Favorite CDs of the '00s -- #45 to #41

45. BLEU - "Redhead"
(Aware, 2003)

Owsley's debut album dropped in 1999, so I guess that means power-pop albums this good by single-named solo artists come along about twice in a decade. This poor guy was lingering unappreciated in my library for a long time, until picking up his new album a few months ago refreshed my memory. "That's When I Crash" ... "Something's Gotta Give" ... "We'll Do It All Again" ... there's nothing like the aural bliss of Bleu.

44. RELISH - "Wildflowers"
(EMI/UK, 2001)

Frontman Ken Papenfus unintentionally did a pretty good Lenny Kravitz impersonation, but other than that this Irish rock band was unique and very enjoyable. Their semi-spiritual anthem "Rainbow Zephyr" was so amazing that Westlife did a lousy cover of it (cringe-inducingly titled "Hey Whatever"). Other highlights on this debut include the breezy ballad "You I'm Thinking Of" and the rocker "Heart-Shaped Box" (no, not the Nirvana hit).

43. RUFUS WAINWRIGHT - "Want One"
(Dreamworks, 2003)

There's nobody out there like Rufus, and it's probably a good thing, 'cause the world wouldn't know what to do with a second one. This was his album of the moment when I saw Rufus live, so consequently several of its tracks -- "Beautiful Child", "I Don't Know What It Is", "Vibrate", "Oh What a World", "Go Or Go Ahead" -- stick out firmly in my mind. I still don't know why I'm not more of a fan of his than I am.

42. NELLIE McKAY - "Get Away From Me"
(Columbia, 2004)

She's a feminist spitfire with the singing voice of Doris Day, the rhyming chops of Eminem, the scathing wit of George Carlin, and the gumption to insist on releasing a double-disc album as her debut (not to mention making its title a sly jab at Norah Jones). She effortlessly ricochets between traditional jazz vocal stylings, hip-hop, and contemporary pop ... and amazingly, she makes them all sound right at home side-by-side.

41. McFLY - "Motion In The Ocean"
(Universal/UK, 2006)

On their third album, the British emo-pop band took a step back toward the fun-loving cheekiness of their debut, although I somewhat missed the moody growing pains of their sophomore effort. That's not to say this album doesn't have moments just as shining as ever, like "Bubblewrap", "Star Girl", "Little Joanna", and one of my absolute favorite songs of all time, the amazing "Transylvania" (which alone pushed this album more than ten notches up!).