this record. The lyrics within each song lead the listener through so many different moods and settings. The vocals are spellbinding. The I distance between Dylan and everyone else has never been greater. 2. Lucinda Williams – – Essence 3. Bruce Springsteen – – Live in New York City…

AS my wonderful girifriend likes to say, life exists in pairs of mutually dependent opposites, observed by the Japanese as ying vs. yang. You can’t have the concept of night without day, love without hate, happiness without sadness, or good without evil. In other words, opposites attract, well, I saw music along those lines this year. Not that every album had a ying to its yang, but I did feel like each record had a sister album, one that should be viewed right next to it’s big brother, so, for Mark’s accounting purposes, let’s say the first of each pair…

The best thing I heard during 2001 was that many record companies were going to lower CD prices in order to compete with Napster and other similar music sharing websites. The best music I heard is listed below. The following is not in any particular order. Pete Yorn: Music for the morning after – A really nice record from beginning to end. Coldplay: Parachutes – – A good record (and they are better live). This may have been released at the end of 2000. Lucinda Williams: Essence – – I liked many of her songs in the past, but I…