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| From | "Chuck Limmer" <climmer@cox.net> |
| Subject | Re: Eb's Favorite Pop Records |
| Date | Mon, 17 Feb 2003 00:15:03 -0700 |
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On Fri, 14 Feb 2003, Eb wrote:
>>Well, "fantastic" is an awfully strong word. Unlike one or two or 23 other folks on the list, I don't like to throw superlatives around. But... Just to semi-answer this "fantastic" question and deflect bogus charges that I never say anything positive, I scribbled down a list of my favorite pop records from the last five years. Be advised that there's a significant difference between "my favorite records" and "my favorite pop records"... They're ordered loosely at best, but these 28 discs gave me significant thrills. As for "fantastic," umm...maybe the top five?
1. Rufus Wainwright/Rufus Wainwright
2. XTC/Apple Venus Volume 1
3. Elliott Smith/XO
4. Ed Harcourt/Here Be Monsters
5. Elliott Smith/Figure 8<<
Eb:
Without taking sides, I've gotta say it's been entertaining watching some listmembers get their knickers in a twist over fairly mild comments/ criticisms on your part. As for your list of "favorite pop records," I think that anyone who ranks Elliott Smith's XO and FIGURE 8 among the better pop/ rock albums of the last few years has a reasonably good critical ear.
Working down your list, I too thought that Eels' DAISIES OF THE GALAXY (#7) was pretty wonderful, calling it "a return to form for one-man-band Mark Everett" in an on-line review a couple of years ago. (Did you also like his early-'90s solo albums, A MAN CALLED E and BROKEN TOY SHOP?) Randy Newman is brilliant, and BAD LOVE (#8) seemed to get overlooked. I'm disappointed that Liz Phair hasn't followed-up WHITECHOCOLATESPACEEGG (#11), as it connected for me in a way that EXILE IN GUYVILLE and WHIP-SMART never did. I have yet to hear DAYBREAKER, but I liked Beth Orton's CENTRAL RESERVATION (#15) very much. The Costello/ Bacharach collaboration PAINTED FROM MEMORY (#16) worked better than I'd expected--with Elvis' facility for genres from classical to country, though, I shouldn't have been surprised.
Further down, I haven't heard NECESSITY (#22), but Jason Falkner has had his moments on CAN YOU STILL FEEL and--especially--PRESENTS AUTHOR UNKNOWN. (However, I do still mourn the passing of Jellyfish and The Grays.) I absolutely loved R.E.M.'s UP (#24), and probably would have rated it higher. I'd also urge you to revisit Matthew Sweet's IN REVERSE some time; his most-successful effort since GIRLFRIEND, I think it surpasses that album in some ways. Worth listening to again for Carol Kaye's transcendent electric bass, alone, on tracks like "If Time Permits" and "I Should Never Have Let You Know." Finally, I also like the Hang-Ups' SECOND STORY pretty well, but have always been unsure how much of its appeal is due to producers Don Dixon and Mitch Easter.
There are long-term members--although less-frequent posters--on this list with whom your taste in pop music seems to have plenty in common. I hope you'll hang around (and recommend a worthy album or two, when the spirit moves).
Chuck Limmer
n.p. Matthew Sweet, "What Matters," IN REVERSE
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