For my money, 2003 seemed to be a year of a lot of really good albums, but nothing that I could truly call classic. For that reason it was really hard to compile a ‘top albums of 2003 list.’ There was a lot I wanted to include, but nothing I could really justify at the number one spot. (And if you have ever seen/read High Fidelity, you know us music junkies have to have a #1. There’s no amorphous list, these things have to be ranked.)

I imagine most reviews are going to put the Outkast double album on the top of their list. While I give the group credit for an ambitious undertaking, and the best singe of the year, the truth of the matter is, I found the album(s), as a whole, really uneven. I’m sure I’ll catch some heat for it, but they didn’t make my list.

Lastly, I am limited by the albums I’ve bought this year. Granted, I buy more records than most – probably 40-50 or so this year – still, I don’t work at music magazine. I’m not getting this stuff for free. That makes it hard to make a definitive list of the best of the year. There maybe better stuff I haven’t heard.

So enough build up. Let’s talk music. Here are my top 10 albums of 2003:

1) I’ve written about the Postal Service’s Give Up before so I’ll make this quick. This is my album of the year. It was a tough call because it is neither of its members full time band and its hard to say that a side project made the best album of 2003. Still, its the one album I was listening to throughout all of 2003 and its tough to keep my attention that long. Its one of those albums that pleasant enough to be background music, but as a friend of mine said, the singer just kind of demands to be listened to. Its true. The words come across with importance, and most of the time, there’s enough depth to back that up.

2) O by Damien Rice would probably be my album of the year, except after hearing about for months now I only finally bought it 2 weeks ago. It lives up to the hype. Its an album of folk songs arranged like a symphony orchestra. Its gorgeous. ‘Volcano’ has been getting some airplay here in Chicago, but he’s got one song, ‘Cannonball,’ that is quite simply the most moving song I have heard all year. Rice lays it out as a guy who falls in love way too quick, knows it, but finds he’s in love again as he begins a new relationship. He pleads with himself and fate not to let him fall into the same trap. Not to scare her away. Not to lose her. Its a potential theme song for anyone in that nervous, uncertain beginning of a relationship with someone you really like. The rest of the album is amazing too.

3) So after a top two of touching, introspective singers, Kings of Leon’s Youth and Young Manhood clocks in at number three. This album rocks and it rocks more and more with ever listen. Some won’t take to it (I had a friend that called it mumble rock because of Caleb Followill’s occasional difficulty to keep up with the speed the music moves at while singing in his natural southern drawl.) Still, if you get it, you get it hard. This album is everything rock and roll should be in my mind.

4) The White Stripe’s Elephant is a great album. After White Blood Cells, I thought the band had gone just about as far as they could with the gimmick. I was wrong. Elephant manages to pay homage to the roots of rock and blues while still sounding contemporary and still rocking. Enough else has been said about it so I’ll leave it at that.

5) You probably haven’t heard much of the Sleepy Jackson, but the Lovers album is probably the most interesting release of the year and is my number 5. A lot of the songs sounds like someone else, but the manner in which the album weaves them together creates almost a whole other world where its all uniquely theirs. There’s a spoken word portion, children singing one of the songs and whole host of other weird stuff going on, but the album hangs together extremely well. Its tough to explain but it all fits. To quote Radiohead, “Everything in its right place.”

6) All Your Summer Songs by Saturday Looks Good to Me is another I have written about before so I’ll make it quick. The album is an homage to 60′s AM radio pop. For some, I imagine it will take a couple of listens, but for me, its probably the catchiest album of the year.

7) The Darkness Rocks! Sure its a joke, but oh what a joke it is. Seriously, in a year where a number of band tried to take it over the top, the Darkness’ Permission to Land out did them all. 80′s glam metal sung by a guy who is trying his best to sound like Freddie Mercury. (Apparently the band formed after an all out karaoke version of Bohemian Rhapsody). There is no way to listen to this album and not smile.

8) The story goes, Joss Stone was a 16 year old blonde British girl who was set to become the next Brittney or Christina – then she heard some vintage 1960′s soul records and scrapped her pop album plans to record The Soul Sessions. Her voice is outstanding and incredibly faithful to the spirit of the artist she is trying to emulate. Not only that but she does a great reinterpretation of the White Stripe’s “Fell In Love With A Girl” that not only funks it up almost beyond recognition (in a good way), but that also reinterprets the entire story from the point of view of a girl chasing a guy who already has a girlfriend. Definitely worth picking up.

9) Radley and I have always had our disagreements about Ryan Adams, and this year is no different. While Radley seems to think that Adams is on a downward spiral, almost unparrelled in modern times, I happen to think that Rock and Roll, and the Love is Hell Part 1 and Part 2 EPs, when taken together, are pretty good. Sure, Rock and Roll is derivative. But in my mind, that is kind of the point. It is a statement about Rock and Roll. It references, emulates, and blatantly steals from more artists, albums and songs than you can shake a stick at. My problem with Adam’s earlier albums, especially Gold, is that he does so many styles that its tough to listen to the whole album at one time. It just jumps around too much. If you are in a mellow mood, you want to skip the rock songs. If you are in a rockin’ mood, the mellow stuff has to go. By releasing Rock and Roll separate from the more reflective Love is Hell EPs Adams has solved this problem (and cynically, gotten more of my money in the process). Regardless of what I think of the man, I like these albums.

10) Lastly, Rabbit Songs by Hem is my number 10. As I have said before, it reminds me of a country Norah Jones. Months later, I have to say I find the songs even catchier and more memorable than when I first bought the album. Its a pretty adult album, but its not bad to be an adult ever once in a while.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 10th, 2004 at 2:43 pm by Mystery Man and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.