-10 BEST LPs-
Devin Davis - Lonely People of the World, Unite!
Fall - Fall Heads Roll
Mountain Goats - Sunset Tree
New Order - Waiting for the Sirens' Call
New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Ponys - Celebration Castle
Serena-Maneesh - s/t
Rosebuds - Birds Make Good Neighbors
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Wedding Present - Take Fountain

-BEST NEWCOMERS-
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t

-BEST SURPRISE-
Rolling Stones - A Bigger Bang

-BEST EP-
Foreign Born - In the Remote Woods

-BEST COMEBACK-
Dinosaur Jr.

-BEST WELCOME BACK-
Kate Bush - Aerial

-BEST RED HERRING/OVERLOOKED-
88 - Over and Over

-BEST GUILTY PLEASURE-
Oasis - Don't Believe the Truth

-BEST POP SINGLE-
Dressy Bessy - Side 2

-BEST REISSUE-
Stooges - Fun House
----tie---
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit

-BEST BOX-
Yo La Tengo - Prisoners of Love

-BEST VIDEO-
Gorillaz - Feel Good, Inc.

-BEST LETDOWN-
White Stripes - Get Behind Me, Satan

-BEST WTF?-
Liz Phair - (whatever it was called)



Post Edited (01-07-06 12:18)

ALBUMS
1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - S/T
2. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
2. Mercury Rev - The Secret Migration
3. M.I.A. - Arular
4. British Sea Power - Open Season
5. Kathleen Edwards - Back to Me
6. Son Volt - Okemah & the Melody of Riot
7. Giant Drag - Hearts and Unicorns
8. Sons and Daughters - The Repulsion Box
9. Go-Betweens - Oceans Apart
10. Echo & the Bunnymen - Siberia
11. Broadcast - Tender Buttons
12. Kate Bush - Aerial
13. Damien Jurado - On My Way to Absence
14. Coralie Clement - Bye Bye Beaute
15. Team Sleep S/T
16. Snow Machine - S/T
17. CocoRosie - Noah's Ark
18. Low - The Great Destroyer
19. Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel
20. Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft

SINGLES (as always, who the hell knows what's a single anymore?)
1. Giant Drag - This Isn't It
2. New Order - Krafty
3. Goldfrapp - Number One
4. Kathleen Edwards - Back to Me
5. Stereophonics - Dakota
6. The Decemberists - The Infanta
7. Eisley - Golly Sandra
8. The Bravery - An Honest Mistake
9. The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost
10. Depeche Mode - Precious
11. Paul Weller - Come On Let's Go
12. Maria Taylor - Song Beneath the Song
13. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
14. Annie - Chewing Gum
15. Coldplay - Talk (can't beat a good Kraftwerk hook!)
16. Billy Corgan - Mina Loy

BEST THAT WERE RELEASED EARLIER BUT DIDN'T TURN UP IN THE U.S. UNTIL 2005:
1. Joy Zipper - American Whip
2. Klee - Jelängerjelieber

COMPILATION
Deftones - B-Sides

REISSUE
Patti Smith - Horses 30th Anniversary Edition

COMEBACKS OF THE YEAR
Kate Bush
Depeche Mode

NOT BAD, BUT DISAPPOINTING
Brian Eno - Another Day on Earth

PLEASE GOD MAKE IT STOP
Liz Phair - Somebody's Miracle



Post Edited (12-06-05 00:27)

thank you so much for your help in spreading x-mas cd's to my family members. it is just want they asked for and what i need to make my life simple. i personally enjoyed the pop singles, which can be reffered to as bubble gum music which goes well with annie's chewing gum song. corelie satifies my french penchant, and the various websites are entertaining for my 12 year old who wants to be a photographer/drummer/artist.

I am going to get drubbed off this board for good after this, but here it goes : The new Strokes record obliterates all the 2005 releases for me. It's official release date is Jan. 3rd but everyone I know has a copy, so can't that count? I'm a fan of the band and this record is better than I could have even hoped for. I think it may silence some haters too. Ok, I'll stop......Best ACTUAL 2005 release - "Oceans Apart" by The Go-Betweens, although I really have a soft spot for the Constantines and Hold Steady albums too.....Most Disappointing for me was "Get Behind Me Satan" - half assed posturing instead of energy, fragmented ideas instead of songs and cutesy mannered phrasing instead of singing.

The release date is Jan 3? That's odd. Usually January is pretty dead as far as anything worthwhile coming out.

> The release date is Jan 3? That's odd. Usually January is
> pretty dead as far as anything worthwhile coming out.


haha, you made a funny!

I assume the Jan. 3rd release date is a bold attempt to target the "got a Best Buy gift card at Christmas and don't know what to do with it" niche market .......... Single of the Year (as far as I can tell) is "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" by Arctic Monkeys.

I haven't formulated my full list yet, but my favorite albums this year were by:

the Pernice Brothers,

and Broken Social Scene.



Post Edited (12-07-05 11:50)

Interesting --- maybe there is more of a post-punk flavor to Sweet Revenge than I initially noticed. I'm going to have to listen to the album again. Apparently, Andrews wanted to go in a different direction than Idol and James leading to the break-up of the original band. I wonder why Laff was sacked as well.

Also, I recall Andrews being discussed for a little while when Idol was promoting his new album last year on Steve Jones' L.A. radio show (Jonesy's Jukebox). Jones was really singing Andrews' praises saying how good of a guitar player he was. I think Idol said Andrews is living in Arizona somewhere now.

Album of the Year: The Go! Team "Thunder Lightning Strike"

In no particular order:

BEST ALBUMS

Devendra Banhart – Cripple Crow
Beck – Guero
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Howl
Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
Junior Brown – Live at the Continental Club: The Austin Experience
John Doe – Forever Hasn’t Happened Yet
Mike Doughty – Haughty Melodic
Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have It So Much Better
Petra Haden – Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out
Kings of Leon – Aha Shake Heartbreak
The Knitters – The Modern Sounds of the Knitters
Louis XIV – The Best Little Secrets Are Kept
Nic Armstrong & the Thieves – The Greatest White Liar
Redbird – Redbird
Xavier Rudd – Solace
Ralph Stanley – Shine On
The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan


BEST SONGS

Devendra Banhart – “I Feel Just Like a Child”
Beck – “Girl”
Andrew Bird – “A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Ain’t No Easy Way”
Mike Doughty – “Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well”
Franz Ferdinand – “Do You Want To”
Gorillaz – “Feel Good Inc.”
Heavy Trash – “Gatorade”
Ben Lee – “Feel My Disease”
Louis XIV – “Illegal Tender”
M.I.A. – “Galang”
The Mountain Goats – “This Year”
The White Stripes – “Blue Orchid”


BEST COMPILATION

Swinging Mademoiselles

BEST ALBUMS
1. The Fitzgerald - Richmond Fontaine
2. V/A - The Inner City Sound
3. Gone Aint Gone - Tim Fite
4. V/A - Dub Conspiracy
5. On My Way To Absence - Damien Jurado
6. The Mess Hall - Notes From A Ceiling

BEST RE-ISSUE
Death Party (+ bonus tracks) - The Gun Club
(may have already been re-issued in other parts but not here)

How about best concerts of 2005?

Sure, that's at least as subjective as best albums/singles ... but what were the coolest gigs you saw during the year?

Best concerts:

The Blasters

Jeff Tweedy

Of Montreal

Camper Van Beethoven

Los Straitjackets

Will Kimborough (opening for Rodney Crowell for whom he plays guitar)

The Beach Boys at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown (yes, dammit, the Mike Love and Bruce Johnston unit. I have no interest in watching a catatonic, Baloo-the-Bear-like man sitting at a unused tiny organ making wave motions with his hands while numerous vocalists and a veritable symphony of players recreate "Heroes & Villains).

Doesn't sound like the "Smile" show I saw in October 04,(he did play the piano and sang some solo stuff) but I did see the "faux" Beach Boys( wait, Love "liscensed the name") with 2 guys who have no fucking right to that name prance onstage (actually on the verge of mincing) and the bald one tried to honk a sax and make wave motions with his hands while crooning "Kokomo" and then bragging about the fact that he wrote that one! Damnit John Stamos wasn't on drums!

The notion that Mike Love doesn't have any right to the Beach Boys name is one of the most reactionary myths in pop music. Brian was off the road by the mid-'60s while the rest of the Beach Boys tromped around the world, throwing their shoulder against the anvil throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond. We all know Brian wrote the songs--and I bow down to his songwriting and production mastery...but Carl and Dennis were with Mike right up to the end. The biggest missing element for me when I saw them live was Carl's voice (certainly not Brian's singing or bass playing--and we're talking live performance here, not studio mastery). Otherwise, the BB show I saw was a great, great performance with some pretty rich, tight takes on the catalog. The live version of "Surfer Girl" was even more delicate and complex than the recorded one. I didn't go there expecting much, but was blown away.

wow
the BB show I saw (Disney in October) was the worst thing I have ever witnessed. Love actually was mincing around on stage like the cheesiest show band this side of Gaitlinburg, at one point he even wore a feather boa with a big pimp hat. It might have been because they were at Disney, but it was a sad BB replica. I didn't expect anything, and they let me way down.
Well Love has his millions after bullying Brian, and read the interview he did for MOJO a couple of months back trying to get songwriting credits.
This is also the guy who tried to block "Pet Sounds" and thinks it is crap today. He even liscensed the name so only he can tour under it, completely cutting Jardine and Brian out.
Brian wrote the songs, Dennis was the heart, Carl was the soul, Love was their cousin.



Post Edited (12-08-05 18:04)

When I saw Brian perform at Symphony Hall in Boston in 1999, I remember that there was a film about him that was played before the performance. Whenever Carl & Dennis appeared, the crowd applauded wildly and when Mike Love appeared, the boos were long & hard. I was entertained then and at the Smile show I went to at the Orpheum in October 2004. The thing that struck me was that in both shows, there were a lot of the more obscure BB songs that were played as well as the hits & I felt more satisfied than any of the Kinks concerts I attended. I also had a feeling of joy in both concerts from hearing Brian's songs.

> How about best concerts of 2005?
>


bettie serveert
johnny dowd

The New Pornographers (and Destroyer)
Neko Case and Her Boyfriends

(yeah, okay, I'm a little bit obsessed. But damn, she can sing!)

The American Music Club did a great but very abbreviated set opening for Spoon in Columbia, MO. Technical difficulties cut their set short, but it was great to get to see them.

Oops, I mean
6. Notes From A Ceiling - The Mess Hall.

After reading this thread I decided to check out some of the recommended albums. So I got a copy of Go-Betweens - Oceans Apart, played it, and was immediately shocked at the recording quality.

The sound was horribly over compressed...like an A.M. radio station...and there was obvious distortion on some tracks. A quick look at the spectrum analyzer instantly confirmed the audio had been compressed to an absurd degree--there was practically no headroom or dynamic range. I found it unlistenably harsh and tiresome, something I might have expected from a second-rate heavy metal album from the 1980s, but certainly not a recent album from the Go-Betweens.

Having been an audio engineer and sound man for live and studio production it just floors me to think that, after decades of steady improvement in the quality of consumer and professional audio gear, that anyone would intentionally release anything that cripples the performance so badly. I'd have been ashamed to ever let anyone even LISTEN to anything that sounds so poor, much less to have released it to the public. In all my years of having recorded and produced music with very limited funds, noisy analog equipment, and countless technical and performance challenges--starting over twenty years ago--I never produced a single recording that had sound quality as bad as "Oceans Apart."

It is simply appalling. How can this be justified?

this reminds me of the time Kevin Dunn wrote me in 2001/2002. He never released some songs because he wanted them to sound like vinyl on CD. A most gifted American musician who knows how to pull his fortunate listeners in, make them laugh, think and dance. He wrote thousands of words to me describing hertz, and advantages/disadv between equipment that playback decibals analog vs digital. My brain subsequently hemmoraged and I haven't heard from him since.

But speaking of compressed sound. I think of Soul Asylum, the pistols, DOLLS. Ramones, Kinks, Nirvana, Cheap Trick, Suburbs, even Frank Sidebottom. Thanks for the cue Mein Frend. I will buy the new Go Betweens album, listen to it and wish you had played and produced it.

I'm the one that picked the Go-Betweens as my fave record of 2005, although I think maybe Breno had it on his list (too lazy to check!!). Not to be a smart aleck, but I think the record sounds just fine. Maybe I don't enough not to know what I don't know know....um, but it's a terrific record. In a year of McCartney and the Stones getting all this old time baby boomer comeback love I wish some would go the Go-Betweens way. But, alas, that seems to be their fate in the US.



Post Edited (12-19-05 21:39)

> He wrote thousands of words to me describing hertz,
> and advantages/disadv between equipment that playback decibals
> analog vs digital. My brain subsequently hemmoraged and I
> haven't heard from him since.

I sure hope I don't have that effect on anyone!

> But speaking of compressed sound. I think of Soul Asylum, the
> pistols, DOLLS. Ramones, Kinks, Nirvana, Cheap Trick, Suburbs,
> even Frank Sidebottom.

I've listened to most of those and none were nearly as compressed as "Oceans Apart". Those albums used less of it, and to better effect. There's nothing wrong with compression if you use it wisely. It's an important part of most recorded music. I only note when it is outrageously abused. Do a Google search on "Oceans Apart compression" and you'll see a lot of other people have noticed it too.

> Thanks for the cue Mein Frend. I will
> buy the new Go Betweens album, listen to it and wish you had
> played and produced it.

Thanks for the props. I figure you guys put enough time and attention into the music that you might appreciate some of my perspective as both a music lover and technician. I'll try not to bore anyone with unnecessary widget talk...and I certainly don't want to cause any hemorrhaging....

in reverse alpha order and subject to change



Teenage Fanclub Man-Made
Sufjan Stevens Illinois
Steve Malkmus Face the Truth
Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Origin, Vol 1
Okkervil River Black Sheep Boy
Of Montreal Sunlandic Twins
New Pornographers Twin Cinema
My Morning Jacket Z
Moitzboyz Moitzboyz IV
Martin Gordon God's on His Lunchbreak
Love Hall Tryst Songs of Misfortune
High School Sweethearts Heels N Wheels
High Dials War of the Wakening Phantoms
Head of Femur Hysterical Stars
Eels, The Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
Edith Frost It's A Game
Dirtbombs/King Khan and His Shrines Billiards at Nine Thirty
Danger Doom The Mouse and the Mask
Books, The Lost and Safe
Bettye LaVette I've Got My Own Hell to Raise
Architecture in Helsinki In Case We Die



Post Edited (12-22-05 21:58)

Le Fleuve Le Nil,
I haven't even heard the particular recording yet, so please accept my apology. I am certain that your professional opinion is duly and highly respected among music lovers here, including myself. Furthermore, it is well documented that Go Between fans have come expect nothing less than the full potential of what the fantastic group is capable.
It had been my position to defend the DIY recording aesthetic along with the Go Betweens in toto because I figured any release is better than none.
I hereby retract my position of 'quantity over quality.' This revelation having been cemented by the thought of "just another" Go Betweens album nightmarishly akin to a CHICAGO 40 release.

My prediction for The Woods is an intentional clean-up ala Raw Power circa 2009. It was the Stooges they were after, in the end. S-K releases always grow on me after about 6 months.

I thought the same thing about the Go Betweens release but figured it was intentional. It didn't distract much for me. however, the S-K release (Woods) had some downright baffling recording quality. Again, though, part and parcel.

Paganizer wrote:

> I thought the same thing about the Go Betweens release but
> figured it was intentional. It didn't distract much for me.
> however, the S-K release (Woods) had some downright baffling
> recording quality. Again, though, part and parcel.


i'm not really much of an audiophile, but that sleater-kinney album bugs the heck outta me.

i keep trying to inch the volume upward, but it doesn't seem to get louder so much as just blare-ier...errr, or something. anyway, it's a mess and i hate it. haha

how about mac's, of superchunk, arcade fire?

Arcade Fire was a top pick for 04, for sure. It was an import in UK til 05.

1 - Bloc Party, Silent Alarm
2 - Gorillaz, Demon Days
3 - Wolf Parade, Apologies To The Queen Mary
4 - Silversun Pickups, Pikul EP
5 - The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema
6 - LCD Soundsystem, s/t
7 - The Kills, No WoW
8 - Spoon, Gimmie Fiction
9 - Okkervile River, Black Sheep Boy
10 - The National, Alligator

Need to acquire and assess:
M.I.A., Arular
Rogue Wave, Descended Like Vultures
Editors, The Back Room
Brazilian Girls, Digital Ash In A Digital Urn
The Cribs, The New Fellas
Amusement Parks On Fire, s/t

Best sources for new music: WOXY.com (97X), BBC – Radio 6, & KEXP – 90.7 [www.kexp.org]



-----------------------
"I'm not impressed with the modern world"
------------------------
VanDawl's MySpace Profile

Best Detroit Concerts:

1) Iron Wine / Calexico
2) Mercury Rev
3) Spoon
4) Wilco Cleveland, OH (great but not there best)
5) Reigning Sound

Best Albums:

1) Spoon - Gimme Fiction
2) LCD Soundsystem, S/T
3) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Howl
4) New Order - Waiting for the Sirens' Call
5) M83 - Before dawn heals us

Brant Bjork & the Bros. - Saved By Magic
QOTSA - Lullibies to Paralyse
the New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Bob Mould - Body of Song
Beck - Guero


i'm sure i've missed a few......but there's my bit.....



SeTheElder

Live Free or Die!

I've seen quite a few best of LP lists online, in magazines and on this board but never see the best LP I heard in 2005. Not claiming to hear a tremendous amount of new stuff that comes out (quite frankly it rarely lives up to the older stuff) but it seems to me that the best LP in 2005 was Billy Idol's Devil's Playground. I don't expect the Trouser Press community to receive such a non-indie nomination warmly but I must call them as I see them.

I suppose this post could also fit into the past Gnashing Teeth thread posted some time back regarding artists who get panned critically who don't deserve it. Idol's early and mid eighties cartoonish video image has apparently done irreparable harm to his reputation and the saying that perception is greater than reality is certainly true in this case. Even the compliments Idol garners are backhanded ones at best (e.g. Trouser Press' review of Rebel Yell as an "album to despise while you hum along.")

Several weeks after the release of Idol's first LP in 12 years it seemed to sink like a stone vanishing from the charts as though the four or five weeks it charted never happened. Still, rarely has an artist equaled or topped his peak output after some 20 to 25 years later. Unfortunately, most will merely dismiss the effort as another dashed comeback attempt by a veteran artist. That's unfortunate because Devil's Playground is as good a rock n' roll record as you'll hear (especially these days) and a varied one at that mixing Generation X-ish rockers with his signature near-metallic bluster along with a few surprises including a couple of Johnny Cash/Leonard Cohen country-folk sendups and an upbeat Neil Diamondesque tune for good measure.

So yes, this is an artist who is underappreciated by critics and Devil's Playground is certainly among the best LPs of 2005. From his years as a member of the Bromley Contingent following the Sex Pistols in the early halycon days of UK until now he has made "serious" rock music despite what the critics may say. One or two high charting singles are not always representative of an artist's album or work. Even so, the great Steve Jones hails Cradle Of Love as his favorite Idol song.

Despite his commercial output in the 1980's he is no peer of Bon Jovi or Motley Crue. Warren Zevon once stated that Billy Idol is one of our great songwriters and while he is certainly no Lou Reed in that area the point should be well taken. He deserves much greater respect, the kind of respect I see afforded to much lesser artists. Maybe in some small way down the line, Devil's Playground and whatever he releases from here on out will help repair his reputation with the critics and help build his legacy. Afterall, the last LP didn't sell too well and critics love that though it doesn't diminish the fact that the LP was one of 2005's best.

That's interesting. I've not listened to Idol for years, but I'll check that album out. It was completely off my radar screen, and I hope it's as good as you say - nothing's better than seeing someone who'd been written off long ago prove everyone wrong.

One thing that I did pick up recently was that three disc Generation X anthology that came out a couple years back, with the unreleased third Gen X album on it. It was interesting to hear the course they might have taken if Andrews and Laff had stuck around - they could've been to Post-Punk what they were to Punk, the poppier, more accessible face of it. That album's version of "Dancing With Myself" is especially interesting - fundamentally the same song, but just different enough for it to be obvious that the band (or at least Derwood Andrews) had been listening to quite a bit of PiL.

not by a long shot

[trouserpress.com]

I myself don't solely rely on what a reviewer states about an album --- I make those judgements myself. And in this case, TP's overall comments regarding the album are about as accurate as its listing for the album's opening track (Sonic Overdrive instead of the correctly titled Super Overdrive). This is not exactly groundbreaking material but the new album rocks way harder than any album Idol ever put out so this is no 80's retread by any means --- it's familair but updated. But then again, even Idol's so-called prime material was never really well received by TP.

That being said, my updated 3rd Edition of TP for $1.98 at Borders like 15 years ago might be the best buy/investment I ever made.

The fact that "Super Overdrive" was incorrectly called "Sonic Overdrive" was entirely my fault, and it should be corrected soon. My apologies for the typo and I thank you for bringing it up. As for the rest of the review, well...



Post Edited (02-09-06 22:13)

As you can no doubt tell, I didn't realize you were the actual reviewer of the album until after I posted my last message on this subject. I thought you were just pointing to a review that should be blindly followed instead of your intention which was presenting your comments on it. No malice intended but all the same I suppose it's beneficial to have the inaccuracy rectified.

I erred myself in my initial post attributing a TP comment to Rebel Yell which was instead actually made about Idol's self-titled LP. Rebel Yell received an entirely different backhanded compliment.

All other comments still stand.

"Best of 2005 " - isn't that an oxymoron?

Breno --- I meant to follow up on your last post pertaining to the three disc Generation X anthology that you recently picked up.

I picked up that "lost" Generation X album a few years ago entitled K.M.D. - Sweet Revenge. I don't know how much influence P.I.L. had on the band at that time, I only know that Idol has stated that the band's chief influences were like The Ramones, The Who and MC5.

Be that as it may, when I listen to the songs that eventually wound up on Kiss Me Deadly they come off as outtakes or better produced demos. Kiss Me Deadly seems better produced (I don't think Keith Forsey produced that unreleased lost album?). Anyway, I wouldn't have minded if some of the songs on the lost LP like Modern Boys and Anna Smiles replaced some of the weaker ones on Kiss Me Deadly. I'm not sure why the original LP with James and Laff was never released.

Interestingly, Kiss Me Deadly was actually almost blocked from being released after Steve Jones' manager sued the band/management for not paying Jones who played on several tracks (including Dancing With Myself). However, Jones claims that he was totally unaware until it was recently brought to his attention.

It's entirely possible that I was hearing more of a post-punk influence on Sweet Revenge than was actually there, based on a great interview Jack Rabid did with Andrews in Big Takeover, which is what caused me to seek out the Gen X anthology in the first place. Andrews talked about how he wanted Gen X to go more in that direction than Idol and Tony James would allow, and how he'd really been inspired by touring with the Cure and Joy Division.

So it just seemed to me that Andrews' version of the famous "Dancing With Myself" guitar riff sounded like someone trying to make an actual pop song out of something like Keith Levene's riff on P.I.L's "Poptones." But that may be something that could be chalked up to the lo-fi production on the track compared with the relatively slick production on the official version, or again, may be me looking for Post-punk influence based on the Big Takeover interview and Andrews' subsequent output with Empire.

Derwood Andrews is living in Arizona and has a new band, Moondogg.

[www.moondogg.com]

I've not heard any of it, so can't vouch for it if it's good or bad.

But the back issue of Big Takeover with the Andrews interview is well worth seeking out (of course, every issue of Big Takeover is well worth seeking out.) Don't remember the issue number, but I'm pretty sure Belle & Sebastian were on the cover.

I agree, BT is fantastic, and the Durwood interview was great.