Top 10 Albums of 2005

Music reflects the mood of ones thoughts and feelings. One could say if you have bad taste in music, you have bad taste in life in general. Imagination coupled with judgement and critiques on judgement ran rampant this year and the albums chosen to represent reflect. As it pertains to life, I worked in a narrow construct this year, but explored it fully and gained tremendous insight, and one day will look back at this and be able to put this chuck of life in its proper place in the big picture of things.

This year Pandora was born, the end all be all of streaming audio, check it out, read about it, and you won't be disappointed. Greenday's 'Bullet in a Bible' album reflects the coolest name for an album, in lieu of all the political tensions and fascists leaders. Without further a-do, here's a list of noteworthy albums for 2005.

Honorable Mention – Calexico / Iron and Wine EP, American Analog Set – Set Free, and be on the lookout for the Mystery Jets album coming early 2006. The singles thus far are amazing.

10. Supergrass – Road to Rouden – Starting off with Tales of Endurance, this band is extremely talented, I’ve liked them ever since I seen them open for Radiohead on the Amnesiac tour. Amazing sound for a 3 piece job, and lyrically are getting better and better. Another no frills album, just good old fashion rock and roll.

9. Spoon – Gimmie Fiction – I can’t explain why I like it so much, but it’s a great album, very tight. Lyrics you can take away as much as you want or as little as you want, your choice. Very eclectic, dynamite to see perform live.

8. The Eels - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations – An album amazon.com describes as ‘devastatingly somber’, I agree. How’s about that track ‘Theme for a Pretty Girl that Makes You Believe God Exists,’ or my personal favorite ‘Ugly Love,’ – which brings the lyric ‘I dream about so much it is absurd.’ puts a smile on my face and a tear to my eye, using a George Strait lyric to describe the inner dementia of the singer / songwriter.

7. Echo and The Bunnymen – Siberia – My opinion their best efforts in their very long history. No frills, no surprises, just a damn good rock album. Extremely clean, well produced, yet not sacrificing any integrity. From the opening track ‘Stormy Weather’ to the end ‘What If We Are,’ a no bullshit album you can pop in and let play, Cool? Who cares?

6. Blackalicious – The Craft – Chris Rock once said it’s getting harder and harder to defend the integrity of hip hop or rap music when there are songs out there like Little John’s ‘To the Window to the Wall.’ Well he can use The Gift of Gab and his posse for firepower. If you think rappin’ is so easy, listen to him and try to sing it at a karaoke bar one day. Furthermore, wordsmiths out there, try to come up with something better. How bout instrumentation better than rhythm sticks?

5. Ben Folds - Songs For Silverman - It’s hard to match his charm. Sings angry white boy music with pansy voice, writes tribute songs to kids, covers Dre songs (Bitches Ain’t Shit), sings duets with gay dudes (Rufus W) of songs (Careless Whisper) written by gay dudes (George Michael). Sings about hypocrisy in modern day religion in Jesusland, speaks out people getting married out of family pressures ‘Maybe they knew more than we knew, as they danced and drank as we jumped off the deep end.’ How’s that for balancing a plate full of perspective and admiration?

4. Stephen Fretwell – Magpie – Let’s see how deep the wormhole of human emotion gets. If you like the depressing undertones of Radiohead, it can get worse. If you think Seether is full of angst, you have no imagination and poor judgement, if you think Kelly Clarkson is good, there’s no hope for you. Fretwell is sitting at the bottom of the barrel looking up at nothing but darkness in this album. ‘And the whiskey and the lines….’ Brrrrrrr……Depressing but amazing.

3. Brendan Benson - Alternative to Love – Cheer up Emo boy, yea, but damn, can it get any better than this. This is a straight forward album exploring the ins and outs of involvements with women, clear and digestible content. ‘Cold Hands Warm Heart’ also got love from Nissan in a recent TV commercial. A Detroit boy, album produced by Jack White of the White Stripes, great harmony on the guitars, and voice manipulations only done with the best pro tools by an excellent producer.

2. Old 97’s – Live and Wired – I’ll throw the these guys in at any battle of the bands competition and they’ll kick your ass, outsmart you, outwit, out jam you with their sincere / cynical tunes. Spans the discography of Old 97 hits with few exceptions, recorded live on a night of intense heat in the oldest dance hall in Texas. One favorite lyric in the album is ‘Then you'll try to find a doctor who can prescribe an elixir That'll make everything better, except your late wife and her lover.’ They are strong and empowering boys, a transitional band for me, meriting lots of praise. What can you say about ‘Valentine’ and ‘Question,’ songs wrote for the wives of bass guitar / lead singer respectively, and also the lyrics from Valium Waltz, ‘spirit her off when the music’s too loud’ are touching and provide hope for us hopeless romantics.

1. Babyshambles – Down in Albion - The mastermind behind The Libertines is back, telling us ‘What Katy Did Next’, as well as getting Kate Moss to sing backup in La Belle et la Bete ‘Is She More Beautiful Than Me.’ Then there’s the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ of England, ‘Fuck Forever,’ a tragic tale of purgatory and no happy families. Pete Doherty is the most talented Brit to come around in ages, tunes are timeless and meaningful. Can't say anymore about it, just that it's my number one of the year, and worth every ounce of praise it gets. There is a landmass over the pond Pete, you know that right?