My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: #6

Officially at the point where everything's a judgement call. At one point or another, I strongly considered all six of these remaining CDs to be my personal favorite of the decade. 'Twas that close.

#6. Elephant - The White Stripes

You just gotta love an album that continually kicks your ass and has you begging for more. In terms of sheer, raw, balls-out-unfiltered-kick-you-in-the-nuts from start to finish albums, I think there were only two in my life: Appetite for Destruction was one. Elephant is the other. Yeah, there’s been other albums that meet some of the criteria, but if you want to go start to finish with each track being un-skippable? This is it.

For too long, producers were getting too cute and creative, making the album about them and not the artist. Sometimes, like in the case of everything Rick Rubin seems to do, it works. Other times (cough: Glen Ballard) it comes across as disingenuous. But not with Elephant.

While “Seven Nation Army” is the most widely known track from the album – and arguably the best song of the decade, quarter century or any other marker of time you wish to choose, in my opinion the crowning achievement of the CD is “Ball and Biscuit” – a classic scotch-on-the-rocks-8-ball-corner-pocket roadhouse blues jam.

The catchy and quick “Air Near My Fingers” is one of those few songs that can get stuck in your head for days and have you not complaining about it. “There’s No Home For You Here” is just a savage asskicker.

It’s hard ranking this sixth, though I feel the same way about the pending numbers 5, 4, 3 and 2. I guess this decade’s going to be remembered for a lot of things: eight years of incompetence, The Jon and Kate saga, the Greatest Upset in Super Bowl History, the birth of Sonic in Northern New Jersey, among many others. But I’m starting to get the feeling that I’ll be looking back one day thinking how it was a renaissance of sorts of music, because despite my inherent desire to say everything new sucks, it’s simply not the case in this regard.

My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: 15 - 11

Because my mind wanders to wanderous places, after declaring that Bob Dylan would have the #1 album of the 60s and 70s, I had to confirm. And my instincts served me well. Here's what I came up with for best album of the previous 3:
1960s: Freewheeling Bob Dylan (narrowly over Highway 61 Revisited and The White Album)
1970s: Blood on the Tracks (over American Beauty, Dark Side of the Moon and Houses of the Holy)
1980s: Appetitie For Destruction (over everything.  Graceland, The Wall, Slippery When Wet and The River would probably be 2, 3, 4 and 5 and they're light years behind)
1990s: Ten (over Before These Crowded Streets)

Back to the lecture at hand. Creeping up on the Top 10....

#15: Some Devil - Dave Matthews. It took me much longer to get into this than it should have. Partially because I'm still scarred by the hiatus that Jon Bon Jovi took to record Blaze of Glory at the same time that Richie Sambora took off to record Stranger in this Town. It's never a good sign when band members work on "other projects". Still, I was required by the dogma of dmbism to purchase this album and give it a fair shot. I was so-so on it, I thought at first it seemed a little too forced, Matthews was was trying too hard to make the lyrics fit within the tempo of the song - something he does with the band as well, though they're talented and diverse enough to comply and make it sound seemless. That reminds me, has there ever been a more clever name for a band than The Band? Can't tell you how many times I've been asked something along the lines of "Is this Jerry Garcia?" to which I'd respond "No, The Band", and then the follow-up would be "Oh, the Grateful Dead?" Seriously, clever shit.

Back to Some Devil - I had my "Come To Dave" moment sitting on the dock with some family at my wife's grandmother's lake house a few summers ago. Relaxed summer atmosphere, just after sundown, having a few cold beverages and just enjoying life. While listening to "So Damn Lucky" it all clicked and the album's been a staple ever since. The Lake is funny like that. Certain albums just become "Lake Albums", and it helps you ignore the fact that Cat Stevens is an evil-doer that wants to blow up your children and hates you for your freedom.

#14. O Brother, Where Art Thou - Soundtrack, Various. There is almost no explanation for why I loved this soundtrack so. It's not exactly something you throw on while entertaining, it's not good drinking music, not great driving music, and while it can be relaxing - it's not exactly the perfect fireside CD. But I've always loved me some good old folk music, Allison Kraus probably has the greatest voice of any female singer since Joan Baez, and it conjures up images of a time in American History where all some people really had was song, so it does strike a chord in that respect. And really, if you were to rank the greatest American songs ever, wouldn't "You Are My Sunshine" have to be up there?

#13. Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam. I'm not the most organized person in the world, but there are some things I get OCD over. One of them is what candles are lit in what room of my house. Another is how I firmly believe that only a debut album should be self-titled. It wasn't cool when Metallica did it, it aint cool that Pearl Jam did it. You can't wait 15 years to release a self-titled album. But overlooking that transgression - Jesus, this album was classic Pearl Jam from start to finish. A "Ten" sound with the social consciousness similiar to "Vs" but magnified. 

More importantly, it transformed Pearl Jam -  in my eyes - from being just a band who made awesome music while I was in High School into an All-Time Classic act. I never fully got into the stuff post-Vitalogy and pre-Self Titled. Sure, a few good tracks appeared now and then, bought an album or two, but it wasn't the same as the early releases. They were probably the most defining band of my high school years, and boy was it great to see them back.

#12. White Blood Cells - The White Stripes. What's there really to say about an album that pretty much offers up everything? From the ingenious lyrics in "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" to the exceptional composition in Hotel Yorba - which seems to borrow from every era of Rock History and then some, to the changing tempos within "The Union is Forever" to the slightly threatening nature of "I Think I Smell a Rat" and everything in between. When you analyize the album as a whole, you can't help but be amazed. But again, sounding too much like a critic there, and critics, shampoo, scrotum, etc.

White Blood Cells is just a fucking awesome album, enough said.

#11. Brushfire Fairytales - Jack Johnson. What a huge decade for Hawaii, huh? Shane Victorino ignites the Phillies to a World Championship, Barack Obama becomes freakin President, and Jack Johnson unleashes a slew of great CDs. Though, before making such a declaration, I think we need to see Victorino's and Johnson's birth certificates just to confirm that they're native born Hawaiians and not secret Muslim Terrorists hellbent on destroying Major League Baseball and the Recoriding Industry from within.

Ignoring the borderline repulsive imagery of scarred and mauled bubbly feet make Johnson inexplicably randy, "Bubble Toes" might be the most fun song of the decade. I mean, how can you not get in a good mood when it comes on? And "Mudfootball?" Come on, who didn't live through that? Reminds me of my innocent, pre-substance-loving life. And maybe that's what slightly bothers me about Jack Johnson. Dude's a little too content. Maybe I'm jealous, cause I don't think I could ever be that content. You could give me 10 million bucks and put Sean Hannity in a gulag and I don't know I'd be that content. But maybe it's as simple as he's found the answer: "Slow down everyone, you're moving to fast."

My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: 20 - 16

Moving along, I wish I knew who the hell Taylor Swift was, so Kanye West could chime in and deprive her of a place on this chart.

#20: Encore - Eminem: Simple: If an album samples Martika, and also contains the lyric "Fuck Bush", I'm in all likelihood going to enjoy said album. Not my favorite Eminem disc, probably because it's a little muted in comparison to his earlier recordings. He's obviously an enigma and few musicians can spark as much love/hate opinions as him (really, do you know anyone who thinks "Eminem is OK"?), like everything else these days - likely fashioned by the media. But I'll get into that a little later cause methinks he'll be appearing on the countdown again. This album rocks because of the track "Mosh". It should have been released around Labor Day (not 10 days before the election), because it caught the essence of the 2004 election: We're not coming out to vote for John Kerry - We're coming out to vote because Bush/Cheney is the most dangerous threat to our democracy since the day before the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. John Kerry was a hard guy to get behind, but the vitriol for Bush that Mr. Shady put forth here summed up the motivating factors behind George Bush receiving the most "votes against" ever by a President running for re-election.

#19: In Between Now and Then - O.A.R: The first of three bands I really got into this decade makes it's debut. Now, O.A.R studio is a far cry from O.A.R live - which is much more enjoyable music. Still, of all their studio work, this one seems to rise above the rest in terms of quality of the tracks. Their lyrics are a tad sophomoric and I think they try a little too hard to be like other tour-bands, but at the end of the day, they're a fun band to throw on the machine. Hey Girl and Dareh Meyod highlight the album and also translate very well on their live discs. Never been to one of their shows, as scheduling conflicts seem to arise every summer as our time gets burglarized by commitments we'd really rather not honor, but one of these days, I'll hit them up. Guess I should start collecting party beads now.

#18: Broken Boy Soldiers - The Raconteurs: Jack White was to good 00's music as Ryan Seacrest was to annoying, poppy, fluffy, tabloid supermarket crap this decade - He was everywhere. I chose Ryan Seacrest for the analogy because he was pretty much the anti-Jack White. While White was involved in near-iconic albums throughout the entire decade, Seacrest was fluffing up his overexposed resume with such tripe like A Celebration of Heroes with George W. Bush and of course, the decade's septic tank: American Idol. He even took over for the indestructible Dick Clark on New Year's Eve, although Clark still made his appearances and I was supposed to not crack up laughing at them after 20 beers. Riiiight. Anyway, Broken Boy Soldiers is pretty much everything rock'n roll should be, rock at its roots. Intelligent lyrics that capture the essence of just being a human, along with solid intros and exceptional music. Really can't say a bad thing about it. And America didn't have to vote via text-message to approve of it.

17: Float - Flogging Molly: Of all the things I'm grateful for this decade - you know, stuff like getting married and Eli Manning - few things have impacted me the way that the music acquisition practices have changed. I've always felt that the Irish do 3 things better than any other culture: Drink, Make Breakfast, and Play Music. For most of my life, Irish Music was limited to the traditional folk songs and some rebel rock like the Wolftones. Because that's what I had access too. And then came the internet music explosion. And then came Flogging Molly. Formed in LA with a frontman from Dublin, they pretty much encompass everything I've always loved about music. And their subject matter touches all bases: relationships, war, peace, politics, rebellion, family, and of course, the unique Irish perspective on alcohol. Float is their most critically acclaimed album, probably because it's their most mature. A worthy investment, the album's perfect for a big party, a solitary commute and everything in between.

16: Modern Times - Bob Dylan: Something tells me that if I were to rank the top 30 albums of previous decades in my collection, this would make it the 5th consecutive decade that the Legendary Bob Dylan would rank in the top 20, as The Freewheeling Bob Dylan was probably the greatest album of the 1960s, Blood on the Tracks would hold the exact same honor for the 1970s, Infidels would have some stiff competition but would rank among the 80's best, and Time Out of Mind would do the same for the 1990s. What else is there to say about a man who continues to impress and amaze as he pushes towards his 6th decade in the spotlight? Modern Times basically takes a little bit of the definitive "Dylan Sound" that we're all accustomed to - from classic folk, to rock, to blues, sometimes all blended together - and adds the wisdom of a lifetime of experience by the greatest lyricist in American History. It's also the 23rd consecutive album to disprove the common misconception that "All Dylan sounds the same" yet the fallacy lives on.

One of the true enigmas of the last 50 years, I can't even begin to explain what my life would be like without Bob Dylan so I'm not going to bother. It's no wonder Dylan's favorite ballplayer is Derek Jeter.