Nick
A. Zaino, III:
January,
2004

Best Music and Comedy of 2003

Okay, so I can't follow directions. "Pick ten albums you thought were the best of 2003," they said. Once I started wading through the waist-high pile around what passes for my desk, I couldn't just make one list of ten. So I've made two lists of ten and one list of five (for comedy, since this was a good year for it). The first two lists are the "Hype Worthy" and the "Underplayed". I felt I couldn't penalize a band or artist just because you could predict with near certainty they were getting the cover of Magnet next month. But if a disc also got a lot of attention, it didn't seem right to ignore something else that was noteworthy but lacked a huge amount of hype. What can I say, sometimes a lot of people like something that's good. Damned if I know how it happens. Then again, sometimes they'll look over a vast sea of releases and miss the brilliant silver flash of something really special. So, here are my lists, as always, in no special order. I hope they change your life.

Hype Worthy

1. Crazy: The Demo Sessions - Willie Nelson

Nelson is quoted in this release as saying he always thought his demos were better than the versions of the songs that wound up getting released. That sentiment is validated a thousand times over on this collection. Nelson's appeal is stripped to its bare elements. It's raw, witty, and heartfelt, with Nelson's trademark flamenco-influenced guitar style beginning to take form. The hype on this one died out more quickly than it should have.

2. Yours, Mine, & Ours - Pernice Brothers

After "World Won't End" landed Joe Pernice on the cover of every indie music publication that hit the stands in 2001, no one could be blamed for being suspicious of the follow-up. "Yours, Mine, & Ours" certainly got its share of accolades, and probably moved more units than anything Pernice had ever done, but there was also a backlash against the album's poppy sweet sound. But the album deserves all the praise it got and then some. For every Beach Boys harmony, there's a tale of blackened hearts that would make Elvis Costello shit and shout for Jesus. Turns out honey and vinegar make a great cocktail.

3. Terroir Blues - Jay Farrar

This didn't get quite as much attention as Farrar's last solo album, "Sebastapol", but was nonetheless a fantastic effort. Using the basic building blocks of voice, acoustic guitar, and piano, Farrar managed to sound both rootsy and adventurous. His stream-of-conscious poetry walks a line, as well, between the surreal and the real.

4. The Wind - Warren Zevon

This would have been a great album without the back story, but there's no denying the weight added by Zevon's struggle to get one final statement on record before his death. "Life'll Kill Ya" had rejuvenated Zevon, "My Ride Is Here" stayed the course, and "The Wind" gives him a strong trifecta to close out his career. Heartfelt, aimed at the gut, "The Wind" is everything Zevon did so well.

5. Decoration Day - Drive-By Truckers
Less pomp and circumstance than "Southern Rock Opera", same gritty, loose feel that made that album an indie hit. The Drive-By Truckers may turn into a band whose albums are an anticipated event. There's also attitude a plenty, and sometimes it feels like the band is telling you a joke and daring you to laugh at it. Then again, there's nothing funny about having your farm repossessed, drinking yourself into oblivion, or putting a gun to your head. But the Truckers put all of that together to create their own aesthetic, with a swooping bow to Skynyrd, of course.

6. Rainy Day Music - The Jayhawks
This was universally praised as a return to form by a band that once helped touch off the alt.country movement. The big band approach had yielded some nice moments on "Smile" and "The Sound of Lies", but it's always good to hear a band just take it backto the bare elements and play. Gary Louris never lost his fire as a guitarist, as the band's live shows often proved. And it sounds even better with less sonic competition.

7. Speakerboxx/The Love Below - Outkast
Okay, it might seem like an odd selection for a guy white enough to make pure flour blush, but this album has it all - pop, rock, hip hop, jazz, soul. Part "White Album", part "Songs in the Key Of Life", and part cornball satire, it would be virtually impossible not to find something to like on this album. Although, like the "White Album", there are less convincing moments that seem more valuable for the surrounding brilliance. Some have said this would have been one great Outkast album instead of two fairly good solo efforts glued together, and there's some truth to that. But if there's enough to gorge yourself at the buffet, why complain about what you don't eat?

8, 9, and 10. The Rules of Travel - Roseanne Cash, American Recordings IV: When the Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash, Wildwood Flower - June Carter Cash

This should have been a great year for the Cash family. Johnny, June, and Roseanne all released solid, sometimes wonderful discs. Hell, even Roseanne's ex-husband (and still close family friend) Rodney Crowell had a good album. Instead, this will be remembered as the year Johnny lost June, his light, and then followed her home. But listen to these discs together, and you'll hear where country's been, where it is now, and where it can go in the future.

Underplayed

1. Tiny Voices - Joe Henry

Joe Henry will never get massive radio play, and he'll never be the guy on the tip of everyone's tongue, talking about a hot new album. What he is, however, is an artist who will always push himself to make something intriguing and original. Henry has been on a tear since he left his Americana sound behind a few albums ago, and on "Tiny Voices", he pushes himself further out, challenging not only the bounds of genre but also the bounds of pop song structure (who needs a chorus, anyway?).

2. Songs For A Hurricane - Kris Delmhorst

Delmhorst leads the pack of a new wave of Boston singer/songwriters. "Songs For a Hurricane" shows just how versatile she can be, at home strumming folk ("Short Work") or on blistering, Crazy Horse-style tunes that lumber forward like Jim Brown through Lilliputian linebackers ("Hurricane"). When you're this good, you don't need to sell yourself with one packaged sound. The folk and rock worlds used to do this much better than they have lately, and it's refreshing to hear someone just play the songs that happen to mean the most to them right now.

3. Tough Love - Hamell on Trial

It was a relief to see Hamell's first studio disc since the van accident that left him in a body cast. It was even better to hear it, and how his storytelling and manic acoustic guitar pounding has just gotten better. Some of the hip-hop flavor of his previous work is gone, but the disc doesn't feel lacking. "Halfway" is hilarious political and social commentary, where "Hail" is beautiful and just as pointed.

4. Welcome to Convalescence - South San Gabriel

Go ahead. Find me an article on these guys. Hand me three reviews. Maybe I haven't dug deep enough, but I have seen maybe one mention of this, a great, mature Americana album that's not afraid to use a few keyboards and drum machines to get their point across. True, the album is a bit of a downer (one could imagine Roger Waters saying, "My god, lighten up, would ya?"), but it's evocative and well-written. How could you not love an album that starts out with a scratchy vinyl sound, a keyboard sound out of the Atari library, and the phrase, "Make no mistake/We'll be the ones/To happily set you on fire"?

5. Mayors of the Moon - Jon Langford and his Sadies

Of the roughly six thousand, four hundred and thirty-four Langford-related projects released this year, this is the most satisfying. The Sadies spaced-out guitar noir is a perfect fit for Langford's country-punk sensibilities. Here's to hoping this is one of many more collaborations between the two.

6. Hope Is A Thing With Feathers - Trailer Bride

Trailer Bride found the perfect foil for their ethereal mountain tunes by invoking Emily Dickinson's "Hope Is A Thing With Feathers". Melissa Swingle and company have honed their sound to something sharper with every album to make their most cohesive album yet.

7. Soft Spot - Clem Snide

Somehow, Eef Barzelay and Clem Snide have made a compulsively listenable narrative out of the lives of nerds and hopeless romantics. "Soft Spot" is the band's poppiest album yet, packed with sweet melodies and oddball sentiments. "All Green" would be in serious contention if I had to nominate a song of the year for Fufkin. Fortunately, I don't. So I don't have to single out anything more on an album full of standout tracks.

8. Cockadoodledon't - Legendary Shack Shakers

There's not much room for subtlety with the Legendary Shack Shakers. Not with their fat, electrified delta blues sound, sizzling harmonica, gospel shouting vocals. There are few bands that can pull off using the word "boogie" in a song without reaching or sounding downright silly. The fact the Shakers can says a lot for them. If you're in the mood for a quiet night in, listen to something else. If you're looking for a night out at the roadhouse, the Shakers are your band.

9. Live From the Mercury Hotel - Mark McKay

This album came out of nowhere and stayed in my CD player for months. Literate and tuneful, McKay is an appealing songwriter with knack for phrasing that bypasses the head on its way to something more visceral. I'm not sure what the line "Constantine gardens appear when you smile" means, but an image appears when he sings it. All that and a credible cover of Springsteen's "Atlantic City" to boot.

10. Idiot Wisdom - Ray Mason Band, Strange Adventure - The Mercy Brothers

Okay, so I'm leaning heavy into the Boston scene for this list. Call it homefield advantage. But both of these recently released albums deserve more attention than they are likely to get in the coming months. Barrence Whitfield of the Mercy Brothers is one of the most soulful screamers in rock and roll, bar none. This more countrified project allows Whitfield and guitarist Michael Dinallo to stretch into new territory where they are immediately comfortable. As for Mason, he has been doing alt.country and just plain old rock and roll for thirty years, and seems to have hit his stride at a time when most would be petering out and looking for that desk job to retire comfortably. And if you don't like "Idiot Wisdom", wait six months. He'll have an album out with the Lonesome Brothers by then, all the while working on his next Ray Mason Band album.

Honorable Mentions -- Comedy Division

Since I divide my time between covering comedy and music, I feel I can't ignore a few great comedy albums that came out this year. You're probably already fidgety after the double top ten list, so here's a handful of worthy albums if you find you need a laugh.

1. Shut Up, You Fucking Baby - David Cross

Rambling, outraged, inspired comedy from Mr. Show's David Cross. Recorded on a tour of rock clubs with support bands because of Cross's contempt for the club scene, this has all the highs and lows of a rock and roll live album. There are long passages of narrative that might count as solos, smaller bits that amount to greatest hits, and a rowdy crowd in the background. This is a good representation of Cross as a comedian, one of the most talented minds on the circuit.

2. I Don't Mean To Offend You, But You Look Like Bobcat Goldthwait

His "Share the Warmth" video was a comic bible in high school, and this is another disc full of the sarcasm, self-deprecation, and bridge burning Bobcat's fans have come to expect. Some of this is material, some of it is just weird stories (working with Johnny Depp and Paul Reaubens, debating a clown on Katie Couric's show), but all of it is funny.

3. Laugh Out Lord - Neil Hamburger

The best thing about Neil Hamburger is the fact that his real-life alter-ego, Gregg Turkington, won't acknowledge he exists. Spokespeople at Drag City, his record label, will swear they know only Hamburger and have no clue who Turkington is. It's a dedication to premise worthy of the obvious comparisons to Andy Kaufman/Tony Clifton. And every laugh Hamburger doesn't get on record makes these supposedly live performances that much more funny, if still uncomfortable at time. But if comedy can't make you uncomfortable sometimes, what good is it?

4. Rules of Enragement -- Lewis Black

Anyone who's heard Black may find it hard not to fall into his exasperated cadence watching the stupidity around them. One imagines Black will pop one day watching C-Span when he just can't take it anymore. His logic sucks you in, especially when it becomes obvious he's actually paying attention to politics and current events, not just paying them lip service.

5. Skanks For the Memories - Dave Attell

Attell is like a judo master in a club, keeping a rowdy crowd at bay. He can use a heckler's own momentum against him, and keep just about any crowd roaring. He's smarter than the rambling partier he may appear to be on "Insomniac" at times, and there's a bit of that on this disc as well. He can be loud, bordering on obnoxious when the moment calls for it, but there's also enough self-deprecation and abstract imagery to lift him to another level, and let everyone in on the joke.

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