The last lost Decade. Some albums of the 00's of note.

Let's face it folks, the last decade was really a lost cause in terms of classic albums. With the major labels either investing their hard earned money on government lobbying and the RIAA or giving us flavor of the week autotuned rap garbage, the rock and roller growing up on radio and album rock was left out in the cold.

The last decade gave us the MP3, the LOUD CD, the Copy protect cd, Pro Tools and Auto Tuner but for memorable music, not a lot was heard through all that compressed loud sound. True I bought the Coldplay albums but don't really play them that much. I never did jump on the Radiohead band wagon, I still think Kid A is the most overrated album this side of Is This It by The Strokes. Basically the last decade didn't have an Nirvana, or a Metallica or a Led Zeppelin or Beatles to give it it's own personality. Basically all we got was fragments of what could have been. The last decade also showed MTV and VH1 devoting their time and energy to crap reality shows that nobody in their right minds would have watched. So the only outlet to hear new music was either NPR or from the web. The up and coming bands that Pitchfork or SPIN touted didn't do much for me. I tried to hear what's the next big thing but end in the process got bored with it all. The Grizzly Bear album I heard one good song at Best Buy and bought that, only to find that song was the only decent thing on that album. The Fleet Foxes copied that CSN vocal sound pretty good but it all did was make me go back to the original source.

So what stood out from the last decade here? Let's see.

1. Childish Things-James McMurtry 2006 I'm thinking Just Us Kids was the better album but no song best described the chaos and anger of the decade with We Can't Make It Here which was J.M's retort against the so called Bush policies of that time. And that song still sounds vital two years into the Obama era. McMurtry was on Columbia for most of the 90s with a little help from John Mellencamp but he didn't start making the classic stuff till he moved on to Sugar Hill. If this was the 60's McMurtry might be known as well as Bob Dylan. James would deny this but he is the best protest singer of the 00's, if you don't believe me then look up Cheney's Toy on Just Us Kids for proof. But Childish Things was the more consistent effort.

2. The Stabilisers-Wanna Do The Wild Plastic Brane Love Thing 2007 When Little Steven partnered with Best Buy with his Wicked Cool project albums and bands, I signed on. The dude from E Street Band and The Sopranos had a deep love for the garage rock music of the 60s but still was open minded to hear the latest bands that wouldn't be suitable for the major labels. In fact the best way to hear Little Steven's bands is to check out The Coolest Songs In The World Series (Volume 1 remains the best). And he did put out albums from the likes of Chesterfield Kings, Hawaiian Mud Bombers, The Len Price 3 and The Stabilisers, a UK band that has one part Buzzcocks, one part Sex Pistols and one part MC5 to make a very fine and listenable punk album of 2007 to which I included as the best of that year. Sad to say that the partnership with Best Buy didn't work out and I'm sure the major labels will not even consider releasing this album. Still, the record is worth seeking out for She's A Goth to which this band outrocks The Cramps.

3. The Randy Cliffs-Trixie's Trailer Sales 2003 There's plenty of albums out there that fell under the rader and way under the watchful eye of Billboard or Pitchfork and this band was so much of a local favorite that by the time I got a copy of this album, The Randy Cliffs broke up and then reunited for a couple nights and broke up again. But this is in the spirit of Uncle Tupelo or The Bottlerockets. Meaning three chord guitars turned up and band drunk on PBR and too much smokes make it what it is. It's barstool rock and roll and not for the autotuner rappers out there. It's one of those albums that I brought for a dollar last summer and ended up playing it three times in a row in a single setting. In every decade there's always a band like The Randy Cliffs playing somewhere in a garage and one of the reasons that give me hope for the next decade that some band is playing three chord rowdy roadhouse rock.

4. The Darkness-Permission To Land (edited version) 2003 In terms of hype The Strokes were the most hype, promising us back to basics rock and roll but The Darkness was a close runner up with their over the top rock and Justin Hawkins's vocals that recall Freddie Mercury and probably influencing Adam Lambert in the process. Funny how our radio station was praising The Darkness as the up and coming rock and roll saviors but then slamming them all over the place when the record bombed. Gotta love these back stabbing corporate rock stations eh? But what The Darkness did do was make rock music that was fun again, that I don't think they took themselves that seriously. If they did then they would have not made a G rated version of this record and replaced the F bomb with like sounding catch phases (That Dog Don't Give A Duck) or replacing the C word with another C word (coconut). This does echo the pompous of the late 70s and what Queen was famous for but on the other hand they knew their AC DC chords too. You do see the original F bomb album around in the dollar bins but try to find the hilarious edited version to which they even fuzz out the naked model on front.

5. Delta Moon-Clear Blue Flame 2007 Tom Gray used to be the keyboard playing lead singer for The Brains back in the 80s but after they broke up he picked up a steel guitar and learned to play and also was rediscovered the blues and formed Delta Moon around 2000 (which had the late great Charles Wolff of The Brains on drums). First three albums he had a female singer to provide counterpoint but after Moanin, decided to just sing the songs himself. It's a tossup to which DM would be the best of the decade (Hellbound Train and Going Back Home are just as good) but I decided to go with this album which does include Money Changes Everything done in a bluesier way. Delta moon reminds me also of Creedence Clearwater Revival around the Green River time. This wouldn't sound out of place on John Fogerty albums, in fact I think Tom Gray has done a better job than John has on his last couple efforts. That's saying something.

6. The Townedgers-Pawnshops For Olivia 2008 The second decade of TE rock showed a shift more over toward acoustic rock than the electric feedback of There's Nothing Left (2000) or the power pop goodness of 2002's The Road Less Traveled by the time this album came out the bitterness of broken love and failed relationships almost got the best of Rodney Smith and this record was the result of cleaning out the emotional closet that was his personal life. The interesting part was that much of the recording was taken place during the infamous spring floods to which after recording, the band would go downstairs and try to dry out the basement. And then after the release, the massive 31 foot flood of Cedar Rapids came and damn near destroyed the town. The record remains a powerful statement about love and loss but perhaps the telling part of the album is the final track Behind The Sun. As one relationship dies another begins.

7. Bob Dylan-Love & Theft 2001 While there's good argument that Modern Times was the better of the two, I enjoyed this one a lot more since Bob was in a great playful mood on this record and even if he didn't consider Bush & Cheney to be Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, no other song could sum up the years of Bush & Cheney than that song. Then again Dylan had a great backing band with him too. My opinion this record was his best since 1975's Blood On The Tracks and he still plays a lot of these songs off L&T in concert to this day. That accounts for something.

8. Miranda Lambert-Crazy Ex Girlfriend 2007 While I'm glad that the CMA and Country Music in particular is finally recognizing what this little Texas firecracker did on her Revolution album, they should have acknowledged her on this rough and tumble album. She was part of the Nashville Star show that gave us the big winner Buddy Jewell. But while Buddy made two bland albums for Columbia and disappeared, Miranda made three albums of tough than leather but gentle as a summer breeze songwriting and good country and good rock and roll. In fact Miranda is more rock than country in my estimation and when she gave Steve Earle songwriting credit on her Kerosene song it was clear that she was the real deal. Revolution is still in the BB top 200 and though it's good, Crazy Ex Girlfriend is her classic.

9. Radio Moscow 2007 Budgie/Blue Cheer/Black Sabbath late 60's Psychedelic rock from Story City/Ames Iowa that got released on Alive Records which was home to The Black Keys. And Dan Auerback produced this debut. Parker Griggs is the mastermind of this and I'm certain he must have listened to his dad's music collection to get this vibe. One of the early few of My Space bands that I got floored away by this type of tunes that reminds me of Black Sabbath debut and Budgie's debut. Great debut although the followup album lacked that black magic that made the first such a treat to listen to.

10. Killing Joke-Hosannas From The Basement Of Hell 2006 Before the original guys got back together, they made a one off with Dave Grohl in their S/T 2003 pounding on the drums and then made this 70 minute slab of death metal rock and roll. The Light Bringer goes for 8 plus minutes and never lets up. Killing Joke may have made their two best albums ever in the lost decade, and that was before Youth and Paul Ferguson rejoined. Their latest wasn't bad but it's hard to top this one.


Other albums of note from the lost decade.

REM-Accelerate 2008
Jason & The Scorchers-Halcyon Times 2010
Long-View-Mercury 2003
Them Crooked Vultures 2009
Idlewild-Make Another World 2007
The White Stripes-Elephant 2003
Loretta Lynn-Van Leer Rose 2004
Band Of Bees-Free The Bees 2005
Porcupine Tree-The Incident 2009
Black Stone Cherry-Folklore & Superstition 2008
Belle & Sebastian-The Life Pursuit 2006
Secret Machines-Now Here Is Nowhere 2004
Warren Zevon-The Wind 2003
Teddy Thompson-A Piece Of What You Need 2008
Neil Young-Chrome Dreams 2 2007
Len Price 3-Rentacrowd 2007
The Coolest Songs In The World Volume 1-2007
Alejandro Escovedo-Street Songs Of Love 2010
Wire-Send 2003
Ray Scott-My Kind Of Country 2005
Oasis-Don't Believe The Truth 2005