New CDs Of 2006 By Rank
Submitted by greenmind on Wed, 03/15/2006 - 13:48
Tags:
- TRULY SPECIAL
- We Are Scientists - "With Love And Squalor" (8.5/10)
- Film School - "Film School" (8/10)
- Matisyahu - "Youth" (8/10)
- ALMOST CLASSIC
- Mogwai - "Mr. Beast" (7.5/10)
- Snow Patrol - "Eyes Open" (7.5/10)
- The Subways - "Young For Eternity" (7/10) [Regrade: 8/10]
- Johnny Cash - "American 5: A Hundred Highways" (7/10)
- Hard-Fi - "Stars Of CCTV" (7/10)
- Aqualung - "Strange & Beautiful" (7/10)
- Thursday - "A City By The Light Divided" (7/10)
- She Wants Revenge - "She Wants Revenge" (7/10)
- Gomez - "How We Operate" (7/10)
- REPEATABLE MULTIPLE TIMESABLE
- Midstates - "Boxing Twilight" (6.5/10)
- Built To Spill - "You In Reverse" (6.5/10)
- Dresden Dolls - "Yes, Virginia" (6.5/10) [Regrade: 8/10]
- The Hush Sound - "Like Vines" (6.5/10)
- The Stills - "Without Feathers" (6.5/10)
- Keane - "Under The Iron Sea" (6.5/10)
- Rock Kills Kid - "Are You Nervous?" (6.5/10)
- DMX - "Year Of The Dog...Again" (6.5/10)
- Be Your Own Pet - "Be Your On Pet" (6.5/10)
- Richard Ashcroft - "Keys To The World" (6.5/10)
- Destroyer - "Destroyer's Rubies" (6.5/10)
- Robert Pollard - "From A Compound Eye" (6.5/10)
- Belle And Sebastian - "The Life Pursuit" (6.5/10)
- Sam Roberts - "Chemical City" (6.5/10)
- Gaelic Storm - "Bring Yer Wellies" (6.5/10)
- Bigwig - "Reclamation" (6.5/10)
- Elbow - "Leaders Of The Free World" (6.5/10)
- ENJOYABLE BUT FORGETTABLE
- The Wonder Stuff - "Suspended By Stars" (6/10)
- The Charlatans U.K. - "Simpatico" (6/10)
- Boy Kill Boy - "Civilian" (6/10)
- Lola Ray - "Liars" (6/10)
- Alice Donut - "Fuzz" (6/10)
- Against All Authority - "The Restoration Of Chaos And Order" (6/10)
- Billy Talent - "Billy Talent II" (6/10)
- Pet Shop Boys - "Fundamental" (6/10)
- Soul Asylum - "The Silver Lining" (6/10)
- DMC - "Checks, Thugs, & Rock N Roll" (6/10)
- Appleseed Cast - "Peregrine" (6/10)
- Regina Spektor - "Begin To Hope" (6/10)
- Morrissey - "Ringleader Of The Tormentors" (6/10) [Regrade: 6.5/10]
- The Like Young - "Last Secrets" (6/10)
- Don Caballero - "World Class Listening Problem" (6/10)
- Mission Of Burma - "The Obliterati" (6/10)
- Say Hi To Your Mom - "Impeccable Blahs" (6/10)
- The Format - "Dog Problems" (6/10)
- The Church - "Uninvited, Like The Clouds" (6/10)
- Ani DiFranco - "Reprieve" (6/10)
- Anti-Flag - "For Blood And Empire" (6/10)
- Eleventh Dream Day - "Zeros And Ones" (6/10)
- Saves The Day - "Sound The Alarm" (6/10)
- Phoenix - "It's Never Been Like That" (6/10)
- Bob Dylan - "Modern Times" (6/10)
- October Fall - "Season In Hell" (6/10)
- The Sounds - "Dying To Say This To You" (6/10) [Regrade: 7/10]
- The Hazey Janes - "Hotel Radio" (6/10)
- Babyshambles - "Down In Albion" (6/10)
- The Twilight Singers - "Powder Burns" (6/10)
- Hatebreed - "Supremacy" (6/10)
- Sonic Youth - "Rather Ripped" (6/10)
- Tokyo Police Club - "A Lesson In Crime" (6/10)
- Pete Yorn - "Nightcrawler" (6/10)
- Bouncing Souls - "The Gold Record" (6/10)
- The Casualties - "Under Attack" (6/10)
- Rise Against - "The Sufferer & The Witness" (6/10)
- K.T. Tunstall - "Eye To The Telescope" (6/10)
- Silversun Pickups - "Carnavas" (6/10)
- Nine Black Alps - "Everything Is" (6/10)
- World Party - "Dumbing Up" (6/10)
- The Adored - "A New Language" (6/10)
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Show Your Bones" (6/10)
- M. Ward - "Post-War" (6/10)
- Buzzcocks - "Flat Pack Philsophy" (6/10)
- LISTENABLE
- The Forecast - "In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen" (5.5/10)
- The Bronx - "The Bronx" (5.5/10)
- Tapes N' Tapes - "The Loon" (5.5/10)
- Mates Of State - "Bring It Back" (5.5/10) [Regrade: 6/10]
- The Thermals - "The Body, The Blood, The Machine" (5.5/10)
- Dirty Pretty Things - "Waterloo To Anywhere" (5.5/10)
- Helmet - "Monochrome" (5.5/10)
- Oakenfold - "A Lively Mind" (5.5/10)
- The Flaming Lips - "At War With The Mystics" (5.5/10)
- Street To Nowhere - "Charmingly Awkward" (5.5/10)
- Radio 4 - "Enemies Like This" (5.5/10)
- The Walkmen - "A Hundred Miles Off" (5.5/10) [Regrade: 6.5/10]
- Good Riddance - "My Republic" (5.5/10)
- Slayer - "Christ Illusion" (5.5/10)
- Frank Black - "Fast Man Raider Man" (5.5/10)
- Neil Young - "Living With War" (5.5/10)
- Oceansize - "Everyone Into Position" (5.5/10)
- The Lashes - "Get It" (5.5/10)
- Greg Graffin - "Cold As The Clay" (5.5/10)
- MC Lars - "The Graduate" (5.5/10)
- Nina Gordon - "Bleeding Heart Grafitti" (5.5/10)
- Less Than Jake - "In With The Out Crowd" (5.5/10)
- The Whigs - "Give 'Em All A Big Fat Lip" (5.5/10)
- Kill Hannah - "Until There's Nothing Left Of Us" (5.5/10)
- NOFX - "Wolves In Wolves' Clothing" (5.5/10)
- The Grates - "Gravity Won't Get You High" (5.5/10)
- Starsailor - "On The Outside" (5.5/10)
- I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - "Fear Is On Our Side" (5.5/10)
- Dashboard Confessional - "Dusk And Summer" (5/10)
- Swearing At Motorists - "Last Night Becomes This Morning (5/10)
- Gnarls Barkley - "St. Elsewhere" (5/10)
- Las Ketchup - "Un Blodymary" (5/10)
- Matthew Sweet & Susana Hoffs - "Under The Covers, Vol. 1" (5/10)
- The Raconteurs - "Broken Boy Soldiers" (5/10)
- Def Leppard - "Yeah!" (5/10)
- Muse - "Black Holes And Revelations" (5/10)
- A.F.I. - "Decemberunderground" (5/10)
- The Vines - "Vision Valley" (5/10)
- East River Pipe - "What Are You On?" (5/10)
- Downtown Singapore - "Don't Let Your Guard Down" (5/10)
- Tom Petty - "Highway Companion" (5/10)
- Hot Chip - "The Warning" (5/10)
- Bury Your Dead - "Beauty And The Breakdown" (5/10)
- Jewel - "Goodbye Alice In Wonderland" (5/10)
- Rammstein - "Rosenrot" (5/10)
- French Kicks - "Two Thousand" (5/10)
- Vernon Reid - "Other True Self" (5/10)
- NOT VERY GOOD
- The Futureheads - "News And Tributes" (4.5/10) [Regrade: 6.5/10]
- New York Dolls - "One Day It Will Pleasure Us To Remember Even This" (4.5/10)
- Ministry - "Rio Grande Blood" (4.5/10)
- Queensryche - "Operation : Mindcrime II" (4.5/10)
- Cannibal Corpse - "Kill" (4.5/10)
- Heroine - "From First To Last" (4.5/10)
- Bruce Springsteen - "We Shall Overcome" (4.5/10)
- Hawthorne Heights - "If Only You Were Lonely" (4.5/10)
- Arctic Monkeys - "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (4.5/10)
- The Sammies - "The Sammies" (4.5/10)
- The Panic Channel - "(ONe)" (4.5/10)
- Rye Coalition - "Curses" (4.5/10)
- 46 Short - "Truth Denied" (4.5/10)
- Moneen - "Red Tree" (4.5/10)
- Audio Bullys - "Generation" (4/10)
- TV On The Radio - "Return To Cookie Mountain" (4/10)
- Primal Scream - "Riot City Blues" (4/10)
- Jim Noir - "Tower Of Love" (4/10)
- Peeping Tom - "Peeping Tom" (4/10)
- Eagles Of Death Metal - "Death By Sexy" (4/10)
- Les Claypool - "Of Whales And Woe" (4/10)
- Scars Of Tomorrow - "The Beginning Of..." (4/10)
- GARBAGE
- Peaches - "Impeach My Bush" (3.5/10)
- Live - "Songs From Black Mountain" (3.5/10)
- The Streets - "The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living" (3.5/10)
- Folly - "Resist Convention" (3.5/10)
- Rob Zombie - "Educated Horses" (3.5/10)
- The Strokes - "First Impressions Of Earth" (3/10)
- Grandaddy - "Just Like The Fambly Cat" (3/10)
- Angels And Airwaves - "We Don't Need To Whisper" (3/10)
- Himsa - "Hail Horror" (3/10)
- The Gossip - "Standing In The Way Of Control" (2.5/10)
- Need to go back and review (missed in release week):
- Angels And Airwaves - "We Don't Need To Whisper" (3/10) - More than three chords of options and yet all the songs sound alike.
- Aqualung - "Strange & Beautiful" (7/10) - Possible the only album sadder than Keane's (and "Brighter Than Sunshine"; b.s.e.!).
- Atreyu - "A Death-Grip On Yesterday"
- Badly Drawn Boy - "Born In The U.K."
- Beck - "The Information"
- Be Your Own Pet - "Be Your Own Pet" (6.5/10) - How can people so young get the original feeling of punk?
- Blue October - "Foiled"
- Catch 22 - "Permanent Revolution"
- Delerium - "Nuages Du Monde"
- Destroyer - "Destroyer's Rubies" (6.5/10) - It really is technically perfect but the songs are a bit too long and lack hooks.
- Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - "Stranger Things"
- Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint - "The River In Reverse"
- Enigma - "A Posteriori"
- Enter The Haggis - "Soapbox Heroes"
- Front Line Assembly - "Artificial Soldier"
- Gin Blossoms - "Major Lodge Victory"
- G. Love And Special Sauce - "Lemonade"
- Gnarls Barkley - "St. Elsewhere" (5/10) - Starts out loony carnival ride wonderful and then breaks down.
- Grandaddy - "Just Like The Fambly Cat" (3/10) - The only good song is the 2nd to last one and there's too much pain to get to it.
- Greg Graffin - "Cold As The Clay" (5.5/10) - Feels like it could be a bridge from punk to folk but instead it feels like a gimmick.
- Hot Chip - "The Warning" (5/10) - It's got a good beat but it's hard to rock out dance to it.
- Indigo Girls - "Despite Our Differences"
- Jet - "Shine On"
- Joan Of Arc - "Eventually, All At Once"
- Jurassic 5 - "Feedback"
- Kelis - "Kelis Was Here"
- Lupe Fiasco - "Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor"
- Mates Of State - "Bring It Back" (5.5/10) - Beautifully average due to his voice. Hers is great.
- Mission Of Burma - "The Obliterati" (6/10) - Rock harder than people half their age.
- Over It - "Step Outside Yourself"
- Placebo - "Meds"
- Pearl Jam - "Pearl Jam"
- Prongis - "Londis Calling"
- Razorlight - "Razorlight"
- Rodrigo Y Gabriela - "Rodrigo Y Gabiela"
- Sonic Youth - "Rather Ripped" (6/10) - Rather wonderfully calmed down without all the excess noise.
- Taking Back Sunday : "Louder Now"
- Tapes N' Tapes : "The Loon" (5.5/10) - Excellent when they rock out but that only 1/3 of the album.
- The Cardigans - "Super Extra Gravity"
- The Concretes - "The Concretes In Colour"
- The Decemberists - "The Crane Wife"
- The Early November - "The Mother, The Mechanic, And The Path"
- The Elected - "Sun, Sun, Sun"
- The Epsilons - "Epsilons"
- The Gersch - "The Gersch"
- The Hold Steady - "Boys And Girls In America"
- The Kooks - "Inside In/Inside Out"
- The Living End - "State Of Emergency"
- The Number Twelve Looks Like You - "Put On Your Rosey Red Glasses"
- The Roots - "Game Theory"
- The Sammies : "The Sammies" (4.5/10) - A little bit too chaotic.
- The Stills - "Without Feathers" (6.5/10) - Can't listen without wanting to listen to The Walkmen (even though this CD is better).
- The Vines - "Vision Valley" (5/10) - Yet another band going for the "rock" factor - though less than the prior release.
- The Whigs - "Give 'Em All A Big Fat Lip" (5.5/10) - The production value is like listening through a closed door.
- The Zutons - "Tired Of Hanging Around"
- Time Again - "The Stories Are True"
- Underoath - "Define The Great Line"
- U.S. Bombs - "We Are The Problem"
- White Whale - "WWI"
- Wolf Eyes - "Human Animal"
- Wolfmother - "Wolfmother"
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Show Your Bones" (6/10) - Accessible to a fault and not snarly enough.
- Zero 7 - "The Garden"
- Ziggy Marley - "Love Is My Religion"
Author Comments:
(x/10 = rating on 10 point scale by half points)
10 = instant classic
9 = feels like an old friend on the first listen
8 = almost every track is brilliant
7 = great album
6 = better than average
5.5 = average
5 = worse than average but listenable
4 = barely listenable
3 = this CD has some serious issue
2 = why?
1 = this music is absolutely terrible
Hmmm... if I ever feel comfortable enough moving to a number scale, I just may borrow yours!
Thanks. I just kind of threw it together. In case you couldn't tell by 2 being a statement and not an actual critique. :)
I would be honored.
For comparison, what albums (all-time) would you give a 10?
That's a tough one. In recent times (this decade?), the CDs that come to mind first are: Interpol's "Antics," Hot Hot Heat's "Make Up The Breakdown"; Dogs Die In Hot Cars' "Please Describe Yourself"; Thursday's "Full Collapse"; and Further Seems Forever's "The Moon Is Down."
It's really tough to think of because I've now heard those CDs so many times that they may have grown on me. They were at least originally 9s because I remember loving nearly every song on my first listen.
5.5 to Oakenfold's new album? Very generous of you...
I know. It's pretty painful to get through the first half or so of the album but the second half has some tracks that I really like (especially "Not Over") and overall if it were playing as background music, I wouldn't turn it off. That's about all it's good for though - ambiance. I actually wrote the one line review, "I fail to see how anyone can listen to this as more than good background," on the chronological version of this list.
Actually, yeah, I can see that. I still wouldn't be that nice to it though. I have some albums I only listen to in the background that I rate 10/10.
i agree on We Are Scientists, actually its first album to acheive a perfect score on my rating the tracks series, you can check out my comments on it HERE
Personally, I think there are some less than perfect tracks on the album but the best songs on the album are some of the best I've heard in ages. But I agree completely that they have composed an album where every song is a single.
I would rate "Lousy Reputation," and "It's A Hit" 10/10 for sure. I also think "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt," "Textbook," and "Callbacks" are classics. They just know how to build a song to a chorus that's a mini-climax and gets stuck in your head.
Very few albums have been able to do that for me this year. There has been better crafted albums for sure but none that are as fun.