Top 10 of 2003

 

  1. Fountains Of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers: For the mainstream, 2003 will no doubt be remembered as the year of “Stacy’s Mom,” but, despite the fact that Grammys selected the Fountains of Wayne as a nominee for Best New Artist, all the cool kids had been waiting for this third album by Adam Schlesinger and company since, oh, about as soon as they’d finished listening to Utopia Parkway. They did not disappoint. One can only hope that the general public will take to other tracks on the disc as well as they did to the now-impossible-to-escape first single.
  1. Joe Jackson Band, Volume 4: When Joe Jackson, Graham Maby, and Gary Burke released Live In New York in 2000, it was clear that our angry young man Joe was on the road to recovery after those years of experimentation with more of a classical format. Unfortunately, Night and Day II wasn’t everything his fans could’ve hoped for. Fortunately, Volume 4 was. Pretty ballsy of Joe to include a 6-song EP of live classics with the new album...but, thankfully, most of the new disc holds up remarkably well next to his old favorites.
  1. Warren Zevon, The Wind: Certainly the most depressing release of 2003, though it was undeniably wonderful that the late Warren Zevon lived long enough to see not only the release of this, his final album, but also the birth of his grandchildren. The Wind was Zevon’s last fling with rock and roll, and it hits all the emotional highs and lows you’d expect from a disc recorded by a man who knows his days are numbered. Sadly beautiful.
  1. Rooney, Rooney: Rooney came to the attention of pop fans through a family connection; his older brother is Jason Schwartzman, late of Phantom Planet. Once folks heard “Blueside,” the lead track on their self-titled debut album, the family connection was forgotten in favor of Rooney’s own formidable musical merits. It’s like ELO meets the Cars, but with enough modern sounds to keep these young lads firmly rooted in present day. With old hands like Keith Forsey, Jimmy Iovine, and Andy Wallace involved on the production and mixing end of things, this is among the best debut albums of 2003…and certainly the highest ranking on my list.
  1. The Thorns, The Thorns: You can’t really call ‘em a supergroup, because, honestly, how well would Pete Droge and Shawn Mullins rank in a man-on-the-street poll…but for fans of quality American music, this album was a godsend. Comparisons to Crosby, Stills, and Nash are inevitable with the remarkable harmonies on the Thorns’ self-titled debut, but there are a lot worse people you could be compared to. Their sound is straight out of the ‘70s California scene, but what’s wrong with that? Not a blessed thing. Indeed, the folks from that scene who are still recording would likely kill to put out an album this strong.
  1. Guster, Keep It Together: Unlike a lot of my friends who latched onto Guster in their earliest days and never let go, it took me awhile to really become a serious fan…and, since some don’t find their latest album to be as strong as its predecessors, I suppose it’s a little ironic that this would be the album that finally sold me on them permanently. But it is.
  1. Mark Bacino, The Million Dollar Milkshake: As frothy as its title would imply, Mark Bacino’s follow-up to Pop Job is, if not necessarily an astounding feat of artistic growth, certainly a worthy sophomore effort. It goes down smooth, and, perhaps unsurprisingly for an album of non-stop bubblegum pop, leaves a nice, pleasant aftertaste.
  1. Fleetwood Mac, Say You Will: First things first: without Christine McVie, Say You Will is, as a Fleetwood Mac album, sadly lacking in approximately 33.3% of the magic that made the band so incredible during its glory years. As a result of her absence, however, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks have adjusted the songwriting duties to an even 50/50, and any opportunity to score new songs from Lindsey Buckingham is something worth celebrating. Hell, even Stevie’s stuff is pretty song for the most part.
  1. The Pernice Brothers, Yours, Mine and Ours: Joe Pernice is a musical genius, plain and simple. If Yours, Mine and Ours isn’t the best album the Pernice Brothers have put out (and, okay, it isn’t), it’s still strong enough to land it in my top 10 of this year. Few musicians are willing to blend a love of Burt Bacharach with bass lines borrowed from New Order and still have time to write a book about Meat Is Murder.
  1. I Monster, Neveroddoreven: The dark horse in this 10-pack. In 2001, I Monster had a hit in Europe with the brilliant “Daydream In Blue,” but it took them until this year to finally come up with a full-length debut album. A mixture of dance, pop, and instrumental shenanigans, Neveroddoreven is a fun listen. Maybe nothing quite matches “Daydream In Blue” (which is included here), but it’s a hard act to follow; the fact that other tracks even come close is quite an accomplishment.

Also-rans:

11.                 AM Radio, Radioactive:  Kevin Ridel hasn’t produced an album to rival his last group, Ridel High, but this is still relatively strong stuff.  In fact, the only thing particularly disappointing about it is the label’s decision to push two of Radioactive’s worst songs for radio play:  “Taken For A Ride” and “I Just Wanna Be Loved.”  “Hush,” my friends, is the pick to click.

12.                 The Blondes, Swedish Heat:  A little Teen Machine, a little Redd Kross, and a whole lot of Silver Sun.  That’s what the Blondes are made of.

13.                 The Bangles, Doll Revolution:  Some folks felt this album was too commercial and glossy.  It all depends on what you like, I suppose.  To me, it was where the members of the band found themselves in 2003, period...which was a very good place.

14.                 The Format, Interventions and Lullabies:  It makes me feel very, very old that the lead singer of this band still lives with his parents...and is young enough to get away with it without feeling guilty.  But this is a great album.  Guster meets the Posies was how it was first described to me.  I bought it based on that...and I haven't regretted it for a moment.

15.            Mandy Moore, Coverage:  No-one expects you to think this is going to be a good album when you’re told it’s a covers album by a teen pop sensation, so maybe the fact that your expectations are low makes it seem so damned good.  Whatever the case, any album that features work from members of Jellyfish, the Rembrandts, the Lemonheads, and other alternative pop gods, plus covers of songs by the Waterboys, XTC, Blondie, and Joe Jackson...well, at the very least, Mandy Moore’s been doing her homework, and the result gets an “A” in my book.

 

16.  Jayhawks, Rainy Day Music

 

17.  The Sounds, Living In America

 

18.  The Singles, Better Than Before

 

19.  Ryan Adams, Llor N Kcor

 

20.  The Pearlfishers, Sky Meadows

Biggest Disappointment of the Year:

Johnny Marr and the Healers, Boomslang:  Smiths fans had been waiting 15 years (yes, it’s been that long since the release of Strangeways, Here We Come) for Johnny Marr to throw his hat into the ring and release a solo album.  He dipped his toe into the water briefly last year, when he performed “Down On The Corner” (an original, not the CCR song) as part of the Neil Finn and Friends album, 7 Worlds Collide, and people got their hopes up for the reportedly-forthcoming full-length album.  Bad idea. Boomslang certainly isn’t awful, but it sounds more like a faceless Britpop band than the work of the Yin to Morrissey’s Yang.  Shame, really.

Most Pleasant Surprise of the Year:

Mandy Moore, Coverage:  When Ms. Moore first made her debut in ’99, she seemed like little more than just another Britney clone, like Christina Aguilera or Jessica Simpson.  First impressions are hard to shake…but if Mandy’s ever going to shake them, Coverage is the album that should do it.  Talk about setting herself outside of the pack!  Releasing an all-covers album is usually a stop-gap measure for artists when they can’t come up with enough new original material or need to fulfill a contractual obligation…but Coverage is clearly a labor of love.  Who could’ve expected that a teenybopper peer of Britney would release an album full of covers of such artists as XTC, the Waterboys, Joe Jackson, Todd Rundgren, and John Hiatt, with assistance from members of Jellyfish, X, the Rembrandts, the Lemonheads, and Semisonic?  No, every track isn’t a winner (in particular, the production on the cover of Jackson’s “Breaking Us In Two” is positively devoid of subtlety), but the successes outnumber the noble failures, and, God help me, it leaves me anticipating the release of her next album.

Unlikeliest Collaboration of the Year:

 “Weird Al” Yankovic and Ben Folds, “Why Does This Always Happen To Me?”:  Al’s 11th studio album, Poodle Hat, didn’t get the normal promotion most of his records do, thanks to Eminem refusing to allow him to make a video for “Couch Potato,” his parody of “Lose Yourself.”  Sure, it got press because of Marshall Mathers’ boycott…but that didn’t really help it sell any additional copies.  What they should’ve done instead was released this collaboration as a single to Adult Alternative radio stations, using the piano mix of the song (available on the CD as bonus material for your PC) as a B-side. 

Far More Likely (But No Less Successful) Collaboration of the Year:

Hall and Oates and Todd Rundgren, “Someday We’ll Know”:  Teaming up these blue-eyed soul brothers wasn’t the big deal; Rundgren had already produced War Babies for Hall & Oates way back in ’74.  No, the masterstroke was for Hall and Oates to bring in Rundgren to sing on a cover of the New Radicals’ “Someday We’ll Know.”  It maybe could’ve done with a little less Oates on lead vocals, but the end result is still one of the best covers of 2003.

Best Music DVDs of 2003:

1.        Tenacious D, The Complete Masterworks

2.        Duran Duran, Greatest

3.        Pet Shop Boys, Pop Art

Top 40 Songs of 2003 (in nothing resembling any sort of order)

 

1.        The Adventures of Jet, “Emily Mazurinsky”

2.        AM Radio, “Hush”

3.        American Hi-Fi, “The Breakup Song”

4.        Jon Auer, “Beautiful”

5.        Bleu, “Could Be Worse”

6.        Michael Carpenter and King’s Rd., “Kings Rd.”

7.        Fleetwood Mac, “Thrown Down”

8.        The Format, “Wait Wait Wait”

9.        Fountains of Wayne, “Stacy’s Mom”

10.     Guster, “Amsterdam”

11.     Hall and Oates, “Someday We’ll Know”

12.     Hawks, “Only Love Is Real”

13.     Joe Jackson Band, “Awkward Age”

14.     The Jessica Fletchers, “Christopher Jensen”

15.     Junior Senior, “Move Your Feet”

16.     Mandy Moore, “Senses Working Overtime”

17.     Mr. Encrypto, “Another Good Year”

18.     Owsley, “Rainy Day People”

19.     The Pearlfishers, “My Dad The Weatherfan”

20.     Pernice Brothers, “Cut The Baby”

21.     The Richies, “I Just Wanna Be With You”

22.     Rooney, “Blueside”

23.     Ringo Starr, “Never Without You”

24.     Steadman, “No Big Deal”

25.     The Thorns, “I Can’t Remember”

26.     The Strokes, “12:51”

27.     “Weird Al” Yankovic, “Why Does This Always Happen To Me?”

28.     Warren Zevon, “Keep Me In Your Heart”

29.     Outkast, “Hey Ya!”

30.     Belle & Sebastian, “Step Into My Office, Baby”

31.     Gene Loves Jezebel, “Exploding Girl”

32.     The Elements, “Ordinary Day”

33.     The Blondes, “California Sunshine”

34.     I Monster, “Hey Misses”

35.     Junior Senior, “Move Your Feet”

36.     Ian McCulloch, “Sliding”

37.     Ryan Adams, “This Is It”

38.     The Bangles, “Something That You Said”

39.     Mark Bacino, “Want You Around”

40.     Don Dixon and Jamie Hoover, “Horizon”

 

Best Song From 2002 To Appear On A 2003-Released Compilation:

The Crayons, “Allyson Fell Off Her Bike,” from International Pop Overthrow, Volume 6:  It’s become a delightful annual tradition for David Bash’s camp to release a multi-disc collection of the best independent pop artists working, and, invariably, even though all of songs tend to be at least pleasant and listenable, there’s usually at least one song that makes you go, “DAMN, that’s some kind of good!”  This year, it was the Crayons’ “Allyson Fell Off Her Bike.”  With guitar reminiscent of Echo and the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon” and a chorus to die for, it’s the kind of timeless melody and hook that every musician hopes to compose.  Hunt it down post-haste, either via IPO, Vol. 6 or the group’s own album, What Color Are You?