Retrospective Thread
 

This thread is rather open-ended, built for any sort of reflection on music now past. As for me, I'm taking the opportunity to re-examine 2002 and what I now think are the best records of the year.

Now, six months into 2003, all of last year's output (that I actually own/heard) has reached the point where it has either fully-saturated itself or out-played itself. Records I loved now find themselves only liked or dated; albums I thought were great - some even "just good" - have proved enduring and fresh.

So, in retrospect:
1. Do Make Say Think - & Yet & Yet
2. Enon - High Society
3. LIARS - They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top

and best re-release:
Spoon - A Series of Sneaks (Merge) w/ "Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now" and "The Agony of Laffitte" tagged on the end. This disc was as criminally ignored as Do Make Say Think's latest.

Wilco, Beck, Interpol, and ...Trail of Dead be DAMNED.

I said last year that Coldplay-A Rush of Blood to the Head was my favorite release 2002. 6 months later, it's not even in the top 5. It didn't hold up well and just sounds boring now. I'm not even sure if it's a step up from Parachutes. The title song and "Amstersdam" are the only 2 songs that I'd consider better than anything on Parachutes. The rest is just average.
Beck-Sea Change, on the other hand, has grown on me the last 6 months and I find that there are some amazing songs on it like "The Golden Age" and "Lonesome Tears". Interpol-Turn On the Bright Lights still sounds as fresh now as when I first heard it, definitely the best new band in a long time.
My new top 5 of 2002:
1. Interpol-Turn On the Bright Lights
2. Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
3. Beck-Sea Change
4. Queens of the Stone Age-Songs for the Deaf
5. The Roots-Phrenology

If I had to redo my list from last year Trail of Dead would not be on it. And the Clipse would have been much higher.

Nooooo!!! I bought that because of your constant praise! Does this mean I have to dislike it now? ;)

I'd still keep it on my list (if only for the title track), but I'd have to add Rhett Miller's The Instigator and Neko Case's Blacklisted to it. And I still have some unopened CDs on my shelf (Spoon, Laura Cantrell, Kasey Chambers) that could end up here six months from now.

I might add that I have nothing against Wilco, Beck, Interpol, or ...Trail of Dead - I actually still like all 4 - but I don't think their records have stayed as relevant in 2003 as I had anticipated.

For me, Beck-Sea Change has definitely stood the test of time. In fact, I have it on my desk right now as I intend to pop it in my bedroom stereo when I hit the sack in a couple of minutes. It's a beautiful album. Depressing, but beautiful.

I listen to the ToD record now and it just really, really bores me. I can't find put my finger on what it is about it -- what made me change my mind so forcefully -- but I just don't enjoy it anymore. Maybe I'll come back to it at some point.

However, the 90 Day Men and Hella records from last year get better with every single listen.

For me, if I listen to Sonic Youth's "Sister" or Swervedriver's "Mezcal Head" (both of which probably heaviuly influenced this band's sound) and then listen to ToD, they just seem very derivative and staid. Even other lesser known (now called) EMO bands like Rites of Spring and Seam have been here before. ToD sticks to fairly conventional song structures and standard-issue wall-of-sound squall. Other bands have done it better.

"YHF", "Sea Change", "Turn on the Bright Lights" and "Songs for the Deaf" however, truly blew me away. IMO, these are albums that will go down as classics. Yes, most are also heavily influenced by older albums but all add a little something more.

But, the one album that's really blown my mind in the past year is the Streets "Original Pirate Material". I don't know if it's called UK garage or what, but damn I like it. Every time I listen to it, it gets better.

The Streets album does get better with every listen. And the Wilco record went from me loving it to it not making my Top Ten last year altogether.

Yeah, that album is great. It's definitely in my top 10.

I agree that YHF has not held up very well. In fact, I think Summerteeth is a much better record. The Trail of Dead album hasn't held up as well either. I don't dislike it or YHF by any means. I just never feel the urge to actually listen to them.

My Pazz & Jop ballot from last year:

Albums
1 And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead Source Tags & Codes Interscope 10

Don't like it

2 90 Day Men To Everyone Southern 10

Love it more

3 Hella Hold Your Horse Is 5RC 10

Love it more

4 Michael Mayer Immer Kompakt 10

Still in love with it

5 Various Artists Chains & Black Exhaust Jones 10

Still in love with it

6 Metro Area Metro Area Environ 10

Still in love with it

7 Missy Elliott Under Construction Elektra 10

Still like it, but this should've been the Clipse

8 Thomas Fehlmann Visions of Blah Kompakt 10

Still like it

9 Isis Oceanic Ipecac 10

Still like it

Singles
# artist title label
1 Rapture "House of Jealous Lovers" DFA
2 Missy Elliott "Work It" Elektra
3 Nappy Roots "Awnaw" Atlantic
4 Nivea featuring Jagged Edge "Don't Mess With My Man" Jive
5 DJ Shadow "Six Days" MCA
6 Justin Timberlake "Cry Me a River" Jive
7 Clipse "Grindin'" Star Trak
8 Queens of the Stone Age "No One Knows" Interscope
9 Secret Machines "It's a Bad Wind That Don't Blow Somebody Some Good" Ace Fu
10 LCD Soundsystem "Losing My Edge" DFA

I still love all of these songs

My P&J 2001 ballot:

1 Unwound Leaves Turn Inside You Kill Rock Stars 20

Still love it, maybe even moreso now

2 Cannibal Ox The Cold Vein Def Jux 15

Still love it

3 The White Stripes White Blood Cells Sympathy for the Record Industry 15

Still love it

4 Low Things We Lost In The Fire Kranky 10

Eh

5 Microphones The Glow, Pt. 2 K 10

Still like it

6 Calla Scavengers Young God 10

Love it even more

7 Beachwood Sparks Once We Were Trees Sub Pop

Still like it

8 Death Cab for Cutie The Photo Album Barsuk 5
9 The Coup Party Music 75 Ark 5
10 Spoon Girls Can Tell Merge 5

WHAT WAS I THINKING WITH THESE LAST THREE???

I'm still okay with my 2002 year-end list for Neumu, by and large.

http://www.neumu.net/dailyreport/200...lyreport.shtml

As someone who typically would not venture into this type of music, I appreciated the song structures and the squall. The album gets better as it goes on.

I haven't changed my original opinion of "YHF" -- it's good, worthy of being on a Top 10 list, but not a #1. I'm still not sure it's even Wilco's best album, but I change my opinion on which of their 4 (yes, even "A.M.") merits that distinction.

I would list AM as their best record, no question. It's the most direct. As much as I love dissonance/counterpoint/fuXoring around, Wilco works best when it's most direct. Point A to Point B. If I could swallow my review of YHF to make it disappear forever I would, but I guess it does show how I felt at the time it was released. (same goes for my ToD review)