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Van Hagar-worst concert of the year!!
The year in music
The high notes and lowlifes booming out of our speakers
Ashlee Simpson did kid pop right.
Madonna put on a great show at the Garden.
Green Day did an 'American' 'Quadrophenia.'
Music sales huffed and puffed to keep pace with last year. Some record companies canned half their employees and transformed into a few monstrous conglomerates. Radio is as dire as it has ever been.
But a number of encouraging trends shot to the fore this year.
We have seen political rap make a comeback, R&B reclaim more of its soul, ambitious rock rebound, jazz regain some of its pop panache and country lasso a few fresh voices of women and African-Americans.
Not bad for 12 months.
Mainstream rap may have indulged too much dumbed-down crunk (I hereby issue a restraining order on Lil' Jon). But '04 also had more, and better, socio-political rap than at any time since the height of Public Enemy and A Tribe Called Quest in the early '90s.
The culturally astute Kanye West put out the most celebrated hip-hop album of the year, "College Dropout," while other evolved performers, like Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Dilated Peoples, issued records that made intellectual rap rock the rafters.
A host of R&B singers, including Van Hunt, Carl Thomas, Anthony Hamilton, Calvin Richardson, Ricky Fante and John Legend, showed how this often overcommercialized genre can avoid its cliches and reinvent itself.
Rock had some problems - namely, too many '80s revivalists, including Brooklynites Interpol and The Rapture, Las Vegas' The Killers, and Scotland's Franz Ferdinand.
But by the end of the year, guitar-based music found emotional depth again, courtesy of Green Day's groundbreaking "American Idiot," and U2's grand "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb."
Jazz gained a gorgeous new venue with the opening of the "Jazz at Lincoln Center" concert halls at Columbus Center. And artists including Jamie Cullum, The Bad Plus and Diana Krall reminded us jazz needn't be snooty music for oldsters. It can be zestful enough to make the pop charts, as it did regularly before rock shoved it into the art ghetto in the '60s.
Country music finally injected itself with a pint of new blood, aided by barmaid-turned-star Gretchen Wilson and her producer/collaborators Big & Rich. The latter even had the pluck to mix C&W with rap.
Even the worst music trend of this decade - the rise of "American Idol" - had a silver lining. Fantasia Barrino proved that this cornball contest needn't be immune to talent.
At least that's the optimistic view of the year. Here's the way I saw it:
Best comeback: Teena Marie. The original blue-eyed soulstress returned with "La Doña," her best album since her '70s prime. First runner up: The New York Dolls, who played great shows, their first in more than a quarter century.
Worst comeback: Duran Duran. As if all those '80s rock revivalists weren't bad enough, we also had to endure the decade's guiltiest pleasure back for more.
Most welcome retirement: Creed and Phish, a tie.
Least welcome retirement: Jay-Z
Best concerts: Madonna at the Garden, followed by Tom Jones at Irving Plaza, Eric Clapton at the Garden, Diana Krall at Radio City, the Garage Rock Festival at Randalls Island, The Cure at Randalls Island, King Crimson at B.B. King's, Anthony Hamilton at Irving Plaza, and Brian Wilson at Carnegie Hall.
Worst concerts: Van Halen at the Meadowlands, Courtney Love's meltdown at Bowery Ballroom, Jessica Simpson's slumber party at Radio City, Britney Spears' Madonna-for-dummies show at the Meadowlands.
Best albums
1. Kanye West, "The College Dropout." Rap with wit, political savvy and hooks to burn.
2. Green Day, "American Idiot." The first punk-rock opera, with a daring, political theme and enough inspiring riffs to make this the "Quadrophenia" of its generation.
3. The Black Keys, "Rubber Factory." The sexiest blues record in eons.
4. Van Hunt, "Van Hunt." The first "new Prince" to live up to that hype in 20 years. Rock-soul at its most rousing.
5. Nancy Sinatra, "Nancy Sinatra." A host of alterna-stars, from Morrissey to Sonic Youth, wrote songs to suit Sinatra's swinging '60s persona. The result rivals the singer's snappiest hits from that groovy era.
6. Nick Cave, "Abattoir Blues." Rock's most esteemed ghoul combined glam and goth music to create the catchiest album of his 25-year career.
7. DJ Danger Mouse, "The Grey Album." A hugely improbable mash-up - of The Beatles "White Album" and Jay-Z's "Black Album" - that smartly combined genres as well as generations.
8. Sam Phillips, "A Boot and a Shoe." The most literate album of the year, filled with woozy art songs guaranteed to beguile.
9. Jay-Z, "The Black Album." Yes, it came out at the very end of '03. But, with repeated plays in '04, the full brilliance of Mr. Carter's swan song come through.
10. Magnetic Fields, "i." Self-hatred hasn't sounded this poetic and funny since the heyday of The Smiths.
The good ones
Carl Thomas, "Talk About It."
Scissor Sisters, "Scissor Sisters."
Ron Sexsmith, "Retriever."
Tift Merritt, "Tambourine."
Dilated Peoples, "Neighborhood Watch."
Patty Griffin, "Impossible Dream."
Destiny's Child, "Destiny Fulfilled."
U2, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb."
Jamie Cullum, "Twentysomething."
Chingy, "Jackpot."
Jay-Z/Linkin Park, "Collision Course."
Laura Nyro, "Spread Your Wings and Fly: Live at the Fillmore East May 30, 1971."
Mavis Staples, "Have a Little Faith"
Talib Kweli, "The Beautiful Struggle."
k.d. lang, "Hymns of the 49th Parallel."
Cee-Lo, "And His Perfect Imperfections."
Nas, "Street Disciple."
Bjork, "Medulla."
Neko Case, "The Tigers Have Spoken."
Nelly, "Sweat/Suit."
Worst albums
1. R.E.M., "Around The Sun." A slow gurgly mess. When will they admit it's over?
2. Lil' Jon, "Crunk Juice." Southern rap low enough to make 2 Live Crew seem like Tupac Shakur.
3. Ray Charles, "Genius Loves Company." Squeezing the last drop out of a legend when he was too weak to do his best.
4. Toby Keith, "Shock'n Y'All." "Patriotic" exploitation at its most cynical.
5. Velvet Revolver, "Contraband." Corny '80s hair-metal makes a return, opportunistically mislabeling itself as punk.
Best singles
Alicia Keys, "If I Ain't Got You" and "You Don't Know My Name."
Usher, "Yeah!!!"
Destiny's Child, "Lose My Breath."
Kevin Lyttle, "Turn Me On."
Worst singles
John Mayer, "Daughters."
Ciara, "Goodies."
Terror Squad, "Lean Back."
Best cover record: Paul Weller, "Studio 150." The interpretation of Neil Young's "Birds" soars especially high.
Worst cover record: Rod Stewart, "Stardust." His first standards album was a decent novelty. His third dip into the "American Songbook" brings more scrutiny to his shallow interpretations than they can bear.
Best teen pop album: Ashlee Simpson, "Autobiography." She may not be able to cut it live, but Simpson's debut has the tunes and hooks of top kid rock.
Worst teen pop album:Hilary Duff, "Hilary Duff." Neck-and-neck for junkiest CD of the year with her arch nemesis, Lindsay Lohan, who put out "Speak."
Best trend: Richly revealing music documentaries. The year brought us five films that went way behind the music:
"Some Kind of Monster," about Metallica and their shrink.
"End of the Century," about The Ramones and their hatred of each other.
"Dig," about the co-dependent rivalry between the leaders of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols.
"The Mayor of Sunset Strip," about celeb-obsessed L.A. scenester Rodney Bingenheimer.
"A True Testimonial," about the fractious history of the MC5.
Worst trend: Record companies releasing the same albums twice with a few extra tracks to make fans pay double for their loyalty.
Link
The high notes and lowlifes booming out of our speakers
Ashlee Simpson did kid pop right.
Madonna put on a great show at the Garden.
Green Day did an 'American' 'Quadrophenia.'
Music sales huffed and puffed to keep pace with last year. Some record companies canned half their employees and transformed into a few monstrous conglomerates. Radio is as dire as it has ever been.
But a number of encouraging trends shot to the fore this year.
We have seen political rap make a comeback, R&B reclaim more of its soul, ambitious rock rebound, jazz regain some of its pop panache and country lasso a few fresh voices of women and African-Americans.
Not bad for 12 months.
Mainstream rap may have indulged too much dumbed-down crunk (I hereby issue a restraining order on Lil' Jon). But '04 also had more, and better, socio-political rap than at any time since the height of Public Enemy and A Tribe Called Quest in the early '90s.
The culturally astute Kanye West put out the most celebrated hip-hop album of the year, "College Dropout," while other evolved performers, like Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Dilated Peoples, issued records that made intellectual rap rock the rafters.
A host of R&B singers, including Van Hunt, Carl Thomas, Anthony Hamilton, Calvin Richardson, Ricky Fante and John Legend, showed how this often overcommercialized genre can avoid its cliches and reinvent itself.
Rock had some problems - namely, too many '80s revivalists, including Brooklynites Interpol and The Rapture, Las Vegas' The Killers, and Scotland's Franz Ferdinand.
But by the end of the year, guitar-based music found emotional depth again, courtesy of Green Day's groundbreaking "American Idiot," and U2's grand "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb."
Jazz gained a gorgeous new venue with the opening of the "Jazz at Lincoln Center" concert halls at Columbus Center. And artists including Jamie Cullum, The Bad Plus and Diana Krall reminded us jazz needn't be snooty music for oldsters. It can be zestful enough to make the pop charts, as it did regularly before rock shoved it into the art ghetto in the '60s.
Country music finally injected itself with a pint of new blood, aided by barmaid-turned-star Gretchen Wilson and her producer/collaborators Big & Rich. The latter even had the pluck to mix C&W with rap.
Even the worst music trend of this decade - the rise of "American Idol" - had a silver lining. Fantasia Barrino proved that this cornball contest needn't be immune to talent.
At least that's the optimistic view of the year. Here's the way I saw it:
Best comeback: Teena Marie. The original blue-eyed soulstress returned with "La Doña," her best album since her '70s prime. First runner up: The New York Dolls, who played great shows, their first in more than a quarter century.
Worst comeback: Duran Duran. As if all those '80s rock revivalists weren't bad enough, we also had to endure the decade's guiltiest pleasure back for more.
Most welcome retirement: Creed and Phish, a tie.
Least welcome retirement: Jay-Z
Best concerts: Madonna at the Garden, followed by Tom Jones at Irving Plaza, Eric Clapton at the Garden, Diana Krall at Radio City, the Garage Rock Festival at Randalls Island, The Cure at Randalls Island, King Crimson at B.B. King's, Anthony Hamilton at Irving Plaza, and Brian Wilson at Carnegie Hall.
Worst concerts: Van Halen at the Meadowlands, Courtney Love's meltdown at Bowery Ballroom, Jessica Simpson's slumber party at Radio City, Britney Spears' Madonna-for-dummies show at the Meadowlands.
Best albums
1. Kanye West, "The College Dropout." Rap with wit, political savvy and hooks to burn.
2. Green Day, "American Idiot." The first punk-rock opera, with a daring, political theme and enough inspiring riffs to make this the "Quadrophenia" of its generation.
3. The Black Keys, "Rubber Factory." The sexiest blues record in eons.
4. Van Hunt, "Van Hunt." The first "new Prince" to live up to that hype in 20 years. Rock-soul at its most rousing.
5. Nancy Sinatra, "Nancy Sinatra." A host of alterna-stars, from Morrissey to Sonic Youth, wrote songs to suit Sinatra's swinging '60s persona. The result rivals the singer's snappiest hits from that groovy era.
6. Nick Cave, "Abattoir Blues." Rock's most esteemed ghoul combined glam and goth music to create the catchiest album of his 25-year career.
7. DJ Danger Mouse, "The Grey Album." A hugely improbable mash-up - of The Beatles "White Album" and Jay-Z's "Black Album" - that smartly combined genres as well as generations.
8. Sam Phillips, "A Boot and a Shoe." The most literate album of the year, filled with woozy art songs guaranteed to beguile.
9. Jay-Z, "The Black Album." Yes, it came out at the very end of '03. But, with repeated plays in '04, the full brilliance of Mr. Carter's swan song come through.
10. Magnetic Fields, "i." Self-hatred hasn't sounded this poetic and funny since the heyday of The Smiths.
The good ones
Carl Thomas, "Talk About It."
Scissor Sisters, "Scissor Sisters."
Ron Sexsmith, "Retriever."
Tift Merritt, "Tambourine."
Dilated Peoples, "Neighborhood Watch."
Patty Griffin, "Impossible Dream."
Destiny's Child, "Destiny Fulfilled."
U2, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb."
Jamie Cullum, "Twentysomething."
Chingy, "Jackpot."
Jay-Z/Linkin Park, "Collision Course."
Laura Nyro, "Spread Your Wings and Fly: Live at the Fillmore East May 30, 1971."
Mavis Staples, "Have a Little Faith"
Talib Kweli, "The Beautiful Struggle."
k.d. lang, "Hymns of the 49th Parallel."
Cee-Lo, "And His Perfect Imperfections."
Nas, "Street Disciple."
Bjork, "Medulla."
Neko Case, "The Tigers Have Spoken."
Nelly, "Sweat/Suit."
Worst albums
1. R.E.M., "Around The Sun." A slow gurgly mess. When will they admit it's over?
2. Lil' Jon, "Crunk Juice." Southern rap low enough to make 2 Live Crew seem like Tupac Shakur.
3. Ray Charles, "Genius Loves Company." Squeezing the last drop out of a legend when he was too weak to do his best.
4. Toby Keith, "Shock'n Y'All." "Patriotic" exploitation at its most cynical.
5. Velvet Revolver, "Contraband." Corny '80s hair-metal makes a return, opportunistically mislabeling itself as punk.
Best singles
Alicia Keys, "If I Ain't Got You" and "You Don't Know My Name."
Usher, "Yeah!!!"
Destiny's Child, "Lose My Breath."
Kevin Lyttle, "Turn Me On."
Worst singles
John Mayer, "Daughters."
Ciara, "Goodies."
Terror Squad, "Lean Back."
Best cover record: Paul Weller, "Studio 150." The interpretation of Neil Young's "Birds" soars especially high.
Worst cover record: Rod Stewart, "Stardust." His first standards album was a decent novelty. His third dip into the "American Songbook" brings more scrutiny to his shallow interpretations than they can bear.
Best teen pop album: Ashlee Simpson, "Autobiography." She may not be able to cut it live, but Simpson's debut has the tunes and hooks of top kid rock.
Worst teen pop album:Hilary Duff, "Hilary Duff." Neck-and-neck for junkiest CD of the year with her arch nemesis, Lindsay Lohan, who put out "Speak."
Best trend: Richly revealing music documentaries. The year brought us five films that went way behind the music:
"Some Kind of Monster," about Metallica and their shrink.
"End of the Century," about The Ramones and their hatred of each other.
"Dig," about the co-dependent rivalry between the leaders of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols.
"The Mayor of Sunset Strip," about celeb-obsessed L.A. scenester Rodney Bingenheimer.
"A True Testimonial," about the fractious history of the MC5.
Worst trend: Record companies releasing the same albums twice with a few extra tracks to make fans pay double for their loyalty.
Link
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