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| Jeffrey's Ten
Favorite Recordings of 2001 1. Sam Phillips - Fan Dance It equals the most enjoyable albums of her career, "The Turning" and "Martinis and Bikinis", while also standing as her most mysterious, sparse, and tightly-woven work yet. 2. Bob Dylan - Love and Theft Another masterpiece... that's two in a row! And even though the lyrics are funny, complicated, and relentlessly clever, Dylan's ongoing arguments with the Divine are still front and center. 3. REM - Reveal Their most beautiful work since "Automatic", and their most cohesively thematic album ever... a library of testimonies from characters trying to venture past the boundaries of their worlds. 4. Over the Rhine - Films for Radio A bolder, brighter (and, yes, more radio-ready) sound. Several fantastic songs, and the rest are good too. 5. Radiohead - Amnesiac The sequel to Kid A again demonstrates that Radiohead remain both dangerously innovative and brilliantly talented with melodies. While the bleakness of their artistic visions grow a bit wearying, their perspective on the damaging effects of power, greed, and unnatural speed are true... thus their visions of impending doom are troublingly prophetic. 6. Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator) Her most personal, original, and complicated work. Guitarist David Rawlings really deserves equal billing, especially since he produced this one. 7. Buddy and Julie Miller - Buddy and Julie Miller This one just keeps growing on me... a red-hot-and-roll country-rock record full of the Millers' infectuous cheer and heartbreaking sentiments. 8. Leonard Cohen - Ten New Songs A decade of waiting, and finally this masterful poet delivers. Dark, brooding, deceptively simple music, full of prayer and meditations on our humble state in the constant loving presence of God. "I am not the one who loves... no, it's Love that chooses me." 9. (tie) The Innocence Mission -
Small Planes / The Perises deliver again, this time with tunes
fro the closet and Don's own personal work. Shimmering pools of light, hope, faith, and
beauty. 10. Suzanne Vega - Songs in Red and Gray This is Vega at her most intimate as a recording artist, journalling through a period of divorce and painful parenting. There's also a startling new dialogue with God going on. 11. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind. Okay, so this was my #1 record last year, but today it still sounds as fresh and exciting and exhilarating as ever. I still play it constantly, and the concert was the most inspiring event I've ever waited in line to attend. The Elevation DVD is astonishing... pick it up and see what you were missing! |
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