No collision with a logging truck was gonna keep me from my PoOpy duty. Em, our music makes us heal. Buy new or used through Amazon Bruce Springsteen & The Seeger Sessions Band – We Shall Overcome (American Land Edition) Not the best disc of the year (see next entry) but definitely the most honest. Maybe the most honest disc ever.   Buy new or used through Amazon Bob Dylan – Modern Times Does anyone really care to argue this isn’t the best of ’06? If the seemingly throwaway line from ‘Nettie Moore’ “too much paperwork” doesn’t convince you of…

   Buy from Amazon John Prine – Fair and Square After nine long years, Prine returns stronger than ever. Bush bash song of the year ‘Some Humans Ain’t Human’. Even his July appearance at The Palace was primo Prine.      Buy from Amazon The Kennedys – Half a Million Miles Nary a year goes by without Pete and Maura on my list du POop. High harmonies, sparkling folk pop and ‘Namaste’. I daresay it won’t get much better, given the current musical clime.      Buy from Amazon Bob Dylan – No Direction Home And do I daresay that…

Welcome to another new year. Hope is well with everyone. Surely you are awaiting the choice as remembered by the one and only me.       Buy new or used through Amazon JOHN COLTRANE “ONE DOWN/ONE UP” Two NYC dates recorded in the last year of the true “power” quartet. This “fab four” was cooking. The first cut catches ‘em in a full jam, Garrison working the strings, Elvin, McCoy, and then John….Double set…live…what mo’ do ya need.       Buy new or used through Amazon PETRA HADEN “ Sings THE WHO SELL OUT” The mo’ ya listen,…

    Buy new or used through Amazon #l – BOB DYLAN- MODERN TIMES What a great title. This youngster is being touted as the new Woody.     Buy new or used through Amazon #2 – ORNETTE COLEMAN – SOUND GRAMMAR First new album in ten years and live in 20. Recording with the best band he has had, this is truly a delight, even for the uninitiated.     Buy new or used through Amazon #3 – ROSEANNE CASH – BLACK CADILLAC What an eerie recording. Beautiful, reflective. Her voice, words, raw emotion.     Buy new or…

    Buy new or used through Amazon 1. MODERN TIMES – Bob Dylan An older gent with young ideas.     Buy new or used through Amazon 2. ONCE AGAIN – John Legend A young man with old ideas. With a voice that haunts Jeff Buckley and a soul that pulls from Marvin Gaye, someday we may agree that he was correctly named. Gorgeous. Sam Cooke, are you listening?     Torrent? 3. AMERICAN EDIT – Dean Gray It’s like having a girl, and then having her sister too (metaphorically, of course…). Great mash of a great album.  …

The first word in ‘listen’ is LIST – Paul Morley TOP 10 RECORDINGS – PLUS RUNNERS-UP if you read the details Buy new or used through Amazon 1. Little Axe Stone Cold Ohio Tighter, more song-oriented, rootsier than previous Little Axe things, this was my favorite On-U release in years   Buy from the Band 2. Youngblood Brass Band Live. Places Brass powerhouse, much improved from their debut. Their studio followup, Is That a Riot? (#13) is worth investigating too, just a notch lower in energy. Brass band fans should also check the Dirty Dozen Brass Band’s remake of Marvin…

Records 25) Destroyer-Rubies 24) Yo La Tengo– I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass 23) TV on the Radio– Return to Cookie Mountain 22) Liars- Drum’s Not Dead 21) Graham Coxon– Love Travels at Illegal Speeds 20) Silversun Pickups– Carnavas 19) Pink Mountaintops- Axis of Evol 18) Sonic Youth– Rather Ripped 17) The Thermals– The Body, The Blood, The Machine 16) Band of Horses– Everything All The Time 15) Robert Pollard– Normal Happiness 14) Califone-Roots and Crowns 13) Girl Talk– Night Ripper 12) Eagles of Death Metal- Death By Sexy 11) Mastodon– Blood Mountain  …

Top 11   Buy new or used through Amazon 1. Alexi Murdoch: Time Without Consequence   Buy new or used through Amazon 2. Alejandro Escovedo: The Boxing Mirror   Buy new or used through Amazon 3. Ray Davies: Other People’s Lives   Buy new or used through Amazon 4. Bob Dylan: Modern Times   Buy new or used through Amazon 5. James Hunter: People Gonna Talk   Buy new or used through Amazon 6. The Long Winters: Putting the Days to Bed   Buy new or used through Amazon 7. Johnny Cash: American V   Buy new or used through…

O.K. Boys and girls it’s Poop time. I was going to bow off this effort as the year in music through my ears was a bit ho-hum . Then I thought I have another chance here just to shoot off my opinionated and pompous mouth, let alone with like kind, so I’m in good company so let’s rock you ,rock me, rock on! LAMF.   Buy new or used through Amazon 10) Wayne Shorter “Night Dreamer” Well I copped this in 2006 amid all the hoopla surrounding Blue Notes Rudy VanGelder Editions. In this day and age of cyber crap…

Another year…another poop. Buy new or used through Amazon Buy new or used through Amazon Buy new or used through Amazon This was the year of the ARCTIC MONKEYS. I had heard (from Mr. Jim Meyers) and read about these bunch of teenagers from the UK putting out "Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not" and as soon as it came out over here it was in my hands. The band wanted to make a disc for their friends and turns out to be the biggest debut in the UK. Their song structure can’t be beat. The killer…

Sometimes the best things come in pairs. Well, at least for me in 2006, that’s the best way to discuss the year in music. So now it’s time to double your pleasure, because this year I am pooping Twins! Buy new or used through Amazon Buy new or used through Amazon Ornette Coleman – Sound Grammar Andrew Hill – Straight Lines For almost fifty years, Ornette Coleman has been the Shape of Jazz to Come, and this year’s entry includes a rhythm section with two bass players and Ornette even fiddling around on violin. Forty years after Alfred Lion of…

  Buy new or used through Amazon 1. The Slip – Eisenhower (Bar/None) Albums that soar like this one are truly an endangered species. For all I know, the black and white photo of the small gazelle-like animal pictured on the cover very well may be a rare breed itself. Take the best indie rock moments of Built To Spill, the occasional complex rhythms of Tortoise, and the arena rock of days of yore and you’ll begin to get half the picture. “Children of December” may sound familiar to those of you listening to WFUV or satellite radio. “Even Rats”…

   Buy new or used through Amazon M.I.A. – Arular (XL/Beggars) Dunno what I can add to all the column inches already dispensed on this. It’s just so wondeful a mix of beats, samples and musics that I feel likelistening to it right now. It’s just sooooo….. fuckin’ good.     Buy new or used through Amazon    Buy from Amazon VA – Run the Road 1 (Vice Records USA) VA – Run the Road 2 (679 Records UK) Best comps to get in on the UK grime scene. Almost all of the biggest names from the last 2 years…

2005, In My Humble Opinion Favorite Albums:  Buy new or used through Amazon Twin Cinema – New Pornographers How do they do it?!? They start with an entire Brill Building’s worth of pop hooks and soaring harmonies. Add monster drumming and intellectual lyrics. And round it out with rocking guitar and keyboard play. All in one little Canadian band! The diversity of offerings and overall quality ofthis record is astounding. At certain points, like when the New Pornos start “Hey La Hey La”ing towards the end of “The Bleeding Heart Show,” it is pure musical rapture.  Buy new or used…

Here we go again…..Thanks to John Lefsky I listened to quite a bit of unusual music this year… Jack Goldberg     Buy new or used through Amazon 1.Boris-Pink     Buy new or used through Amazon 2.Alexi Murdoch-Consequences     Buy new or used through Amazon 3.Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan-Ballad of Broken Seas     Buy new or used through Amazon 4.Warren Vache- Don’t Look Back     Buy new or used through Amazon 5.Gob Iron-Death Songs For The Living     Buy new or used through Amazon 6.Neil Young-Live at the Fillmore     Buy new or…

What I remember listening to in 2006 Randomly ordered using sophisticated sampling techniques:   Buy new or used through Amazon Orphans – Tom Waits A great set from one of rock’s great curmudgeons. Thematically arranged. Carnival sounds, love songs, even a protest or two. Magnificent.     Buy new or used through Amazon Nashville – Solomon Burke Country as it should sound. Soulful, with the distinct Buddy Miller influence. It’s a shame he was MIA so long.     Buy new or used through Amazon The River in Reverse – Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint I admit that Elvis has…

I look around the room for inspiration. It used to be that the music was enough. Didn’t matter whether it was good or bad; just mattered that it was new and I had something to say about it. Not this year. Not sure why. Personally, it’s been a year of wonderful triumphs. My wife and I had a beautiful baby boy. I was able to get back to NYC full-time with a job I really enjoy. I still have Rhapsody to turn to for musical inspiration. Still, nothing moved me. Have I reached the bottom of the writing well? Maybe…

Time seems to be at a premium this year so this is going to have to be an abridged version of the POOP list. It was a good, not great, year for music. No single work towered over everything else. The list is headed up by the first decent folk-rock band to come out of England in a long time. Politics made a welcome and needed comeback ranging from explicit self-righteousness (Neil Young)to party while you protest (Michael Franti) to the more sublime but equally as effective (Springsteen who put more energy and enthusiasm into revisiting old folk songs than…

chavez= better days will haunt you (boxset). Band of horses= everything all the time. Built to spill= you in reverse. 5ive= versus. Soul position= things go better with rj and al. cut chemist= the audience’s listening. Don caballero= world class listening problem. Earth= hex, or printing in the infernal method. Richard buckner= meadow. Tortoise= a lazarus taxon. The sword= age of winters. Spoon= soft effects ep/ telefono (reissue). Mission of burma= the obliterate. Mark fosson = the lost takoma sessions. Isis= in the absence of truth isis and aerogramme= in the fishtank vol 14. Boxhead ensemble= nocturnes. Comets on fire…

  Buy new or used through Amazon Bob Dylan – ‘Modern Times’ – How does someone who has never had to get up in the morning and go to work, write the painfully accurate and beautiful ‘Workin’ Man’s Blues # 2’? Pure genius. Record of the decade.     Buy new or used through Amazon Bruce Springsteen – ‘We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Session – The American Land Edition’ – ‘How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live’ is all anyone needs to know about Bush’s presidency. Folk music hasn’t rocked this hard since Dylan and The Hawks….