Top Singles of the 00's

1. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
2. Hey Ya - Outkast
3. Kerosene - Miranda Lambert
4. Stacy's Mom - Fountains of Wayne
5. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
6. Hate To Say I Told You So - Hives
7. Don't Know Why - Norah Jones
8. Irreplaceable - Beyonce
9. Seven Nation Army - White Stripes
10. Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
11. I Believe In A Thing Called Love - Darkness
12. Hurt - Johnny Cash
13. Ms. Jackson - Outkast
14. Use Somebody - Kings of Leon 15. Young Folks - Peter Bjorn & John
16. How You Remind Me - Nickelback
17. Rehab - Amy Winehouse
18. I Predict A Riot - Kaiser Chiefs
19. Godless - Dandy Warhols
20. Chasing Cars -Snow Patrol

21. Somewhere Only We Know - Keane
22. Gold Digger - Kanye West
23. Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet
24. Mr. Brightside - Killers
25. What Goes Around - Justin Timberlake 26. Smile - Lily Allen
27. Beautiful Day - U2 28. Move Your Feet -Junior Senior
29. We Can't Make It Here - James McMurtry
30. Untitled - D'Angelo
31. Yellow - Coldplay
32. D*ck In A Box - Lonely Island
33. Business Time - Flight of the Conchords
34. Cry Me A River - Justin Timberlake
35. Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood
36. One More Time -Daft Punk
37. Mercy - Duffy
38. Paper Planes - MIA
39. Your Little Hoodrat Friend - Hold Steady
40. Me Gustas Tu - Manu Chao
41. Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5
42. 99 Problems - Jay Z
43. Can't Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie Minogue
44. Stupid Boy - Keith Urban
45. Say My Name - Destiny's Child
46. When The Stars Go Blue - Ryan Adams
47. Fell In Love With A Girl - White Stripes
48. Goodbye Earl - Dixie Chicks
49. Float On - Modest Mouse
50. Wonderful World - James Morrison
51. I Hope You Dance - Lee Ann Womack
52. Rock Your Body - Justin Timberlake
53. Yeah - Usher
54. I Try - Macy Gray
55. My Doorbell - White Stripes
56. Somebody Told Me - Killers
57. Crazy In Love - Beyonce
58. Welcome To The Future - Brad Paisley
59. Save A Horse - Big & Rich
60. Oops I Did It Again - Britney Spears
61. Yellow - Coldplay 62. Welcome To Jamrock - Damien Marley
63. Steady As She Goes - Raconteurs
64. We Belong Together - Mariah Carey
65. Take Your Mama - Scissor Sisters
66. Drops of Jupiter - Train
67. Three Wooden Crosses - Randy Travis
68. If I Ain't Got You- Alicia Keys
69. Hot In Herre - Nelly
70. Drive - Alan Jackson
71. Stronger - Kanye West
72. Sexyback - Justin Timberlake
73. Pretty Wings - Maxwell
74. Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz
75. Rebellion- Arcade Fire
76. Gotta Get Thru This - Daniel Bedingfield
77. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
78. Gunpowder and Lead - Miranda Lambert
79. Learning To Fly - Foo Fighters
80. Woman - Wolfmother
81. Trouble - Ray LaMontagne
82. Babylon - David Gray
83. Seed 2.0 - Roots/Cody Chestnutt
84. Chicago - Sufjan Stevens
85. Black Heart and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
86. Stan - Eminem
87. Jerk It Out - Caesars
88. New Slang - Shins
89. Breathe Me - Sia
90. Toxic - Britney Spears
91. Poker Face - Lady GaGa
92. Say It Right - Nelly Furtado
93. Stay - Sugarland
94. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow - Soggy Bottom Boys
95. Whenever Whatever - Shakira
96. Boondocks - Little Big Town
97. Umbrella - Rihanna
98. She Left Me For Jesus - Hayes Carll
99. Redneck Woman - Gretchen Wilson
100. Clocks - Coldplay

Top Albums of the 00's

1. Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
2. Hold Steady -Separation Sunday
3. White Stripes -White Blood Cells
4. Amy Winehouse -Back To Black
5. Outkast - Stankonia
6. Miranda Lambert- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
7. Bob Dylan - Love and Theft
8. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
9. Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
10. White Stripes -Elephant
11. Drive By Truckers -Southern Rock Opera
12. North Mississippi All Stars - Shake Hands With Shorty
13. Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious
14. Lily Allen - Alright Still
15. D'Angelo - Voodoo
16. Avalanches - Since I Left You
17. Rodney Crowell - Houston Kid
18. Drive By Truckers -Decoration Day
19. Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
20. Antony & The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
21. Manu Chao -Proxima Estacion: Esperanza
22. Kanye West - Graduation Day
23. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
24. Brian Wilson - Smile
25. Loretta Lynn- Van Lear Rose
26. Danger Mouse - Grey Album
27. Brad Paisley - American Saturday Night
28. Franz Ferdinand
29. Outkast -Speakerboxx/Love Below
30. Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
31. Streets -Original Pirate Material
32. Best Bootleg Album In The World Ever
33. MIA - Arular
34. Todd Snider - Devil You Know
35. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
36. Warren Zevon - The Wind
37. Rilo Kiley -Under the Blacklight
38. Jenny Lewis -Rabbit Fur Coat
39. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
40. Junior Senior - D-D-Don't Don't Stopp The Beat
41. Bright Eyes -I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
42. Hold Steady - Boys and Girls In America
43. Fountains of Wayne - Traffic and Weather
44. Daft Punk - Discovery
45. Justin Timberlake -Justified
46. Randy Newman - Harps & Angels
48. Arcade Fire -Funeral
49. Ornette Coleman - Sound Grammar
50. Flight of the Conchords 51. Johnny Cash - Man Comes Around
52. Wilco -Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
53. Dixie Chicks - Home
54. Conor Oberst
55. Amadou & Marian - Damanche a Bamako
56. Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet
57. Grandaddy - Sophtware Slump
58. New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
59. Girl Talk - Night Ripper
60. Wolfmother
61. Badly Drawn Boy - Night of the Bewilderbeast
62. Lily Allen - It's Not You, It's Me
63. Soundtrack of Our Lives - Behind The Music
64. Joanna Newsom - Ys
65. Black Keys - Big Come Up
66. TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
67. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am
68. Kanye West - Late Registration
69. Madvillain - Madvillainy
70. Raphael Saadiq - Way I See It
71. Todd Snider - East Nashville Skyline
72. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
73. Coldplay - Parachutes
74. Apples In Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
75. Alicia Keys - Songs In A Minor
76. Shelby Lynne- I Am Shelby Lynne
77. Buriel - Untrue
78. Old 97's - Satellite Rides
79. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
80. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
81. Cody Chesnutt - Headphone Masterpiece
82. Damien Rice - O
83. Duffy - Rockferry
84. Shakira - Laundry Service
85. Brad Paisley - Time Well Wasted
86. Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
87. Jamie Lidell - Multiply
88. Otis Taylor - White African
89. Jill Scott - Who Is Jill Scott
90. Gorillaz
91. Against Me - New Wave
92. Beyonce - B'day
93. Warren Zevon - Life'll Kill Ya
94. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
95. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
96. O Brother Where Art Thou - Soundtrack
97. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
98. Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising Sand 99. National - Boxer
100. Scissor Sisters

Top 10 Singles of 2009

1. Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
2. Lady Gaga - Just Dance
3. Lady Gaga - Poker Face
4. Maxwell - Pretty Wings
5. Taylor Swift - You Belong To Me
6. Phoenix - 1901
7. Ida Marie - I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked
8. Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You
9. Brad Paisley- Welcome To The Future
10. Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

Top 10 Albums of 2009

1. Brad Paisley - American Saturday Night
2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
3. Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
4. Maxwell- Blacksummersnight
5. Knaan - Troubadour
6. Rhett Miller - s/t
7. Ida Maria - Fortress Around My Heart
8. Nirvana - Live at Reading
9. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
10. Miranda Lambert - Revolution

Catching Up

One good thing that a Rock Hall induction, or even a nomination will do for me, is make me dig deeper into an artist's catalog. Usually I have the most important stuff by someone, but more research turns up gems. I'm now doing this with Genesis. I have most of their best reviewed work, but I'm going to pick up a pre-Hit bound album by them.
I also did this with the Stooges when they first got nominated. I only wish someone would have made a decent compilation of the fine list of 2010 songwriters that are going in.

Hilburn, Again

I'm a Twitter follower of Robert Hilburn, but sometimes I wonder why. Still stuck in his adolation for all things U2 and Springsteen. Failing to grasp that Beyonce is an artist of the decade contender, his Twitter posts are much like his LA Times columns. Frustrating and often hilarious. I will give him credit for voting for Abba for the Rock Hall. But his dismissals of Donna Summers career were painful.
Usually I don't rag on other critic's. Even ones I admire have different tastes than me. But Hilburn was never a first ballot Music Critic Hall of Famer, so I don't feel bad posting about how average his stuff was.

First Time Nominees

It's also worth noting that 3 of the 5 first time nominated inductees this year, have been eligible for years. The Hall has a way of doing this. Why all of a sudden are Genesis and the Hollies ready to be nominated in 2009, but weren't worthy in, say, 2003? In this regard, the voters are smarter than the Nominating Committee. When they see a decent name, they jump on it. Still, I think something is fishy with KISS being passed over. Anyway, you'll see more of this as the pool of first time eligibles slows to a crawl.

Jimmy Cliff

Something I've been pondering regarding the RRHOF. Did Jimmy Cliff really get more votes than KISS? Someday someone is going to leak the vote totals for these things and we'll all get a first hand look. But be very suspicious.

Wrapping Up the 00's

Before I unveil my Top Albums/Singles of the Year and Decade, let me just say that I believe the 00's were a better musical decade than the 90's. I still feel there were terrible things happening musically in the 90's, and I'm still struggling to figure out why I can't warm up to its musical output.
But I think the 00's had some great stuff. Will it go down better than the previous decades? Maybe not. There was too much music and nobody could find it all. That's what the internet has wrought. So, regardless of people not buying as much music, there was still a ton of it out there.
Yet, I'm optimistic. It was a good decade musically. As a music fan, that's all I could have asked for.

Conchords

Maybe they'll make a movie, a TV special or another album, but chances are the Flight of the Conchords will go back to what they were before their HBO show: a cult act. Ending after 2 seasons wasn't a tough call. Season 1 had great songs to go along with thin plots and a great supporting cast. But Season 2 wasn't as good. The songs were dull, and without good songs the show just limped along. The album that came from it, I Told You I Was Freaky, also wasn't as good as Season 1's album.
But still let's give them a hand. A cult band gets famous and then goes back to being a cult band. I think it's just the way they want it.

Playlist for 12/21

Alicia Keys - Element of Freedom
Robin Thicke - Sex Therapy
Johnny Mathis - Open Fire Two Guitars
Carmen McRae - Carmen Sings Monk
Big Mama Thornton - Peacock Recordings
Lenny Williams - Spark of Love
Lacy J. Dalton - Greatest Hits
Three Degrees - Best of

2010 Rock Hall Crystal Ball

As I do every year at this time, after the newest Rock Hall Inductees are announced, I look ahead to next year's ballot and see if any first time nominees will get nominated.
After looking over the list at Future Rock Legends, I have good news for older acts still waiting to get in: there will be NO first time nominees from the 2010 list I saw. Unless the Hall moves up a 2011 nominee by a year due to some forgotten recording that we missed, this should be a good year to get caught up on past nominees and/or ones that have never made the cut.

Xmas Songs

I used to put a link to my Christmas list, but without a FTP link I can't do it anymore. The list was over 100 songs, with a few surprises, but for the most part my favorite Xmas songs are yours as well. #1 was Bing and the rest of the Top 10 was full of over-familiar favorites.

Songwriters Hall of Fame 2010 Nominees

Not sure how I missed this, but here are the nominees for the 2010 Songwriters Hall of Fame. A lot of artists that never make the Rock Hall have gotten in to the SHOF (e.g. Randy Newman, Hall & Oates). Lots of big name acts, but also some forgotten ones. Nominees announced early 2010, inducted in June 2010.
SHOF

Phil Colllins Is In

Phil Collins would never have gotten into the Rock Hall as a solo act. Critics didn't like his solo work. But as a member of Genesis? I couldn't be happier that he's in. Peter Gabriel's solo stuff is more loved, but not Hall worthy, and now that he's in with Phil, let's never hear that his solo career is Hall worthy. And I feel the same about Sting's solo career. And Lou Reed's.

Rolling Stone's #1 Album?

Most of the end of the year decade's best lists seem to be the same. Except for Rolling Stone which named Kid A by Radiohead the #1 album of the decade. I think this says more about Rolling Stone's coverage of music in the 00's than anything. Kid A is rather negligible even by Radiohead's overrated standards. But once a critic's pet always one. And Radiohead can do no wrong with the crit elite.

Playlist for 12/14

Dolly Parton - Dolly (box set)
Pretty Things - Very Best of
Tony Bennett- 50 Years of (box set)
Bill Evans - Live at the Village Vanguard 1961
Johnny Mercer - Songsmith from Savannah
Bob Seger - Early Tracks (CD-R someone sent me)

Rain Songs

Another compilation I've been thinking about making for years is one on Rain songs. To be played by my friends at their workplace on, you guessed it, rainy days. I've had this on the back burner for a couple of years and never got around to it. Varese Vintage put out a CD in the 90's of rain songs that was pretty good. I could copy it and add a few songs that they missed. But as soon as I get around to it, the rainy season is over, and I've moved on. But some day.

CD-R's

Haven't made a CD-R for my friends in months. I'm now on the verge of knocking out 2 Old School Soul ones. Just need to find the time with the Holiday rush taking up my Sunday's. Also, a friend says they want an 80's compilation. Mostly early 80's, with lots of cheese (much like the ones I made him of the 70's). So, my CD-R burner should get a work out in the next couple of months.

Year, Decade End Lists Done, Finally!

Finally, wrapped up a whole bunch of year end lists, plus decade's end ones as well. These will be posted near the end of the month. I don't claim that these are final. I missed a lot this decade and this year, but looking over them, I'm pretty proud of the final choices.

Top Reissues of 2009

1. Hall & Oates - Music of (box set)
2. Jayhawks - Anthology
3. Sweet - Anthology
4. Elvis Presley - From Elvis In Memphis (reissue)
5. Madonna - Celebration
6. Janet Jackson - Number Ones
7. Mojo Presents Heavy Mod (Mojo January 2009)
8. Vaselines - Enter the Vaselines
9. Leon McAuliffe - Tulsa Straight Ahead
10. Etta James - Love Songs

Elevation

Can a bunch of good singles elevate an album you thought was average to an above-average album. I think this is happening with Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas. At least for me. Both albums sounded good when I first played them. But many singles later and now they sound better. So, the power of radio still exists.

Pazz & Jop

Now that I've got the Nashville Scene ballot out of the way, I next focus on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll. 10 albums and 10 singles. Always tought to narrow the choices down, but I always manage.

Artist of the Decade

For me there's no question who the Artist of the Decade was-it's Jack White. His astonishingly consistent work on the White Stripes albums were one thing. But add the first Ranconteurs album, his producer's credit on Loretta Lynn's album, the good Dead Weather CD, and you have a pretty strong case. Doubters will say he tailed off the last couple of years. The 2nd Ranconteurs album was mediocre and the Dead Weather got mixed results. But I'll stick with my pick.

My runner-up's are Beyonce, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake.

Playlist for 12/6

Sam Cooke - Man Who Invented Soul
Aaron Neville - Bring It On Home To Me
Harry Connick - Your Songs
Barbra Streisand - Love Is The Answer
Michael Buble - Crazy Love
Sex Pistols - Great Rock and Roll Swindle

2009 Nashville Scene Ballot Reissues

They only let you pick 5. And to be honest this was a lax year for Country reissues. But I dug up 5.

1. Elvis Presley - From Elvis In Memphis
2. Jayhawks - Anthology
3. Leon McAuliffe - Tulsa Straight Ahead
4. Woody Guthrie - Down Every Road
5. Randy Travis - Inspirational Hits of

My Nashville Scene 2009 Singles Ballot

1. Welcome To The Future - Brad Paisley
2. You Belong To Me - Taylor Swift
3. Homeland Refugee - Flatlanders
4. Toes - Zac Brown Band
5. White Liar - Miranda Lambert
6. Kiss A Girl - Keith Urban
7. Alright - Darius Rucker
8. People Are Crazy - Billy Currington
9. I Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
10. I Told You So

2009 Nasvhille Scene Ballot Albums

My Top 10 Albums for 2009 that will get tabulated in Nashville Scene's Year end poll. I should say that this was not a great year for Country reissues, as I barely made it to 5. Next 2 days Singles and Reissues





ALBUMS

1. Brad Paisley - American Saturday Night
2. Miranda Lambert - Revolution
3. Buddy & Julie Miller - Written In Chalk
4. Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel - Willie & The Wheel
5. Elvis Costello - Secret Profane and Sugarcane
6. Flatlanders - Hills & Valleys
7. Otis Gibbs - Grandpa Walked A Picketline
8. John Anderson - Bigger Hands
9. Dailey & Vincent - Brothers From Different Mothers
10. Phosphorescent - To Willie

Sam Cooke

It's only taken me 2 or 3 years, but thanks to a half off Amazon sale, I finally broke down on got the Sam Cooke box set that came out some time ago. It always bothered me that while I had boxes on Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, James Brown I had no Sam Cooke one. This one still bothers me because it doesn't include "Change Is Gonna Come". So, I'm a little nervous that someday they'll redo this box with a new one. But until then I'm glad to have Sam in the fold.

NY Times on the Bee Gees

I don't know how this got in there, but the NY Times Opinion page had this to say about the 50th Anniversary of the Bee Gees. Oh, BTW, my fave BG song that nobody remembers? "Fanny" from 1976.

Editorial - Stayin’ Alive - NYTimes.com