Main Poop Analysis 2011


Dear Poopster
Shoot off the fireworks. Pop a bottle of your best champagne. Bang a gong. Get it on. It’s the silver anniversary of POOP: our 25th annual rite of self-important pontification. Perhaps a deluxe edition is called for, with bonus lists. After a year marked by the tsunami in Japan, tornadoes in Joplin, an economy in the crapper, and a Republican field that might as well be called the Committee To Re-Elect Barack Obama, it’s time to kick 2011 to the curb. And what better way to do that than to bloviate about our favorite music of an otherwise dismally bleak year. Yippee.


If you’ve been around this block before, feel free to skip this paragraph. As usual, I’ve attempted to tabulate the entries and, as is customary, I’ve employed the time-honored What-The-Hell’s-He-Talking-About-Anyway System. One more time, I’ve given 2 points to each pompoid’s Top 10 choices and 1 point to each title beyond a Top 10 or in the variously designated “honorable mention” categories (up to 25 titles in all). 28 POmpous and OPinionated contributors dropped swill this year.

And now, the POOP answer key:


cover of Wilco – The Whole Love  Buy New or Used via amazon
1 – WILCO – The Whole Love 18 POINTS (appearing on 9 out of 28 lists)



cover of Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Mirror Traffic  Buy New or Used via amazon
2 – STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS – Mirror Traffic 12 (7)



cover of Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues  Buy New or Used via amazon
3 – FLEET FOXES – Helplessness Blues 12 (6)



cover of Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'  Buy New or Used via amazon
3 – RAPHAEL SAADIQ – Stone Rollin’ 12 (6)



cover of Tom Waits - Bad As Me  Buy New or Used via amazon
3 – TOM WAITS – Bad As Me 12 (6)



cover of GILLIAN WELCH - The Harrow & the Harvest  Buy New or Used via amazon
6 – GILLIAN WELCH – The Harrow & the Harvest 11 (7)



cover of BLACK KEYS - El Camino  Buy New or Used via amazon
7 – THE BLACK KEYS – El Camino 11 (5)



cover of Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for My Halo  Buy New or USed via amazon
8 – KURT VILE -Smoke Ring For My Halo 10 (8)
cover of PJ Harvey - Let England Shake  Buy New or Used via amazon
9 – PJ HARVEY – Let England Shake 9 (6)



cover of MY MORNING JACKET - Circuital  Buy New or Used via amazon
MY MORNING JACKET – Circuital 9 (6)



RE-ISSUES

cover of ROLLING STONES - Some Girls (Deluxe Edition)  Buy New or Used via amazon
ROLLING STONES – Some Girls: Deluxe Edition (7 mentions)



cover of THE BEACH BOYS - The SMiLE Sessions  Buy New or Used via amazon
THE BEACH BOYS – SMiLE (6)

Let the POOP begin. Good bathroom reading, everyone.


Mark “POOPsters Are People Too, My Friend” Rosen



Contributors this year:

Richard Allen - Sayville, NY          Patrick Kennedy - Brooklyn, NY
Ken Beck - Cranford, NJ          John Lefsky - New Paltz, NY
Kent B - Newburgh, NY          Jim Meyers - Kingston, NY
Tim Broun - Woodstock, NY          Mike Miller - Cuba, NY
Paul Cangelosi - Kingston, NY          Matt Nerney - Kingston, NY
Duncan Clark - Milton, NY          Irv Rosen - Tarpon Springs, FL
Damian Cleary - New Paltz, NY          Mark Rosen - New Paltz, NY
Scott Dellamore - Poughkeespie, NY          Jeff Schwartz - Green Brook, NJ
Eric Fine - New York, NY          Andrew Stewart - Rhinebeck, NY
Jim Finnigan - New Hamburg, NY          Jay Stewart - Bloomington, NY
John Greak - New Paltz, NY          Bill Still - Kingston, NY
Mike Hodgkiss (Johnny Jah) - Amity, NY          Tom Whalen - New Paltz, NY
Jamie Hosley - Clifton Park, NY          Dan Wilmer - Brooklyn, NY
Mike Jurcovic - Wallkill, NY          Mark Zip - Woodstock, NY