Top Ten Albums of the 2000s

Honorable mention:
Meet Me in Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffett (2003)
The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs - Bob Dylan (2008)
Ten (Redux) - Pearl Jam (2009)

I don’t know if re-releases, re-mixes, compilations, etc., count for this kind of list or not. All of the above are excellent, but they aren’t really new material - just old material presented in a new way. So I left them out - but they are all good records. I hadn’t thought about making a list like this until I saw Josh’s list - and even then, my first thought was that I probably hadn’t even listened to ten new albums during the decade. But then I went through my iTunes library and found out that I had, in fact, listened to over forty albums from the 2000s - and that doesn’t include any that I might have listened to and not added to the library. It’s not much, of course, but there were some good records in there - and here are the ones I liked the best.

10. Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Garden State (2004)
This movie makes my top ten movies of the aughts list, too. Wistful, melancholy, soul-searching songs that fit perfectly into a movie about a young man adrift in a world he’s only barely gotten to know.

9. Raising Sand, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (2007)
Yeah, I got tired of this after awhile, but it’s still a really good record - way better than I thought it would be when I first heard about it. Neither rock nor bluegrass, nor even a combination of the two, really - but instead a dark, mysterious sort of sound that blends and bends their genres. Maybe a little over-produced, but it’s T-Bone Burnett - what are you going to do?

8. Original Cast Recording - Movin’ Out (2002)
Amy and I went to see this when it was at the Murat, and it was really good. Michael Cavanaugh was not the Piano Man at the show we saw, but he nails the songs on the album. A great selection of Billy Joel’s best songs, and some really knockout arrangements - especially on “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

7. The Crane Wife, The Decemberists (2006)
Read an article about these guys in Paste magazine, and was intrigued enough to try out one of the records. I really like the experimental feel in the longer compositions. Colin Meloy may not have the best voice in the world, but he’s willing to play around and get wacky. If they ever started trying to sound like Primus, they’d sound just like Modest Mouse.

6. “Love and Theft,” Bob Dylan (2001)
The lighter, more upbeat counterpoint to the dark, bleak (and Grammy-winning) Time Out of Mind, this one has a glossier, more produced feel to it - but you also get the sense that Dylan is having more fun recording songs than he’s had in a really long time. May not have gotten the attention it deserved in part because of an unfortunate release date: September 11, 2001.

5. The Chair in the Doorway, Living Colour (2009)
I was real excited when I heard these guys were recording again. Their third studio record, Stain, from way back in 1993, is one of my all-time favorite records. The sound here isn’t as raw, and is more layered and produced; but Corey Glover sounds like he hasn’t aged a day, and Vernon Reid’s sick guitars still bounce nicely off a rhythm section that’s still one of the best going. They take a few songs to really hit their stride, but by the time they get to the fifth song, “Method,” they’re sailing along nicely, incorporating club, funk, and pop elements seamlessly into their own specific brand of hard, melodic metal.

4. Live at Benaroya Hall, Pearl Jam (2004)
It’s true that the remarkable acoustics of this performance space in Seattle, WA, lend something to the music; but you also have to have good music in order for the acoustics to work on it - and Pearl Jam is more than equal to the task. Largely acoustic, this two-disc set features unreleased material, lesser known gems, and even the first public performance of one of their songs - “Man of the Hour,” a song they wrote for the film Big Fish - to go along with many of the band’s well-known songs. Lots of audience participation and amusing banter from Ed between songs. Sort of like an MTV Unplugged record, but way better.

3. Taking the Long Way, Dixie Chicks (2006)
I’m half tempted to evaluate this record entirely apart from any political consideration - but that’s not really possible. It was the aftermath of the anti-George Bush comments by lead singer Natalie Maines that led directly to the creation of this album. If not for that backlash - which showed country music’s base to be about as sophisticated and articulate as the conservative Republican base - this record could never have come into being; and the world might never have known that this largely manufactured country act is, in fact, a tremendously talented band. The songs put the band firmly in the rock/pop/country crossover category that Garth Brooks created, and many of them deal with how the band survived the abandonment of their so-called “fans” and came out the other side a better, stronger unit.

2. Vapor Trails, Rush (2002)
These guys should have comeback albums more often - not that I would wish Neil’s personal tragedies on anyone, you understand. But this and their first comeback album (Presto) are easily two of their best albums. The too-loud recording (an unfortunate industry trend at the time) is pretty much the only drawback here. You almost get weepy thinking how much better already great songs like “One Little Victory” and “Earthshine” might have been if they had been cut with a lighter touch. Throughout, there’s a sense of urgency, almost like they knew they were working on something special and that they might never sound this good again. That such an amazing record could pop up between the relatively lame Test for Echo and Snakes & Arrows is pretty impressive. I’d buy it all over again if they ever called in Brendan O’Brien to do a re-mix.

1. Ghostman on First, Rebuit (2005)
I was sort of a groupie for like a month back in 2005, when some of the guys I worked with at Clearwater were really into this local band. I think the band has sort of self-destructed since this record came out, but before they blew up, they cut a pretty good album. Not all of the songs are winners, but I got the feeling from some of them that these guys were close to a major breakout. They had a legitimate rock frontman, a talented bass player, a competent drummer, and a good rhythm guitar. They didn’t really have a solid lead guitar, though. The songs that work, though, are really good - especially “Central Park” and “La Merde Creek.” My putting this record this high is really more about the memories than it is about the music - but some of the music is pretty good, and they put on a hell of a good stage show.