Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Revisionism: Year End List (2003)

We move on to 2003. It's a little embarassing, I suppose.

Original List: Link

10. Thrice - Artist in the Ambulance (I actually haven't heard this one in a while. It could actually be pretty good. I may have to check it out again.)

9. P.O.D. - Payable on Death (Wow, seriously? Listen to 'Wildfire' and tell me that P.O.D.'s self-titled has any place in anyone's list.)

8. Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown (I still wish they'd play more of their superior older stuff in concert, but I'll admit that I backlashed against Switchfoot pretty hard after this CD. From what I'd heard in '03, this deserved to be higher.)

7. Starflyer 59 - Old (Since buying this CD, I've slowly started appreciating Starflyer's music more and more. If the revised list was expanded to 20, you can bet this one would've parked around 11 or 12.)

6. MxPx - Before Everything, and After (Eh, it's got a couple catchy songs, lots of filler... it's an MxPx CD, what could one possibly expect?)

5. Powerman 5000 - Transform (After 'Destroy What You Enjoy', I really went cold on PM5K. That being said, I can still put this CD on every so often and - with liberal use of the skip button - enjoy enough of it to call it a decent, if unremarkable, CD.)

4. Julianna Theory - Love (Another decent CD, has some good melodies that makes up for the fact that it's aged kind of poorly.)

3. Thousand Foot Krutch - Phenomenon (I can't think of a band that I've gone more cold on than TFK. With maybe 2 exceptions, this CD does nothing for me.)

2. Relient K - Two Lefts Don't Make a Right, But Three Do (It's still their best CD. They never achieved this mix of humor, wit, and big hooks again.)

1. Linkin Park - Meteora (Ah, hell... What can I say? I have a soft spot for their first 2 releases.)

On to the Revised list...

10. Mew - Frengers

9. King Geedorah - Take Me To Your Leader (Doom's flows - when he's actually rapping - are ridiculous as ever, but the real treat is the off-the-wall beats. If you like strange hip hop and old monster movie references - or if you need a starting point into MF Doom's stuff, you owe it to yourself to listen to this.)

8. The White Stripes - Elephant (The formula never sounds like a formula, and it never sounded better than here.)

7. Atmosphere - Seven's Travels (With 19 tracks, there's plenty of songs to love - and a couple fo skip - but overall, this is my favorite Atmosphere CD.)

6. The Black Mages - The Black Mages (These are Final Fantasy instrumental metal arrangements. From that sentence alone you'll be able to tell whether you'll like this CD or not.)

5. Viktor Vaughn - Vaudville Villian (My favorite MF Doom alias. V goes from demented to sly to witty to just plain weird... in almost every song. It's almost all nonsense, but it's AWESOME nonsense.)

4. Linkin Park - Meteora

3. Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers (The first half is chock full of pure, unaduterated awesome. The second half is nearly unsalvageable. Luckily the first half comprises about 10 tracks.)

2. Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism (Deservingly got them their big break, this is the music they were making JUST before they got on the hipster's nerves.)

1. Cold - Year of the Spider (If this CD was comprised of 'Remedy' played 10 times, it would merit inclusion on this list. There's literally not a weak track on the CD. Disagree if you want, but you'll only be missing out on one of the only alt-metal CDs that's really, truly worth your time.)


The only consolation I really take is that I had the sense to leave 'Peace of Mind' off of the list. That CD was truly wretched from the first spin, and has only gotten worse with time.

2004 tomorrow!

2 comments:

  1. I agree 1000% on the FOW CD. I think I had to listen to it 3 or 4 times, but after that, I was like WOW this guy can write ANYTHING. If you haven't checked out their next cd, it's pretty good.

    This is a funny list. I was such a huge TFK fan for the first couple cd's and now I can't listen to ANYTHING by them. I HATE them now. I don't know how you could put Peace of Mind or POD on here, though. I think you may have been in a hurry, man. Cold, FTW.

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  2. I'll agree with your take on TFK. The thing is, they tried to move on, it's just that he's an awful lyricist, and their music by it's very nature has next to zero shelf-life.

    ...and yeah, I'm not sure where the P.O.D. CD came from, but you will notice I did NOT put Peace of Mind on there even the first time. I knew that CD was carp from the moment its tortured rhyming hit my bleeding ears.

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