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| From | Farrar Hudkins <fhudkins@gmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: Top 20 of 2006 |
| Date | Wed, 20 Dec 2006 16:43:18 -0600 |
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Today's "Fresh Air" (an NPR program hosted by Terry Gross) featured rock
critic Ken Tucker giving his picks for best albums of 2006. Our station
hasn't aired it yet, but here's his list gleaned from the NPR website. I
doubt many of us would agree wholeheartedly with his picks, but there
were some on here I hadn't heard of and provide the list in case anyone
out there has his head under a rock as much as I do. Here's Tucker's list:
Citizen Cope, Every Waking Moment (RCA) -- Cope (real name: Clarence
Greenwood) makes a swampy, funky rock with slurry vocals that convey
clear, concise emotions.
Bob Dylan, Modern Times (Columbia) -- Big juicy songs written, sung, and
performed with shocking urgency.
Eagles of Death Metal, Death By Sexy (Downtown) -- Insanely catchy
hard-rock, with choruses you'll be singing along to the first time you
hear them.
Fiery Furnaces, Bitter Tea (Fat Possum) -- Siblings Matthew and Elinor
Friedberger turn in another knotty, pretty, passionate collection of art
songs that never veer into dull artiness.
Ghostface Killah, Fishscale (DefJam) -- Street stories told with grimly
articulate humor.
James Hand, The Truth Will Set You Free (Rounder) -- Hand has got that
old-fashioned/new-fangled country music dichotomy down in a way that few
performers can imagine, let alone execute so smoothly.
Ben Kweller (ATO) -- Twenty-something singer-songwriter delivers
spritely, yet mature, power-pop.
Nellie McKay, Pretty Little Head (Black Dove) -- Endlessly inventive,
eclectic singer-songwriter who draws from everything from Tin Pan Alley
to hiphop.
My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade (Reprise) -- hard rock/emo downer
that's an elating upper.
Willie Nelson, You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker (Lost
Highway) -- Decades-old honky-tonk tunes, most under three minutes,
stuffed with witty, poignant wordplay.
Scritti Politti, White Bread Black Beer (Nonesuch/Rough Trade) -- Almost
30 years on, Green Gartside is still mustering post-punk intensity
within his one-man, plays-all-the-instruments, pop scenarios.
Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your A** (Matador)
-- Framed by a pair of long, magnificent feedback rave-ups, this album
also contains some of Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley's finest concise pop
tunes.
Cheers,
Farrar Hudkins
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