Question:
I don’t know if there is a specific place to post this, if there is, I am sorry. I was making my “best of” lists for the years 2000-05 and it just struck me that 2001 was a thin year for good music. There were some great and even breakthrough releases (The Strokes, Gorillaz, and Alicia Keys) but it just seems like there wasn’t a lot of really good music that came out that year. Here I have my picks for 2001 and a poll on what you think was the best album of that year. Maybe some of you could shine some light on some other great music that came out in 2001. Thanks

1. Bob Dylan- Love and Theft
2. The Strokes- Is This It
3. Radiohead- Amnesiac
4. The White Stripes- White Blood Cells
5. Björk- Vespertine
6. Gorillaz- Gorillaz
7. Alicia Keys- Songs in A Minor
8. System of a Down- Toxicity
9. Jay-Z- The Blueprint
10. Tool- Lateralus

Choices:
Bob Dylan- Love and Theft
The Strokes- Is This It
Radiohead- Amnesiac
The White Stripes- White Blood Cells
Björk- Vespertine

 

Of those, I voted for Dylan, with Radiohead a close second and the Stripes third. At the time, Dylan was my number one, but now my number one is Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire's The Swimming Hour, which did make my Top Five back then, but with each passing moment, the Bird album seems more audacious and accomplished in its presentation of the history of 20th century American music, basically all done as originals by Bird & Co. I'm talking about jazz, blues, country, baroque, pop, soul, doo-wop, rock. But it never feels like a gimmick. It's just one great song after another, all tied together as some kinda groundbreaking Beatlesish record with a whirlwind violinist playing his best chops and singing like an angel. Damn, now I'm overselling it, but it's still really good. Plus Bird's lyrics are weirder, funnier and scarier than most anybody else's.

Some other fantastic albums from 2001:

Idlewild: 100 Broken Windows
The Shins: Oh, Inverted World
Spoon: Girls Can Tell
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: B.R.M.C.
Whiskeytown: Pneumonia
Frank Black & The Catholics: Dog In The Sand
Guided By Voices: Isolation Drills
New Pornographers: Mass Romantic
Sparklehorse: It's A Wonderful Life
Clem Snide: The Ghost Of Fashion
Stephen Malkmus: Stephen Malkmus

I don't think it was weak year for music at all. Honestly, I think I can rattle off more albums I really loved from 2001 than I can from 2005.

Off the poll list, I voted for the White Stripes. I suppose Dylan would be second followed by the Strokes and Radiohead.

Some of my favorite albums from 2001 include:
Luna Live
Slackers Wasted Days
Robert Johnson & the Punchdrunks Fried on the Altar of Good Taste
Kirsty MacColl Tropical Brainstorm
Jeremy Morris Pop Rules
Lucinda Williams Essence
Chitlin' Fooks Chitlin' Fooks
Gein and the Grave Robbers Hang 10
Ryan Adams Gold (probably my favorite of '01 or close to tie with the White Stripes)
Jay Farrar Sebastopol
David Grahame One Brick Short
Destination:Earth Adventures in Newspace
Beachwood Sparks Once We Were Trees
The Tyde Once
Shelby Lynne Love, Shelby
Shy Nobleman How To Be Shy
Silver Dollar Sunday The Lolas
Into the Sun P76
Femi Kuti Fight to Win
Pernice Brothers The World Won't End
The Come Ons Hip Check
Detroit Cobras Life, Love and Leaving
Reigning Sound Break Up Break Down
The Be Good Tanyas Blue Horse
Tanto Metro & Devonte The Beat Goes On
Wagon Christ Musipal
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Ease Down the Road
The Chevelles Sunseekers

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
Some other fantastic albums from 2001:
Idlewild: 100 Broken Windows
The Shins: Oh, Inverted World
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: B.R.M.C.
New Pornographers: Mass Romantic

Those were all released in 2000

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
Some other fantastic albums from 2001:
Idlewild: 100 Broken Windows
The Shins: Oh, Inverted World
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: B.R.M.C.
New Pornographers: Mass Romantic

Those were all released in 2000

My copies have 2001 stamped on the back, and all four show up on the 2001 VV Pazznjop list. They may have had earlier release dates in the UK or Canada though.

1 - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Tyranny of Distance
2 - Radiohead – Amnesiac
3 - David Francey – Far End of Summer
4 - Explosions in the Sky – Those Who Tell the Truth...
5 - Califone – Roomsound
6 - Strokes – Is This It
7 - Dismemberment Plan – Change
8 - Ben Folds – Rockin’ the Suburbs
9 - Alkaline Trio – From Here To Infirmary
10 - Lali Puna – Scary World Theory
11 - Shins – Oh, Inverted World
12 - Four Tet – Pause
13 - American Analog Set – Know By Heart
14 - Eels – Souljacker
15 - Gary Jules – Trading Snakeoil For Wolftickets
16 - Jack Johnson – Brushfire Fairytales
17 - Death Cab For Cutie – The Photo Album
18 - Sugarcult – Start Static
19 - Sufjan Stevens – Enjoy Your Rabbit



There's my list. I'm pretty crazy about those first 9 albums, so I guess I don't think it was all that weak of a year.

I wasn't paying as much attention in 2001 as I am now, but to me it seems that it wasn't all that deep a year. Nonetheless, there were at least two gigantic breakthroughs with the Shins and the Strokes, both of which are still relevant (and one is still good). You could also argue that 2001 was the year that the Stripes broke through, and that's kind of a big deal.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
My copies have 2001 stamped on the back, and all four show up on the 2001 VV Pazznjop list. They may have had earlier release dates in the UK or Canada though.

Sorry, I was wrong about the The Shins, but the rest I thought were in 2000 because I found them at allmusic.com here:

Idlewild - here

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - here

The New Pornographers - here

I just realized I made the stupid and ridiculous error of forgetting Drive-By Truckers' Southern Rock Opera!! It has to be number 4 on my list, kicking Tool out of the top ten completely.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
My copies have 2001 stamped on the back, and all four show up on the 2001 VV Pazznjop list. They may have had earlier release dates in the UK or Canada though.

Sorry, I was wrong about the The Shins, but the rest I thought were in 2000 because I found them at allmusic.com here:

Idlewild - here

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - here

The New Pornographers - here

The Idlewild and BRMC albums definitely have 2001 releases according to your AMG links. BRMC also appartently had a 2000 release, though I believe that they released it earlier in the UK. My US copy is definitely a 2001 release. The only one I'm willing to concede on is the New Pornographers. It apparently only has 2000 and 2003 releases. If it was released in 2000, it was very late 2000, because I don't remember hearing anything about it until 2001. It also was on the 2001 Year End lists for Magnet, The Onion, and PazzNJop.

Hmm...2001 was probably a weaker year than 2000, 2002, and 2003. It had a couple really good releases, but it wasn't particularly deep.

Tier 1: White Stripes

Tier 2: Strokes, Radiohead, Bran Van 3000

Bran Van 3000 being, of course, the most underrated album of the decade.

I thought it was a solid year with 2 "10's" - much better than 2006 IMHO...

1 Bjork - Vespertine
2 Rufus Wainwright - Poses
3 The Strokes - Is This It?
4 The Avalanches - Since I left You
5 Low - Things We Lost In The Fire
6 Lali Puna - Scary World Theory
7 Fugazi - The Argument
8 Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
9 My Morning Jacket - At Dawn
10 Bob Dylan - Love & Theft
11 The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
12 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - BRMC
13 The Faint - Dance Macabre
14 Fourtet - Pause
15 Weezer - Weezer (Green Album)
16 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - The Tyranny Of Distance
17 Spoon - Girls Can Tell
18 Radiohead - Amnesiac
19 Lucinda Williams - Essence
20 Sparklehorse - It's A Wonderful Life

Just to put it in perspective, here's a good year :-

1 Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?
2 The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
3 Captain Beefheart - Safe As Milk
4 Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
5 The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
6 Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
7 The Doors - The Doors
8 The Kinks - Something Else by the Kinks
9 The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground and Nico
10 Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign
11 Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding
12 Cream - Disraeli Gears
13 Harry Nilsson - Pandemonium Shadow Show
14 Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold as Love
15 Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen
16 Miles Davis Quintet - Nefertiti
17 The Rolling Stones - Between the Buttons
18 13th Floor Elevators - Easter Everywhere
19 The Byrds - Younger Than Yesterday
20 The Mothers Of Invention - Absolutely Free

1967 - they really don't make years like that anymore

Yeah that's pretty fair. 2001 in a steel cage against two Beatles albums (Mystery Tour > Sgt. Pepper?) and two Hendrix albums. Stop depressing us and be happy with what you have!

I actually prefer Mystery Tour to Sgt. Peppers - Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever, I Am The Walrus, All You Need Is Love - I can't say that there are 4 songs on Sgt. Peppers to beat those. And don't be sad - 1967 belongs to all of us even if we weren't there when it happened

Same here:

I know that there has to be some new people and also old people that would like to shar their lists of the top albums of 2001 or even mention an album or two.

My personal list has changed quite a bit, so I will need to re-post it. Personally, I love these kind of lists because it gives us a chance to debate some choices and also find new stuff that we have't heard.

Here's my ten for 2001...

Ted Leo - Tyranny of Distance
Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs
Spoon - Girls Can Tell
The Shins - Oh Inverted World
Beulah - The Coastline is Never Clear
Ozma - Rock and Roll pt 3
Rival Schools - United By Fate
White Stripes - White Blood Cells
My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
Jimmy Eat World - s/t (Bleed American)

Possible inclusion of Tool's "Lateralus," because even though I'm over my Tool phase that album was pretty rockin'.

Well, I think THIS top ten is really strong:
I made it a year or so ago, and the order is probably different, but all of the albums are still really good.

01. Sigur Rós: Agaetis Byrjun
02. Ted Leo/Pharmacists: The Tyranny of Distance
03. The Avalanches: Since I Left You
04. The Strokes: Is This It?
05. Jay-Z: The Blueprint
06. Andrew Bird: The Swimming Hour
07. Explosions in the Sky: Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever
08. The Shins: Oh, Inverted World
09. Spoon: Girls Can Tell
10. Daft Punk: Discovery

Also good: Bob Dylan, Bjork, the Microphones, the Dismemberment Plan

01. The first Sigur Rós album anyone heard, still one of the best in this decade, still amazing - unique is an understatement.
02. Ted Leo's greatest and one of the best pop albums of the 2000s
03. The Avalanches' incredible sampled masterpiece
04. The Strokes aren't amazing, but this is just a solid, great debut rock album
05. Jay Z's best (besides Reasonable Doubt?) - one braggadocio rap album that actually works
06. Andrew Bird = genius
07. helllll yes
08. The Shins made a really good debut, and it is really refreshing pop music.
09. Spoon's "cleanest" album out of their fantastic repertoire.
10. Daft Punk's now classic "Discovery" is the dance album of the decade, so far.

I still disagree with FKA that 2001 was a weak year. I have no problem whipping up a quick top ten.

1. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
2. Spoon - Girls Can Tell
3. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
4. Stephen Malkmus - S/T
5. The Strokes - Is This It
6. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - BRMC
7. Radiohead - Amnesiac
8. Bob Dylan - Love And Theft
9. Mark Kozelek - What's Next To The Moon
10. Whiskeytown - Pneumonia