STP, Keys lead way for
2001 albums
Cougar Entertainment Services
Anybody who was anybody released an album
this year. From comeback albums from Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney
to current
chart-toppers Britney Spears and Jay-Z,
Y2K-plus-one by most standards was a good one.
We mourn the losses of various musicians
from Aaliyah to George Harrison, and hope that 2002 sees even brighter
stars. With that said, a
group of Daily Cougar staffers got together
and compile the best albums of 2001:
Ed De La Garza, assistant editor
3.) Incubus, Morning View (Epic Records)
Incubus is one of those rare bands that
re-invents itself with each album. Despite that, Morning View came off
as a surprise, especially with
the band's early history as a nu-metal
act.
"Nice To Know You," "Wish You Were Here"
(not a cover of the Pink Floyd song) and "Just A Phase" blare at the right
moments, but they're
tranquil head-bobbing songs. They do the
unthinkable and actually create a mood rather than drown the listener with
noise.
But the real gem is the closing "Aqueous
Transmission," made even better by Brandon Boyd's unique vocal style.
2.) Powderfinger, Odyssey Number Five (Universal
Records)
Powderfinger was a new breed of rock band.
Bernard Fanning's voice was an odd mix of David Bowie and Barry Gibb. The
music swayed
at the right moments, built to catchy
choruses and cut out before it got old.
Odyssey Number Five got lost amid the shuffle
of more popular American bands, but it was an impressive international
debut (the band
had released two albums in its native
Australia).
The album's shining moments, "Waiting For
The Sun," "Up & Down & Back Again" and "We Should Be Together Now"
showcased a band
that should eventually be as popular here
as it is Down Under.
1.) Stone Temple Pilots, Shangri-La Dee
Da (Atlantic Records)
STP's fifth album came at a time when lead
singer Scott Weiland finally got his life in order. His drug problems seemed
to be a thing of the
past, and for the first time in the band's
history, a majority of his lyrics didn't deal with hallucinogenic metaphors.
Shangri-La Dee Da combined what had been
STP's two personalities — one being catchy alternapop and the other nu-metal
forefathers.
The album started off with the made-for-mosh
pit "Dumb Love," "Coma" and "Hollywood Bitch," with the catchy first single
"Days of the
Week" sandwiched in.
But it was the delicate "Wonderful," trippy
"Bi-Polar Bear" and ode to newborn son "A Song for Sleeping" that made
this album the best of
STP's career. It may not have been as
popular as previous efforts, but the band's on the cusp of producing a
classic work.
Jake McKim, staff writer
3.) Yes, it's a boy band, and yes, its
members would be considered the "dorks" of your old high school, but 'NSync,
led by the tremendously
talented Justin Timberlake, now deserves
to be taken seriously.
The multi-platinum group emerged in 2001
as the boy band on the strength of Celebrity (Jive Records) one of the
hottest, catchiest, most
undeniable albums of the year. The album's
second single, "Gone," could end up being the most well-received song of
the year, and its first
single, "Pop," was popular enough to push
sales of the album over the five million mark.
2.) Miss E … So Addictive (Elektra Records)
is easily the coolest, beat-bumping, jigg-inducing album of 2001, and it
really doesn't have a
whole lot to do with the artist, Missy
Elliott.
Well, she deserves some credit for contributing
her sing-along choruses and quirky, nonsensical rhymes, but heavyweight
producer
Timbaland gets the majority of the props
on this one for lending his off-the-wall, tripped-out, head-bobbing beats.
Miss E … So Addictive starts off strong
and never lets up, bumping from one track to the next and never allowing
the listener time to breathe
— which is a good thing.
From "One Minute Man" to "Get Ur Freak
On" to this album left all other hip-hop albums in the dust in 2001.
1.) Finally, the year's top album has to
be Alicia Keys' Songs In A Minor (J Records.) Keys came blasting out of
the gate with the year's
biggest single, "Fallin'," before we even
knew who she was. The album didn't let us down, capturing her smooth, jazzy
vocals and
much-too-advanced-for-her-age songwriting
ability.
Keys provided a welcome alternative from
the stripped-down female r&b artists who concentrate more on showing
skin than writing quality
material. The best part? This is probably
just the beginning for Keys. The 20-year-old's best stuff is yet to come.
Ellen Simonson, chief copy editor
3.) David Byrne's record label Luaka Bop
very quietly released one of the greatest albums of the year in Jim White's
No Such Place. The
album's experimental-yet-catchy, eerie-yet-cheerful
sound is unlike anything I've ever heard, and even after repeated listening,
it retains a
serious lyrical and musical impact. Yay
for Jim White.
2.) The Butchies' 3 (Mr. Lady Records)
is a short, powerful rock 'n' roll record with acerbic, insightful lyrics,
punk-rock riffs and an
intelligent-yet-riotous attitude. When
I first heard it I wanted to call it the reinvention of rock 'n' roll,
except who am I to say what the
reinvention of rock 'n' roll is? Nonetheless,
I'd say that anybody who's ever loved rock music owes it to him- or herself
to purchase, and love,
this album.
1.) I would nominate Robert Earl Keen's
Gravitational Forces (Lost Highway Records) as the best album of 2001 solely
on the basis of one
song: his cover of Townes Van Zandt's
"Snowin' On Raton." I've listened to that song hundreds of times and it
never gets less poignant or
masterful. Luckily, Keen's own compositions
on the album are brilliant as well, especially the drought song "Not a
Drop of Rain." Keen is
most famous for party songs like "The
Road Goes On Forever," but his songwriting is often far more serious; he's
as talented as anyone in
music at capturing the feel of the small
towns and wide open spaces of Texas, and for that I salute him.
