MOG

Further Proof that Even Metal Can Make Valid and Even "Good" Albums:

Tool "10,000 Days"

From the better-than usual "Vicarious" as a 'single' (that actually DID get airplay despite its' 7 minutes and 6 seconds) to the transcendent "Right In Two", Tool returned from a four-year hiatus to deliver an album that is the usual: reflective, insular, and absolutely beautifully crafted songs. Singer Maynard J. Keenan actually plays the backseat driver on this one. His croons and howls merely ride shotgun to the rest of the bands' expansive, instrumental qualities. For once it can be said with some accuracy that at least this band is getting better as they get older.

Further Proof That Being a Living Legend Doesn't Preclude you to the Rolling Stones Syndrome:

Morrissey "Ringleader of the Tormentors"

You've got to hand it to Steven Patrick Morrissey. Most artists in his shoes would either rest on their laurels by collecting royalties or crap out banal song after banal album despite their impressive catalogue. Not the Big M: "Ringleader of the Tormentors" is a 'big' album with a lot of breezy melodies and shell-cracking refrains. Of course there is still plenty of the requisite Morrissey-an self pity (see "You Have killed Me" and "Life is a Pigsty"), but that is well balanced by supporting players and solid songwriting. This is supposed to be a "singers'" record but as far as I can tell this is a stretching exercise for Morrissey. He deftly spins narratives and cautionary tales without putting himself in the protagonist's role too obviously. This, of course, has kind of been the problem in the past.

The "Welcome Back" Award, Part 1:

Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium"

After sitting through a stinking brown log called "By the Way" in 2002 I had very low expectations for this years' double album "Stadium Arcadium". Clever name aside, the new album is easily a return to form (of sorts) for L.A.'s favorite sons. While this is no "Blood Sugar Sex Majik" (which could have been a double LP itself), this tome is mostly littered with good stuff from guitarist John Frusciante. We have the usual post-90's somber reflection of "Snow (Hey Oh)", the cock-swinging "Readymade" as well as the pensive "Especially in Michigan"; all three of which are representative of both discs' varying moods. But the highlight is a truly indulgent latter track called "Wet Sand". All at once "Wet Sand" sounds like a lament, a ditty, a sing-along, a free jam, a confession and a eulogy. If the Chilis keep doing things like this they're going to have to become their own religion.

Most Deserved Hype:

Arctic Monkeys "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not"

Thanks mostly to a firestorm of internet buzz, this Sheffield, England quartet sold an almost unprecedented amount of records for a debut. The buzz went something like

"We think this is the best thing since the Beatles!" to

"Well, it's definitely as good as Nirvana!" to

"Fuck this rubbish – it's obviously useless kid stuff."

The Brits really are funny like this.

All the buzz and hype aside, the Arctic Monkeys (good Christ, what an awful name) do deserve most of the positive feedback. Their music is a hyperkinetic, energetic mix that is amazingly lyrical. This is also quite astonishing considering that the average age of these blokes is 20. The Monkeys' are still very enamored with things most 21-year-olds are; that is, drinking, dancing and pubs, but the delivery of these narratives are unexpectedly sublime.

Case in point, "When the Sun Goes Down":

So who's that girl there? I wonder what went wrong So that she had to roam the streets She don't do major credit cards I doubt she does receipts It's all not quite legitimate

"Whatever People Say…" is a great first step by a great new band. I'll be very curious to hear what they bring us next.

Most Undeserved Hype:

Bob Dylan "Modern Times"

Look, I love Dylan. You probably love Dylan. My junior year English teacher loved Dylan. Hell, your mom probably loves Dylan. He made one of the best grow-a-beard-because-of-a-break-up album of all time ("Blood on the Tracks")! He has written anthems. He is a figurehead. He is an icon.

And perhaps that is the problem because he has stopped trying. This disc might work for a quiet dinner with your significant other or a sublime Sunday afternoon with yourself. But this is no work of a legend among mortals. The songwriting is overly simplistic and subdued. The singing is understated, even for the famously mush-mouthed Dylan. And the lyrics! Bob Dylan actually sang these words in 2006: "You've got the face that begs for love". Ew. Dylan is almost 65.

Sure, he gets cool points for name-checking Alicia Keys in "Thunder On the Mountain", but other than that, the critics who called this record "raucous", "unruly" and said that Dylan has "the piano pumping like Jerry Lee Lewis" are just tired and wrong. If the piano is pumping at all it sounds like it's pumped by a church lady.

Bob sings in 'Spirit on the Water': "You think I'm over the hill/you think I'm past my prime".

No Bob, you're just acting like it.

(Runner-Up to Most Undeserved Hype):

Tapes 'n Tapes "The Loon"

Buy Your Girlfriend This Album Before She Buys the Next Fucking James Blunt CD:

Cat Power "The Greatest"

Cat Power is one woman: Chan Marshall. And that one woman is crazier than any Fiona Apple you've ever known. But she also made a very smart decision and went to Tennessee last year to write a collection of songs that is intended as a kneeling homage to soul, which is pretty funny on the surface coming from a white girl from suburban Georgia. But Marshall also had the foresight to recruit veteran Motown players Steve Potts and the Hodges brothers. The result is an album full of a more accessible Cat Power as well as a deeper, more clarified, more meaningful record than we've seen from her before. Before "The Greatest" you could dismiss Chan Marshall as a whiny, high maintenance singer-songwriter.

Now you have to bow down.

The arrangements are lush, the vocals are smokey and the refrains range from haunting to heartbreaking.

Never Mind 'the Black Parade': Here's MUSE!:

MUSE "Black Holes & Revelations"

Finally England's Muse have shed the burden of "The Next Radiohead" and become, well, "The Next Queen".

Okay, maybe not Queen, but at the very least, Queen performing songs written by David Bowie with some help from Bono. This disc, the fourth from Muse, is a full-bodied collection of grandiose, empathetic and apocalyptic rock. Singer/Songwriter Matt Bellamy's vocals lend a combined effect of a forlorn Chris Martin with a frustrated Thom Yorke. Some of the songs own a U2-esque continuity, but Muse transforms their sound beyond this tired comparison, finally. Try the clandestine "Starlight", the angular "Supermassive Black Hole" or the epic, rattling "Knights of Cydonia". If the end of the world is indeed coming, in this album and the last, Muse has written the soundtrack.

Best New Artist:

Cold War Kids "Robbers & Cowards"

While the Cold War Kids have a good "indie" sound, the element that really makes this band a candidate for greatness is lead singer Nathan Willett. But what I hear is one strange thing: soul. And it is coming from Willett's writhing, deliberate lyrics. I've had this record for about 3 weeks, but I definitely didn't want it to go unmentioned because it shows the Fullerton, California band's potential to become a huge success. And by "success" I mean that they will write great songs and play engaging shows, not that they'll sell khakis. But they probably will anyway, despite lyrics about reformed-but-dead-on-the-inside alcoholics and burning hospital beds.

Welcome Back Award, Part 2:

Pearl Jam "Pearl Jam"

For the past 9 years Seattle's Pearl Jam (ever heard of 'em?) has flirted between relevance and obscurity. Sometimes they would rock your ass, sometimes they would let you sing along, sometimes they would invite Neil Young to jam.

Then again, sometimes they would play a subdued, quiet number like… "Sometimes", a track from 1996's "No Code" that should never have made it to an album, much less track 1.

Admittedly, I am a fan going way back. And I have followed them as far as any fan could. I eventually learned to love "No Code". I tried to understand "Yield". I appreciated "Riot Act". But all of these albums were a shadow of the PJ I knew in 1994. Gone was the immediacy, the tension, the angst, the teenage wasteland.

And then W. happened.

This record's theme comes from dissatisfaction with the current United States executive administration. The lead single, "World Wide Suicide" was written in direct reference to the war in Iraq. And apparently the momentum from that just kept on rolling.

This disc is rollicking, slow-burning, political, playful, earnest and a bit cathartic. It feels like this is PJ laying it all out there for us. Balls out. They already conquered the world in the 90's, now they want to have a say in how they are remembered by it.

Best Single of the Year:

Gnarls Barkley "Crazy":

Not a whole lot needs to be said about this. It is an infectious 3 minutes of hip-hop, soul, dance, psychedelia and some ominous lyrics. Cee-Lo Green and DJ Danger Mouse laid down an impressive collaboration on an unsuspecting world in 2006 and this single, along with the LP "St. Elsewhere", speak for itself.

VERY CLOSE Runner-Up for Best Single of the Year:

The Ark "One of Us is Going to Die Young"

Seriously, download this song now. You will not regret it.

Best Push:

Beck "The Information"

O! How the press loves Beck, as do I. A friend of mine said to me this year that Beck is the closest thing to Dylan our generation will ever come. And he may be right. But 2006 did not see the most compelling evidence from Beck. While "The Information" is chock full of the white-boy funk, electronic eccentricity, and a punk rock meets cowboy single ("Nausea), it is not the all-encompassing album I was hoping for. Beck didn't gain anything here and he didn't lose anything. He played a hand and pushed. This is kind of a shame because any album with "Strange Apparition" on it deserves to be a classic.

Welcome Back Award, Part 3:

Deftones "Saturday Night Wrist"

Sacramento's Deftones have always been a sort of embattled collective. They came of age in the industry when bands with a barely-similar aesthetic, like Korn and limp bizkit, were using Top 40 to remind teenagers to be alternately moody and aggressive. But the Deftones were always hinting that they had more value, somewhere, just under the surface. 2000's "White Pony" finally delivered that value with multiple, marauding, ominous tracks that were heavy but still surprisingly literate. In 2003 the band released a self-titled train wreck that left me just scratching my chin. It was loud and heavy and that was about it.

On the heels of that regrettable album comes this year's "Saturday Night Wrist", a more appropriate sequel to "White Pony". 'Wrist' brings back the Deftones that I once knew and more: a bit more sophistication to go with the visceral. Veteran producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper) mixes the album perfectly, layering those loud guitar tracks with enough space for Moreno's vocals to tear and glide through it.

Try the expansive "Hole in the Earth", the cathartic "Combat" or the theatrical "Kimdracula". Also, the Deftones score bonus points on this one for titling an instrumental track "U, U, D, D, L, R, L, R, A, B, Select, Start". If you don't get it, you're not old enough to remember Nintendo's "Contra".

Best Covers Album:

Bruce Springsteen "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions"

The Boss rounded up 13 musicians to record his only covers album to date. The songs are all folk standards penned by the legendary Pete Seeger. If that name doesn't ring a bell, some of the songs certainly will. Bruce does proper versions of all these American classics, but especially "John Henry", "Old Dan Tucker" and the poignant "O Mary Don't You Weep". Enough said.

Best Album of 2006:

Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Show Your Bones"

The Yeah Yeah Yeah's sophomore LP proved many things. The most important being that it revealed that singer Karen O is clearly in control of this band's direction. Each song sounds like it was crafted specifically for Karen's vocals and rhythms. Hell, as far as I'm concerned, the lyrics themselves reveal this truth: six tracks in, Karen falls into a mantra that goes "Sometimes I think that I'm bigger than the sound/I think that I'm bigger than the sound".

This is a good thing.

It is clearly evident on the defiant "Honeybear", the ponderous "Cheated Hearts" and the anthemic "Turn Into" which stands as a suitable companion piece for their break-out hit "Maps". But the true test of this, the best album of the year, is manifest on the key track "Phenomena". The shuffling beat in the beginning moments of the song set a cadence that continues throughout as Karen bubbles and bursts in a cagey rollercoaster of verse-versus-chorus that is just downright delicious.

"Show Your Bones" doesn't have the bathroom stall kind of grime that 2003's "Fever to Tell" had. With this album the YYY's try to dig a little deeper with varying yet impressive and curious results.

Posted on 12/31/2006