YAML3:KP (1996-2008)

Looking back at the first two sets of entries, it amazes me that El and I were in several band permutations together over the years given how divergent our musical tastes are.

1996: I had started listening to old-style '70's funk a few years earlier and was pleased by the the new (in 1996) George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars release T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M. [The Awesome Power Of A Fully Operational Mothership]. I liked the Wallflowers album Bringing Down the Horse. My maternal grandmother's name was Josephine. Locally, I liked the second album from Fuzzy called Electric Juices. The Cigar Store Indians had a self-titled album that was really good in a Supersuckers, Reverend Horton Heat rock-punk-country vein that I picked up at the late lamented Disc Diggers in Davis Square. That was also where I picked up the album I consider to be the best of 1996 - Nerf Herder by Nerf Herder. Geek-pop at its best. Like Rivers Cuomo with less confidence.

1997: That Laura Branigan-esque sensibility popped back up when I listened to Savage Garden by Savage Garden. I even went to a concert at Harborlights that summer where I was at least twice the age of the young girls sitting near me. I was 28 at the time. "OMG, they are the best ever!!!!!!!!" I didn't think mentioning Robert Johnson was at all productive. Left of the Middle by Natalie Imbruglia also fits that definition. Luckily for me, I can point out that my favorite album that year was not wuss music. The Colour and the Shape by the Foo Fighters is my choice despite the misspelling of the word color in a manner which should not be acceptable by Scrabulous.

1998: I started putting together my list for 1998 and realized that my musical choices had started to harden. I was listeneing to more live music, but my choices for buying music tended to be new albums from groups I already liked. Version 2.0 by Garbage, whitechocolatespaceegg by Liz Phair, Speak of the Devil by Chris Issak. I did branch out for my favorite album, though. There were a couple of radio singles on All the Pain Money Can Buy by Fastball, but the entire album is very likable. Though not my favorite of the year, I also went a little off course with Hellbilly Deluxe by Rob Zombie.

1999: This was the year I turned 30 and also, from the list of releases that seem totally foreign to me, the year I stopped buying new music. The only two albums I recognized, both of which I liked immensely, were Forget About It by Alison Kraus & Union Station and my favorite Hooray for Boobies by the Bloodhound Gang. A trip with three others to Cleveland (El and Limeyg included) for a trivia tournament was spent with The Bloodhound Gang as primary soundtrack. Made it in 9 hours 59 minutes. Yeah!

2000: Would there even be an album I liked this year. Back in my day (I warned you) we had great albums...not like this dreck today. New Nerf Herder (How to Meet Girls) - uneven. Decent debut album by promising country crooner (in the Roy Orbison/Chris Isaak vein) Steve Holy called Blue Moon. The only other album I purchased that year that was new and was good was American III: Solitary Man by Johnny Cash. It did have my favorite single - Johnny's cover of The Mercy Seat by Nick Cave. Not a great year for me in terms of choosing a best album. In later years, I did get to like the cartoon-pop of Aquarius by Aqua.

2001: I've always been mature for my age. By the age of 31, I had become downright crotchety. I did find a couple of new country acts - Trick Pony's self-titled debut (country-roadhouse), eponymous Blake Shelton (country crooner), but my favorite album of the year is very different from those. Tenacious D by Tenacious D. If only they had stopped there and not made Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, which was a funny 20 minutes wrapped in a 93 minute package.

2002: Realizing that I was getting old before my team, I tried some new music for me - The Eminem Show by Eminem (part brilliant, part whiny self-indulgent crap i.e. "Soldier"), Fallen by Evanescence and Let Go by Avril Lavigne (surprisingly strong). I also bought a couple of albums for one particular song I really liked and discarded the remainder - Wonder What's Next by Chevelle ("The Red") and Dirty Vegas by Dirty Vegas ("Days Go By"). My choices for best album came down to two. Runner up is Beautysleep by Tanya Donnelly. I had liked her voice when she was with Belly and still liked her work when she went solo. However, my favorite was Drunk Enough to Dance by Bowling for Soup.

2003: I liked Chicken-N-Beer by Ludacris and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by Outkast, though both had misses. Neotraditional country singer Josh Turner's Long Black Train was good, too. My favorite album was Liz Phair by Liz Phair and I have a rant about this one.

This album was more "commercially accessible" than her previous albums and was panned by many critics as "selling out" and "getting away from her roots". This is a reason I dislike critics of any sort (excepting myself, obviously). In my opinion, critics follow a career path in which they go from loving what they do for a job to denigrating any infidels who do not like the obscure acts they like to hating everything and everyone. This album is not like LP's earlier albums. So what? The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith have made essentially the same music since the '80's, but people love them. Why does every album have to be judged with the entire weight of the artist's repertoire in the equation? I had the same screed in a comment attached to the 50 Bands, 50 States - Part II about Sam's Town by The Killers. I prefer it to Hot Fuss, which is one of the better albums of 2004. I think Liz Phair is an album that can and should be judged on its own merits. Using that criteria, it is a very good album and my choice for the best of 2003.


2004: Several albums with multiple good songs on them to choose from this year. Hot Fuss by The Killers (see above), Pawn Shoppe Heart by The Von Bondies (after listening to "C'mon, C'mon" as the opening theme to Rescue Me), A Hangover You Don't Deserve by Bowling for Soup and Eye to the Telescope by KT Tunstall. The one that stood out for me, though, is Finally Woken by Jem. Just a solid album all the way through.

2005: Something old (Bleed Like Me by Garbage, Hefty Fine by The Bloodhound Gang) and something new (From Under the Cork Tree by Fall Out Boy, Extreme Behavior by Hinder). Somebody's Miracle by Liz Phair was not as strong as Liz Phair, but the song "Table for One" is her best, I think. Liz doesn't capture another yearly title, though. To me, Anna Nalick's Wreck of the Day is better throughout than any other in 2005.

2006: The Dutchess by Fergie was a lot of fun. Your Man by Josh Turner was smooth. Every Second Counts by Plain White T's would have been the best album of 2007. Still, I have to go with an album I have defended before and like from front to back - Sam's Town by The Killers. 'Nuf said.

2007: Well, it finally happened. I only can talk intelligibly about three albums this year and none of them are strong enough for me to give them the green light - The Best Damn Thing by Avril Lavigne (absolutely not), The Reminder by Feist (some daring stuff, but no) and Drastic Fantastic by KT Tunstall (the best of the bunch). I am sure there are excellent albums out there in 2007, I just don't know what they are. I am declaring 2007 Vacant.

2008 (so far): Interested in hearing the new Breeders album Mountain Battles. Looking forward to new music by Plain White T's, Jem and The Killers. We'll see. After writing this, I plan to go back and try and listen to more music that came out in 2007. I 'll have to turn off the mp3 player and listen the the radio more. Sirius or Internet radio, of course. Can't stand the incessant commercials on most free radio.

I think what I gather from this leg of the triptych is that I moved farther away from mainstream radio as I grew older. The only pick in this set that made it to the top of popular lists was the Foo Fighters in 1997. The rest of my choices are ones that I like and damned be the rest of the world. I also like immature music from the likes of Nerf Herder, Tenacious D, The Bloodhound Gang and Bowling for Soup and chick music from Jem, Liz Phair, Anna Nalick, and various Tanya Donnelly bands. I like what I like and I haven't even mentioned the musicals, but that's for another post.