Tim Davis’ Outlook
Top 25 Mostly Big Label Releases That Ought To Still Be Relevant In 10 Years, And That’s What It’s All About Anyway List:
1. Outkast – Big Boi and Dre Present (Greatest Hits)
2. Stephen Malkmus – Stephen Malkmus
3. System of a Down – Toxicity
4. The Strokes – Is This It?
5. Weezer – Weezer
6. Radiohead – I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings
7. Desert Sessions (Josh Homme et al) – Desert Sessions 7 & 8
8. Ryan Adams – Gold
9. John Coltrane – The Olatunji Concert: Last Live Recording
10. Radiohead – Amnesiac
11. Beulah – The Coast Is Never Clear
12. Air – 10,000 Hz Legend
13. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
14. Sigur Ros – Agaetis Byrjun
15. R.E.M. – Reveal
16. Ben Folds – Rockin’ The Suburbs
17. Bob Dylan – Love And Theft
18. The Glands – The Glands
19. Jimmy Eat World – Bleed American
20. Alejandro Escovedo – A Man Under The Influence
21. Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros – Global a Go Go
22. Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator)
23. M. Ward – End of Amnesia
24. George Jones – The Rock: Stone Cold Country 2001
25. Drive-By Truckers – Southern Rock Opera
Outrageous Press Release Blurbs Of The Year:
1. From Tab Benoit’s website, tabbenoit.com: “We won’t know until later on possibly when it is too late how lucky that we got the chance in our lifetime to experience Tab Benoit’s music. Seldom does someone come along where it is so visibly evident that GOD has touched them and now they are to touch others.”
2. From Victory Records press release on the band Electric Frankenstein, in which they’re describing Ben Elliot, the man who recorded the band: “Elliot is best known for his monumental achievements working with some of the most legendary names in Rock ‘n’ Roll, including Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Nirvana, Henry Rollins, and Days of the New.” (Italics mine.)
3. From a press release by Fred Eaglesmith’s publicity folk: “In fifty years, people will talk about the music of Fred Eaglesmith the way they talk about Hank Williams today.”
4. From a release about Orlando boy band LFO: “Rich and his group mates have undergone one of the most dramatic growth spurts in recent pop history… the three hip-hop boys (author’s note: did I miss something?) have diversified their sound, incorporating pop, soul, hip-hop and even psychedelic 60s rock into their mix.”
Top “Rock & Roll” Moves Of The Year In Local Music (Don’t Try This At Home):
1. Christopher “Strip” Boone of Jennifer Strip flipping the bird at a brutal thunderstorm at their July 4 show at the Penguin. The band was playing outside, of course. In the rain. Plugged in.
2. The Goldenrods at a Puckett’s Farm Equipment show, where the 6-man band’s tab exceeded 60 beers. The Rods were told before playing that the band’s brew was on the house. Puckett’s then wisely reconsidered, paying for 36 while charging the band a buck apiece for the rest.
3. David Childers with a smoke machine… on high… in the smoke-free Evening Muse on September 8.
Billionaire/Dallas Mavericks Owner/Music Nut Mark Cuban’s Favorite Three CDs Of The Year (Really!):
1. Bubba Sparxxx – Dark Days, Bright Nights
2. Juvenile – Project English
3. Apollo 440 – Gettin’ High Off Your Own Supply
For the record, George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge of The Charlotte Hornets did not respond to a similar query. (Is anyone shocked?) Any professional sports owner down with the Cash Money clique (and Cuban’s got plenty o’ cash money) is OK with us. Cuban’s evidently got an affinity for the Dirty South, as evidenced by his music picks above. Too bad we can’t get him to buy the Hornets.
Local Music Honor Roll:
1. The Evening Muse, for establishing a non-smoking facility. Plus, North Davidson Street is interesting enough at night that you don’t much mind anyway.
2. David Childers’ remarkable A Good Way To Die, one of the best local albums of the last 10 years, easy. And for the fact he sounds like the devil but manages to create something sorta sacred, both at the same time.
3. LiquiLab Records, for creating a local label with teeth, and marketing savvy to match the interesting acts they’ve inked.
4. Chris Peigler, for his excellent, long-needed compilation of great Carolinas punk rock. It’s called Bomb Threat, out now on Suicide Watch Records, and it’s well worth picking up. Visit mysocalledband.com for more.
5. The Penguin, ground central for the local original music scene. If you blew the place up on a Friday or Saturday night (please don’t!), this town would lose half of its best troubadours. And drinkers.
6. Bob Graham and Missi Ivie, for bringing together a fine night of music for a great cause: cancer awareness. Those who saw the Spread Your Wings benefit (featuring Jim Lauderdale, Alejandro Escovedo, Kevin Gordon, and a load of local all-stars) sure hope there’s another one.
Lynn Farris’ Highlights
Top 10 Of 2001
…in no particular order.
1. Black Crowes Lions I’m a sucker for the 70s and this has to be the best album a bunch of white guys who were raised on a diet of Sly & The Family Stone could ever put out. And “Soul Singing” could possibly be their best single to date.
2. R.L. Burnside Burnside on Burnside No matter what my surroundings may be, when I listen to this live album, I feel as if I’m sitting in the club soaking up Burnside’s blues.
3. G. Love & Special Sauce Electric Mile G. really hits the spot with this record, which is probably his best since the release of his self-titled debut back in ’94.
4. Stone Gossard Bayleaf Besides being in Pearl Jam (which gets my vote as being one of the most influential bands of modern rock), Gossard has impressed me even more by putting out a solid solo effort. His music falls somewhere closely between Neil Young and Ben Harper.
5. Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals Live From Mars What more could a Ben Harper fan want than a double live album? What a performer (I was lucky enough to catch him in Spartanburg, SC earlier this year), and what a record!
6. Incubus Morning View Every morning you wake up, you have the chance to see your life in a new or different perspective. This record (as well as the band) has given me the chance to see alternative, err, new rock (or whatever the heck they’re calling it these days) in a brand new light. There is hope…
7. Dave Navarro Trust No One Trust me when I say that this short and slimy little freak was the last artist I wanted to see on this list. But for reasons that I cannot for the life of me explain, I was really drawn in to this record, and for that I have to give the pretentious little weirdo props.
8. Tool Lateralus Although it didn’t quite live up to five years worth of anticipation (but really, who could do that?), the album is still a heavy hitting dose of art/prog rock that could almost hold me over for another five or so years… not that I need to give Maynard any more wacko ideas.
9. U2’s Elevation Tour So what if Bono and the lads do some things that seem really whacked sometimes? (See the “Pop Market” tour.) The fact is this band rocks and they put on the best live show I saw this past year.
10. Neil Young and Dave Matthews It was a homecoming of sorts for the Dave Matthews Band when they played for the first time in seven years in the town where they had formed Richmond, VA and Matthews had asked Young to share the bill. And when the “Godfather of Grunge” stepped onstage to join Matthews for a rendition of “All Along the Watchtower,” it was truly a moment to behold… at least for me, who usually only sees this kind of thing on MTV News.
Lynn’s Favorite Quote Of The Year
“I look forward to coming to the Bible Belt; that’s the place where I need to be most. It’s like when missionaries use to go to Africa to try and proselytize people into believing in God. I’ve gotta go there and convince them to believe in themselves.” Marilyn Manson, on returning to the Deep South.
Local Music Honor Roll:
1. Penny Craver of Tremont Music Hall for the “New Faces” series which ran for a few months earlier this year (and should hopefully be making a return sometime in 2002). The event gave new bands the opportunity to get a good gig and put enough of ’em together that attendance was great, especially for a weeknight.
2. Bittersweet Promotions/Nasty Promotions. Katherine Everhart and Tracie Nasta continue to give the Queen City scene a much needed kick in the ass with their showcases, benefits and tribute nights. Keep rockin, grrls!
3. Every person who made an attempt to help fight the Dance Hall Ordinance. Club owners, DJs, musicians and everyone else who spoke at City Council meetings or signed petitions, and in general made an effort to put up a fight. Of course, the darn thing got passed, but it sure wasn’t due to lack of opposition.
4. Charlotte’s two- and three-timing musicians. There are dozens of folks pulling double and triple duty playing in different bands, and because of y’all, we actually have a shot at having a cool scene. That’s how it started in Seattle, even Chapel Hill, and it’s certainly a great start for this town.
Samir Shukla’s Musings
Some Essential Music From 2001
In no particular order (** indicates North Carolina-based)
1. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds No More Shall We Part (Mute) Nick comes home from a 20-year journey with a wrenching, soul-searching gem. The band sounds at the top of its form and the addition of strings brings on a somber totality.
2. Bob Dylan Don’t Look Back (reissue DVD) This is D.A. Pennebaker’s film of Dylan’s last acoustic tour, reissued on DVD. The performances, alas truncated, show Dylan at his most furious. Hey, it’s old stuff, but it beats the pants off his lame new album.
** 3. Greg Hawks & the Tremblers Fool’s Paradise (Yep Roc) Greg’s been bustin’ chops in these woods for years and has realized a classic country record from all the ensuing bruises.
4. New Order Get Ready (Reprise) Thank your lucky stars these groundbreakers never quite went away.
5. Various Artists Fluorescent Tunnelvision (motherwest/submergence) A nifty 2-disc collection of psychedelic space-rock, courtesy of Faust and others.
** 6. David Childers A Good Way to Die (Singlewing Records) A story weaver gets all the nuances right and comes out with a brutal reinvention of American music.
7. Tool Lateralus (Volcano) If there were such a thing as a hard rock version of Radiohead, with their brash adventurism, it would be Tool. The percussion heavy record speaks for itself.
8. Scott Miller & the Commonwealth Thus Always to Tyrants (Sugar Hill) An all-around Mack Daddy country rock record.
9. Spiritualized Let It Come Down (Arista) All but the kitchen sink of the orchestra is thrown in for this super drone-psych release.
10. Baaba Maal Mi Yeewnii (Missing You) (Palm Pictures) Earthy yet otherworldly hummings going on in an African village during late evenings is the sound Maal has created and thrown as a curve ball to the world music audience. It’s audacious in turning its nose at the masses, and it’s also bloody brilliant.
11. Blue Mountain Roots (Blue Mountain Music) The long running American outfit delivers a fantastic album of traditional and obscure covers and opens up its heart to the world.
12. Low Things We Lost in the Fire (Kranky) The fresh aura of harmonizing, minimalist and somber drone is liberating.
13. Tori Amos Strange Girls (Atlantic) All snide remarks aside, this is the ballsiest album released by a female in a long time. Her covers of the “boy club,” testosterone-loaded songs get the gal treatment without the powder puffs.
14. Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros Global A Go-Go (Hellcat/Epitaph) Anger subdued into a global journey of acoustic punk, world beats and Joe’s wake-up call lyrical prowess.
15. Radiohead Amnesiac (Capitol) Bellyachin’ hipsters be damned, this is one record of muted, haunted and aching brilliance.
16. Simon Shaheen & Quantara Blue Flame (ARK 21) Oud master blends Arabic and world beats with a definitive ear toward jazz improv.
** 17. The Houston Brothers i take care of you (self-released) Charlotte Noir, Part 1: A snazzy record of moody, ambient pop.
** 18. Baleen Soundtrack to a Normal Life (Liquilab) Charlotte Noir, Part 2: A luscious, trancey album for those midnight drives.
Honorable Mentions: R.E.M. Reveal; Moulin Rouge Soundtrack; Mark Lanegan Field Songs; ** Snagglepuss Country ub Sessions; Sparklehorse It’s A Wonderful Life; Bardo Pond Dilate.
This article appears in Dec 29, 2001 – Jan 4, 2002.
