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Michael Giltz
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Posted: February 22, 2010 03:27 PM
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Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyThe Best CDs of The 2000s
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Read More: Albums , Best Albums Of The 2000s , Best Albums Of The Decade , Blues , Cds , Funk ,
Gospel , Jazz , Pop , Rock , Soul , World Music , Entertainment News
Recently, I posted my list of the best CDs of 2009.
Now, after much agonizing and soul searching and
countless soundchecks, I've finally produced my list of
The Best CDs of the Decade. Needless, to say, this listwill change again tomorrow and then again the day
after that. I heartily enjoy arguing about which CDs
are included, which are foolishly missing, whichshould be higher/lower/thrown in the dustbin. Butmost of all, I just hope it sends you off to listen to
some great music. If you're a fan of the genre or the
artist covered, chances are you'll find the music worth
a listen. Undoubtedly, you won't agree with every selection. But if you find enough in common with my
tastes, take a chance on some of the CDs here that you haven't heard.
Note: I've generally been reluctant to list albums from 2009 because I haven't lived with them long
enough yet, so check that list too. And no, I haven't included any descriptions or comments because this
would become a novel if I tried to do so. Feel free to ask any questions about who is who or why certainartists are grouped together if it's not obvious. Most are obvious (pairings of albums of jazz standards of
soul divas. Some are not. For example, I listed Ryan Adams and The Strokes together because they've
both been disappointments. Both artists produced some of the best music of the decade and seemedpoised to become world-beating artists and then failed to follow through (yet). And do tell me, what'syour favorite album of the decade?
THE BEST CDS OF THE 2000S1. Sufjan Stevens /Come On Feel The Illinoise
2. The White Stripes /Elephant Loretta Lynn /Van Lear Rose Various Artists /Cold Mountain
soundtrack
3. Johnny Cash /Unearthed
4. Various Artists /A Soldier's Sad Story: Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1966-1973 and
Does Anybody Know I'm Here? Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1962-1972
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5. Ella Fitzgerald /Twelve Nights in Hollywood
6. Bob Dylan /Modern Times
7. Eminem /The Marshall Mathers LP
8. Amadou & Mariam /Dimanche a Bamako and Manu Chao /Proxima Estacion Esperanza
9. Ornette Coleman /Sound Grammar
10. Dixie Chicks /Home
11. Rufus Wainwright /Want One
12. Mavis Staples /Live: Hope At The Hideout and Various Artists /When Gospel Was Gospel
13. They Might Be Giants / Here Come The 123s and Here Come The ABCs and No!
14. Outkast /Stankonia
15. Kaiser Chiefs /Off With Their Heads and Arctic Monkeys /Whatever People Say I Am, That's
What I'm Not
16. Madeleine Peyroux /Careless Love
17. Orchestra Baobab /Specialist In All Styles and Made In Dakar
18. Ryan Adams /Gold and The Strokes /Is This It
19. Thelonius Monk Quartet with John Coltrane /At Carnegie Hall
20. Neil Diamond /12 Songs and Home Before Dark
21. Midlake /The Trials Of Van Occupanther and Fleet Foxes /Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver /For Emma,
Forever Ago22. Dolly Parton /Little Sparrow
23. Nas /Untitled
24. Youssou N'Dour /Nothing In Vain
25. Linda Thompson /Fashionably Late and Joan Baez /Day After Tomorrow
26. Terence Blanchard /A Tale Of God's Will
27. Norah Jones /Come Away With Me
28. Green Day /American Idiot
29. William Bolcom /Songs Of Innocence And Experience
30. Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis /Two Men With The Blues
31. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings /100 Days, 100 Nights and Amy Winehouse /Back To Black
32. Beck /Sea Change
33. Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate /In The Heart Of The Moon
34. Cassandra Wilson /Thunderbird
35. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss /Raising Sand
36. Erykah Badu /New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)
37. James Hunter/ People Gonna Talk
38. Rosanne Cash /Black Cadillac
39. Bruce Springsteen /We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions -- American Land Edition
40. Radiohead /In Rainbows and Jonny Greenwood /There Will Be Blood
41. Eels /Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
42. Boz Scaggs /But Beautiful and Joni Mitchell /Both Sides Now
43. Various Artists /Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-1976 and
Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sounds Of The Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-197944. Duncan Sheik /Phantom Moon and Various Artists /Spring Awakening
45. kd lang /Watershed and Al Green /Lay It Down
46. Wilco /Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
47. The Streets /A Grand Don't Come For Free
48. Tom Waits /Alice
49. Corinne Bailey Rae /Corinne Bailey Rae
50. Brian Wilson /Smile
51. Bettye LaVette /I've Got My Own Hell To Raise
52. Neil Young /Prairie Wind and Silver & Gold
53. Various Artists /Golden Afrique Vol 1-3
54. Bright Eyes /I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
55. Patty Griffin /Children Running Through
56. Teddy Thompson /A Piece Of What You Need
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97. Josh Ritter /The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter
98. Café Tacuba /Cuatro Caminos
99. Super Furry Animals /Rings Around The World
100. Prefab Sprout /Steve McQueen (2007 acoustic version)
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KID A - over In Rainbows
and what about Fleet Foxes??
Some good stuff, but very little great. The major artists are but a memory of their prime except Ella
which is an actual recording from her prime.
How far we have tapered off from the seminal 60's.
Its funny how people become so attached to an era (often that of their 20's). I myself am
partial to the 90's. I'd pit OK Computer or Grace against virtually anything.
It's not only attachment . Does the music endure? The evidence suggests, if I have
to use such a dry term, that people STILL listen to 60's music, not because of
nostalgia or youthor habit, but because of QUALITY: powerful words and music. Might as well wellask why classic books are still read after centuries of time.
Forty years from now if people are still listening to 1% of what's popular today, I
would be very much surprised, but then I'll be dead in forty years so it probably willnot matter much...... because I will have died before I got old.
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A very respectabl e list. However, I'm surprised you didn't include the Black Keys at all. (Personal
fave is 2003's Thickfreak ness). One album to try, Seu Jorge's soundtrack to The Life Aquatic-
acoustic Bowie covers in Portugese. Also, I would have to suggest Metallica' s Death Magnetic.Sex Bullying Barack Obama
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FollowThe Life Aquatic soundtrack is indeed very charming. I will give Black Keys another listen; I
know they've got critical acclaim. And Metallica is hard rock I respect but not dear to myheart. You can see I'm an old fogey sinking into Americana no matter how much I try tostay current.
Coldplay: A Rush Of Blood To The Head (I know, I know, but it is good)
Monte Montgomery : At Work Play
Green Day: American IdiotJones: Come Away With MeBeck: Sea ChangeAndrea Bocelli: ToscanoJohn Mayer: Heavier ThingsAndrew York: The Hauser SessionsAnnie Lennox: BareBob Dylan: Love and Theft
Leonard Cohen : 10 New Songs
I was thisclose to including Coldplay. That is indeed by far the standout album of their
career. I think I docked it points because of their body of work around it. Not fair, but thereyou are. I will definitely check out Andrew York. Leonard Cohen is on my best of the 70sand best of the 80s lists. Just didn't quite make the cut with that album, but iI do love him.
You've changed my mind and now I've added in Coldplay as well as the score toThere Will Be Blood by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead.
I don't think I could come up with ten best albums for the decade. There are a few I would add toyours though:
Chinese Democracy Guns 'N Roses. I know its not really GnR just Axl's latest band and it got a lot
of press because it took forever to release and Axl is a jerk but if you get beyond all that and justlisten I think its a great album. Buckethead is an amazing guitarist. I wouldn't say better or worsethan Slash, when guitarists are that good I don't think you can really rate them, its pretty subjective .
Like trying to argue if Clapton was better then Hendrix.
Neil Young. Greendale. I saw this live and almost walked out at the beginning. Neil had one of the
most inane little rock u dramas enacted up on the stage. But then I just shut my eyes and listened.I think this is one of his best albums ever. Full of great songs that fit together and tell a story. HeMichael Giltz 10:32 PM on 2/24/2010
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Michael Giltz 10:34 PM on 2/24/2010
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RedDogBear 11:30 AM on 2/23/2010
59 Fans
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0 Fansrepeats certain riffs and melodies, but IMHO nothing wrong with that.
Tegan and Sara: So Jealous and The Con. Twin sisters from Canada. I listened to them because I
heard Neil Young liked them. Great alternativ e pop.
I'm a big fan of pastoral Neil Young, as you can see by the two albums of his I did include.Greendale is quite worthy but weighed down a tad by the hoo-haw concept surroundin g
the music. It deserves further evaluation with all that stripped away from it. ChineseDemocracy is good but not quite all the way for me. Tegan & Sara are fun and I hope theycontinue to grow.
Hey, Michael, that's a ton of fine music. Makes me realize how much great stuff is still be recorded--all those titles and still several of my faves from the decade didn't make the list. Here are a few:
Elephunk Black -Eyed Peas
Perpetual Motion -Bela FleckDon't Give Up on Me -Solomon BurkeAcoustic Soul -India.Ari e
Bachelor No. 2 -Aimee MannO Brother, Where Art Thou? -Soundtrac k
Waltz of a Ghetto Fly -Amp FiddlerLos Fakires -Los FakiresI Can't Stop -Al GreenRed Dirt Girl -Emmylou Harris
That Aimee Mann album is on there, as is another album by Solomon Burke and India.arie .
I went back and forth on all three of the Al Green albums about which one to include. I
might have just listed all three but I felt I was pushing the doubling and tripling up as itwas. Certainly all three of his albums are an amazing return to form. I just started gettinginto Bela Fleck's African album Throw Down Your Heart from 2009. I just didn't listen to itenough yet. I may very well put that in for 2009 and the decade once I've let it stand thetest of time. I love Emmylou Harris and probably just didn't include her because she's allover earlier decades both solo and with Trio and Linda Ronstadt and the solid recent stuffhasn't quite pulled me away yet from her classic work. T Bone Burnett deserves his owncategory or award. And I look forward to checking out Los Fakires.
not bad... but as with most, painfully missing a couple of albums... a quick top 9:
1. Opeth - Blackwater Park
2. Godspeed you Black Emperor - Lift your skinny fists like antennas to heaven3. Radiohead - Kid A
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Michael Giltz 10:36 PM on 2/24/2010
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6. Damien Rice - O
7. Bon Iver - For Emma forever ago8. Ray Lamontagne - Trouble9. Band of Horses - Everything all the time.
Thanks for the list. Always more to check out like Godspeed You Black Emperor... . Like
Ray Lamontagne . Just didn't quite make it. But I'm one of the sad people who wasn't
slayed by Damien Rice's album though I certainly enjoy certain tracks and his liveperformanc es.
Whoops! I meant to say, "even if I disagreed with the majority of your list, which I don't" - sorry!! :)
Ha! Well that makes it a much nicer comment, doesn't it? Thanks!
Michael, even if I disagreed with the majority of your list, I take my hat off to your including TerenceBlanchard' s "A Tale of God's Will," which is based on the score to my favorite movie of the last
decade, Spike Lee's Katrina documentar y "When the Levees Broke".
Also, FYI, Rufus Wainwright re-release d his excellent albums "Want One" and "Want Two" in a two-
CD set, simply called "Want." It's available on Amazon.
My picks for the best albums of the past decade:Favorite albums of decade:
1. & 2. (Tie) Radiohead - Kid A & In Rainbows3. Juana Molina - Son4. D'Angelo - Voodoo5. The White Stripes - Elephant6. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House7. The Walkmen - You and Me8. Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love
9. Squarepush er - Ultravisit or
10. Holly Golightly - Truly She Is None Other
Runners-up : Sonic Youth - Murray Street, Rufus Wainwright - Poses and Want, Vampire Weekend -
Vampire Weekend, PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, Al Green - Lay It Down,
Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs - You Can't Buy a Gun When You're Crying, Devendra Banhart -Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood soundtrack , Andrew
Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Thanks for the list. I almost included the There Will Be Blood soundtrack but felt like I waspushing it with so much doubling and tripling up. But great great score/use of music. I justhaven't been playing D'Angelo as much. Guess he faded from my mind as he faded fromPermalink | Share it
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Michael Giltz 01:59 AM on 2/23/2010
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Michael Giltz 02:02 AM on 2/23/2010
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Michael, I am questionin g your jazz chops. I wonder if you are listening to David Murray, William
Parker, Don Byron (Ivey Divey!!!), Dianne Reeves, Wayne Shorter, and the out to lunch bunch from
the AACM in Chi-town? I could go on, Michael, likely for days, but I will stop here. I often run intoMatthew Shipp (piano) and we talk about the state of things---s tuff (despite your statement in your
last blog) is happening.
You should question my chops in a lot of areas but jazz is certainly one where I amdeficient. I do feel on firmer ground with vocalists. I almost fit in Reeves' soundtrack forGood Night and Good Luck. I'm sure good stuff is always happening; it just has to berevolution ary to reach the less savvy, casual fans like myself.
Cool. Not bustin' chops, or anything, I am glad that you are keeping Ella in theforefront. That's a great place to start, or to return to.
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If I were to be stranded on a deserted island with just this list of songs/ artists / albums on a solar-powe red iPod, I'd probably bash my own head in with a coconut in the first sitting. I know music is
subjective , but gimme a break!! Is this the "best" the Aughts brought to bear in music? Good Lord!
DEATH TO THE "AUTOTUNE" !!!!
Huh? This is hardly a pop-heavy Auto-Tunes dominated list. But tell us some of yourfavorites so we know we're you're coming from or can get some ideas of good CDs to pickup.
While I find Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings somewhat appealing, and I'm a huge fan of the neo-soul/f unk/r&b genre, my favorite practition ers of it at the moment is Breakestra . Like the rest of the
movement, Breakestra inherited its DNA from the late 1960s-'70s soul era. Compared to SharonJones & the Dap-Kings, Breakestra has a harder-edg ed, tougher sound.
Anyone who grew up with and liked the sounds of James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Sly and theFamily Stone, War, Tower of Power and the Average White Band should check out Breakestra .Permalink | Share it
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Thanks for the tip. I'll check 'em out.
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Michael Giltz
Freelance writer and raconteur
Posted: February 22, 2010 03:27 PM
BIO
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Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyThe Best CDs of The 2000s
What's Your Reaction:
Read More: Albums , Best Albums Of The 2000s , Best Albums Of The Decade , Blues , Cds , Funk ,
Gospel , Jazz , Pop , Rock , Soul , World Music , Entertainment News
Recently, I posted my list of the best CDs of 2009.
Now, after much agonizing and soul searching and
countless soundchecks, I've finally produced my list of
The Best CDs of the Decade. Needless, to say, this listwill change again tomorrow and then again the day
after that. I heartily enjoy arguing about which CDs
are included, which are foolishly missing, whichshould be higher/lower/thrown in the dustbin. Butmost of all, I just hope it sends you off to listen to
some great music. If you're a fan of the genre or the
artist covered, chances are you'll find the music worth
a listen. Undoubtedly, you won't agree with every selection. But if you find enough in common with my
tastes, take a chance on some of the CDs here that you haven't heard.
Note: I've generally been reluctant to list albums from 2009 because I haven't lived with them long
enough yet, so check that list too. And no, I haven't included any descriptions or comments because this
would become a novel if I tried to do so. Feel free to ask any questions about who is who or why certainartists are grouped together if it's not obvious. Most are obvious (pairings of albums of jazz standards of
soul divas. Some are not. For example, I listed Ryan Adams and The Strokes together because they've
both been disappointments. Both artists produced some of the best music of the decade and seemedpoised to become world-beating artists and then failed to follow through (yet). And do tell me, what'syour favorite album of the decade?
THE BEST CDS OF THE 2000S1. Sufjan Stevens /Come On Feel The Illinoise
2. The White Stripes /Elephant Loretta Lynn /Van Lear Rose Various Artists /Cold Mountain
soundtrack
3. Johnny Cash /Unearthed
4. Various Artists /A Soldier's Sad Story: Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1966-1973 and
Does Anybody Know I'm Here? Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1962-1972
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Lunar Eclipse On Winter
Solstice
Stunning Eclipse Photos
Sarah Palin Jabs Michelle
Obama's Anti-Obesity
Campaign
Timothy Karr Obama FCC
Caves on Net Neutrality --
Tuesday...
Al Franken The Most
Important Free Speech
Issue of Our Time
Why Kate May Or May Not
Become 'Princess
Catherine'
PHOTOS: Heidi Montag's
Plastic Surgery Scars: Bald
Spots, Uneven Boobs,
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5. Ella Fitzgerald /Twelve Nights in Hollywood
6. Bob Dylan /Modern Times
7. Eminem /The Marshall Mathers LP
8. Amadou & Mariam /Dimanche a Bamako and Manu Chao /Proxima Estacion Esperanza
9. Ornette Coleman /Sound Grammar
10. Dixie Chicks /Home
11. Rufus Wainwright /Want One
12. Mavis Staples /Live: Hope At The Hideout and Various Artists /When Gospel Was Gospel
13. They Might Be Giants / Here Come The 123s and Here Come The ABCs and No!
14. Outkast /Stankonia
15. Kaiser Chiefs /Off With Their Heads and Arctic Monkeys /Whatever People Say I Am, That's
What I'm Not
16. Madeleine Peyroux /Careless Love
17. Orchestra Baobab /Specialist In All Styles and Made In Dakar
18. Ryan Adams /Gold and The Strokes /Is This It
19. Thelonius Monk Quartet with John Coltrane /At Carnegie Hall
20. Neil Diamond /12 Songs and Home Before Dark
21. Midlake /The Trials Of Van Occupanther and Fleet Foxes /Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver /For Emma,
Forever Ago22. Dolly Parton /Little Sparrow
23. Nas /Untitled
24. Youssou N'Dour /Nothing In Vain
25. Linda Thompson /Fashionably Late and Joan Baez /Day After Tomorrow
26. Terence Blanchard /A Tale Of God's Will
27. Norah Jones /Come Away With Me
28. Green Day /American Idiot
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KID A - over In Rainbows
and what about Fleet Foxes??
Some good stuff, but very little great. The major artists are but a memory of their prime except Ella
which is an actual recording from her prime.
How far we have tapered off from the seminal 60's.
Its funny how people become so attached to an era (often that of their 20's). I myself am
partial to the 90's. I'd pit OK Computer or Grace against virtually anything.
It's not only attachment . Does the music endure? The evidence suggests, if I have
to use such a dry term, that people STILL listen to 60's music, not because of
nostalgia or youthor habit, but because of QUALITY: powerful words and music. Might as well wellask why classic books are still read after centuries of time.
Forty years from now if people are still listening to 1% of what's popular today, I
would be very much surprised, but then I'll be dead in forty years so it probably willnot matter much...... because I will have died before I got old.
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A very respectabl e list. However, I'm surprised you didn't include the Black Keys at all. (Personal
fave is 2003's Thickfreak ness). One album to try, Seu Jorge's soundtrack to The Life Aquatic-
acoustic Bowie covers in Portugese. Also, I would have to suggest Metallica' s Death Magnetic.Sex Bullying Barack Obama
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keene 01:47 PM on 3/11/2010
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FollowThe Life Aquatic soundtrack is indeed very charming. I will give Black Keys another listen; I
know they've got critical acclaim. And Metallica is hard rock I respect but not dear to myheart. You can see I'm an old fogey sinking into Americana no matter how much I try tostay current.
Coldplay: A Rush Of Blood To The Head (I know, I know, but it is good)
Monte Montgomery : At Work Play
Green Day: American IdiotJones: Come Away With MeBeck: Sea ChangeAndrea Bocelli: ToscanoJohn Mayer: Heavier ThingsAndrew York: The Hauser SessionsAnnie Lennox: BareBob Dylan: Love and Theft
Leonard Cohen : 10 New Songs
I was thisclose to including Coldplay. That is indeed by far the standout album of their
career. I think I docked it points because of their body of work around it. Not fair, but thereyou are. I will definitely check out Andrew York. Leonard Cohen is on my best of the 70sand best of the 80s lists. Just didn't quite make the cut with that album, but iI do love him.
You've changed my mind and now I've added in Coldplay as well as the score toThere Will Be Blood by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead.
I don't think I could come up with ten best albums for the decade. There are a few I would add toyours though:
Chinese Democracy Guns 'N Roses. I know its not really GnR just Axl's latest band and it got a lot
of press because it took forever to release and Axl is a jerk but if you get beyond all that and justlisten I think its a great album. Buckethead is an amazing guitarist. I wouldn't say better or worsethan Slash, when guitarists are that good I don't think you can really rate them, its pretty subjective .
Like trying to argue if Clapton was better then Hendrix.
Neil Young. Greendale. I saw this live and almost walked out at the beginning. Neil had one of the
most inane little rock u dramas enacted up on the stage. But then I just shut my eyes and listened.I think this is one of his best albums ever. Full of great songs that fit together and tell a story. HeMichael Giltz 10:32 PM on 2/24/2010
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Michael Giltz 10:34 PM on 2/24/2010
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RedDogBear 11:30 AM on 2/23/2010
59 Fans
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0 Fansrepeats certain riffs and melodies, but IMHO nothing wrong with that.
Tegan and Sara: So Jealous and The Con. Twin sisters from Canada. I listened to them because I
heard Neil Young liked them. Great alternativ e pop.
I'm a big fan of pastoral Neil Young, as you can see by the two albums of his I did include.Greendale is quite worthy but weighed down a tad by the hoo-haw concept surroundin g
the music. It deserves further evaluation with all that stripped away from it. ChineseDemocracy is good but not quite all the way for me. Tegan & Sara are fun and I hope theycontinue to grow.
Hey, Michael, that's a ton of fine music. Makes me realize how much great stuff is still be recorded--all those titles and still several of my faves from the decade didn't make the list. Here are a few:
Elephunk Black -Eyed Peas
Perpetual Motion -Bela FleckDon't Give Up on Me -Solomon BurkeAcoustic Soul -India.Ari e
Bachelor No. 2 -Aimee MannO Brother, Where Art Thou? -Soundtrac k
Waltz of a Ghetto Fly -Amp FiddlerLos Fakires -Los FakiresI Can't Stop -Al GreenRed Dirt Girl -Emmylou Harris
That Aimee Mann album is on there, as is another album by Solomon Burke and India.arie .
I went back and forth on all three of the Al Green albums about which one to include. I
might have just listed all three but I felt I was pushing the doubling and tripling up as itwas. Certainly all three of his albums are an amazing return to form. I just started gettinginto Bela Fleck's African album Throw Down Your Heart from 2009. I just didn't listen to itenough yet. I may very well put that in for 2009 and the decade once I've let it stand thetest of time. I love Emmylou Harris and probably just didn't include her because she's allover earlier decades both solo and with Trio and Linda Ronstadt and the solid recent stuffhasn't quite pulled me away yet from her classic work. T Bone Burnett deserves his owncategory or award. And I look forward to checking out Los Fakires.
not bad... but as with most, painfully missing a couple of albums... a quick top 9:
1. Opeth - Blackwater Park
2. Godspeed you Black Emperor - Lift your skinny fists like antennas to heaven3. Radiohead - Kid A
4. White Stripes - ElephantPermalink | Share it
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Michael Giltz 10:36 PM on 2/24/2010
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6. Damien Rice - O
7. Bon Iver - For Emma forever ago8. Ray Lamontagne - Trouble9. Band of Horses - Everything all the time.
Thanks for the list. Always more to check out like Godspeed You Black Emperor... . Like
Ray Lamontagne . Just didn't quite make it. But I'm one of the sad people who wasn't
slayed by Damien Rice's album though I certainly enjoy certain tracks and his liveperformanc es.
Whoops! I meant to say, "even if I disagreed with the majority of your list, which I don't" - sorry!! :)
Ha! Well that makes it a much nicer comment, doesn't it? Thanks!
Michael, even if I disagreed with the majority of your list, I take my hat off to your including TerenceBlanchard' s "A Tale of God's Will," which is based on the score to my favorite movie of the last
decade, Spike Lee's Katrina documentar y "When the Levees Broke".
Also, FYI, Rufus Wainwright re-release d his excellent albums "Want One" and "Want Two" in a two-
CD set, simply called "Want." It's available on Amazon.
My picks for the best albums of the past decade:Favorite albums of decade:
1. & 2. (Tie) Radiohead - Kid A & In Rainbows3. Juana Molina - Son4. D'Angelo - Voodoo5. The White Stripes - Elephant6. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House7. The Walkmen - You and Me8. Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love
9. Squarepush er - Ultravisit or
10. Holly Golightly - Truly She Is None Other
Runners-up : Sonic Youth - Murray Street, Rufus Wainwright - Poses and Want, Vampire Weekend -
Vampire Weekend, PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, Al Green - Lay It Down,
Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs - You Can't Buy a Gun When You're Crying, Devendra Banhart -Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood soundtrack , Andrew
Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Thanks for the list. I almost included the There Will Be Blood soundtrack but felt like I waspushing it with so much doubling and tripling up. But great great score/use of music. I justhaven't been playing D'Angelo as much. Guess he faded from my mind as he faded fromPermalink | Share it
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Michael Giltz 01:59 AM on 2/23/2010
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Michael Giltz 02:02 AM on 2/23/2010
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Michael, I am questionin g your jazz chops. I wonder if you are listening to David Murray, William
Parker, Don Byron (Ivey Divey!!!), Dianne Reeves, Wayne Shorter, and the out to lunch bunch from
the AACM in Chi-town? I could go on, Michael, likely for days, but I will stop here. I often run intoMatthew Shipp (piano) and we talk about the state of things---s tuff (despite your statement in your
last blog) is happening.
You should question my chops in a lot of areas but jazz is certainly one where I amdeficient. I do feel on firmer ground with vocalists. I almost fit in Reeves' soundtrack forGood Night and Good Luck. I'm sure good stuff is always happening; it just has to berevolution ary to reach the less savvy, casual fans like myself.
Cool. Not bustin' chops, or anything, I am glad that you are keeping Ella in theforefront. That's a great place to start, or to return to.
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If I were to be stranded on a deserted island with just this list of songs/ artists / albums on a solar-powe red iPod, I'd probably bash my own head in with a coconut in the first sitting. I know music is
subjective , but gimme a break!! Is this the "best" the Aughts brought to bear in music? Good Lord!
DEATH TO THE "AUTOTUNE" !!!!
Huh? This is hardly a pop-heavy Auto-Tunes dominated list. But tell us some of yourfavorites so we know we're you're coming from or can get some ideas of good CDs to pickup.
While I find Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings somewhat appealing, and I'm a huge fan of the neo-soul/f unk/r&b genre, my favorite practition ers of it at the moment is Breakestra . Like the rest of the
movement, Breakestra inherited its DNA from the late 1960s-'70s soul era. Compared to SharonJones & the Dap-Kings, Breakestra has a harder-edg ed, tougher sound.
Anyone who grew up with and liked the sounds of James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Sly and theFamily Stone, War, Tower of Power and the Average White Band should check out Breakestra .Permalink | Share it
Iehi Aour 09:35 PM on 2/22/2010
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Thanks for the tip. I'll check 'em out.
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