The best CDs of the ’00s
Published in the Cape Cod Times on Dec. 26, 2009.
By BILL O’NEILL
In 2000, we’d never heard of iPods, blogs or You Tube. By the end of the decade, if you didn’t have a computer, you weren’t keeping up with pop music.
There was sorrow mixed with the innovation. The music world lost Johnny Cash, James Brown, Ray Charles, George Harrison and other giants. One hundred people died in 2003 when a Great White concert turned into an inferno at the Station, a rock club in West Warwick, R.I.
As far as the music, there’s more of it than ever, as production equipment becomes cheaper and simpler every year. The quality? There will always be those who say pop music was better in the ’60s or ’70s, but if you opened your mind and your ears, there were plenty of classics to be heard in the 2000s.
1. “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” Wilco (Nonesuch; 2002) – Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy’s previous band, Uncle Tupelo, helped launch the alternative-country movement, a loose tag for bands that bring some punk attitude to songs with twang. In making “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” Jeff Tweedy and his band messed around with song structure and used imaginative blendings of instruments. Listen closely and you can hear that these songs start out as straightforward country-rockers. Then the band deconstructed and reconstructed the songs, at times replacing passages played by traditional instruments with weird electronic sounds.
The CD of the decade almost never came out. Reprise Records refused to release it because one executive thought it had “no commercial potential.” When Nonesuch released it, the disc sold more than half a million copies. Is it any surprise that the music industry is struggling?
2. “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not,” Arctic Monkeys (Domino; 2006) – The same week that Arctic Monkeys’ debut CD was released in England, a British rock magazine’s writers voted it the fifth best British album of all time, putting it ahead of the Clash’s “London Calling’” (No. 8 ) and the Beatles’ “Revolver’” (No. 9). OK, the CD isn’t quite that good, but the band delivered – in concert, in videos and, yes, with its debut disc.
The quartet’s petty thievery of past British bands (the angular guitars of the Gang of Four, the put-upon weariness of the Smiths, the giddiness of Adam and the Ants) results in some of the catchiest songs of the decade.
3. “O,” Damien Rice (Vector; 2003) – Most of the songs feature only Rice’s occasionally creaking voice, his guitar, a little flurry or two from a cello or violin and maybe some breathy backing vocals. The simplicity is deceptive, as Rice’s songs are rich in their emotional payoff.
4. “The College Dropout,” Kanye West (Roc-A-Fella; 2004) – He won’t get any awards from Miss Manners, but Kanye West made some of the decade’s best hip-hop CDs. His debut was innovative, funny, romantic, a little bit thuggish and frequently inspirational.
5. “Kid A,” Radiohead (Capitol; 2000) and “Amnesiac,” Radiohead (Capitol; 2001) – Radiohead’s first two CDs of the decade were released separately but recorded at the same time. Pair them and you have the decade’s best double album, a collection of trippy alternative-rock experiments.
6. “Southern Rock Opera” by Drive-By Truckers (SDR; 2001) – A true double album, this 20-song set revisits the mythology of Lynyrd Skynyrd with a three-guitar Southern-rock attack that would have sounded just as great coming out of a Plymouth Roadrunner’s 8-track player.
7. “Stankonia,” OutKast (LaFace/Arista; 2000) – OutKast hit the Billboard jackpot in 2003 with “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below,” but “Stankonia” is a tighter effort that also shows off the duo’s brilliance in extending the borders of hip-hop.
8. “Extraordinary Machine,” Fiona Apple (Epic/Clean Slate; 2005) – Apple boldly expanded her musical eccentricity on her third CD. Her definition of pop music seems to incorporate inspiration from artists ranging from Cole Porter and George Gershwin to Tori Amos and Tom Waits.
9. “St. Elsewhere,” Gnarls Barkley (Downtown; 2006) – A reinvention of ’70s Philly soul, with the old-time silky grooves and passionate vocals backed by modern samples and hip-hop attitude. Veteran soul singer Cee-Lo supplied the vocals and DJ Danger Mouse built the beats for one of those rare records that brought multiple generations to the dance floor. The highlight is “Crazy,” the best song of the decade.
10. “Back to Black,” Amy Winehouse (Universal; 2007) – One of the saddest stories of the decade was Amy Winehouse’s decline into tabloid fodder after the smash success of this CD, a triumphant re-creation of ’60s soul.
Honorable mention: “Kids in Philly,” Marah (E-Squared; 2000); “Truth Is Not Fiction,” Otis Taylor (Telarc; 2003); “New Wave,” Against Me! (Sire; 2007); “Everyone Deserves Music,” Michael Franti and Spearhead (Bob Boo Wax/iMusic; 2003); “The Woods,” Sleater-Kinney (Sub Pop Records; 2005); “Pieces of Me,” Lori McKenna (Catalyst; 2001); “Sky Blue Sky,” Wilco (Nonesuch; 2007); “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below,” OutKast (Arista; 2003); “The Grey Album,” Danger Mouse (Internet bootleg; 2004); and “Bring Me the Workhorse,” My Brightest Diamond (Asthmatic Kitty; 2006).
Best local CDs: “Red = Luck,” Patty Larkin (2003); “Dance Hall,” the Greenheads (2005); “Small Is Tremendous,” Zoe Lewis (2004); Chandler Travis’s 25-CD “Radio Ball” series (2000-2005); “Careful,” P.J. O’Connell (2006); “Nature Calls,” Incredible Casuals (2005); “One Girl Town,” Sarah Swain (2006); “Cape Cod Covers, Vol. 2: the Beatles,” various artists (2007); “The Elbows,” the Elbows (2006); and “A Christmas Miracle,” various artists (Plimro; 2009).
Best live CDs: “Kicking Television: Live in Chicago,” Wilco (Nonesuch; 2005); “Out There Live,” Dar Williams (Razor & Tie; 2001); Prodigal Son bootlegs, the Greenheads (2003); and official bootlegs, Seattle, Pearl Jam (2000).
Best movies about music: “High Fidelity” (2000) and “Almost Famous” (2000).
Best soundtracks: “High Fidelity,” various artists (2000); “Into the Wild,” Eddie Vedder (2007); “I’m Not There,” various artists (2007); “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (2007); “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000).
Best music videos: “Hurt” by Johnny Cash (2002); “Fell in Love With a Girl” by the White Stripes (2002); “Weapon of Choice,” Fatboy Slim (2001); “A View From the Afternoon” by the Arctic Monkeys (2006) and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” by Beyonce (2008).
Best songs of the 2000s:
1. “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley (2006)
2. “Jesus Walks” by Kanye West (2004)
3. “Hey Ya” by OutKast (2003)
4. “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House” by LCD Soundsystem (2005)
5. “There There” by Radiohead (2003)
6. “Out of Touch” by Lucinda Williams (2001)
7. “The Seed (2.0)” by the Roots (2002)
8. “Pink Sweater” by Lori McKenna (2001)
9. “A Million Tears” by Kasey Chambers (2002)
10. “Handshake Drugs” by Wilco (2004)
Best CDs of 2009:
1. “Middle Cyclone,” Neko Case (Anti)
2. “Playing for Change: Songs Around the World,” various artists (Concord)
3. “The Sun Came Out,” 7 Worlds Collide (Sony)
4. “Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band,” the Easy Star All-Stars (Easy Star)
5. “Together Through Life,” Bob Dylan (Columbia)
6. “Mouth to Mouth,” the Vivs (thevivs.com)
7. “Backspacer,” Pearl Jam (Island)
7. “Troubador,” K’Naan (A&M/Octone)
9. “Change Your Mind,” Julie Clark (Great Big)
10. “BLACKsummer’snight,” Maxwell (Columbia)
"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"