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There's nothing scientific about choosing year's best

By Regis Behe, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, January 4, 2004
Photos

'Everyone Deserves Music' by Michael Franti and Spearhead

'Failer' by Kathleen Edwards

'The Fine Art of Self Destructing' by Jesse Malin

'Shootenanny!' by Eels

'Terroir Blues' by Jay Farrar

click to enlarge

Joe Henry's 'Tiny Voices' is a character-driven collection of songs
Epitaph Records

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Rege Behe can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7990.

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It's simple, my system for picking the best albums of 2003. There's no heavy analysis or deep thought involved.

This is how it works: You start to file away CDs as they arrive throughout the year. You come across one -- for example, Kathleen Edwards' "Failer" -- and decide you have to hear "Six O'clock News" or "Hockey Skates" one more time. It ends up staying in the permanent rotation of CDs that are stacked on your desk and strewn throughout your car for months. End of year comes and, voila, the best albums are at your fingertips.

So, here's a highly biased and personal look at some of the best releases of 2003:

  • "Come Feel Me Tremble" (Vagrant), Paul Westerberg. Razor-sharp lyrics, a still-swaggering delivery and the most boisterous rock album of the ex-Replacement's vastly underrated solo career.

  • "Electric Version" (Matador), the New Pornographers. Quirky, unexpected melodies and turns of phrase, excellent lyrics and the fabulous Neko Case in a supporting role.

  • "Everyone Deserves Music" (Boo Boo Wax/iMusic), Michael Franti and Spearhead. An exhilarating mix of hip-hop, rock and soul that Franti calls "conscious music for the masses." His messages of peace, tolerance and understanding are delivered with compassion for all, a sentiment that is sorely lacking and much needed in these troubling times.

  • "Failer" (Rounder) Kathleen Edwards. A Canadian minstrel with a country-western heart, Edwards writes ragged tales of woe that fit her raspy vocals perfectly. One of the best debuts of the year.

  • "The Fine Art of Self Destructing" (Artemis Records), Jesse Malin. A former punk-rocker who has transformed himself into an urban troubadour, Malin's solo debut is a vivid rock 'n' roll postcard from New York City.

  • "Hail to the Thief" (Capitol), Radiohead. It's easy to take for granted just how good Thom Yorke and company are, and how Radiohead has produced a peerless body of work that is unsurpassed over the past decade. Deftly jumping between parochial and catholic concerns, "Hail to the Thief" is the band's most lyrically pointed release.

  • "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" (Arista), OutKast. This double-album switches between hip-hop, lounge, soul and rock music, sometimes all within a single song. It works, however schizophrenic the contrasts between the two discs. It's worth it alone for "Hey Ya" and "The Way You Move," two of the year's most infectious singles.

  • "The Old Kit Bag" (Spin Art), Richard Thompson. At 54, he's a guitar god, an excellent songwriter and singer. All Richard Thompson needs is an audience worthy of his prodigious talents. "The Old Kit Bag" emphasizes his folk roots more than previous releases, but the scathing "Gesthemane" and the aching desperation of "A Love You Can't Survive" show Thompson still writes songs that blister and wither the heart.

  • "Shootenanny!" (DreamWorks), Eels. A raw, bluesy undercurrent cuts through E's (Mark Oliver Everett) album of coming-of-age songs. E sugarcoats his often-dark lyrics with snappy melodies and hooks that make songs such as "Saturday Morning" and "Rock Hard Times" simultaneously hummable and troubling.

  • "Tiny Voices" (Anti-), Joe Henry. Using musicians who played as an ensemble during the recording sessions, Henry created an atmospheric, character-driven batch of songs. Jazzy, dark and haunting, "True Voices" is all the more amazing given that Henry started out playing country-style rock. A true gem, and worthy of all the comparisons to Tom Waits. My choice for album of the year.

  • "Terroir Blues" (Act/Resist Records), Jay Farrar. An intense, personal album of lean songs welded together by loops of distorted guitar that Farrar calls Space Junk, "Terroir Blues" is another step away from the musician's Uncle Tupelo roots.

  • "Transatlanticism" (Barsuk), Death Cab for Cutie. Atmospheric, fragile songs from the heart by a band that might be on the verge of becoming the American version of Radiohead. One of the most arresting, hypnotic albums of 2003.

  • "Welcome Interstate Managers" (S-Curve/Virgin), Fountains of Wayne. Fountains of Wayne became the hipster's band of choice in 2003. "Hackensack," "Stacy's Mom" or almost anything else on this album is better than 99 percent of the so-called hit singles heard on commercial radio.

  • "What Nature Intended" (Mile End), Shane Fontayne. A guitarist whose resume includes performances with Lone Justice, Bruce Springsteen and Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, Fontayne's solo debut is a marvelous collection of Beatlesque tunes.

  • "When I Pretend to Fall" (Barsuk), The Long Winters. Imagine a strange, slightly demented music box that plays chaotic pop songs when opened. Front man John Roderick welds melodies and lyrics together like a musical mechanic, the sum of the parts turning into strange, slightly off-kilter songs.

  • "World Without Tears" (Universal), Lucinda Williams. Emotionally and musically raw, "World" slashes and burns like the Rolling Stones in their prime.

  • "Yours, Mine & Ours" (Ashmont), The Perniece Brothers. A bright, shiny album of infectious pop songs that would be worthwhile alone for "Sometimes I Remember," the best Cure song in ages. Perhaps the best unheralded album of 2003.

  • "Youth & Young Manhood" (BMG), Kings of Leon. The sons (and a nephew) of an itinerant preacher, the Kings of Leon retrofit Southern-fried rock and boogie for the new millennium.

    The most overrated release? "Elephant" by the White Stripes. Not a bad album by any means, but from all the hype and praise you'd think that Jack White was John Lennon. "Elephant" is good, but better are albums by two other duos: "Thickfreakness" (Fat Possum) by the Black Keys, a record that has much more soul, not to mention grittiness, and the Raveonettes' "Chain Gang of Love," which reduces rock 'n' roll to a couple of blissful chords.


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