Updated

Along the right side of the page you'll notice something new. In the interest of giving you some background as you read my reviews, and in hopes of sparking debate, I've added a list of the top albums from each year since 1993. Please recognize that these are exclusively albums that I possess. If you have recommendations they're welcome, but don't castigate me for leaving an album off--at least not until you find out that I own it and don't like it!

Ryan Adams, Rock N Roll and Love is Hell, Pt 1

22 new songs from Ryan Adams released in a single day--including a new version of the Oasis hit, “Wonderwall.” Critics who continue to look for an excuse to knock on Adams will focus on what these two albums aren’t. They’ll fixate on the bands that inspire and inform Adams’ songwriting, eager to tell you how this or that song doesn’t live up to the record or band that gave Adams the idea for it. Or they’ll say he’s betrayed his alt-country roots because he’s too anxious to prove that he can master any genre he wants. Or they’ll say he should slow down, stop recording 60 songs or more in a year, and make the knockout album so many are convinced he has in him.

They totally miss the point. We’ve got 22 new Ryan Adams songs! Two albums (one is an EP, but at 35 minutes, it’s longer than the new Strokes record, which will be reviewed soon), with two very different styles and moods, isn’t a reason to pull out old Morrissey records and frown.

Rock N Roll is the “official” release, the one Lost Highway told Adams to make. It’s apparent that it’s intended to be derivative, and Adams was asking for critical trouble—song titles like “Wish You Were Here” (Pink Floyd) and “This Is It” (rearranging Is This It?, the title of the last Strokes album) beg reviewers to make comparisons to the alleged source material. Judged on its own merits, Rock shows that Adams can pull off the rock star thing. It’s enjoyable from start to finish, a fast and fun listen that sends 49 minutes gliding by. Its only shortcoming is a lack of depth that seems to belie its rapid creation.

That’s OK, but it’s hard not to notice when you compare it with the moodier and more thoughtful Love is Hell, Pt 1 . It’s this simple: Hell is beautiful. Adams kicks the tempo down a notch, turns up the twang ever-so-slightly, sings stories rather than mere words, and the results are stellar. Poignant songs about painful break-ups and coming “apart in the avalanche” are carried along by strong playing—how does Adams write such solid songs so fast?—and Adams’ insistent voice, which seems more dedicated to the project here than it did on Rock .

You can pick up Hell for only six bucks before Saturday at a certain Minnesota-based electronics giant, which also has Rock for only ten dollars. You won’t be sorry.

Dido, Life For Rent

This is a very solid album. The first nine songs maintain a consistent level of quality, and "White Flag" is one of the best songs of the year--a poignant reflection on lost love and the unwillingness to let go. The sinking ship is the perfect metaphor for so many reasons: it implies the singer's dedication to her love by evoking the image of the captain who won't leave his ship behind, but also implies that she was the one keeping the relationship running in the first place and probably couldn't--and can't--do anything to save it.

Dido uses the setting sun to great effect in "Mary's in India," another standout song. Standing for the difference in time between Mary and her lover, Danny, back in Britain, and also for the emotional shifts that take place over the course of the song, the sun metaphor looks, in the lyric book, like it pushes the delicate boundary between cleverness and shlock--but Dido's delivery carries the day, and the song itself lands clearly on the safe (and sonically pleasing) side of the line.

The last few songs drag a bit--particularly "This Land is Mine," a mistake in tempo at track 10 on what is otherwise a nearly flaw-free CD. "See the Sun" sets things to rights, and the bonus track is an acoustic--and very pretty--love song, perhaps the most sincere and heartfelt on the album besides "White Flag."

Dido's songwriting remains strong on this album, and her classical training informs a musically interesting work that occasionally slips into sounding too much like itself by maintaining the same mid-tempo beat for much of the album. Nevertheless, that feel suits the songs, and as a result Life For Rent is just as strong as No Angel , if a bit more consistent and lacking an obvious second single. Here's hoping she releases "Stoned" to radio--it has the best danceability on the album, and people will love the title.

Kathleen Edwards, Failer

A review of a new album is coming soon. In the meantime, here's a review of something that came out earlier this year...

Who'd have thought that a newcomer would outdo Lucinda Williams? Yet that's just what Kathleen Edwards has done--this is the record Lucinda wishes she had released this year. Nothing against World Without Tears , but this is the CD you'll reach for when you're headed for your car, and you'll be singing along the whole ride.

But that makes this album sound petty, and it isn't. It's moody and deep and complex, and it clearly comes from the heart. Edwards' talent is taking what are seemingly specific situations and shaping them into stories that the listener can make his or her own. "Six O'Clock News," the unbelievable opening track, is undeniably catchy, but it also invites the listener into the story of a love who can't quite keep it together for the sake of his girl. And if you've ever been in a tough relationship and thought about leaving, I defy you to remain emotionless through the closer, "Sweet Little Duck." Listen with headphones for the telltale line at the start of the song...

Failer? Far from it. This is a top-five album of 2003 without a doubt.

2003 Albums

I'll start posting reviews soon. For now, I give you the list of albums I've obtained so far that were released this year. Top ten lists and such will be coming soon.

Clay Aiken: Measure of a Man
Beach Boys: Sounds of Summer (30 Greatest Hits)
Cher: The Very Best of Cher
Chicago (Soundtrack)
Dido: Life for Rent
Kathleen Edwards: Failer
Everclear: Slow Motion Daydream
Fleetwood Mac: Say You Will
Fleetwood Mac: The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac
Fountains of Wayne: Welcome Interstate Managers
Jayhawks: Rainy Day Music
Annie Lennox: Bare
John Mayer: Heavier Things
Liz Phair: Liz Phair
Radiohead: Hail to the Thief
R.E.M.: In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003
Christopher Riley: True Love Waits, Christopher Riley Plays Radiohead
Sting: Sacred Love
The Strokes: Room on Fire
Matthew Sweet: Kimi Ga Suki * Raifu (Japan-only album)
Thorns: The Thorns
Train: My Private Nation
Travis: 12 Memories
Rufus Wainwright: Want One
White Stripes: Elephant
Lucinda Williams: World Without Tears
Robbie Williams: Escapology (US)
Pete Yorn: Day I Forgot
Zwan: Mary, Star of the Sea