#1 - Beck - Sea Change
Our greatest pop ironist gets introspective and delivers his finest album yet, a
collection of heartbreaking tunes about heartbreak. Beck's weary vocals and plain
lyrics combine with the atmospheric production of Nigel Godrich to form a pitch
perfect profile in emotional pain.
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#2 - Counting Crows - Hard Candy
The band's studio skills have caught up with Adam Duritz's knack for
penning and performing songs that deserve to be instant classics. Each
track on this album tops the one before it.
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#3 - Ron Sexsmith - Cobblestone Runway
Last year's Blue Boy is one of my favorite albums, period, and Sexsmith
doesn't quite match it with this effort but he comes damn close. He has
a gift for melody and song construction rivaled by few of his peers.
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#4 - Badly Drawn Boy - Have You Fed the Fish?
Damon Gough has put together another exhilirating and theatrical concept album,
though I'm not entirely sure what that concept is. His pop songwriting is as good
as it gets -- this album has throwaway half-songs that are better than most people's singles.
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#5 - Eminem - The Eminem Show
Eminem's excellent third album sticks to the pattern of his previous two but finds him in a more
serious mood, exploring changes in his relationships with his daughter, mother and ex-wife
against the backdrop of his public persona.
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#6 - Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
A haunting transmission from some post-apocalyptic vision of Earth's
future -- YHF is a cinematic album, sad and disorienting but ultimately
hopeful. And it still manages to swing and rock like a son of a bitch.
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#7 - Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
Coldplay's sophomore effort is the kind of album Radiohead used to make before
they got all artsy. Soaring melodies, divine piano work, a driving rhythm section, orchestral
flourishes and Fran Healy's strong but wounded vocals form a winning combination.
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#8 - Aimee Mann - Lost in Space
Like Sexsmith, Aimee Mann has the difficult task of making a follow-up to on one of
the great all-time albums, Bachelor No. 2. This sweetly sublime exploration of addiction
and loss is not a masterpiece but it keeps Mann's winning streak alive.
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#9 - Elvis Costello - When I Was Cruel
Elvis bounces back from a decade long easy-listening "slump" with this
rowdy, grungy return to his roots. His lyrical and melodic nuance remains
intact but this album is refreshingly aimed more at the gut than the head.
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#10 - Ben Folds - Ben Folds Live
Just Ben at his piano pounding out 17 super songs, mostly from the Ben
Folds Five catalog. Few musicians can turn one instrument into a carnival
the way Folds does and even fewer have the songwriting chops to back it up.
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