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The TOP TWENTY ALBUMS of 2011 (The Year-End Awards)
Sunday, February 5th, 2012
By Chris Moore:
It is the best and truest mark of artistry in the music industry, and sales are no indication of significance. Sequencing and thematic continuity, sonic experimentation within a basic set of familiar parameters, a healthy range of types and topics: these are the standards by which to judge an album.
The album.
It ascended into an art form in the mid-sixties under the careful work of artists like the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Beach Boys. It was taken to new heights with the experimentation of later bands, from the concept albums of the Moody Blues to the spin-off success of artists like Bruce Springsteen. The album – and rock in general – saw a rebirth in the nineties, with the work of those like Weezer, the Wallflowers, the Barenaked Ladies, and a slew of others who led a surge of excellent rock music.
These days, the album has faced a crossroads. Specifically, with the advent and surge of digital sales, the physical formats of music are on the chopping block. Still, with the rise of vinyl sales even as CD sales continue to decline, there is hope yet. And, contrary to an army of naysayers, there are still excellent albums being made. This year, as with the past several years that I have been tuned into a vast array of albums, I would say there are about five albums that will undoubtedly stand the test of time and compete for top spots when I eventually get around to my Best Albums of All Time list. Which, at this point, might have to wait until I hit retirement.
But, for the moment, you have my Best Albums of 2011 list, and if you’re interested in reading more about any of these albums, you can access my Weekend Review report (including star rating, production info, and a full review) by simply searching the album title and band name in the search bar above. And, of course, if you see reason for disagreement or any gaps in my list, it’s up to you to leave comments below.
1) The Whole Love (Wilco)
2) The King is Dead (The Decemberists)
3) Last Night on Earth (Noah & the Whale)
4) Wasting Light (Foo Fighters)
5) Bad As Me (Tom Waits)
6) Unfortunate Casino (Gerry Beckley)
7) The King of Limbs (Radiohead)
8) Yuck (Yuck)
9) Lasers (Lupe Fiasco)
10) W H O K I L L (The Tune-Yards)
11) The Graduation Ceremony (Joseph Arthur)
12) Vol. 2: High and Inside (The Baseball Project)
13) Collapse Into Now (R.E.M.)
14) Move Like This (The Cars)
15) The Valley (Eisley)
16) Cloud Maintenance (Kevin Hearn)
17) I’m With You (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
18) Alpocalypse (Weird Al Yankovic)
19) No Color (The Dodos)
20) Nighty Night (8in8)
Honorable Mention:
The Way It Was (Parachute)
The Dreamer, The Believer (Common)
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The BEST COLLABORATIONS of 2011 (The Year-End Awards)
Sunday, January 22nd, 2012
By Chris Moore:
The following artists are being recognized for their notable collaborations. Had they not worked together, their tracks and, in some cases, albums would not have been nearly as successfully rendered. Wanda Jackson and Jack White have to earn the top mention for the comeback release of the year. Jackson was once a hitmaker, a notable player in the rockabilly scene (dating Elvis Presley for a time), but I certainly hadn’t heard of her before this year. With White’s electric leads and the fitting arrangements that walk the line between classic and modern, The Party Ain’t Over makes good on the claim in its title.
Beyond this collaboration, the others on this list are more traditional. 8in8 was a cool idea: get together to write, record, and release eight tracks in eight hours as a way of showing just how much the music industry has changed in even the past several years. Gillian Welch’s role, dueting on the Decemberists’ The King is Dead, was a vital one, just as Norah Jones and Jack White added their vocals to a couple tracks and elevated the Rome soundtrack. I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out and praise the (brief) reunion of Ben Folds Five, just as much as if I didn’t note that some of the tracks on The King is Dead have a strongly R.E.M.-esque vibe to them at least in part because Peter Buck is playing on them.
1) Wanda Jackson and Jack White (The Party Ain’t Over)
2) Ben Folds, Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman, and Damian Kulash (8in8)
3) The Decemberists and Gillian Welch (various tracks on The King is Dead)
4) Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppi, Norah Jones, and Jack White (Rome: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
5) Ben Folds, Darren Jesse, and Robert Sledge (as Ben Folds Five for three new recordings)
6) Norah Jones and Hank Williams (“How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart”)
7) The Decemberists and Peter Buck (various tracks on The King is Dead)
8) Bob Dylan and Hank Williams (“The Love That Faded”)
9) Kevin Hearn and Garth Hudson (“The House of Invention”)
10) Lupe Fiasco and Matt Mahaffey (“State Run Radio”)
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Addendum to the March 2011 Report: The Weekend Review
Saturday, July 16th, 2011
By Chris Moore:
Well, I somehow missed a brand new album from one of my all-time favorite artists that was released in March. And I also listened to Lupe Fiasco for the first time, specifically to his album that was released in March.
Thus, I give you the addendum to my March 2011 Weekend Review report.
FYI: The word online is that Beckley’s Unfortunate Casino is the precursor to a new America album to be released later this year or early in 2012. As was the case with 2006′s Horizontal Fall and 2007′s Here and Now, it has been suggested that the songs that didn’t make the forthcoming America album are the ones that you’ll find on his solo disc. If that is true, then we’re in for a real treat when the America record drops!
Unfortunate Casino
Gerry Beckley
Producer:
—Released:
March 31, 2011Rating:
4/5 starsTop Two Tracks:
“Hello” & “Feel”Despite mixed reviews by fans and critics alike, Unfortunate Casino – for all intents and purposes Gerry Beckley’s third studio album – retains some of the best qualities of Van Go Gan (1995) and Horizontal Fall (2006) in a more concise package while covering sonic ground not explored on the aforementioned discs. How Unfortunate Casino received harsher criticism than 2000’s remix disc Go Man Go is beyond me.
Still, much of the criticism is understandable, as the relative brevity of Unfortunate Casino’s ten tracks fall short of the soaring electric solos and overall energy of Van Go Gan. It would also be difficult to argue that this new release has the same expansive ambition and the track-by-track songwriting excellence that was evident on Horizontal Fall. All in all, this album is strikingly different from its predecessors, if only for its reliance on stripped down, slower tracks to lead in the album.There is no individual song to match the power pop brilliance of “Emma.” There are sparks in “Remembering” and the title track, yet in many ways, the album doesn’t really kick into high gear until the second half with the lively “Feel” and “Hello.” Some have attacked the lyrics on this latest release as insipid, which is ridiculous, especially considering some of the nonsensical tracks Beckley has helped pen in the past.
For the careful listener, Unfortunate Casino explores the themes of chance and change, playing on the obvious casino metaphors with admirable restraint. Nostalgia and regret are shirked in “Remembering,” just as the present and future are embraced in tracks like “Simpson Sky” and “Feel.” What is expressed purely in “Always” is held up to question by the greyer lines of “Fortune Fells.” Frustration is dealt with forebodingly in “Dark River,” which is balanced later by the positive levity of “Hello.”
Balance is perhaps the best modifier for Unfortunate Casino, along with concise – I’ll take its ten strong tracks over Van Go Gan’s eighteen of fluctuating quality. It is not better or maybe even as strong as Horizontal Fall, but it is a good album and a worthy addition to Beckley’s catalog.
Lasers
Lupe FiascoProducer:
Lupe Fiasco, et alReleased:
March 8, 2011Rating:
3.5/5 starsTop Two Tracks:
“State Run Radio” & “Words I Never Said”Politically-charged and clearly driven by anger, or at least angst, Lupe Fiasco’s Lasers is enigmatic for its simultaneous endorsement of disengaging from the system. As a whole, Lasers is the only album I’ve ever listened to that both protests and subscribes to apathy, though the former seems to win out in the end with Fiasco’s consistent call for change and carefully placed qualifiers like the “wanna” in “I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now.” Sonically, Lasers covers a range of sounds and draws textures from a variety of genres without resorting to the time-tested rap topics of drugs, hoes, and violence. Fiasco’s modus operandi is to avoid the norm, to speak out against what he sees as the perpetuators and enablers of violence and corruption in society. I have never understood listeners who bristle at the first sign of social commentary, and in fact, I’ve always found those who do so with artistry and a sense of balance to be the most interesting songwriters (i.e. Bob Dylan, John Lennon, George Harrison, Woody Guthrie, and the list goes on…).
Fiasco is successful on songs like “The Show Goes On” with its catchy melody and lyrical middle finger to abusive power or “All Black Everything,” a track that plays out like a blend between rap and Sinatra, imagining a world fundamentally changed as the conception of slavery is prevented; the effects resemble an exercise in imaginative butterfly effect theory. Lyrically and sonically, “State Run Radio” is perhaps the strongest example of this type of song on the album, verging on being more of a pop/rock track than a rap song. Still, with every politically-charged writer, there is the danger of going too far.
Even at the peak of the Dylan protest song era, on 1964’s The Times They Are A-Changin’, there was one thoughtful, lyrically nuanced song for every blatantly political track. This is, however, not necessarily the case on Lasers. For those who have followed his recent interactions with the press, it is what can only be referred to as the quasi-extremism of his espoused methodologies that most profoundly weakens the overall impact of his message. For instance, verbally bashing President Barack Obama – with one liners in songs like “Words I Never Said” and in interviews, such as the most recent and severe when he claimed that Obama is the “biggest terrorist” – is certainly not the way to motivate people like myself to listen more closely. The fact that his comments appear to be directed at all American presidents and all branches of the government, past and present, does little to blunt the impact of such statements.
Even still, though Fiasco is far from being a poet, I have found his music compelling and catchy, and I continue to return for the core messages, such as the frustration with the seemingly unalterable trends in big business and government policies in “Words I Never Said.” Even though I cannot support a non-voting stance, I can deeply feel and, to a degree, relate to such lines as those that follow his declaration that he will not participate in politics: “I’m a part of the problem; my problem is I’m peaceful.”
Lasers will inspire questions and thoughts and perhaps even action; for this, in addition to the more important aspects of the music itself, Fiasco remains an artist worth listening to, whether you consistently agree with him or not.
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