Best Albums in 2003
Well now I can’t let the end of the year pass me by without at least offering something in the way of a ‘best in 2003’ list. It just wouldn’t be keeping to the spirit of the season now would it? So I’ll do what I think is right and throw together a musical tribute to some of the bands and songs that kept the spirits high and my feet on the floor in the 2003.
Overall, it was a solid year for the guitar. My ornamental and acoustical bookends of Twenty-ought-three were forged in a smithy filled with dark and powerful metals. In between lay a collection of honest strumming and angular orchestrations. From that collection, here are my top ten picks. All of these albums were acquired this year. However, that does not mean they were actually made this year. It just means I got into in the ’03. Ahem.
1. AFI – Sing The Sorrow
I got back into the idea of the album this year. I wanted it all: music, packaging, liner notes, good typography, etc, etc. I was sick of hearing one song I liked, then being suckered into buying the album just to find that the song I liked was the only good one on the record. I had heard one of the songs off this AFI (A Fire Inside) record on the radio and had heard other stuff by them in the past. When I saw the record for sale at Target for only $5.99, I knew that it was probably a shitty record and that it had only that one good song on it. I bought it anyway. Hot Damn. Sometimes that six dollar record you purchase on impulse becomes the album that holds exclusive reign over your Hi-Fi system for the rest of the year. Sing the Sorrow’s award winning package design and incredible type treatment wrap up this record of perfectly executed rock. I would describe this record as flawless. All the songs are good and the arrangement of the tracks really make this a complete and perfect effort. Also, AFI are incredible live.
2. Spider John Koerner – Running, Jumping, Standing Still
Minnesota folk bluesman John Koerner recorded this with fellow northern native Willie Murphy in 1969 with the help of the stellar Mohawk production team (see also Dr. John’s Gris Gris). Spider John’s songs on this album are an incredible loose combination of blues, psychedelic folk, and drinking anthems. The songs easily stand side by side with anything The Beatles or The Stones were doing at the time and in my mind also bridge the gap in Minnesota blues music between Dylan and The Replacements. In fact, most of ‘Running, Jumping, Standing Still’ sounds like those early loose Replacements records. A real live and free vibe percolates throughout the album. There are some great ‘breaks’ on this record too for any and all aspiring hip hop deejays.
3. Mississippi John Hurt – Worried Blues
This record had been sitting in my collection for years but it wasn’t till this year that I gave it a proper listen. To think of all the time lost that I could have been spending with Mississippi John Hurt. It’s a shame. Recorded live at the Ontario Place Cafe in Washington D.C. in 1963 this recording is dramatically apocalyptic and beautiful. John Hurt has a blues voice that is very hushed and quiet which compliments his minimal dark fingerpicking perfectly. The track ‘Sliding Delta’ wanders around in a soft understated southern stroll while dripping with rich, hot textures. After discovering this record I spent the rest of 2003 finding anything and everything else he recorded.
4. The Mars Volta –
De-Loused in the Comatorium
If Apple’s iTunes software had the ability to take my entire album collection and output a brand new recording I think that album would sound something like ‘Deloused in the Comatorium’. The Mars Volta have combined everything from the past to put out a record that sounds like music from the future. There’s a strong prog-rock vibe that sits at the foundation to this record and on top of that I hear something that sounds like old Santana playing with Fugazi. Tons of real musical talent, angular arrangements, and catchy anthems combine to make a record that is as interesting as it is intense. It’s a record that probably took at least ten listenings before I grocked its full power. More please.
5. Coheed and Cambria – In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
File under: Music to Read Tolkien or Asimov by. These kids are definitely influenced by big ideas and in 2003 it was an absolutely important time to think big. Think epic. ‘In Keeping Secrets’ is the second album from the HEED but is actually the third chapter in a conceptual opus of punk-prog-rock. The story of Coheed and Cambria, a married couple that “are on a mission to save the universe in a post-apocalyptic love story” is being conceptualized for a graphic novel to be put out by lead singer and heavy axeman, Claudio Sanchez. Did you get all that? Mythology aside, ‘In Keeping Secrets’ had me playing more air guitar in front of the hallway mirror than any other record this year. I await the further installments like others await the final episode of The Lord of the Rings.
6. Parliament – Osmium & Outkast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
I acquired both of these records within the same week and although they were recorded 22 years apart, they are basically interchangeable. They are both great rock records and both serve up a healthy helping of country funk. ‘Osmium’ finds Parlaiment at the height of experimentation and musical risk taking. The album as a whole is dense with dead-nut song-writing and harmony. It’s a loose, fun record much like early Pharcyde records and the current output from Outkast. Put them all on at a party and your guests will think you got ahold of some Japanese import release of the Outkast record complete with a whole ‘nother side of hits.
7. Color Humano – V1.0
Color Humano was the greatest discovery of 2003. They are the sonic masters of 1970’s psychedelic Argentinean rock. They also served for me as an introduction into yet another sub-sub genre of amazing foreign music I had never explored before. Another glowing example that the output of incredible music from 1968 to 1973 was unmatched in the last century. This six year crescendo of music risk-taking produced a well of tunes that seems more bottomless with every new discovery. Already, 2004 flights to Argentina for record canvassing and archiving have been booked.
8. Papa M – One – Four
David Pajo, releasing records under the moniker ‘Papa M’ released four EP’s this year. Each EP has three songs on it. David Pajo plays almost all the instruments on each song. The series of EP’s, which according to Pajo may end up totaling 12, are a tour diary of sorts recorded in different cities mainly while on tour with Zwan. I really liked the idea of the individual EP’s instead of one long-player mostly because it made me listen more closely to each of the songs. The spectrum of material on the EP’s is incredibly diverse. Every song is a work of craftsmanship and there are no fillers to be found here. On one song Pajo might play just a simple folk song on an acoustic guitar with harmonica and then follow it with a tune that is layered with multiple instruments and eclectic arrangements. The end effect is that you really appreciate all the characteristics and tonal qualities that build on the story that Pajo is trying to tell. To think that the guy who brought us Slint would still be making such innovative and important music today brings a smile to my face. I read a review somewhere that said ‘Pajo is the Johnny Cash for the 21st Century’ and I think I would second that sentiment.
9. Black Flag – Live at First Avenue
The best live show I saw this year. At 42 years old, Henry Rollins ripped through a set of old Black Flag tunes and without pause or nostalgia showed everyone there that night where the bar for absolute rock is set. When I look at the current output of rock both on record and live being put out by kids half Rollin’s age it’s a pretty ugly thing to see. Where o where is the energy, honesty and conviction in the bands these days? A good wake up call.
10. Superchunk – Cup of Sand
Damn. Cup of Kick-ass Gold should have been the title of this collection of rarities and b-sides form these rockers. Not one but two CD’s of foot stomping, pop-candy, that believe it or not at one point ended up on the cutting room floor. This one was stuck in the Hi-Fi player probably longer than any other Superchunk record ever has. Again the liner notes and album packaging added more sacks of gold to the rocking bounty. I’d bring this Cup of Sand to a deserted island just so I can say, ‘yeah, this is the record I would take’.