SECTION: HOUSTON; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1829 words
HEADLINE: 2000's 10 BEST ALBUMS;
From revitalized rockers to up-and-coming stars, this eclectic mix has something
for everyone.
SOURCE: Staff
BYLINE: MICHAEL D. CLARK
BODY:
Funny, but few of the best-selling albums of the year even came close to
being the best CDs of 2000.
'N Sync's No Strings Attached and Britney Spears Oops I Did
It Again, sold nearly 4 million copies in a week, but both were average
at best.
Of the new huge debuts, Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP might be remembered
years from now for shock value but probably not artistry. The smooth R&B
of D'Angelo's Voodoo paved the way for his future, while Limp Bizkit's Chocolate
Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water proved it knows how to tap into
what kids think is cool.
Many others - Mystikal, Madonna, Ice Cube, Ricky Martin - were curios that,
after a strong first week or two, decelerated quickly after takeoff. Of
the contemporary rock superstars, it was U2 and matchbox twenty that made
career defining albums in 2000. As for a breakout rap star, Midwest party-rhymer
Nelly is the clear music story at the dawn of the new millennium.
The rest of the best aren't likely to be heard on Top 40 radio. A gentle
singer-songwriter like Aimee Mann doesn't move units, but her voice and
words contributed to two of the year's best song collections. Catchier Everclear
songs like Wonderful and A.M. Radio were picked up for mass distribution,
but singles aren't that band's whole story by a long shot.
The year 2000 should be remembered for its artistic diversity - a legend
like Joni Mitchell carries an orchestra, Millencolin gives reason to believe
punk isn't dead, and Blue October and Steve Earle demonstrate how vital
Texas is to national entertainment. Here are my 10 best albums of 2000.
1. All That You Can't Leave Behind, U2: When U2 is no more, and the band's
career is one day summarized, several albums will be vital to any description.
War will always be the breakthrough. The Joshua Tree was the superstar maker,
and All That You Can't Leave Behind is the work that revived the Irish quartet's
soul.
After a decade of computer bleeps and blips, synthesized vocal distortion
and hypnotically redundant drumbeats, All That You Can't Leave Behind, picks
up where U2's simple rock 'n' roll heart stopped beating in 1989. There
isn't a Lemon or a lemon among the 11 tracks.
The gentle bass intros of Adam Clayton and the galloping-to-velocity drums
of Larry Mullen Jr. are back. The most welcome return, however, is the stand-alone
offensive of the Edge's guitar. His groundswell on Beautiful Day and Peace
on Earth are the rock 'n' roll equivalent of a boot camp bugle.
The near-cracking vocals of an older Bono are those of a man entering a
midlife crisis. He's a big-picture guy, whether extrapolating on his love
of big-city life in New York or enjoying pleasure through pain in Stuck
in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of.
Every legendary band has one of its finest moments at an unexpected time.
All That You Can't Leave Behind is U2's.
2. Magnolia soundtrack, featuring Aimee Mann: Only Mann posed the question
of just which of her 2000 projects was her best (technically Magnolia was
the very end of 1999). Both the soundtrack to the film Magnolia and her
own album, Bachelor No. 2 or the Last Remains of the Dodo were superior
to much of everything else. In the end, the movie music won out because
the songs grooved so succinctly with the visual accompaniment.
Mann's nine songs of societal disaffection and personal distrust explained
the complex, interwoven story lines with directness and blunt truth. The
simple strums and conversational ease of her voice on Build That Wall and
Deathly make personal encounters with these demons more manageable. The
culminating stroke of Wise Up is the second step after admitting there's
a problem.
3. Songs From an America Movie Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile, Everclear:
Lead singer Art Alexakis is killing them softly with punk songs. While pop
gets its teeth bleached and rap keeps talking all about the Benjamins, Everclear
is making life in unemployment lines and modest living seem natural. Even
comfortable.
The couple running off on a chartered bus in Learning to Smile have a blue-collar
romance that's hard not to admire. The '80s modern rock beat of Here We
Go Again is the instruction manual for Alexakis' ideal date: dinner and
a movie. In his case, however, its greasy takeout food on a lumpy mattress
watching porn. How could a girl not swoon?
At no point do you feel that he has not lived every one of these experiences
and that includes his tremendous affection for his daughter on Annabella's
Song. The whole scenario seems made for a not-yet-written movie. Or at least
a low-budget TV special. Wonderful.
4. Both Sides Now, Joni Mitchell: It was natural for alarms to go off when
Mitchell announced she would be doing an album of covers backed by a full
orchestra.
In the '60s and '70s Mitchell was the female conscience of Bob Dylan, defining
how a generation acted, reacted and felt inside. It seemed like a betrayal
that she would scooch that aside for a little set of torch tunes, even if
she did deserve the break. Surprisingly, with Both Sides Now she's shown
there's nothing she can't turn into little puffy clouds.
Choosing from an American songbook made famous by Billie Holiday and Ella
Fitzgerald, Mitchell lets her breath and voice speak louder than her own
words. On At Last and Stormy Weather the Joni Plain-and-Tall we love is
recast as a gown-wearing club singer out of a detective novel or James Bond
casino.
Not surprisingly, the best reworking here is of her own songs. The lush
renewal of A Case of You, backed by a complement of strings and sung by
Mitchell's confident echo, is the song of the year.
5. Consent to Treatment, Blue October: It's so cool that one of the best
rock albums of the year was created by Houston's own Blue October. And it's
so sad that, despite major label distribution, the rest of the country hasn't
discovered it.
There are a lot of avenues to explore when finding fault for Blue October's
lack of exposure (absent marketing campaign and uncooperative radio). The
short version is that Consent to Treatment may be too complex for today's
tastes. Had it come out in the gloomy mod rock '80s or even insolent early
'90s it probably would have been a classic.
The mixture of guitars, furious violins and Justin Furstenfeld's vocal desperation
on HRSA and Balance Beam make the Cure's Robert Smith and Morrissey seem
like happy scamps. The right album, the wrong time.
6. Mad Season, matchbox twenty - If marriage, a little weight loss, teetotaling
and wisdom from Santana were the keys to songwriting success, everybody
would be doing it. Over the last year something else has happened to matchbox
twenty lead singer Rob Thomas leading to the cohesive Mad Season.
He added another dimension or two to his point of view.
Most singles don't tell the tale of an entire album very well, but radio-friendly
Bent is an exception. Beginning with a high-to-low strum of frustration,
it culminates in a powerful guitar bridge pleading for guidance. The reflective
gesture clearly vaulted him above bratty rock boy peers Third Eye Blind
and Smashmouth.
Thomas asks for similar acceptance on Angry and Crutch dodging around ornate
guitar movements. Black and White People, meanwhile, turns the tables, asking
listeners to examine themselves. Mad Season won't be remembered as matchbox
twenty's mainstream bonanza, but it should be the album people return to
when asking themselves when this band turned the artistic corner.
7. Transcendental Blues, Steve Earle: Earle has always been the angrier,
more reckless country-rock cousin of Townes Van Zandt, which has made him
something of a Texas folk hero. On The Mountain, the album before Transcendental
Blues, he explored a bluegrass sound that he had only flirted with in the
past.
Transcendental Blues straddles the line between twang-bang and mandolin
strum and tells much about the current state of Earle, the man. From the
title, which is both melancholy and transitory, to sad tales like The Boy
Who Never Cried and Lonelier Than This, Earle reviews a life of substance
abuse and confinement pondering other choices he could have made.
The Galway Girl, a Celtic-rooted romance accompanied by tin whistle and
accordion, is unbelievable in its gentility, considering it comes from this
career rebel-rocker.
8. Tomorrow's Sounds Today, Dwight Yoakam: Yoakam is working the collaborative
magic that Carlos Santana used on Supernatural in reverse. Instead of looking
to the future for guest artists and inspiration, Yoakam is mining the past.
He found it in Western traditionalist Buck Owens and Tejano accordionist
Flaco Jimenez for Tomorrow's Sounds Today. Songs like Caught Up to Me and
The Sad Side of Town are reminiscent of traditional country by Bob Wills
and the honky-tonk of Lefty Frizzell. Combined with Yoakam's smooth croon
he's a little right of Chris Isaak and a little left of Elvis Presley.
In 2000 it makes him the country king of the road. No small feat considering
Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash both put out quality albums this year.
9. Country Grammar, Nelly: I'm going down down baby, your street in a Range
Rover. Boom Boom
I'm not sure if those are the exact lyrics to the main hook to Nelly's hit
single, Country Grammar, from the album of the same name. More important,
I don't care. It's close enough and a lot of fun to shout along to while
driving.
While the hate and misogyny of Eminem was the rap story of 2000, St. Louis'
Nelly quietly carved his own urban niche: phat beats with feel-good lyrics.
Nelly is from the same hard-core school as Master P and DMX, but in the
Lou, (as he refers to his arched hometown) the projects are just one big
party.
It's a refreshing new take on overworked hard-luck scenarios. Instead of
blaming the streets for keeping him down, he makes his neighborhood sound
like an alluring subculture.
Clearly short of money growing up, his experience is rich on relationships,
hanging out and making the most out of little. There are some loose mentions
about casual sex and smoking, but it's a minor player on a music set where
cruising and flirting are the stars.
10. Pennybridge Pioneers, Millencolin: Again, great album, bad timing. If
the three-chords-and-the truth punk of Rancid and Offspring were still in
vogue, Scandinavian punks Millencolin would probably be the new Green Day.
Songs like No Cigar and Material Boy, are well-thought-out hysterical rants
that use sarcasm to make a point about the evils of consumerism and order.
Apparently, older punks also see a future for Millencolin. Epitaph Records
honcho and former Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz produced the album
and many have cited the Scandis as the latest offspring of the Southern
California scene. Pennybridge Pioneers also crosses generational boundaries.
(My 17-year-old nephew asked for it for Christmas. Only after he realizes
his uncle digs Millencolin, too, will he discard it as too trendy.)
GRAPHIC: Photos: 1-8. Clockwise from top left: Songs From
an America Movie Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile, Everclear; Both Sides Now,
Joni Mitchell; Magnolia soundtrack, featuring Aimee Mann; Tomorrow's Sounds
Today, Dwight Yoakam; Mad Season, matchbox twenty; All That You Can't Leave
Behind, U2; Country Grammar, Nelly; and Transcendental Blues, Steve Earle
(color); 9. Unidentified person (b/w); 10. Album titled "Consent to
treatment" (b/w, p. 16); 11. Album titled "Pennybridge Pioneers"
(b/w, p. 16)
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