Top Albums of 2004

Till Josh gets around to making a poll lets discuss here what the best albums of 2004 were.

Here is a list of the albums released in 2004 courtesy of WFUV.

In their poll you could vote for three albums and I voted for

Nellie McKay - Get Away from Me
The Kennedys - Stand
Slaid Cleaves - Wishbones

If I had more votes I'd have gone with

Patti Smith - Trampin'
Rod Picott - Girl From Arkansas
Brian Wilson - Smile
Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love.

Gah, I forgot about Madeleine. It might have made my top 3.

but...stand was released in 2003. weird.

my top cds of the year were:
smile, brian wilson
the ditty bops, the ditty bops
vuelta, richard shindell
til the dawn, nora o'connor
dreaming in romance languages, catie curtis

there were a *lot* of really good cds released this year, but those five stood out the most for me.

Are you sure Stand was 2003? It is listed on the FUV site as being 2004 I don't remember voting for it last year. Of course I dont remember lots of things.

i know it was 2003 because i got my copy in 2003. i played it before the david and amy house concert. i reviewed it on my song circle site, which is long defunct. i included "stand" on my "best of 2003" mix cd. check pete and maura's site--the official release date was 9/23/03. fuv is wrong.

Bangs Head

Right it came out right before your birthday. I think I got it for you for your birthday as a matter of fact.

some more great ones...

Tom Waits - Real Gone
School for the Dead - The New You
The Mammals - Rock That Babe

I'm gonna have to think about this... I always forget what year things were released in.

But I'll also second the vote for vuelta.

I'm just trying to think which of the CD's that I got were released this year...

Top 3:
Richard Shindell - Vuelta
Robbie Schafer - In The Flesh
Gandalf Murphy & The Slambovian Circus of Dreams - Flapjacks From The Sky (Double CD)

Honorable Mentions:
Eddie From Ohio - This Is Me
The Mammals - Rock That Babe
Norah Jones - Feels Like Home
MC Lars - THe Laptop EP (EP, doesn't count.)

Edit: Add in Peter Mulvey - Kitchen Radio. I thought it was an '03 release.

--
Vance Gilbert has a new disc, "Unfamiliar Moon", that I am not familiar with at this point. ;-)
Chris & Meredith Thompson have a live album out. I'll have to pick it up when they start touring again next year.

Top 3:

Robbie Schaefer- In The Flesh
Jeffrey Foucault- Stripping Cane
k.d. lang- Hymns Of The 49th Parallel

hard choice... i think that Jeff and Robbie actually tie for first place.

See, I totally wanted to include robbie's album.. but.. I just... can't.

The guitar is overdone/overtreated to the point of being unlistenable on some songs. :(

whether they're listed there or not, here's mine:

1. Muse - Absolution
2. Green Day - American Idiot
3. Interpol - Antics

and the runners up:
4. Franz Ferdinand (Self Titled)
5. The Tragically Hip - In Between Evolution

i agree w/ all of those, but have to ask.�� you didn't like the new Morrissey album this year?� i can understand not liking the Cure's self-titled as even i think it's time for Smithy to hang it up, but the�Moz album really just blew me away.�

it was a toss-up between Morrissey's "You Are the Quarry" & Auf der Maur's self-titled album (for things not listed here, yet).� but i think that Auf der Maur is a given.� how could i possibly not like a red-haired�bass playing chick from Montreal... and she's so sweet too. :-)� if i had heard it, i would probably include "Want Two."� i just haven't heard it yet.� i also like the new U2.� it gets a solid 4 out of 5.� compared to other things this year, i loved it.� when i compare it to their back catalogue & what i know they're capable of, i find it kinda lacking.� hence the 4 out of 5.�� there's a new old M. Doughty album coming out next week (i think) that i want to hear as well.�

/babble

meh, i'm not a huge M. Doughty fan, despite seeing him�4 times (once with soul coughing and 3 times solo).

You Are the Quarry was okay, but it didn't do much for me. we bought it and kinda forgot about it. in a few years i'll put it in and love it, i know it.

As for the cure - i stopped buying their stuff before Galore. i'm just not a new cure fan. i dont even like Wish that much. i'm much more of a Japanese Whispers/KissMe^3/Desintegration/Head on the Door/etc era fan.

Those were the top 5 that didnt leave my cd player for weeks :P

Doughty's new disc is just a rerelease.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Rush - Feedback?

i wouldnt mention rush because i dont like rush :P

And I'm sure they don't like you either =P

that girl's voice drives me nuts! :P

*kidding*

"what about the voice of geddy lee? how did it get so high? i wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy!"

doughty = freakin awesome.

Dude.

He just needs to play around here move often, dammit.... he played in noho 4 or 5 times... and then just, stopped.

SUCH a good show.

I forgot to mention Sam Roberts Band - We Were Born in a Flame.

1. Dear Heather - Leonard Cohen (the sequence of "On That Day" followed by "Villanelle For Our Time" moved me to tears)
2. Is It Rolling, Bob? - Various artists (a two-disc compilation of reggae covers of Bob Dylan songs)

William Shatner's Has Been a lot, I don't knwo what it aboot the cd, but hey we all can't account for taste, right?

his cover of "common people" is, like, the catchiest song of the year. i'd like to give the credit to the strength of the original song, and the genius of ben folds and joe jackson in the backing band, but shatner's delivery also never fails to crack me up.

you should hear his cover of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

we had it as the background music for a station ID in college.

"look for the girl...with stars..in her eyes?! AND SHE'S GONE (gone gone gone echo)!!!"

I have both cd's! I find his version of Mr.�Tamborine�man just a hair more enjoyable though.� Has the classic pauses and such.

yes, I the part that always gets me is "because you think that...poor is COOOL."

the dishonourable mention goes to TMBG's The Spine, which I think I've listened to three times and have absolutely no desire to ever listen to again.

the dishonourable mention runner up is The Nields' This Town is Wrong, which could have been a lot better, too.

the dishonourable mention goes to TMBG's The Spine

yeah, i'll give you that. it wasnt my favorite album of the year. but i will listen to "experimental film" just to get the mental image of strongsad :P

oh yes, yet another reason to for me to not listen to that song. but I'm the only person in the universe who hates all things homestarrunner.

have you watched the video with strongsad's commentary?

ahahaha - no! i dont get much of a chance to watch h*r anymore w0t with the past 6 months only having inet access @ work :P i have it at home now but the computer its on sucks.

next weekend when i'm home and have my killer new dell, i will be spending tons of time on h*r :P

i love strongbad's commentary on the first cartoon tho :P

and i SO WANT THE DVD SET!

Are you saying it's the worst album of the year?� You're entitled to your opinion, but that seems a bit harsh.

Of the albums I bought this year, it is the worst, yes. Worst overall, certainly not.

Agreed about Spine. It's a really... spineless CD, there's no meat on it. Even "Experimental Film" (which is the only decent song) feels like Linnell is desparately trying to wake up long enough to clone their 90's style.

And no, I'm not a early-TMBG snob who thinks anything after Lincoln sucks. Factory Showroom is probably my favorite album. The problem is that they haven't really done anything noteworthy since then (8 years or so?).

Some of the songs that have been around for a while that finally made it onto the album are ok - Thunderbird and Museum of Idiots, specifically. But even that version of Thunderbird is rather weak. The guitar is way too trebly and should be playing 8th notes instead of quarter notes in the intro and similar sections. It's a good song, though, just poorly produced.

I wouldn't say everything after Lincoln, but most everything after John Henry is weak, I think. Factory Showroom was at least well produced and had some good songs on it. And even Severe Tire Damage had Dr. Worm. But Mink Car and The Spine have just been horrible.

Huh... see, I really liked some of spine..... granted, it's not a great album.. but...

I like the first 4.... I like thunderbird... I like stalk of wheat...

And, I mean, it's better than anything else they've released recently...

Wow...It's not my fave TMBG album but I sure liked it. Broke in Two might be one of my fave songs from 2004.

Hmmm...

>�the dishonourable mention runner up is The Nields' This Town is
> Wrong, which could have been a lot better, too.

I am TOTALLY on board with this point.� I really really really wanted to like it...

...and I just couldn't.� One of the biggest disappointments of the year, really, because I enjoy Love and China so much.� sigh.

Exactly. I think maybe it's because our expectations were so high that we couldn't not be disappointed.

Fortunately, the tracks are ordered such that I can listen to the first six and then switch to something else. :) (I suppose for the other 5, I can tolerate Easy People IIHaven't I Been Good.)

Hmmm...I have the album sitting at the store waiting for me to buy it - now I'm wondering if I should. Is the album worth buying?

> - now I'm wondering if I should. Is the album worth buying?

well.� see, maybe Lawrence can speak in more specific terms--I got it hot off the presses in January and took it with me on a long car trip and could barely get through the album once.� For me, the lyrics seem very forced--I can't tell if it's because they're too cliche or because they just don't fit the music, but they didn't leave me with the catchiness I'm used to from the Nields.� and I'm one of the hugest Nields proponents around--I love them!� but this album just didn't do it for me.

That's pretty much my complaint about it, too. Even taking into account that the songs are Nerissa writing from the point of view of teenagers and presumably in their style, I think it's a bit... odd.

But also, I just can't comprehend some of the production decisions. The title track is a few beats per minute slower than the original version on "If You Lived Here You'd Be Home Now" and it just drags. Clairman Town, which I think is one of the better tracks, still desperately needs horns. And the baritone guitar in The Day I Let Glory Steer doesn't even sound like a baritone guitar, which makes it a really strange choice.

And even with the songs on it that I do like, there are still no real standouts. There's nothing overly spectacular about any of the songs. Except maybe Paris, which is spectacularly boring.

In no particular order....

• Great Big Sea - Something Beautiful
• Guster - Guster on Ice
• Eddie from Ohio - This is Me
• Carbon Leaf - Indian Summer
• Modest Mouse - Good News...
• Owsley - The Hard Way (actually December 2003... but close enough)
• Black Eyed Peas - Elephunk
• The Argument - Recess Serenade
• Popular Genius - How to be Popular
• Robbie Schaefer - In the Flesh

owsley... huh.. that's the first I've heard of them since hearing that they'd opened for FoW, like, YEARS ago....
How are they/what kind of music? (I figure I'll ask, even though I am, yes, going to find mp3s. hehe)

ETA: ahh.. so it's a solo dude... and... he has an AWFUL website... without a single full mp3. I think I'll pass. heh.

Carbon Leaf - Indian Summer

I rarely go a full week anymore without playing this album through at least once. Awesome disc, awesome band. Apparently they're going to be touring with Big Head Todd and The Monsters in early 2005, so if they find their way near you, do look them up! :-D

-- Pauley

Elephunk, while it's an amazing CD, came out in 2003 :)

...as I was just tweaking my list today at work. (I mean, on a management-sanctioned break. Right.)

• Modest Mouse: Good News...


• R.E.M. : Around the Sun


• Franz Ferdinand: s/t


• Brother: Urban Cave


• Dogs Die in Hot Cars: Please Describe Yourself


• Keane: Hopes and Fears


• Richard Shindell: Vuelta


• Carbon Leaf: Indian Summer


• Sarah Harmer: All of Our Names


• The Killers: Hot Fuss

My honorable mentions: Shatner, TMBG (hey, I liked it! but then, maybe my standards for TMBG have slumped in past years, as addressed above), Nellie McKay, Cake, the Magnetic Fields, Rilo Kiley, Morrissey, Interpol, Green Day (which I just got yesterday). And, uhh, not the new EFO, because I don't own it yet. *hides*

> Modest Mouse: Good News...
> Franz Ferdinand: s/t

These seem to be the top two indie CDs of the year, and I just can't bring myself to like them much. The MM CD was squashed so loud during the mastering that it's almost unlistenable, and I'm not much of a fan of FF's style.

Word on Rilo Kiley. I forgot that came out this year..

>�These seem to be
> the top two indie CDs of the year, and I just can't bring myself to like
> them much. The MM CD was squashed so loud during the mastering that it's
> almost unlistenable, and I'm not much of a fan of FF's style.

Yeah, I was debating even listing them, because I sort of felt like a bandwagon-jumper... but they both spent crazy amounts of time in my CD player in the spring/early summer, so I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy them.� MM is uneven, but the good is so good (World at Large, Float On, Ocean Breathes Salty, Black Cadillacs, The Good Times are Killing Me, to name the few that come immediately to mind) that it makes up for the couple I'm not as fond of.� And my only complaint about Franz Ferdinand is that it's not longer.� :D

Around the Sun is the first R.E.M. album that I haven't bought. If I could beam myself from ten years ago to my desk here today, he'd be shocked, but I find what they're doing to be so disinteresting now. It really disappoints me.

> Around the Sun is the first R.E.M. album that I haven't bought. If I
> could beam myself from ten years ago to my desk here today, he'd be shocked,
> but I find what they're doing to be so disinteresting now. It really disappoints
> me.

I do hear that, and part of me really wishes that the RAWK they bring live could translate into their albums more... but Around the Sun was a slow-burner for me and I really really like it now.� though maybe a lot of that comes from steeping myself in it prior to and in between the two concerts of theirs I saw in October... and having the memories of hearing the songs live sort of echoing in my mind as I listen to it now.� There was this one song they played in concert,�"I'm Gonna DJ," that was totally awesome and very up-tempo... which is probably why it didn't make the album, b/c it didn't fit the "feel."� ah, well.� much like TMBG, the music they're putting out now isn't as good as what they once did--but it's still a lot better than a lot of what's out there.

I always have such a hard time compiling a list at the end of the year - I think this is my top 10 (in no particular order)

Sarah Harmer - All of Our Names
Danny Michel - ...Sings the Songs of David Bowie
Soundtrack - Beyond the Sea
Ricky Fante - Rewind
Ron Sexsmith - Retreiver
Kurt Swinghammer - Augusta
The Bover (Tim Bovaconti) - Not Live at Budoken
Bob Kemmis - Arena Ready
K-OS - Joyful Rebellion
Mad Violet - Worry the Jury

honourable mention goes to Sho, Mo and the Monkey Bunch's self-titled cd just for being such a damn good and fun kids album. :)

Here's my list.

Hey there. We at http://www.rkstar.com are putting together a "top albums of the year" poll where everyone can place their votes.

We have...
Ambulance LTD- Ambulance LTD
Breaking Laces- Sohcahtoa
Brian Kaplan Band- Resurface
Brian Vander Ark- Resurrection
Bryan Thomas- Babylon
Catch 22- Dinosaur Sounds
Death Cab For Cutie- Transatlanticism
Flogging Molly- Within A Mile Of Home
Gary Jules- Trading Snakeoil For Wolftickets
Geno K- The Human Geno Project
Get Up Kids- Guilt Show
Gomez- Split The Difference
Killers- Hot Fuss
Local H- Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles
Mike Grosshandler- Wrote Myself
Modest Mouse- Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Muse- Absolution
Nellie McKay- Get Away From Me
Polyphonic Spree- Together We're Heavy
Public Access- Please Throw Money
Rachael Yamagata- Happenstance
Rilo Kiley- More Adventerous
Scissor Sisters- Scissor Sisters
Sean Rowe- 27.
Sirsy- Ruby
Snow Patrol- Final Straw
Spookie Daly Pride- Marshmallow Pie
Steriogram- Schmack
Tegan & Sara- So Jealous
The Thrills- Let's Bottle Bohemia
Wilco- A Ghost Is Born
Zero 7- When It Fails

Its free and quick to vote and you can vote once a day. we'd like to have the poll be as accurate as possible and get as wide a variety of voters as well. Thanks!
Vote here-
http://www.rkstar.com/polls/2004albums

-dan goodspeed

I'm not sure how a poll can be very accurate if people can vote once a day.

i'm not sure why people feel the need to spam fhdc.

Maybe it is a sign of FHDC's prominense in cyberspace. Spamming FHDC is like climbing Mt. Everest.

That or Pete Best is behind it.

Hello all...I'm new around these parts, so I hope you'll go easy on me.

The following are those albums released in 2004 that I've added to my collection:

Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 5 & 6 - Andy Partridge
The Spine (and The Spine Surfs Alone) - They Might be Giants
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Bliss Descending (EP) - Jason Falkner
Smile - Brian Wilson
Good News for People Who Like Bad News - Modest Mouse

Smile was just acquired for Christmas and I haven't really listened to the Modest Mouse disc much (a lot of it sounded good, but some tracks sounded so out of place that I don't know if it will adversely affect my overall enjoyment of the release in the long-run). The remainder I wholeheartedly recommend.

Also, add me to the list of people who will defend The Spine. I prefer TMBG's earlier stuff, but I think Spine on the whole is their best since John Henry (personally, I think Factory Showroom is their weakest by far, but that's mainly Elektra's fault if my info is correct...another story for another day). Experimental Film, Prevenge, Thunderbird, Damn Good Times, It's Kickin In, and Museum of Idiots are all A+ songs, IMO.

I would also like to note albums that were "new to me" this year and come highly recommended, but were released earlier than
2004:

"The Laughing Man," "Tock," and "Damascus" - Yazbek
The Full Monty Broadway Soundtrack (words and music by Yazbek)
"Fred" and "The Importance of Sauce" - Mitch Friedman
"Seven Worthies....of the Bamboo Grove" and "God's Empty Chair" - Becki DiGregorio
Apocalypse Now and Then - Dan Hart
"The Life and Times of Mike Fanning" and "Bendy's Law" - DaVinci's Notebook
Speed Graphic (EP) - Ben Folds

It blows my mind that there are new people still showing up here... (it's not a bad thing, honest)

It amazes me that MF continues to attract fans considering they haven't played a show in 4 years...

Well, really, music is music.

There are kids who love the Grateful Dead who have never had the opportunity to go to a Dead concert, and they were a band that people insisted you "had to see live", as well.

true enough, but if you compare the relative fan base of the Dead while they were touring to the relative fan base of Fruvous while touring it's pretty amazing.

I know that I still listen to Fruvous, but I don't tell people about it anymore simply for the fact that I'd feel bad that they can't see them live anymore... I'm sure people are still being exposed...

I�don't know.. I'm rambling.. :)

I'm sure people are still being exposed...

Like ebola. *nodsnods*

> I know that I still listen to Fruvous, but I don't tell people
> about it anymore simply for the fact that I'd feel bad that they can't see
> them live anymore... I'm sure people are still being exposed...I don't know..

That's not the kind of philosophy I can get on board with, personally. My favorite band, XTC, hasn't toured in 20+ years (save for a few radio station gigs 15 years ago), but I still love their work immensely (I never had a favorite band before I found XTC). Would I like to see them live? Of course, but the studio output is just too dang good to dismiss simply because what some people perceive as an important part of musical fandom has been removed from the equation. Another example: Steely Dan was a studio band exclusively for many years but, while I'm not a big fan, a lot of their stuff was still worth a listen. For that matter, you can't see the Beatles live anymore, but anyone whose ear is taken by the rock genre hasn't completed an important part of their education until they've heard most of the Beatles catalog. That's my $1.50. :)

Yay XTC!! They're in my top three, with Fruvous and the Beatles. And I never quit trying to expose people to them. :) (mmmmmxtc)

I think, though, people aren't so much saying that it's not worth it to get people into just studio stuff....I think they're saying it's kinda cruel to get them into a band that is BEST live.� Like...Beatles and XTC...even when they toured...that wasn't the best thing about them. The studio was where the magic happened. So you can still get the magic so easily. With Fruvous...its arguable that live shows were where the magic happened...I admit I kinda fear trying to get people into Fruvous because I don't feel like they'll quite understand what it's all about without the live experience. Fruvous on album=great. Fruvous in person=practically life changing. *grin*

> Yay XTC!! They're in my top three, with Fruvous and the Beatles. And I
> never quit trying to expose people to them. :) (mmmmmxtc)I think, though,
> people aren't so much saying that it's not worth it to get people into just
> studio stuff....I think they're saying it's kinda cruel to get them into
> a band that is BEST live. Like...Beatles and XTC...even when they toured...that
> wasn't the best thing about them. The studio was where the magic happened.
> So you can still get the magic so easily. With Fruvous...its arguable that
> live shows were where the magic happened...I admit I kinda fear trying to
> get people into Fruvous because I don't feel like they'll quite understand
> what it's all about without the live experience. Fruvous on album=great.
> Fruvous in person=practically life changing. *grin*

Perhaps they're best live, perhaps they're not--I haven't had the experience. :) All I know is that Fruvous is among my top 5 or so favorite artists. I don't feel that not seeing them live has, at least for me personally, been a major impairment to my enjoyment of their work (YMMV). I say that with the following disclaimers: 1) Having been an XTC fan for more than 15 years, I'm used to dealing with being passionate about a band I'll probably never see live whereas, perhaps, others aren't; 2) I take a very mellow attitude towards concert-going. I don't really "get into it," per se. I listen, almost analytically, to the nuances of the performance and am markedly more happy sitting down than being forced to stand in order to be able to see anything. If I had it my way, rock concerts would be much like classical concerts, except without the dress code :) ; and 3) I have HEARD (if not seen) many examples of the sort of improv they do live via Live Noise and the various downloads I've run across (for the record, I did buy all the legitimate releases of the albums, I've only downloaded stuff that is otherwise unavailable). So that said, how much more could my impression of Fruvous improve with the live experience? Might it move them up a notch? Perhaps two? There's not THAT much higher up they can go and my favorite can't be unseated, so there you have it. Maybe I'm just weird. Actually, I suppose I already am pretty weird, so more accurately, maybe I've found a NEW way in which I'm weird of which I was prevously unaware. :P

> (for the record, I
> did buy all the legitimate releases of the albums, I've only downloaded
> stuff that is otherwise unavailable).

Kudos for you! Combos and Chex Mix too!

There are kids who love the Grateful Dead who have never had the opportunity to go to a Dead concert

Exactly! I didn't grow up listening to the Grateful Dead... I hadn't been exposed to them until I heard some of their music on FolkTown and said to myself "Hey! This is good stuff!"

my dad's a musician... the first sound I ever heard was jerry garcia playing lap steel.

Well, truth be told, I've been a fan for awhile, though not in time to catch a Fruvous show (well, I suppose I could have caught the last Frucon show had I known then that the word "hiatus" would turn out to be an understatement). I did catch a Jian solo show in Oct. of '01, but that's all. Be that as it may, being more the lurker type, I tended just to read the newsgroup and fruvous.com for info and a better understanding of my fellow fans. With the former overrun by spam and the latter inactive, here seems the place to be!

"The Life and Times of Mike Fanning" and "Bendy's Law" - DaVinci's Notebook

I'm suprised you didn't mentioned Brontosaurus also by DVN. Have you not heard it? If not you must, it is my favorite of theirs.

> I'm suprised you didn't mentioned Brontosaurus also by DVN. Have you not
> heard it? If not you must, it is my favorite of theirs.

I didn't catch DVN live until what, May of this year? I think I may have heard a few of their songs in passing (Ally McBeal for sure), but otherwise was only vaguely familiar with them. Being broke, I couldn't buy all their albums at the show. Since Bendy's Law has that cover of Shoehorn with Teeth I had to have it, and being an amusement park/roller coaster enthusiast, Kingdom in the Sky was also essential, so that left Bronto on the outside looking in. Hopefully I'll be able to grab a copy eventually....

MMM JASON FALKNER!!!� Someone make that man tour!

> MMM JASON FALKNER!!! Someone make that man tour!

He did...about a year ago...in the west and south. Big help that was for me. :( Last I heard, he was recording guitar parts for Paul McCartney's next album.

P.S.: You work with Steve Goodie? I managed to catch the good doctor via an online radio station this past Sunday. Shatner was a crack-up -- nice work!

Last time I saw Jason it was 10 years ago with the Grays.� Since then I've always been wrong place, wrong time.

Glad you like Shatner.� That actually came from my brain and last time I was in California Steve and I had to prowl 3 record stores in Santa Monica to get that Rolling Stones album so we could sit down and write it.� Then we recorded the backing vocals before I hopped the plane back home.� SO excited about how well it's done.� Demento's even taken it to sci fi conventions... apropos, but OMG COOL!!!��

> Last time I saw Jason it was 10 years ago with the Grays. Since then
> I've always been wrong place, wrong time.

Lucky you! I didn't find out about how great The Grays were until long after they called it quits. Too bad, I'd be curious to see what it's like when Jon Brion and Jason Falkner share a stage (well, back then anyways...if it happened now, there would likely be bloodshed :( ).

> Glad you like Shatner. That actually
> came from my brain and last time I was in California Steve and I had to
> prowl 3 record stores in Santa Monica to get that Rolling Stones album so
> we could sit down and write it.

Funny you say that. I actually have Shattered on a 7" vinyl single with a blank label (just the Stones logo, no actual title or artist except for what was hand-written in by a previous owner). Found it by random chance while searching through the stacks at a record show a few years ago. Alas, this is becoming irrelevant and rambling, even for me, so I'll shut up now. :)

Lucky you! I didn't find out about how great The Grays were until long after they called it quits. Too bad, I'd be curious to see what it's like when Jon Brion and Jason Falkner share a stage (well, back then anyways...if it happened now, there would likely be bloodshed :( ).

heh, who knows... I sure don't.� Buddy Judge was also VERY cool and I liked his songs as well, for the hooks and because he found ways to put really witty stuff into said hooks.� And their drummer Dan also work(ed? s?) with Pete Droge and a handful of others, he had good chops.

Not only got to see them once (given it was only an opening slot, they were touring with Toad the Wet Sprocket, but got to see Grays' soudcheck that day too... they did "I Go Astray" during soundcheck... was so glad when it turned up on Jason's CD later on.

Here are the results of the WFUV listeners poll of top albums of 2004

Hee.� Patty @ #3 and Richard @ #11. Nice.

U2 @ #2. Apparently Sam Shaber's work :D

#13 Tom Waits - Real Gone

Number *13*?!?!! are they on crack?!
That album is freaking amazing... that's in competition to be my pick for #1.


And while I'm glad Elliott's album is at least on the list.... #33 is just absurd. It's, like, #3 or 4 for me.

I love Tom Waits to a massive degree, but I just haven't been able to get into Real Gone yet.

And crap, I somehow forgot about Elliott's album when I was making my list. Agreed, #33 is way too low. Amazing CD.

Really? I think it's awesome.... definitely a step back in the right direction after alice and blood money.... I mean, not that I dislike those two, but they didn't have the kind of energy I expect.

See, I love those two, especially Alice. Definitely a departure for him, but it's loverly.

What the subject says.

By far the best album of 2004 is Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers' "Americano!"