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:
Buy New or Used via amazon
1 – WILCO – The Whole Love 18 POINTS (appearing on 9 out of 28 lists)
Buy New or Used via amazon
2 – STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS – Mirror Traffic 12 (7)
Buy New or Used via amazon
3 – FLEET FOXES – Helplessness Blues 12 (6)
Buy New or Used via amazon
3 – RAPHAEL SAADIQ – Stone Rollin’ 12 (6)
Buy New or Used via amazon
3 – TOM WAITS – Bad As Me 12 (6)
Buy New or Used via amazon
6 – GILLIAN WELCH – The Harrow & the Harvest 11 (7)
Buy New or Used via amazon
7 – THE BLACK KEYS – El Camino 11 (5)
Buy New or USed via amazon
8 – KURT VILE -Smoke Ring For My Halo 10 (8)
Buy New or Used via amazon
9 – PJ HARVEY – Let England Shake 9 (6)
Buy New or Used via amazon
MY MORNING JACKET – Circuital 9 (6)
RE-ISSUES
Buy New or Used via amazon
ROLLING STONES – Some Girls: Deluxe Edition (7 mentions)
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 |