Best Albums of 2005

Just before Christmas I handed out my worst albums of the year and now it’s time for the best ones. It was a dog fight for number one as there were only two albums that got the coveted Extreme Warning on my Terror Alert Scale. Both were worthy but I went with the one that always finds its way into my CD player while the other has a song or two that I will occasionally skip while listening to. For those that are interested to check these albums on the list out, the link on the album goes directly to iTunes while the links in the parentheses go to my original reviews. Feel free to leave some of your favorite albums of the past year in the comment section.


1. Wreck of the Day – Anna Nalick (These Words Are My Diary Singing Out Load)
2. Late Registration – Kanye West (You Gotta Love it Though Someone Still Speaks From His Soul)
3. Songs for Silverman – Ben Folds (If You Wrote Me Off I’d Understand It)
4. Room Noises – Eisley (You Humor Me Today)
5. Stand Up – Dave Matthews Band (Bring That Beat Back To Me Again)
6. Plans – Death Cab for Cutie (A Melody Softly Souring Through My Atmosphere)
7. In Between Dreams – Jack Johnson (We Drew Our Own Constellations)
8. Before the Robots – Better Than Ezra (3 ½ Minutes Felt Like a Lifetime)
9. Why Should the Fire Die? - Nickel Creek (You Came Along and Made Me Smile)
10. Get Lifted – John Legend (We’re Just Ordinary People)
11. Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple (I Promise You Everything Will Be Just Fine)
12. TwentythreePrettyman – Tristan Prettyman (I Wish You Couldn’t Take Your Eyes Off of Me)
13. The Breakthrough – Mary J. Blige (Anyone Who’s Ever Loved You Know Just What I Feel)
14. Hot Fuss: Limited Edition – The Killers ( I Got Soul But I’m Not a Soldier)
15. Everything in Transit – Jack’s Mannequin (I’ll Send This Message Through the Speakers)
16. Slow Motion – David Gray ( A Bucketful of Babylon)
17. Ain’t Nobody Worryin’ – Anthony Hamilton (If You Catch Me Dreaming, Please Don’t Wake Me Till I’m Done)
18. 29 – Ryan Adams (Can You Still Have Any Famous Last Words if You’re Somebody Nobody Knows)
19. A Time to Love – Stevie Wonder (We Can’t Sing a Song With No Melody)
20. Back Home – Eric Clapton (I Need to Hear That Song)
21. Try! – John Mayer Trio (Am I the One Who Plays the Quiet Songs?)
22. X&Y – Coldplay (All That Noise, All That Sound)
23. Out of Nothing – Embrace (Now Watch Me Rise Up and Leave)
24. The Sound of White – Missy Higgins (I See You’ve Painted Your Soul)
25. All That I Am – Santana (Your Fire Fills My Soul)
26. Oral Fixation vol. 2 – Shakira (What Language Do You Speak if You Speak at All)
27. Wikked Lil’ Grrrls – Esthro (We R in Need of a Musical Revolution)
28. On the Strength of All Convinced – Daphne Loves Derby (What We Have Been Waiting For)
29. Some Hearts – Carrie Underwood (Oh There’s Nothing like Oklahoma)
30. ¡Bastardos! – Blues Traveler (If Looks Could Kill I’d Die Today)


You can also download these albums DRM free at Amazon MP3 by checking out the widget below:

Car Mix - June '05

Here is a list of the songs I'm listening to right now that fit on a single CD:

1. American Baby Intro – Dave Matthews Band
2. American Baby – Dave Matthews Band
3. Speed of Sound – Coldplay
4. Ashes – Embrace (Even though this is the best song from their album, you may want to check out the song Gravity which is free on iTunes this week.)
5. Since You Been Gone (Jason Nevins Remix) – Kelly Clarkson (I have already chronicled my love of this song a few times – I’m Soooooooooooooooooooo Moving On.)
6. Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) – Pet Shop Boys (The theme to my favorite new show of the summer, Beauty and the Geek. Stayed tune for a full review of the show coming soon.)
7. One Word – Kelly Osborne (I never though I’d like a song from her, but she did make a smart move going away from rock and into techno where it can hide poor singing ability. Ashlee Simpson, take note.)
8. Till I Get to You – Nikka Costa
9. 1 Thing (Remix) – Amerie & Jay-Z
10. Diamonds (From Sierra Leone) – Kanye West (A full review of this song and the accompanying video should be up in the next few days.)
11. Dreams – The Game (I don’t care too much for the Game, but the Kanye West production makes up for the lackluster rhyme skill.)
12. The Corner – Common, Kanye West, & Last Poets (The best rapper than no one listens to gets a little help from the best producer of the moment.)
13. You’re Gonna Luv Me – Da Backwudz (This song really sounds like it was produced by West with the sped up chorus.)
14. (Expletive deleted) Ain’t (expletive deleted) – Dr. Dre & Snoop Doggy Dogg (My love of the Ben Fold version made me dust off my Dre album just to hear the original.)
15. (Expletive deleted) Ain’t (expletive deleted) – Ben Folds
16. The Right Time – Joss Stone (yes this is the one from the Gap commercial. Get it for yourself, it free from the gap link. Or if you like paying, click the other link.)
17. Chariot (Stripped) – Gavin DeGraw
18. Breathe (2 AM) (Live - Hotel Café) – Anne Nalick

If You Wrote Me Off, I'd Understand It

Ben Folds, formally of the numerically deficient Ben Folds Five (there were only three of them), rode high on the Geek Rock phase in the late 90's that also included Weezer and Barenaked Ladies. After the release of the great Whatever and Ever Amen, featured the best break up song ever, A Song for the Dumped, and the big hit Brick, Ben dropped the other four two and released a lackluster debut solo album, Rockin' the Suburbs. Piano pop has since been taken over by the females such as Alicia Keys and Vanessa Carlton. I was about to write Ben off until I discovered the brilliant (expletive Deleted) Ain't (Expletive Deleted) and it renewed my faith. This was when I heard the first single, Landed, from the new album, Songs for Silverman. In the song, Folds almost admits his recent lackluster past with the line "If you wrote me off, I'd understand it." He may know that this may be his last shot and he comes out with some of his best work. Landed, like most of the songs on the album, is a grandioso song in vein of Elton John's 70's catalog (this is a guy who is known to sing Rocket Man in concert).

Ben Folds has shown much growth as a songwriter with this album, dealing with more relationship from a more mature vantage point. This most evident in the opener, Bastard, an ode to an old man who thinks he know everything. In the song, he points out "The wiz man never fit you like the wiz kid did." It's almost as if he's talking about the smart-aleck Ben Folds that appeared on earlier albums. Jesusland, keeping with the 70's vibe, sounds disturbingly like Kansas' Dust in the Wind. The song is a drive through Red State America through the eyes a Blue States, so channeling Kansas (a Red State) almost makes sense. Gracie continues Folds love of names songs after females like Kate, Jane, and Julianne, Annie, along with Judy on this album. Gracie sounds like a lullaby to a young daughter that does better for the father-daughter relationship better than John Mayer could do and is not as sappy as Billy Joel's Lullaby.

Songs for Silverman gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

Musings From the Back 9 vol. II

- My fantasy basketball team, Shawn Kemp's Revenge, came in second this season behind Boom Pow Surprise! Not bad for some one who just recently found out that they are now six divisions in the NBA.

- You know it's officially Spring when Ohio's state flower, the Orange Barrel, starts to sprout on highways.

- If a girl wears a "Kiss Me I'm Irish" shirt and refuses to make out with you, can you sue her for false advertising?

- Am I the only one who was disappointed when the Nationals unveiled their new mascot, Screech, and Dustin Diamond didn't come out of the egg?

- What I can't understand is how ABC let a cable channel that it owns outbid itself for the rights to Monday Night Football? You don't see Bravo outbidding NBC for the rights to The Tonight Show. What's next, is ABC going to lose Desperate Housewives to ABCFamily? And is there anyplace where I can put money on John Madden jumping to NBC's Sunday Night game instead of moving to ESPN?

- A couple weeks ago, I lusted over the token hot chick in the Pepsi/iTunes commercial and after an exhausting search it turns out she actually has a name: Mandy Amano.

- So Tom DeLay's excuse for taking improper donation is "everyone else does it." Is this guy in Middle School? It's time to get rid of him and I have no problem if he takes down "everyone else" with him.

- New Dave Matthews Band video, American Baby, premiered this week. Decent song with a cool cross-section of the real American population that goes beyond Red State/Blue State. Check back in early May for a special Dave Matthews Band week to commemorate the release of their new album, Stand Up, culminating in a review of the new album as DMB is a rare life time member of the First Day Club.



- It's not a new Star Wars movie time until Lucas finds a new way to pimp the franchise. Although the Cingular Ring Tone ads with Chewbacca are brilliant. Hopefully we get to see more recording sessions. A side note, check back May 12th for another special week, this time for Star Wars.

- A while back I reported on the NFL's list of names you cannot put on the back of jerseys. It seems that weeks after lifting the ban on "Gay" (which made sense considering they have a few player with that last name), they have finally found a name to fill "Gay's" spot, Ron Mexico. The ban was prompted after a slew of requests for "Mexico" on the back of Falcons' jersey #7. Some got a chuckle out of that they other might want to make a Google search (check the top left potion of the page).

- After constantly listening to the Ben Folds cover of Dr. Dre's (expletive deleted) Ain't (expletive deleted) I got to wondering, if I were a sensitive singer-songwriter, what gangsta rap song would I cover? After an extensive search through my massive gangsta rap library, I would have to go with The Ghetto Boys' Mind Playing Tricks On Me. Now that's some real conversation for your (expletive deleted).

Car Mix - April '05

1. Beverly Hills – Weezer (Check out my thought on this song at Just Don't Bring too Many Dudes.)
2. Club Foot – Kasabian (This song seems to popping up during all my favorite TV shows lately and was a former single of the week on iTunes.)
3. City of Blinding Light – U2
4. Work (Demo) – Jimmy Eat World (This was on the special edition version of JEW's latest album that I picked up as I'm a sucker for things of that nature. The song's a rawer version of the original.)
5. Back to Me – Kathleen Edwards (This was another great Single of the Week. It's a neo-country song, but not in the "My sister looks hot" kind of country.)
6. Behind These Hazel Eyes – Kelly Clarkson (This is the second song that she has conned me into liking. To be honest, it might be time for someone to hold an intervention for me.)
7. Be the Girl – Aslyn
8. Somebody – Bonnie McKee
9. A Lifetime – Better Than Ezra (From the guys that brought us Good, yet another solid song. BTE is one of the few bands to constantly put out good music.)
10. Telescope Eyes – Eisley
11. Toxic – Local H (A disturbingly faithful cover of the Brittany Spears song from the band best known for the mid-90's rocker, Bound to the Floor. Yet not even the best cover on this CD. That title goes to:)
12. (expletive deleted) Ain’t (expletive deleted) – Ben Folds (Due to the website's censors, I need to explain this. The song is a moody, piano driven version of the last song on Dr. Dre's first album which features Snoop Doggy Dogg. If you are not sure what I'm talking about, click the link and take a listen for yourself. This is the very reason that makes iTunes great. Due to the lyric, the song won't be played on the radio and it wouldn't fit very well on an album, so iTunes is a great place to get this type of music.)
13. Landed – Ben Folds
14. Chariot – Gavin DeGraw
15. Ordinary People – John Legend
16. All Falls Down – John Legend & Kanye West (A great live version of the song.)
17. 1 Thing – Amerie (The best song from a Will Smith movie since, umm, does the Theme to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air count?)
18. Gotta Get Up from Here – Ellie Lawson (This song has a cool Celtic feel to it.)
19. When the President Talks to God – Bright Eyes (A thoroughly amusing, yet sad at the same time, song you can get free the last time I checked at iTunes. Something everyone should take a listen to, which is easy because it's free. Who doesn't like free?)
20. Coconut – Harry Nilsson (A completely cheesy song that recently got co-opted by Coke. I've loved the song ever since it appeared on the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack.)