1) Eytan Mirsky - Everyone's Having Fun Tonight!  (M Squared) - His best
songs yet.  It's full of the witty guy-doesn't-keep-girl tales that made
his previous albums so memorable.  In addition he throws us some new
angles, including the irresistible "If You Wanna Change The World" -
Eytan as super-hero?  Great stuff!
 
2) Cliff Hillis - Better Living Through Compression (TallBoy) - Dumb
title, great record!  This is a record where the arrangements and
production suit the songs, not the other way around.  The songs are
better then the last album, so I'm looking forward to the next one.
 
3) Eugene Edwards - My Favorite Revolution (Tallboy) - Great title,
great record!
 
4) NRBQ - Dummy (Edisun) - OK, it may pale a little in contrast to their
two outstanding 35th anniversary reunion shows last spring.  However,
their strengths are still intact; Terry Adams is getting his fastball
back, and with "What You Mean to Me", he and Joey Spampinato finally
came up with a worthy successor to "I Love Her, She Loves Me" and "Yes,
Yes, Yes".
 
5) Mary Lou Lord - Baby Blue (Rubric) - another collaboration with Nick
Saloman, this one has a nice homespun feel to it.  
 
6) Paul Kelly - Ways and Means (spinArt) - another understated platter
(or rather, 2 platters) of amazing lyricism mated to pop songcraft.  Not
many do it better.
 
7) Bill Lloyd - Back to Even (New Boss Sounds) - Bill's been around so
long he's easy to take for granted, but every time I come back to this
album, I uncover another great song.
 
8) Chris Stamey - Travels in the South (yep roc).  Nice to have some new
music from Mr. Stamey; he was missed.
 
9) Swan Dive - William and Marleys - One gorgeous song after another.
 
10) The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show (Vagrant) - I'm always surprised these
guys don't get more play on Audities; they've made two consecutive
albums worth of tuneful, multi-layered guitar pop.
 
11) Jamie Hoover and Bill Lloyd - Paparazzi
12) Velvet Crush - Stereo Blues
13) Bowman - Living to Dream
14) The Rosenbergs - Department Store Girl (Force MP)
15) Cosmic Rough Riders - Too Close To See Far
16) Graham Parker - Your Country (Bloodshot) - a so-called country
album, but it's still mostly a GP album, so it's quality.
17) Keane - Hopes and Fears (Island) - a pleasant surprise.
18) Brian Jay Cline - Ready 2 Raveup.
19) The Bigger Lovers - This Affair Never Happened...
20) The Donnas - Gold Medal
 
I also enjoyed EPs by The Charms, Lisa Mychols and Kay Hanley.
 
Brian