Friday, December 30, 2005

Best Songs of 2005


Before I go into the granddaddy of my Best/Worst Week, I would like to make special mention of something that really defies category yet was the most entertaining thing I saw or heard this year – R. Kelly’s Trapped In the Closet masterpiece. I didn’t think there could be anything R. Kelly related that was funnier than Dave Chappelle’s skit, Mr. Kelly found a way to top it and Trapped in the Closet is probably the only thing released this year that is a first ballot entry into the Scooter Hall of Fame. Now onto the Top 100 Songs of 2005, and feel free to leave your favorite songs of the year in the comment section:


1. Landed - Ben Folds
2. Gold Digger - Kanye West & Jamie Foxx
3. Breathe (2 AM) - Anna Nalick
4. Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own - U2
5. Mr. Brightside - The Killers
6. Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
7. Ordinary People - John Legend
8. The Blower's Daughter - Damien Rice
9. Telescope Eyes - Eisley
10. Portions for Foxes - Rilo Kiley
11. Diamonds From Sierra Leone - Kanye West
12. Breakdown - Jack Johnson
13. Existentialism On Prom Night - Straylight Run
14. Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave
15. These Words - Natasha Bedingfield
16. You and Me - Lifehouse
17. Fix You - Coldplay
18. Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
19. Love Love Love - Tristan Prettyman
20. Ohio (Come Back to Texas) - Bowling for Soup
21. All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
22. Somebody - Bonnie McKee
23. Gotta Get Up from Here - Ellie Lawson
24. I'm Feeling You - Santana & Michelle Branch
25. Work - Jimmy Eat World
26. Behind These Hazel Eyes - Kelly Clarkson
27. 1 Thing - Amerie
28. Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day
29. Club Foot - Kasabian
30. Testify - Common
31. Speed of Sound - Coldplay
32. Heard 'Em Say - Kanye West & Adam Levine
33. Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
34. The Mixed Tape - Jack's Mannequin
35. Dreamgirl - Dave Matthews Band
36. Ashes - Embrace
37. Chocolate - Snow Patrol
38. Bullet and a Target - Citizen Cope
39. The Corner - Common, the Last Poets & Kanye West
40. A Lifetime - Better Than Ezra
41. Stars and Boulevards - Augustana
42. Home - Marc Broussard
43. Get Back - Ludacris
44. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing - Jack Johnson
45. Son's Gonna Rise - Citizen Cope & Santana
46. American Baby - Dave Matthews Band
47. Better Days - Goo Goo Dolls
48. Beverly Hills - Weezer
49. When in Rome - Nickel Creek
50. All Because of You - U2
51. Who Did You Think I Was? - John Mayer Trio
52. Some Hearts - Carrie Underwood
53. Trouble - Bonnie McKee
54. The One I Love - David Gray
55. Mind on the Road - Reverend Run
56. My Doorbell - The White Stripes
57. Original of the Species - U2
58. Revolution - Eric Clapton
59. Used to Love U - John Legend
60. City of Blinding Lights - U2
61. Inside Your Heaven - Carrie Underwood
62. Back to Me - Kathleen Edwards
63. Collide - Howie Day
64. When the President Talks to God - Bright Eyes
65. World On Fire - Sarah McLachlan
66. Chariot - Gavin DeGraw
67. Just Feel Better - Santana & Steven Tyler
68. In the Rough - Anna Nalick
69. Pon de Replay - Rihanna
70. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
71. Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray
72. O' Sailor - Fiona Apple
73. You Gonna Love Me - Da Backwudz
74. Sugar, We're Goin Down - Fall Out Boy
75. Be Yourself - Audioslave
76. Walk Tall - John Mellencamp
77. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
78. Bad Day - Daniel Powter
79. Go! - Common, John Mayer & Kanye West
80. Landing in London - 3 Doors Down & Bob Seger
81. One Love - Hootie & the Blowfish
82. The Harder They Come - Willie Nelson
83. Your Time Has Come - Audioslave
84. Let Me Go - 3 Doors Down
85. Be the Girl - Aslyn
86. Right To Be Wrong - Joss Stone
87. Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz
88. DOA - Foo Fighters
89. She Said - Brie Larson
90. Talk - Coldplay
91. Perfect Situation - Weezer
92. Who We Are - Hope Partlow
93. Till I Get to You - Nikka Costa
94. 4ever - The Veronicas
95. She Says - Howie Day
96. Everything to Me - Liz Phair
97. Empty Room - Marjorie Fair
98. Dance, Dance - Fall Out Boy
99. I Wasn't Prepared - Eisley
100. Give a Little Bit - Goo Goo Dolls


Preview most of these songs and download them DRM free from Amazon MP3 using the widget below:


Thursday, December 29, 2005

Best Mash-Ups of 2005


One of the coolest musical innovations in recent memory is the mash-up. For those that may not be familiar with the term, it is when you take the vocals from one song and place them over the instrumental from a different song. This technique was popularized last year when a DJ by the name of Danger Mouse took Jay-Z’s The Black Album and mashed it up with the Beatles White Album to create the Grey Album. Since then the art form has exploded with DJ getting more creative and sometimes mashing up five or more different song at the same time. So to honor the brilliance of this new art form I decided to list the best mash-up I have heard for the first time this past year. I tried to give credit to the creator of the mash-up, but due to some poor labeling, some have gotten lost and I even had to create a name for a few mash-ups that I discovered nameless. Please do not ask for me to send you any of these songs because for legal reasons I cannot confirm or deny that any of these songs actually exist not that I would illegally download copyrighted material even though that material has been altered from any version that could be bought. If you want the unaltered album version, I will list some of the songs featured in the mash-ups in parentheses.


1. Boulevard of Broken Songs - Dean Gray (Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dream; Oasis – Wonderwall)
2. Spending One of These Nights with Kelly - Aggro1 (The Eagles – One of these Nights; Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone)
3. You're The One I Want in the Next Episode - Artist Unknown (Songs from Grease; Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg – The Next Episode - 2001)
4. Behind These Immigrant Eyes - Aggro1 (Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song; Kelly Clarkson – Behind These Hazel Eyes)
5. Karmastition - Artist Unknown (Alicia Keys – Karma; Stevie Wonder – Superstition)
6. It Takes a New Sensation - Big Ruckus (INXS – New Sensation; Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock – It Takes Two)
7. We Will Rock and Roll You - DJ Matt Hite (Joan Jett – I Love Rock and Roll; Queen – We Will Rock You; 50 Cent – In da Club)
8. Yoshimi Battles Snoop Dogg - DJ BC (Snoop Dogg – Song Unknown; The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots)
9. Make Love in Ohio F*** War - Aggro1 (Public Enemy – Make Love F*** War; Crosby Stills Nash and Young – Ohio)
10. Somebody Rock Me - Party Ben (The Clash – Rock the Kasbah; The Killers – Somebody Told Me)
11. Rock wit Hurt - Aggro1 (Johnny Cash – Hurt; Ashanti – Rock wit You)
12. Behind This Summer Madness - Aggro1 (Kelly Clarkson – Behind These Hazel Eyes; Kool and the Gang – Summer Madness)
13. Drop When The World Ends Freak - Aggro1 (Snoop Dogg – Drop it Like it’s Hot; Dave Matthews Band – When the World Ends; Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On)
14. Feel Like Making La-Di-Da - FiDELSKi – (Bad Company – Feel Like Making Love; Slick Rick – La-Di-Da-Di)
15. Left You a Closing Lullaby - BigBadBaz (Avalanches – Song Unknown; Semisonic – Closing Time; Shawn Mullins – Lullaby)
16. Oblateeth - bass 211 (Obie Trice – Got Some Teeth; The Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da)
17. Nothing In It's Right Place - DJ BC (The Roots – Don’t Say Nothin'; Radiohead – Song Unknown)
18. How We Do Cocaine - DJ Spenny (Eric Clapton – Cocaine; 50 Cent – How We Do)
19. Tipsy Bros - Artist Unknown (J-Kwon – Tispy; The Blues Brothers)
20. Thundertrain - DJ Over-EZ (AC/DC – Thunderstruck; Quad City DJ's – C’mon ‘N’ Ride It)
21. Somebody Told Me to Feel Good - Aggro1 (Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.; The Killers – Somebody Told Me)
22. What I Got is Two Turntables – Artist Unknown (Beck – Where it’s At; Sublime – What I Got)
23. Dope Man Stew - Listen up! (N.W.A. – Dope Man; Green Day – Brain Stew)
24. Hey Ladies Night - DJ BC (Beastie Boys – Hey Ladies; Kool and the Gang – Ladies Night; Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want to Have Fun)
25. I Ain't Got Daughters - c.h.a.o.s productions – (Alicia Keys – If I Ain’t Got You; John Mayer – Daughters)

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Best Videos of 2005


Luckily I have this best/worst lists to fall back on this week because there is very little else to talk about. We are still about three weeks until we get new television shows. There doesn’t look like any music worth reviewing in the near future as the were the big release this week and the next and I’m too old to like the Ying Yang Twins and not pretentious enough to listen to The Strokes. Even though I didn’t get any DVD’s for Christmas (well a concert and , which is not to be confuesed with the movie that I will never see, don’t really count), I’ll probably still have a few DVD reviews next week as I most likely pick up the Extended Version and I believe comes out next week. And I plan on watching Star Wars Episodes I-III on New Years Eve and Episodes IV-VI on New Years and have a complete review of the series too. But I have to check to make sure I can get all the movies in without messing with other festivities because Dick Clack would be disappointed if I miss his party this year. As for today, I’m counting down the best videos of the past year. To view the videos, click on the artist’s name and it will lead you to their video page in Yahoo or AOL where you can click to play it. If you click on the song name it will lead you to the song in iTunes. Feel free to leave your favorite videos of 2005 in the comment section.


1. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing -
2. Diamonds From Sierra Leone -
3. World On Fire -
4. All These Things That I've Done -
5. Doesn't Remind Me -
6. - Beck
7. Wake Me Up When September Ends -
8. Mr. Brightside - The Killers
9. Heard 'Em Say (Department Store Version) - Kanye West & Adam Levine
10. Original of the Species -
11. Perfect Situation -
12. O' Sailor -
13. Soul Meets Body -
14. Beverly Hills - Weezer
15. Girl - Beck
16. Gold Digger - Kanye West & Jamie Foxx
17. Dreamgirl -
18. Get Back -
19. Take Me Out -
20. Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own - U2
21. Since U Been Gone -
22. Sugar, We're Going Down -
23. Helena -
24. Walk Tall -
25. These Words -
26. We Are All On Drugs - Weezer
27. American Baby - Dave Matthews Band
28. Heard 'Em Say (Cartoon Version) - Kanye West & Adam Levine
29. - Ben Folds
30. Talk -

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

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:






Monday, December 26, 2005

Worst Songs of 2005


It seems as the years go by the music on the radio gets worse and worse. Even though I severely limited my radio listening this year thanks to my iPod and my custom made radio station on yahoo (check out the side bar if you give it a listen), every once I’d tune in just to see if they started playing anything good, and the resounding answer was no. Before I list the overplayed crap, I would make special note of Kevin Federline who released a song to the internet that I heard pieces of because I’m sure had I heard it in it’s entirely it or new its name would have made this list. And to Kevin, I’m pretty sure everyone will hate a lot longer than 2008. Now here are the worst forty songs the corroded the air worse than any Hummer could and in honor of the top 40 radio stations that have ruined radio even though I bet playlists are down to 25-30 these day (Feel free to leave the songs that really irritated you this year in the comment section):


1. Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father) - Lindsay Lohan
2. Rich Girl - Gwen Stefani & Eve
3. L.O.V.E. - Ashlee Simpson
4. Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
5. Like You - Lil’ Bow Wow & Ciara
6. Get Right - Jennifer Lopez
7. Laffy Taffy - DL4
8. Twisted Transistor - Korn
9. Lose Control - Missy Elliot, Ciara, & Fat Man Scoop
10. Hung Up - Madonna
11. One, Two Step - Ciara & Missy Elliot
12. Mockingbird - Eminem
13. Oh - Ciara & Ludacris
14. When I’m Gone - Eminem
15. Over and Over - Nelly & Tim McGraw
16. Wordplay - Jason Mraz
17. It’s Like That - Mariah Carey
18. Caught Up - Usher
19. Goodies - Ciara & Petey Pablo
20. Do Somethin’ - Britney Spears
21. Cold - Crossfade
22. The Ghost of You - My Chemical Romance
23. Solider - Destiny’s Child, Lil' Wayne, & T.I.
24. Grillz - Nelly, Paul Wall, Ali, & Gipp
25. Shake it Off - Mariah Carey
26. The Great Divide - Scott Stapp
27. Get it Poppin’ - Fat Joe & Nelly
28. Bat Country - Avenged Sevenfold
29. Candy Shop - 50 Cent & Olivia
30. Photograph - Nickelback
31. Just Want You to Know - Backstreet Boys
32. I'm Not Okay (I Promise) - My Chemical Romance
33. Untitled - Simple Plan
34. Blue Orchid - The White Stripes
35. Helena (So Long & Goodnight) - My Chemical Romance
36. Don’t Lie - Black Eyed Peas
37. Have a Nice Day - Bon Jovi
38. Don't Cha- Pussycat Dolls & Busta Rhymes
39. How We Do - The Game & 50 Cent
40. Don’t Phunk with My Heart - Black Eyed Peas

Friday, December 23, 2005

The Worst Albums of 2005


Before I get into the list, anyone who is smart probably has stopped watching Saturday Night Live after the Sandler, Myers, Rock era ended, yet for some reason I still turned but last week I was treated to the funniest sketch since the S/M/R era featuring Chris Parnell and newbie Andy Samburg. If you know what I’m talking about iTunes and NBC have given us a Christmas present in the form of the sketch for free download. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t go into it that much it as it will slightly ruin the hilarity, but watch out for the line "You can call us Aaron Burr by the way we're dropping Hamiltions." You definitely want to download it. Unfortunately iTunes doesn’t have a feature where you can link to videos but if you click on any of my iTunes links and go to the store’s main page, it’s will rotate on one of the top ads. So go ahead and download it, it’s free and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

And before I get into the best of coming after Christmas, I first want to start with those albums that you should all avoid. I would like to note that this list was compiled from albums that I reviewed this year and may not truly represent the worst of the worst, just those that I was willing to listen to. I’m sure albums released this year by Madonna, Korn, or the dude from Creed were even worst than most of the albums on the list, but I couldn’t bring myself to give them a listen. If there were any albums you absolutely hated in the past year feel free to leave them in the comment section. For those that are interested to check these albums on the list out, the link on the album goes directly to iTunes (and you can use it to get to the SNL skit too) while the links in the parentheses go to my original reviews.



1. A Little More Personal (Raw) – Lindsay Lohan (You Turned Something So Good So Bad)
2. The Real Thing – Bo Bice (Is He All the Things You Tried to Change Me Into)
3. I Am Me – Ashlee Simpson (Hey How Long Till You Face What’s Going On)
4. Switch – INXS (It Ain’t Pretty After the Show)
5. A Bigger Bang – The Rolling Stones (I Think I Made the Biggest Mistake of My Life)
6. Get Rich or Die Trying Soundtrack (The Top Is So Much Better Than the Bottom, Yet More Boring)
7. All the Right Reasons – Nickelback (I Guess it Wasn’t Really Right)
8. Almost Honest – Josh Kelley (Hard Times Happen)
9. Mr. A-Z – Jason Mraz (It Takes a Thought to Make a Sound)
10. Tommyland: The Ride – Tommy Lee (I’d Rather Play You on My TV)
11. Somebody’s Miracle – Liz Phair (Do You Really Know Me at All)
12. TP.3 Reloaded – R. Kelly (I Hope Y’all Got Yo Playa Cards)
13. Unpredictable – Jamie Foxx (Things Have Come So Mundane)
14. Oh No – OK Go (Who’s House Are You Haunting Tonight)

15. Seventeen Days – 3 Doors Down (If I Get Boring Would You Still Call Me Superman)

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Things Have Become So Mundane


Unpredictable - Jamie Foxx

Musical history is littered with no hit wonders of actors who tried to sing like and . Even those who manage to score a hit or two like still lack any credibility from critics or true music fans. But the preconceived notions of actor turned musician shouldn’t be hung upon because unlike the dude from and the like, Foxx is a classically trained pianist who even landed a scholarship because of it. Also his appearances on the two albums were surprisingly good. So with that said, Foxx’s new release, Unpredictable, could possibly not be just another vanity record like any Dogstar record.

Unpredictable if fact isn’t even Foxx’s first music album as he put out a little heard album in the early 90’s. Unfortunately the new album would fit in the time period because many of the songs on this album would fit well in the era when R&B songs like Do Me, Freak Me, and Knockin da Boots ruled the charts. Many songs on the album are littered with sophomoric lyrics like, “Do you want to get high, you want to get fired up, you want to get sexed, you want to get tied up?” (Do What It Do). Personally I’ll pass. Then there’s “I know you’re used to dinner and a movie, why not be my dinner while making a movie” (Unpredictable). I guess they can name that movie Booty Call II. Then there is Three Little Words where Foxx ends every line in the song by singing “sex.” I have a feeling those three little words really don’t have anything to do with love.

What is most disappointing is that even though he’s a skilled pianist who easily learned all the parts for his role as , there is very little piano on the album and Foxx instead primary sings over aggravated hip hop beats. And even the litany of credible artist can’t save these songs. shows up on the trite duet Love Changes that Mary wisely didn’t include on her album that was also released this week (see my review - Anybody Who's Ever Loved You Know Just What I Feel). Then Kanye gives an uninspired verse on Extravaganza while , , , also lend sophomoric raps to go along with the songs they are on.

The album starts to get better near the end with the appearance of on U Still Got It (Interlude). That is followed by a glimpse of what the album should have been with Heaven where Foxx is on the piano with little accompaniment singing a love song in vein of . The album is capped off with the emotional Wish U Were Here, a touching song about the Grandmother who raised him. Sadly these songs were too little too late to save the album.

Song to Download – Heaven

Unpredictable gets a Terror Alert Level: Guarded [BLUE] on my Terror Alert Scale.