Author Topic: The Winnipeg Sun's Top 75 of 2002  (Read 3677 times)

ggw

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The Winnipeg Sun's Top 75 of 2002
« on: January 03, 2003, 11:38:00 am »
Play it again, man <BR>By DARRYL STERDAN -- Winnipeg Sun<P>We didn't listen to every album that came out this year. But over the past 52 weeks, we did manage to get through more than 1,000 -- some good, some bad, and some that were very, very ugly. Here are the ones we'll still be listening to next year. <P>1. The White Stripes: White Blood Cells <BR>The Mooney Suzuki: Electric Sweat <BR>The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious <BR>The Vines: Highly Evolved <BR>Yeah, yeah, we know: A four-way tie for album of the year just makes us look, well, indecisive. Not to mention two of them -- The White Stripes and The Hives -- were available as imports back in 2001 before getting domestic major-label releases this year. But after weeks of vacillating between one disc and another, we decided this Fab Foursome deserved to share the crown for 2002 because of what they jointly represent: The long-overdue return of classic, guitar-driven rawk to musical dominance. Whether it was the crash-bash garage-punk of candy-coloured duo The White Stripes, the revved-up MC5 choogle of New York's Mooney Suzuki, the post-grunge Nirvanarchy of Aussie punks The Vines or the kitschy, matching-outfit riff-punk of Swedish meatballs The Hives, the message was loud and clear: These amps go to 11. Plus, The Mooney Suzuki wrote the best chorus of the year: "In a young man's mind it's a simple world / There's a little room for music and the rest is girls." We rest our case. <P>2. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot <BR>Apparently, Wilco got as tired of alt-country as the rest of us. So they tore up the blueprints, went back to the drawing board and made the album of their career -- a sprawling, challenging masterpiece of noisy post-rock psychedelia comparable to Radiohead's Kid A or Pavement's Slanted & Enchanted. Famously rejected by their label, YHF could have killed them. Instead it made them stronger than ever. <P>3. Steve Earle: Jerusalem <BR>Roots-rocker Earle is the gutsiest American songwriter of his generation. And Jerusalem is his gutsiest disc yet -- a sharply political manifesto that dares to point out the gaping holes in that flag in which so many folks have been jingoistically cloaking themselves since 9/11. The smouldering power of the unforgettable John Walker's Blues is worth the price alone. <P>4. Bruce Springsteen: The Rising <BR>However you define a great album -- be it the social relevance of the material, the emotional power of the songs, the critical acclaim that greets it, the impact it makes on the culture, the hype and the hoopla that surround it, the commercial success it achieves or just the sheer hummability of the choruses -- this long-awaited collection of 9/11-inspired anthems and laments by everyman rocker Springsteen and his reunited E Street Band fits the bill. <P>4. Marah: Float Away With the Friday Night Gods <BR>The scruffy Philly rockers trade in their flannel shirts and Springsteen albums for some Oasis CDs and leather pants, crafting a brazenly ambitious, super-slick pop-rock wonder that alienated a huge chunk of their hardcore fans. Anything that ticks off that many folks is OK in our book. And any record with this many solid-gold choruses and swaggering guitar hooks is even better. <P>5. The Distillers: Sing Sing Death House <BR>Singer-guitarist Brody Armstrong (wife of Rancid's Tim) returns with a sophomore disc of adrenaline-fuelled guitar thrash, raggedly frantic rhythm and head-banging ferocity -- over which the battle-scarred warrior princess vents her wrath in a razor-blade slur that fuses Courtney Love, Patti Smith and Wendy O. Williams. Except that Brody could kick all their asses. <P>6. Joey Ramone: Don't Worry About Me <BR>Alternating between joyous optimism (What a Wonderful World) and haunting poignancy (I Got Knocked Down), this posthumous solo album is a moving sendoff from one of punk's most beloved pioneers. Adios, amigo. Say hi to Dee Dee and Joe Strummer for us. <P>7. The Dillinger Escape Plan With Mike Patton: Irony is a Dead Scene <BR>OK, it's just an EP. But what an EP -- this mind-bending collaboration between avant-math thrashers Dillinger Escape Plan and gonzo former Faith No More frontman Mike Patton is a psychotic fever-dream of shifting tempo, visceral mayhem and twisted ruminations on Hollywood Squares and Pig Latin. Be afraid. Be very afraid. <P>8. David Cross: Shut Up You F--ing Baby! <BR>Comedy is the new punk rock. At least, it is the way former Mr. Show co-star David Cross does it. The unbridled absurdity and gleeful vulgarity he brings to Bush and the War on Terror -- not to mention taboo subjects like bestiality, religious sex scandals and the execution of retarded death-row inmates -- mark him as the most subversive comic since the late Bill Hicks. <P>9. Guided by Voices: Universal Truths and Cycles <BR>Relentlessly prolific indie-rocker Robert Pollard turns in his 13th album in 15 years -- another slate of '60s-inspired garage-rock and jangle-pop that also happens to be his best work since his 1994 masterpiece Bee Thousand. <P>10. Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots <BR>This strange, sad and beautiful concept album about life, death and struggle is just the latest bizarre, intriguing and sublimely wondrous journey to the edge of the universe (and the centre of your mind) engineered by these Oklahoma post-psychedelic visionaries. <P>11. Solomon Burke: Don't Give Up on Me <BR>Sure, when Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and Nick Lowe write your songs, it's easy to sound good. But not this good -- with a gruff molasses voice and a regal yet tender delivery, soul powerhouse Burke unleashes the best album of his four-decade career. Give in to him. <P>12. Queens of the Stone Age: Songs for the Deaf <BR>Robot-rockers Josh Homme and Nick Olivieri coax Foo Fighter Dave Grohl back behind the drums where he belongs. The result? A set of radio-ready riff-fests that augment the grinding grooves of classic '70s stoner-metal with melodic and hooky Cheap Trick-style pop. You'd have to be deaf to pass it up. <P>13. Rise Above: Various Artists <BR>Musclebound ex-Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins puts his mouth where his money is on this tribute disc. To raise funds for the West Memphis Three, Hank leads the charge as a slate of all-stars like Iggy, Lemmy and Ice-T blaze through turbo-charged Flag classics like My War, TV Party, Six Pack, Thirsty and Miserable and more. <P>14. Paul Westerberg: Stereo / Mono <BR>After all the raw deals former Replacements leader Paul Westerberg has been handed over the years, you'd expect him to just give up. So that's exactly what he does on Stereo and Mono, two intensely personal, anti-commercial albums -- one moody and acoustic, the other ragged and rocky, both dominated by achingly beautiful tales of depression, desperation, divorce and drugs -- that represent both sides of the tortured artist's dark musical personality. <P>15. Sonic Youth: Murray Street <BR>Augmented by post-rock producer and new fifth member Jim O'Rourke, the dependable New York noise-rockers merge the expected (downtown garage-punk and complex noise-rock epics) with the unexpected (clean, crisp guitar lines, hummable melodies and even a catchy chorus or two) to create their latest in a long, unbroken string of impressive albums. <P>16. The Donnas: Spend the Night <BR>They've toiled away in the semi-obscurity of indie-land for years, but here the hard-rocking runaways finally break of out juvie, hot-wire some wheels and crash the big boys' party armed with an instant rawk 'n' roll classic -- a head-banging, fist-pumping, hip-shaking onslaught of Angus Young power-chord guitar riffs, cowbell-whacking '70s rock drumbeats and more tough-chick trash talk than a B-movie. <P>17. Blue Rodeo: Palace of Gold <BR>After more than a decade of plowing the same old country roads, Canadian roots-rockers Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy turn off the cruise control, pick up some hitchhiking horn and string players, make a hard left turn and set off for fresh horizons on this sparkling, satisfying career rejuvenation. Next stop, the promised land. <P>18. Tom Waits: Alice / Blood Money <BR>Everybody's favourite gravel-throated troubadour cleans out his back catalogue, re-recording some long-forgotten (and much-bootlegged) tunes written a decade ago for stage shows and issuing them on a pair of fraternal twin CDs. Waits once famously opined he writes two kinds of songs: "Grand weepers and grim reapers." You'll get plenty of both here. <P>19. Audioslave: Audioslave <BR>Supposedly, this newly minted partnership of Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and the musical trio of Rage Against the Machine don't want to be called a supergroup. Well, tough noogies, boys -- this ferocious and swaggering debut disc of thundering brontosaurus guitar-riffage and '80s hair-metal wailing sounds pretty freakin' super to us. <P>20. Remy Shand: The Way I Feel <BR>The Winnipeg neo-soul phenom and one-man band spent four years writing, recording and producing superbly slinky, seductive grooves like Take a Message by himself in his parents' Garden City condo. Just imagine what he could pull off in a recording studio with other musicians. <P>21. Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head <BR>You can't mope your whole life. Especially not after you've sold as many records as these lads. So for their second album, U.K.'s Coldplay lighten up and let the sun in, crafting a disc that echoes the sound of recent U2 in its ringing guitar arpeggios, keening vocals, lightly pumping beats and earnest, anthemic choruses. <P>22. Missy Elliott: Under Construction <BR>Hip-hop diva Missy has a new, slimmed-down physique -- but thankfully, she hasn't lost an ounce of the big booty-whomping bounce and funky crunk that made her big in the first place. Bringing Timbaland and his skittering techno-slam backbeats along for the ride again, Misdemeanor gets her freak back on and proves that less really can be more. Way more. <P>23. The Roots: Phrenology <BR>Hip-hop acts always boast about keeping it real. Philly's Roots are one of the few acts that live up to that motto. Once again, their fifth studio album Phrenology fuses real beats, real performances, real vocals -- and, most importantly, real ideas -- into experimental, challenging tracks that eschew bling-bling for brainpower. Really. <P>24. Beck: Sea Change <BR>Rock's favourite loser takes it to a whole new level, casting aside his Cheez Whiz and disco suits and reinventing the Breakup Album for the new millennium with this genuinely moving, strikingly intimate batch of confessional ballads and longing, lovelorn laments. <P>25. Sleater-Kinney: One Beat <BR>Back from a year-long hiatus to have babies and go to school, Olympia indie-punks Sleater-Kinney channel that personal growth into their sixth album One Beat. Expanding their crashing, yelping punk with snatches of everything from blues and surf to R&B and metal, augmenting their twin-guitar-and-drum attack with keyboards, strings and horns, and, most importantly, tackling topics like motherhood and the events (and politics) of 9/11 -- the trio offer their most adventuresome, artistic and ambitious disc. <P>25. Nirvana: You Know You're Right <BR>A howl of pain from the grave, a grinding guitar riff, a soft-loud dynamic and a lyric that's tragically ironic in hindsight ("Things have never been so swell / I have never felt as well") made this perhaps the year's most anticipated new track. <P>THE OTHER 50 <P>26. The Streets: Original Pirate Material <BR>27. The Blasters: Trouble Bound <BR>28. Sigur Ros: ( ) <BR>29. Peaches: The Teaches of Peaches <P><BR>30. NOFX / Rancid: BYO Split Series Vol. III <BR>31. George Harrison: Brainwashed <BR>32. Pearl Jam: Riot Act <BR>33. Danko Jones: Born a Lion <BR>34. Andrew W.K.: I Get Wet <BR>35. Rocket from the Crypt: Live From Camp X-Ray <BR>36. Los Lobos: Good Morning Aztlan <BR>37. Neko Case: Blacklisted <BR>38. The Soft Boys: Nextdoorland <BR>39. Sahara Hotnights: Jennie Bomb <P><BR>40. The Liars: They Threw us All in a Trench & Stuck a Monument on Top <BR>41. Foo Fighters: One by One <BR>42. Hanson Brothers: My Game <BR>43. Bobby Bare Jr.: Young Criminals' Starvation League <BR>44. They Might be Giants: No! <BR>45. Mudhoney: Since We've Become Translucent <BR>46. Elvis Costello: When I Was Cruel <BR>47. McLusky McLusky: Do Dallas <BR>48. Ryan Adams: Demolition <BR>49. Josh Rouse: Under Cold Blue Stars <P><BR>50. ... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: Source Tags & Codes <BR>51. N.E.R.D.: In Search of ... <BR>52. Sheryl Crow: C'Mon, C'Mon <BR>53. Luna: Romantica <BR>54. Promise Ring: Wood/Water <BR>55. Tegan & Sara: If it Was You <BR>56. The Doves: The Last Broadcast <BR>57. Alejandro Escovedo: By the Hand of the Father <BR>58. Division of Laura Lee: Black City <BR>59. Interpol: Turn on the Bright Lights <P><BR>60. The Coral: The Coral <BR>61. Supergrass: Life on Other Planets <BR>62. Fu Manchu: California Crossing <BR>63. John Spencer Blues Explosion: Plastic Fang <BR>64. Jerry Cantrell: Degradation Trip <BR>65. Silkworm: Italian Platinum <BR>66. Tom Petty: The Last DJ <BR>67. Gomez: In Our Gun <BR>68. Super Furry Animals: Rings Around the World <BR>69. The (International) Noise Conspiracy: A New Morning, Changing Weather <P><BR>70. Rhett Miller: The Instigator <BR>71. Bad Religion: The Process of Belief <BR>72. Brute: Co-Balt <BR>73. Kasey Chambers: Barricades & Brickwalls <BR>74. Burnt by the Sun: Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution <BR>75. David Bowie: Heathen

ggw

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Re: The Winnipeg Sun's Top 75 of 2002
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2003, 01:47:00 pm »
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Veranda">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The Bombay Doors:<BR><B>This is utter crap.  Where did you steal this info from? Where's the linkage?</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <A HREF="http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusic/dec27_picks-sun.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusic/dec27_picks-sun.html[/url] <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Veranda">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The Bombay Doors:<BR><B>Does the Winnipeg Sun give you permission to paste their stuff?</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Bite me.

Jaguär

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Re: The Winnipeg Sun's Top 75 of 2002
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2003, 02:19:00 pm »
It's just "Doves", not "The Doves", who are a totally different band from Australia.

ggw

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Re: The Winnipeg Sun's Top 75 of 2002
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2003, 02:31:00 pm »
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Veranda">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The Bombay Doors:<BR><B>We know who <A HREF="http://www.ggw.isaterrorist.com/" TARGET=_blank>YOU[/url] really work for!</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://The.Bombay.Doors.wasarrested.com/sheep" TARGET=_blank>This[/url] would explain what you were doing in Winnipeg.