Mine were Flogging Molly & the Donnas. Both albums had so much promise.

Flogging Molly's new one came across like they were trying too hard to be part of that "Warped Tour" crowd.

The Donnas had so much potential to ROCK (like their last one did), but completely fell flat. Sounded like they were trying too hard to be on mainstream radio. It was way too mellow and the production sounded very flat.

I'll probably get some heat for this one, but I was really disappointed by Elliott Smith's final CD. Still, it was more or less assembled from unfinished stuff by his family and friends after his death, so at least there's a good reason why it seemed somewhat lacking.

Wow! That is surprising to hear. I may not rank it among his best work but it hasn't left my car stereo in months. I really, really enjoyed it. Care to be more specific?

Already mentioned them in the best CDs thread, but the new Wilco, Tortiose and David Cross CDs were all disapointing. And Juliana Hatfield's new one is in a weird limbo state, not bad, but not good either- it's just sort of 'there' when I listen to it.

Sure, having Lucinda Williams guest on your album will do that to any band....

I must disagree here. I find it's their most diverse album yet and think that they even turned things down a notch from Drunken Lullabies. I didn't care for the album the first few times through, I thought all the songs were somewhat similar, but after a few listens if definately grew on me and now it's one of my favorites from 2004.

And, my top 3 dissapointments of 2004:

3.Hot Snakes - Audit In Progress
-Now, I love RFTC and will buy all the side project-stuff for as long as I shall live, but what the hell iis this?!?! I enjoyed the first 2, but this throws repetitive word-shouting and instrumentation into almost-melodies. "Hair And DNA" sounds like it could fit onto one of their other albums, but the rest of the disc is downright lame. I'm puzzled at why it got such good reviews.

2.Reverend Horton Heat - Revival
-The only reason why the Hot Snakes CD isn't #1 is because I was expecting so much more from this album. Sure there are a few good tracks here (the title track is GREAT!), but on most of the tracks the band just seems to be going through the motions. Lots of unoriginal stuff here. Many of these songs remind me of some of the band's older/better stuff. This is definately the Rev's worst album. Yes, it's much worse than Space Heater. Please, please, PLEASE never work with Ed Stasium again.

1.The election.

Dimebag Darrell's Death!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No Solo Album from Zach De La Rocha

There was a huge article in last month's Spin (with U2 on the cover) talking about the last years of Elliot Smith's life. It talks about a number of songs that would have been among the album's strongest being dropped since his family was uncomfortable with the lyrics. That sort of made the album disappointing since those songs will possibly never be released as long as his estate is in his parents hands, making the album lesser than it could have been. Apparently there was a song called "Suicide Machine" (dropped for obvious reasons) that was among the poppiest songs he'd ever recorded.

The Thrills. Really liked the first record, but the new is really lame...

Wilco
Eminem
Taking Back Sunday

Definitely Lollapalooza getting canceled.

first one that comes to mind is probably the election.

and in regards to music releases: wilco's "a ghost is born" blaaaaaaaah how boring and sub-par can a great band get?

Zero 7 "When it falls"

I, for one, loved a Ghost is Born. Having said that, it's definitely a slow burn.

My biggest dissapointment was the lack of seemly any good electronic music this year. It seems like it just fell out of fashion. I'm all for a good guitar based album, but sometimes I'd like a little 808 in there as well. I can't name a single good electronic-based album from this year (maybe The Streets or Dizee Rascal, but they're both more hip-hop than electronic). Any help?

My biggest disappointment is that the music industry has continued to pump out more of the same crap. Nothing truly original sneaked it's way through the corporate sludge presented on every front, and the same old crap continues to be pushed.

Not that I expect the industry to wake up overnight and jetison 80% of their artists, but when is the "next big thing" ever going to show up?

Hmmm.. I'm having a much harder time "proving you wrong" than I thought I would! Guess you're onto something. I think that this year coulda used a new Boards of Canada album or something of "equal" value. I guess there's a lot of personal favorites that could be considered electronic music, like Fennesz, Wolf Eyes, Black Dice, etc, but I don't think that's what you were really looking for.

Talib Kweli - The Beautiful Struggle

The Hives
Sparta
Incubus
Vast
SquarePusher

I thought the new Modest Mouse was terrible - it's far too glossy/overproduced, and I found more than half of the tracks to be borderline unintelligible garbage. Of course, it was a huge hit on mainstream radio, proving once again that 90% of the population consists of zombies that will only start to support artists when they put out their worst album. For additional examples of this phenomenon, see Ryan Adams' Gold and The Jayhawks' Smile.

I don't know...I guess it's just way too evident that it was assembled from odds & ends, and the fact that it was compiled by someone else just doesn't make it seem like a genuine release. It's just below Figure 8 on my list, but neither comes close to his earlier albums (especially Elliott Smith and Either/Or, though XO is right up there). Who knows, though...maybe it'll grow on me over time.

I was eagerly awaiting this after discovering Quality earlier this year, but all I've heard is mixed reviews at best. I'm hesitant to pick it up even though I can't stop playing Quality. Who else has an opinion on this one?

The Cure
Jelly Jam 2
Prince Musicology
King's X live album

No new Bush album.

And the fact that Bush didn't win more states.

A Perfect Circle
Franz Ferdinand

Green Day's American Idiot has been a big let down for me.