Pitchfork published their list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s last week, and the net has a bunch of opinions about the matter, but none as interesting as this one: the lack of veteran performers. As you can see, this link is to a website dedicated to musicians who have performed for 25 or more years. Pitchfork gives up only 4 out of 200 to veterans, and surprisingly does not include either of Bob Dylan's masterpieces of the decade, Modern Times or Love and Theft, or Brian Wilson's Smile. Weird.
Everyone has a list of omissions, and mine includes: the Go-Betweens' The Friends of Rachel Worth and Oceans Apart, Mekons' OOOH! and Jon Langford's All the Fame of Lofty Deeds, Orchestre Baobab's Made in Dakar and Specialist in All Styles, Lou Reed's Ecstasy, Steely Dan's Two Against Nature, Tom Waits's Orphans, Madonna's Music, Tom Ze's Jogos de Armar, Maria Muldaur's Heart of Mine: The Love Songs of Bob Dylan, New York Dolls' One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This, Randy Newman's Harps and Angels, Orlando Cachaito Lopez's Cachaito, Marianne Faithfull's new Easy Come Easy Go, and Willie Nelson's new Willie and the Wheel.
Perhaps the most surprising offenses, beyond the above Dylan and Wilson omissions, are the absence of Youssou N'Dour, who released three near-perfect albums over the last 10 years (Nothing's in Vain, Egypt, and Rokku Mi Rokka), and the inclusion of Murray Street by Sonic Youth (their weakest in 25 years?) and the exclusion of two of their finest, NYC Ghosts and Flowers, and Rather Ripped. Of course, there's also the omission of Ornette Coleman's Pulitzer Prize winning Sound Grammar.
That said, Pitchfork's top 50 is pretty good, and though I'd replace most of them with my own favorites (like anyone), I enjoy contemplating their choices. Given their aesthetic, nothing in their top 20 seems ridiculous, which is kind of new for them. But really, people, you didn't hear a better album than Kid A this decade? I'm sorry to hear that. Let me recommend...
What a week! I made it through hours of grading, reading, and tutoring, so I've taken the last couple days off, more or less. I was pulling 10-12 hours days there for a while, so naturally I got a cold. This is happening more and more it seems. Anyway, sneezing and coughing aside, I've had a good couple days off. After my long haul of classes on Thursday, I watched a couple episodes of Battlestar Gallactica on DVD (I'm up to season 3), then the NBC Parks and Recreation, Office, and Community trifecta.
Am I the only one who loves these shows? Sure, everyone loves the Office, but I need to stand up for Parks and Recreation, and Community. I didn't like Parks and Recreation at first either, but the last episode of the first season pulled me in, and now I'm hooked. Yes, I expect Amy Poehler to be funnier too, but she's up to something with this character: she plays an ambitious woman with a huge heart who doesn't know herself or how the world works, and she ends up looking foolish again and again because she just can't conceive of a world that is inherently hurtful. She believes in perseverance and a fair meritocracy; that if she continues to build this park with good will in her heart, she will one day be president. Rather than laugh at her optimism, though, Poehler's character gets you to believe in a just society and a better tomorrow because to believe in them is essential to living, that we need to believe in these things to stay sane and happy; to remain pure at heart in a maelstrom of modernity. Also, it's still kind of funny. We laugh at these characters make asses of themselves, because at our best--at our most earnest--we make asses of ourselves as well. And we're better people for it. Like Christgau says, we all need a little corn in our lives. It helps you shake some of that cynicism out of your head. Poehler's character does that.
As for Community, well, what can I say? I love college (obviously), and this show sums up that strange emotional and temporal space that is college and the college campus. Bake sales and candlelight vigils for victims of government oppression? Check. Dead Poets Society professor who climbs trees and makes his students stand on their desks to feel liberated? Check. Lonely, socially awkward students looking to redefine themselves within a new social environment and failing miserably? Check. All of these are played for laughs, and yet, like Parks and Recreation, its a heartfelt show: we're not laughing at these characters, we're laughing with them. I also think the dialogue is sharp, and Joel McHale, here and on The Soup, is a treasure.
My Friday was also wonderful: Kit made us soup for dinner, which was great for my cold, and her baby Logan sat in his jumper for the first time. We watched him learn to use his legs to jump for about 20 minutes. It was so beautiful. I can't imagine what it's like for Logan right now, learning so much so fast. Then we sat down to watch Dollhouse, which aired its first bad episode. Good premise, but a bad script led to some bad acting. I guess you can't win all the time.
I also discovered Lala for myself. Lala is basically the best music store on the internet. The MP3s are reasonably priced, and you can listen to entire albums at CD quality before you purchase them. You can also buy "web albums" which are very cheap, but you can only listen to them streaming from the website; you cannot download them. But, you can listen to them from any computer anywhere. And even better, there is a program that matches the music on your hard drive to music on Lala, and let's you listen to that music streaming from their website on any computer. Did you catch that? You can stream your entire collection from Lala for free anywhere! Anything they don't own can be uploaded for free as well. It's really amazing, and very forward thinking. They also have a sale going on now for albums listed in Pitchfork's Top 200 albums of the 2000s. A bunch of them are only $2-3, and many are as low as $6. Brilliant. Here's a sample from Lala: [update: Lala closed. Below is a link to Grooveshark.]
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