Top Ten Albums purchased by me in the calendar year 2002
1. Kaviar, The Kaviar Sessions. Kevin Gilbert was an unmitigated f*cking genius. The stylistic changes he underwent in his brief flameout of a career are evidence of his ability to play whatever the hell he wanted, and on Kaviar, the gloves are off. Trent Reznor simply wishes he were this angry and funny. Simply one of the best recorded, written and performed hard rock albums of the entire 20th century. See review on my reviews page.
2. Dusty Sprinfield, Dusty In Memphis. I can't believe it took me until this year to get around to listening to theis incredible album. To some extent it might be considered cheese because of the loungy, production values, but it's the best of the lounge genre, and her voice utterly transcends genre, anyway. There's still a review posted here.
3. XTC, Coat of Many Cupboards. As an avid XTC completist, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of material on this set that I hadn't already acquired. All the alternate studio versions of Drums and Wires-era stuff really shed some light on the recording and production process that led us to the final versions.
4. Lucinda Williams, Essence. The title cut is the sexiest noise ever uttered by the female mouth.
5. Porcupine Tree, In Absentia. Their "major label debut." We'll see how it goes. They've already lost a very capable drummer in the process of making this album. Let's stick around to see if they've lost their souls in the deal. The songwriting and playing is still as good as ever, and the opener is a stunner. Reminds me of the best of Soundgarden, except British. Overall, to summarize P.T.-- 1. Make a mop of Radiohead. 2. Clean the floor with it.
6. P. Hux, Deluxe and Purgatory Falls. These both came to me combined on one CD-R, so for the sake of argument (Let's argue! This is Chalkhills!) I'll refer to them as one work. I have not much clue about this guy other than that he writes a really good straight pop song. Think Marshall Crenshaw meets James McMurtry.
7. Los Lobos, This Time. I'm getting to where I like their Spanish language material better than their mainstream stuff, and this album has some choice songs sung in Spanish. The way in which they seemlessly meld traditional arrangements and instrumentation with modern recording technology, and their unique arranging style is at its most impressive here. Track 7, Corazon, is one of the most hauntingly sad and beautiful songs I've heard in years.
8. Mike Keneally, Wooden Smoke. A radical departure from Dancing, but radical departures seem to be what Keneally's career is all about. The quietest and "prettiest" of his work to date.
9. Los Lobos, The Neighborhood. The hardest rocking of their albums. The more I really listen to this band, the more I've come to think that they are really the quintessential Great American Band.
10. Peter Gabriel, Up. Maybe I'm nuts, but as good as this album might be, I was expecting a little more here. Maybe it was the letdown from five years of built-up anticipation (it's been rumored to have been "nearly done" since about '96, it seems) but Gabriel doesn't seem to have stretched much beyond his previous achievements. It makes the list simply by being a Peter Gabriel album, which is a thing we have all been without for far too long.
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Although I have yet to buy the album, my submission for Single of the Year has to go to The Bears Under the Volcano. Through the miracle of modern technology, I was able to sample this song from the band's website, and now plan on buying a copy as soon as funding permits. The chorus melody line of this song sticks in my brain like glue. Great pop stuff, by a truly gifted bunch of players.