Best CDs of 2002

It's getting to list making time of the year. WFUV is having it's poll for best new releases of 2002. What are yours? I could list more but I'll stick to my top three in no particular order

DVN: Brontosaurus
David Bowie: Heathens
Christine Lavin: I was in Love with a Difficult Man

I haven't heard Rod Picott's so it might be up there. I'm sure I'm forgetting some others that belong.

Ackk. I forgot The Kennedys: "Get it Right"
I forgot to vote on that in the WFUV poll too. The question is which CD do I leave out? David Bowie is the only one that I'm not going to talk to in the next year, I guess it should be him :-)

This was a fabulous year for new music - I had a tough time just narrowing it to 10 (in no particular order)...

Stephen Fearing - That's How I Walk
The Supers - Mystery on Pop Mountain
Ron Sexsmith - Cobblestone Runway
Colin Linden - Big Mouth
Andy Stochansky - Five Star Motel
Elvis Costello - When I Was Cruel
Sarah Slean - Night Bugs
Starling - Stuff You Should Have Said Before
John Mayer - Room For Squares
Spek - Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

So many more could get honourable mentions though...

Booyah!!! Yes the Ron one's dang good.... the Andy Stochansky CD is my favorite of the year, number one! Don't have the Elvis one, I bought a 2 cd best-of of him this year though, so yay... Cary Pierce "Live At Schubas" is pretty good... Jack O'Neill also from Jackopierce just released a good one... Chicago band Down The Line has a wonderful cd called "Welcome to Flavortown" which you'll like if you're into Martin Sexton, Jeff Buckley, and CSN (neat combo eh?) they're my substitute Fruvous ;) ... I know I'm forgetting a bunch but I'm still doing catch-up cd buying from years past, you know?

Oh, the new Elvis CD should definitely be on your 'to buy' list - brilliant.

I love Martin Sexton too - but I can't even see Jeff Buckley's name anymore without thinking of the weekend of horror that was the Buckley tribute show earlier this year. *shudder*

oops I forgot about the Flaming Lips CD "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots." Awesome to listen to on a big stereo. Production is amazing!!!

Totally with you on the new Elvis Costello. It's great.

One year I actually kept track of every film I went to along with personal reviews then at oscar time gave out my own academy awards in the six major catagories.

brontosaurus, love and china, get it right, something magnetic (wa9), ben folds live.

oh, also come away with me by norah jones. not that she needs any promotion, but still. great cd.

heeeee. mine too. and the rest:

2. Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk
3. Chris & Meredith Thompson - Clearwater
4. Susan Werner - New Non Fiction
5. Andy Stochansky - Five Star Motel / Counting Crows - Hard Candy. I can't
choose. They're both 5th place material. Sorry. :)
6. Sean Altman - alt.mania
7. Richard Shindell - Courier
8. Ellis Paul - The Speed of Trees
9. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
10. Badly Drawn Boy - Have You Fed the Fish?

runners up, b/c their discs are *so* close to being masterpieces--but fail
in the final yards: Great Big Sea - Sea of No Cares and Aimee Mann - Lost in
Space. mostly b/c the last studio albums from both were *so* good, and the follow-ups just weren't on the same level. disappointing.

i love DVN, but brontosaurus hasn't spent enough time in my CD player to make the list. and BF5's live cd is fun, but not spectacular.

which reminds me. i have an EC newsletter to send out. pardon me. --k, who should be writing papers, which is why she's on the FHDC forums, of course.

er, i meant ben folds, minus the five. and i'm a tool for replying to myself. anyway. carry on--k.

i haven't bought too many cds recently.. but i will say this..

brontosaurus wouldn't be on my top 5 and i don't think i bought 5 cds this year.

coldplay's disc certainly would be though. quality stuff.

mmm Brothers Creeggan. For some reason I really like them but don't care for BNL.

Sadly I can't even really contribute. I think this is the first year I haven't really been actively buying a lot of new releases. I suppose in the earlier part of the year I was. I'll have to look into what I have. 10 Thousand Mornings (Peter Mulvey) and/or its accompanying EP would be in there.

For me, at least, it hasn't been a very good year for new music.......
10 Thousand Mornings, absolutely.

Also, 13 Songs for Right Now by Philip Price .. it has yet to leave my cd changer since I bought it.

Umm.... *thinks*
Not much else of note (for me) has come out this year other than those two.... at least, that I can think of.. I'll have to get back to this.
:)

What about Something Magnetic by WA9? :)

Still haven't heard it/gotten it.
Funny that... when you try to contact the band and they never reply to emails.
:P

You have too! It's the one with Albany, If You See William, Born Again, and Port Wine, you dork. :P

Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Beats everything else hands down.

Candy Butchers - Play With Your Head
Nerissa and Katryna Nields - Love and China
Mark Erelli - The Memorial Hall Recordings
The Kennedys - Get It Right
Spiraling - Transmitter

there were more CDs I bought that weren't released this year, and some that were released this year that I didn't think should be included, and I didn't want to do a top 6 or top 7, so the honourable mention goes to Brontosaurus; the live CDs, which aren't included because I don't think that live recordings (especially those recorded in subway stations!) should be up against polished studio material, were Ten Thousand Mornings, Courier, and Ben Folds Live; the reissue of the Violent Femmes' self-titled album is excellent, but isn't really a 2002 album; and the dishonourable mentions go to Sea of No Cares (fire the damn drummer and unplug your guitars!) and No! (I can't even come up with a snarky comment about this one)

See, I think NO! might actually be on my top 5 list.
And live CDs are perfectly acceptable top 5 material. If live in a subway is better than polished, why shouldn't it get that credit?

although I do tend to agree (a bit more calmly though) about Sea of no Cares. It has some good stuff, but Turn was so much better...

I forgot about NO. That is definite top 5 material.

wow, great timing, g-man! i will most likely be doing a "top 5 (possibly 10) singer-songwriter albums of 2002" on the WUNH folk show this coming sunday morning. i have to talk to the REAL host of the show tonight to see if he'll do the top 5 (or 10) traditional/instrumental to complement my s-s selections...could make for a great show. good ideas, guys. i had been blanking and afraid i'd miss something, but if people keep posting here, i should be able to come up with a pretty good--and relatively comprehensive--list. although i can ALMOST promise you that love and china will not be on it. ;-)

so keep posting and help out dj folky beth! :)

other important info: WUNH folk show, sundays 10am-noon, 91.3fm in the nh seacoast region, and www.wunh.org everywhere else. :-D listen up, yo!

What is this? Your own personal advertising forum?
;)

oh, is it??? Ok so if that's true, everyone should check out www.stevegoodie.com and order his 2002 release of parodies and originals SHOW-OFF because I cowrote one of the tracks... err... the Britney homage "Boobs! I Did 'Em Again." VERY silly stuff.

Sparks: Lil Beethoven (UK Universal)

Sandy Posey: A Single Girl; Best of the MGM Years (RPM)

Lou Christie & The Tammys:
Egyptian Shumba:
Singles & Rare Recordings 1962-64 (RPM)
http://www.geocities.com/antlion7/tammys.htm

Also:

crispy ambulance
all-new studio album

SCISSORGUN
Darla DRL-126 &
LTM CD 2329 (46:03)
released april 8, 2002
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/1306/crispy.htm

scissorgun track 01 w/ sample from
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
(Russ Meyer, 1965):
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Violence. The word and the act. While violence cloaks itself in a plethora of disguises, its favourite mantle still remains - sex.

scissorgun track 10 w/ sample from
Nick Bougas Presents:
Celebrities...At Their Worst!
(Volume 1)
While recording a trailer with Dean Martin for their new film, The Caddy, Jerry Lewis's mousy adolescent voice skips off-message into bursts of abuse. "No doubt about it, Dean, this is the funniest picture we've ever made, no kidding folks, we're sensational. Take my word for it, come on in and join the fun. The Caddy! It'll make you sh*t!"

...And a bad Speller, too. Russell Wolff's long anticipated Road Kill Americana, not only is it one of the best CD's of the year, but it is "The Best Ambum with Andy World in the Music Video." However it was narrowly beat out by The Paperboy's Tenure for the spot of "Best Album with an aduible yell from Andy World" Plus Melinda Beasi's Dorrie's True Story gets the "Best use of Andy World Artwork" Award!

Hey Andy - I'm listening to "Tenure" right now...which tune has your yell in it?

The last Track, "Midnight on the Highway" Right before Tom Landa introduces Cam Salay. Compair it to my hollor at the end of the Russell Wolff Video. I "Woot"ed!

I can't believe no one has voted for "Boredom and A Drum!" Or did you put that out in 2001?

Boredom and a Drum was a 2002 releace. I was kinda hoping it was voted for "Worse album *EVER*" but I am afraid that one goes to Willa Ford or that Lou Reed album of just feed back.

Look at My Personal Advertizing!

Once more CD that deserves mention, Evolve by Cadence Carroll. The more I see and hear Cadence the more I like her.

I feel guilty for not liking her CD. She is such a sweet person and really very nice. I think she is a tallented singer and musician, but I can't stand her album for some reason. It gets a simmular responce from me like when I played the Willa Ford CD I bought. Except the Willa ford responce was more violent.

That's how I feel about Martina and to a lesser extant Russell Wolffe. I really like them as people but not as musicians. Martina leaves me cold. I like Russell's music but not enough to want his CDs.

That's the hard part about meeting musicians or just perhaps knowing who they are as people. You feel guilty if you don't like their music but like them.

I have that with some folks...think they're awesome people and support their careers because I want them to do well, but the music isn't necessarily my thing.

oh, and while we're SMAFing, how about david morreale's pre-cd ep cd? :)

I had SERIOUS trouble with my list this year. I could NOT, for the life of me, come up with a full ten CDs for my list.. not even five. a lot of the discs I would have put on my list are ones which, while not -promoted- until 2002, were released in 2001 (John Mayer's Room For Squares, the Real Group's Allt Det Basta and Come Together: An A Cappella Tribute to the Beatles) or even 2000 (Gorillaz's eponymous disc, the Real Group's Commonly Unique).

Here are the ones that made my list that were actually this year. (in no order)

Us3, "An Ordinary Day in an Unusual Place"
various artists, "Verve//Remixed"
Zubot and Dawson, "Chicken Scratch"
are sorta the best ones, with runner-up mentions going to

Bill Bourne, "Voodoo King"
Brothers Creeggan, "Sleepyhead"
Yellowjackets, "Mint Jam"
Van Morrison, "Down the Road"
Ron Sexsmith, "Cobblestone Runway"
and
Weezer, "Maladroit"

but that last bunch.. I dunno. They still didn't stand out enough to me to really put them on my list... I just did NOT find a lot of new music this year that I actually wanted to buy. :( :( :(

What about your CD?

My CD, which was supposed to be released before Christmas, now isn't going to be. *sigh* So it might not be out this year.

I found Aimee Mann's LIS slow going on first listen because I didn't like two of the first three tunes AT ALL but after seeing her in concert I went back to it and really like MOST of it now, especially "Invisible Ink" and "This is How it Goes" which actually make it into my top 10 AM songs. So I just resign myself to the occasional FF button of the CD player and live with it LOL ...

I know, I know, Room for Squares is 2001 but I'm slow so I'll put it on this year's list, and add that the song "3 x 5" is one of my top two songs of the year along with Neil Finn's "Driving Me Mad" (listen to the two back to back and I dare you to sit still).

Finally, this never technically "came out" but was probably recorded in maybe 1992 or 3??? But I just got it this year so I consider it a 2002 CD for me LOL ... anyway, worth giving it props: the Candy Butchers' "Blue Thumb" album for lack of a better name for it. Not a bad song on it. Just wish they had kept "California Girl" and "Canned Hunt" from "Live at the Bonbonniere" EP that preceded it ... too bad I found his REAL new album so disappointing as to be nearly unlistenable. Sigh.

Lisa

Well, John Mayer's CD may have come out last year in the States perhaps but it came out in January of 2002 here in Canada. Plus they've only just released a special edition of the CD a couple of weeks ago so it still counts in my books. :)

I was blown away by Ron's new CD - I think it's an absolutely gorgeous album. The Brothers Creeggan album is quite good but I'd have to agree that it's not quite the stand out it should have been.

I haven't heard his "real" album, but its acoustic predecessor "Inside Wants Out" is damn good. It's a far cry from his glossy new big-label production style, the songs are very earthy and alive. He reminds me a lot of Martin Sexton. Even the original version "No Such Thing" is a great folk song. Not to mention the beautiful "Comfortable" .

Oooh! Verve Remixed! I have that album. It's great.

Let's see... in no particular order...my favorites of 2002.

Nerissa and Katryna Nields, Love and China
Marly Hornik, Say You Do
Dixie Chicks, Home
Dolly Parton, Halos and Horns
Adam Brodsky, Hookers, Hicks, and Heebs.

Other recent albums I enjoy:

Jane Monheit, In The Sun
Super Furry Animals, various albums