| FGAQs Best Disks of the 2004
Surprises (Things We
Weren't Supposed to Like)
Biggest pleasant surprise discovered while scanning past a country station:
Big & Rich
Biggest pleasant surprise discovered while scanning past a classic rock
station: Aerosmith – Honkin’on Bobo
Biggest pleasant surprise discovered while shopping with an illegal smile:
Tom Jones – Reloaded. (You’d have to be insane to get this disk, and insane
not to).
Honorable Mentions (Close But No Cigar)
Bjork - Medula - Brilliant and exotic, still it doesn't seem to grab me
as much as her other discs
Dizee Rascal - Showtime: I figure in five years, I'll either still be
listening to this, or it will be long forgotten. Kind of like the Resident's
hip hop album.
Wilco – A Ghost is Bored: Now here’s an idea: why not follow several
minutes of really boring feedback with the worst song on your disk?
Beastie Boys – To the Five Burroughs: The years Biggest Disappointment
Considering That It’s six Years Till the Next One:
Nelly – Durty Album: Message to Nelly. Dude, if I saw an article about
you talking about each of your remixes, I wouldn’t read it. Clever, sticking
that shit to each track so I have no choice.
And a Few Random Bests...
Best cocktail lounge disk: Randy Newman -
Just Randy and his piano, brushing of the repertoire.
Best instant Oldie of the
year: Brian Wilson – Smile:
So it finally arrives, appropriately middle-aged at
birth.
Best reissues:
Talking Heads - The Name of This Band is Talking Heads: First time on
CD, this double disk has sixteen (16!) bonus tracks. Go straight to
disk 2, the Remain in Light tour, featuring a superior version of the lineup
from Stop Making Sense.
Trouble Funk - Early Singles: One disc live, and one in the studio. If
you're not familiar with DC's GoGo scene, this is a fine place to get
started.
Best compilation:
Mutant Disco - Some of the very best tracks from the avante garde dance
label Ze. Two and a half hours of Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Was Not Was,
Material, the Contortions and more.
Gift of the year: Underworld (1991 - 2001) - Equally appropriate for the
person who has nothing by the band, or the person who has everything
(cause we could always use one more mix of 'Pearls Girl' or 'King of
Snake'.)
Singles of the year: Walk Idiot Walk (The Hives) and
My Band (D12),
Now for the Top of the Pops
10. N.E.R.D. – Fly or Die:
These guys have a certain integrity, selling millions as producers, and
dozens as a band. You could call this the best Steely Dan album since their
long ago heyday. High praise, really, cause without the Dan, you would never
experience the glow created by hearing in public musical lines like ‘…the
Cuervo Gold, the fine Columbian, make tonight a wonderful thing…’ I don’t
know about you, but I need a little irony when I’m drinking in a mall bar.
9. Sonic Youth –
Sonic Nurse: Sonic Nurse is like a box of
chocolates: one each of everything the band does best. A guitar lovers
dream.
8. The Cure - The
Cure: Has the energy and purpose as the debut
release from the hip new band in town, not a bad trick to pull at this
point. And just add in ‘Connect the Dots’, the amazing collection of
out-takes and obscure tracks, and you’ve got yourself a career year,
7. Elvis Costello – The
Delivery Man and Nick Cave – Abatoir Blues /Lyre of Orpheous:
These three should be in a set, so close in feel they are. Gothic holy
roller sound in one room, right next to the parlor, and the preacher's come
to marry at the door.
6. Modest Mouse –
Good News for People Who Like Bad News: Just on
the safe side of too clever, and we’ve got to fit a pop record in here
somewhere.
5. Eminem
– Encore: it can’t be denied any longer. That Marshal is one funny
guy. It was amusing when the folks were all scared or insulted, but nothing
lasts forever. There he stands, Father of the Year in Vanity Fair. It's all
right, laughs is better than guns.
4. Handsome Boy
Modeling School – White People: Dan the Automator
and Prince Paul with their third collaborator's collaboration. Guests as
diverse as De La Soul, Julie Cruise, and Mike Patton (Faith No More) are
subversively blended in to the best hour of radio you never heard. note:
usually I absolutely hate skits on disk, but for HBMS graduate Father Guido
Sarducci's tales of life in the modeling business, I'll make an exception.
3. Bootsy - Play With
Bootsy: Fun and funky. Funky and fun. That's not so much to ask for, is
it? But the quality stuff doesn't come along much anymore. Bootsy throws a
party for himself, with all his big shot friends in attendance, but they're
not sharing the spotlight, they're singing about Bootsy.
2.
John Cale – Hobosapiens: Yeah, surprised me to, this old geezer
coming back with something so strong. Every sound is there for a purpose.
When Cale is at his best, he is the Dark Brian Wilson, intentionally
unsettling. Rich and luxurious, chocolates with bugs in them.
1. Tom Waits –
Real Gone: This is a good solid vehicle. In spite
of the noise, it's gonna hold together. A primitive past, drunk in the barn,
and no good reasons to sober up - just bad ones. |
