Favorite CDs of the '00s -- #80 to #71

80. JOHN MAYER - "Continuum"
(Columbia, 2006)

My sister and I saw John Mayer in concert when he was touring with Sheryl Crow a few years ago, and as a result this became my favorite of his albums. When you hear "Vultures", "Gravity", "In Repair", and of course "Waiting On The World To Change", do you even need to ask why?

79. TEDDY THOMPSON - "A Piece of What You Need"
(Verve Forecast, 2008)

His frequent collaborations with Rufus Wainwright are part of what made me a fan of this folk-rockin' guy, and I've become fonder of him with every album he puts out. Check out "In My Arms", "Jonathan's Book", or the irresistible "What's This?!!", and you'll be hooked in no time too.

78. PETER GRANT - "Traditional"
(Universal/UK, 2007)

Looking for Jamie Cullum or Michael Bublé with a deeper voice? You'll love this guy. A great mix of originals ("That's Life" is actually not the Sinatra classic) and cover songs (his version of the Turtles' "Happy Together" is the first one I've liked since the original) makes this a really fun album!

77. THE BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA - "Wolfgang's Big Night Out"
(Surfdog, 2007)

If you've ever wondered what kind of music Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Beethoven, and their contemporaries might have made if they came of age in the 1940's, wonder no more. Not only is listening to it a total blast, but reading the cheeky new titles he's given the pieces is just as much fun.

76. COLDPLAY - "X&Y"
(Capitol, 2005)

I know, this is the album of theirs that is usually people's least favorite, but I'm weird that way ... plus I'm not (yet) a big Colplay fan. But this album has the songs I'm most fond of -- "Fix You", "Speed Of Sound", and "Talk" -- and keeps compelling me to listen to more of them in the near future.

75. ASH - "Free All Angels"
(Kinetic, 2001)

I only bought this album because the record store I frequented at the time (it's gone now, like most) had stacks of them at a rock-bottom price. Over time, I really came to enjoy nearly every song on it, especially "Shining Light", "Burn Baby Burn" and the Oasis-like "There's a Star".

74. SANTANA - "Ultimate Santana"
(Arista, 2007)

Calling it "ultimate" is a stretch, but no other Santana CD contains the Alex Band version of "Why Don't You And I" (probably my favorite Santana song) or the enjoyable "Into The Night" with Chad Kroeger, while also providing a good primer on their earlier, classic oeuvre.

73. HANSON - "This Time Around"
(Island Def Jam, 2000)

Though it was a rather jarring change from the sugary pop of their debut album, this moody follow-up nonetheless had some excellent tunes ("If Only" is by far my favorite), and expertly showcased the mature songwriting that would soon become their stock-in-trade.

72. "WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC - "Poodle Hat"
(Zomba, 2003)

As far as I'm concerned, the originals on this album far outshine the parodies, especially the totally epic Frank Zappa style-parody "Genius In France", the giddy "Hardware Store", and the truly brilliant "Bob", a Dylan takeoff whose lyrics are all palindromic phrases. Phenomen-AL!

71. BASIA - "It's That Girl Again"
(Koch, 2009)

The Polish-born jazz songstress was a favorite of mine during her late-'80s/early-'90s heyday, and I'd been waiting 15 years for her to put out another solo album ... and she didn't disappoint me one bit. If you're looking for something smooth, you needn't look any further than this.

Favorite CDs of the '00s -- #90 to #81

90. "2GETHER" - soundtrack
(TVT, 2000)

MTV's spot-on movie spoof of the boyband phenomenon -- and its cast -- ironically became a big part of it, spawning a sequel TV series and two albums of endearingly warped pop tunes. Who can forget "Say It (Don't Spray It)" and "Me + You = Us (Calculus)"?


89. ELEVEN - "Avantgardedog"
(A&M, 2000)

Apparently nobody had the patience to give this band a fair shake, seeing as how they'd been on three different labels by the time of their fourth album. Goodness knows why, with this tasty batch of boisterous rock jams like "Cool Cruel Baby", "It's Okay", and "Verb".


88. GUSTER - "Keep It Together"
(Reprise, 2003)

Kind-of like a lighter Dave Matthews Band or an acoustic version of Genesis, Guster always delights with their own special brand of folk-rock, dusted with touches of world-music and jazz. "Careful", "Homecoming King", "Amsterdam" and the title track are highlights.


87. TONY BENNETT - "Duets: An American Classic"
(Columbia, 2006)

Do I even need to explain why this album is on my list? With the reigning king of song doing what he does best alongside a veritable who's-who of music, from Streisand to Bono to John Legend to the Dixie Chicks ... maybe I need to explain why it isn't higher on my list.


86. JONAS BROTHERS - "Lines, Vines & Trying Times"
(Hollywood, 2009)

Having gotten bored with their first two Hollywood Records albums, I didn't have high expectations for this one, even though I knew they had gobs of potential. But I was impressed and quite surprised by how fresh and amazing they sounded here ... rock on, Jo Bros!!


85. CHRISTIAN WUNDERLICH - "Reflections"
(BMG/Germany, 2000)

The second and final album from the German actor-turned-singer (and probably -turned-actor again by now) is not really any step forward from his first, but considering the really nice pop tunes here ("Like The Sun", "If I Ever Lose This Love"), that's not a bad thing.


84. SHINY TOY GUNS - "We Are Pilots"
(Universal Motown, 2006)

There's nothing like a nice thick slice of electro-rock dipped in a coating of '80s dance-pop, and nobody does it quite like STG. From "Le Disko" to "Don't Cry Out" to "Chemistry of a Car Crash" to "Rainy Monday", there's not a tune to be missed on this one.


83. SUGARBOMB - "Bully"
(RCA, 2001)

One of the most original and ear-grabbing power-pop acts to come along in quite awhile, they gave us just one sweet-but-explosive album full of rambunctious fun. Unfortunately, the album was released in September, while the nation's attention was understandably elsewhere.


82. FIVE - "Invincible"
(RCA/UK, 2000)

Formed by Simon Cowell as an all-male alternative to the Spice Girls, Five turned out to be my second-favorite boyband of all time. Not only did they pack their albums with fun and catchy songs, but any group that can make rap tolerable to my ears deserves to be on this list.


81. KYLE RIABKO - "Before I Speak"
(Aware, 2005)

This Canadian guitar prodigy had licks that could give John Mayer a run for his money, and a smooth and soulful voice on par with Sam Cooke. Just listen to "Do You Right", the title track, the swaying "Miss Behavin'" and the energetic "Paranoid", and you'll be hooked, too.

Favorite CDs of the '00s -- #100 to #91

100. DAVID ARCHULETA - "David Archuleta"
(Zomba, 2008)

It was the first year I followed "American Idol" from beginning to end. I was won over by his charm and innocence, and stood in his corner from day one. There may not be anything groundbreaking here, but his beautiful voice and natural talent shine right through the production gloss.


99. JONNY LANG - "Long Time Coming"
(A&M, 2003)

I've never cared much for blues music, which is why I'm one of the few people who like this rock-crossover effort far more than any of his other albums. Formulaic though they may be, the songs here excellently demonstrate the range and soulfulness of his amazing voice.


98. KURT NILSEN - "I"
(RCA/Norway, 2004)

There's a reason this guy won not only the "Idol" competition in his native Norway, but also the global "World Idol" showdown ... he can sing like nobody's business. And not only are the original songs great, but the covers (Duran Duran! Tal Bachman!) are the icing on the cake.


97. NATURAL - "Keep It Natural"
(BMG, 2002)

I don't know if they really played their own instruments like Lou Pearlman claimed they did, but these boys (the last product in Papa Lou's falling boyband empire) certainly packed this debut album with a bunch of super-catchy tunes ... definitely a guilty pleasure!


96. IMOGEN HEAP - "Speak For Yourself"
(RCA Victor, 2005)

Dido seemed to be passing the electronica-diva baton to Jem, but Imogen Heap stole it instead, striking a massive hit with the ubiquitous vocorder-acappella single "Hide And Seek", while several other songs from this album became soundtrack staples. More power to her!


95. DANIEL BEDINGFIELD - "Second First Impression"
(Polydor/UK, 2004)

More people seemed to like his danceable debut, "Gotta Get Thru This", but I was more taken with his comparatively laid-back singer-songwriter-like sophomore disc, particularly "The Way", the single "Nothing Hurts Like Love", and the fantastic "Wrap My Words Around You".


94. JOSH HOGE - "Everything She Was"
(Blackledge, 2008)

I'm not familiar with his more popular brother, Will, but I'm really glad I stumbled upon mention of this album on the web. He packs in so many great songs, has such a fine voice, and touches on so many genres -- country, soul, R&B, pop, rock -- that it'll make your head spin!


93. THE SHORE - "The Shore"
(Maverick, 2004)

They couldn't have chosen a more appropriate cover for this album ... a tantalizing blend of jangly California rock and prime '90s Britpop, played through a filter of '60s psychedelia ... imagine what the Eagles might have sounded like if they'd heard Blur or Oasis growing up.


92. "BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON" - soundtrack
(Geffen, 2004)

I've never seen the movie, and have no intention of doing so, but the soundtrack is right up my alley ... Jamie Cullum, Will Young, Rufus Wainwright, and a great duet between Sting and Annie Lennox! Not to mention classics by 10cc and Minnie Riperton ... I think I'll put it on right now...!


91. SARA BAREILLES - "Little Voice"
(Epic, 2007)

Her "little voice" arrived in a big way, resulting in a gold-certified top-ten album. This disc has plenty of enjoyable soul- and R&B-flavored piano-pop songs like "Love On The Rocks", "Morningside", and "Bottle It Up", and is one of the best major-label debuts to come along in quite awhile.

My Favorite CDs of the '00s -- An Introduction

Happy New Year! And with this particular new year comes a new decade ... and with a new decade comes, naturally, a favorites list from the old decade. I know you've hardly had a chance yet to digest my countdown of favorite CDs of the '90s, but I simply can't keep this thing bottled up inside me any longer. Besides, the beauty of a blog is that you are by no means required to read these entries right away; you can do so at your leisure. (And once it gets underway, I intend to have handy-dandy links to each countdown somewhere easily accessible at the top of my blog's homepage.)

The '00s were one crazy decade, weren't they? It boggles the mind when you think about it. When Y2K hit (with none of the techno-chaos we feared it would, I might add), MP3's and blogs were just beginning to spread through the web ... "American Idol", the iPod and iTunes didn't even exist yet (How did we ever get along without iPods?) ... and Ray Charles and Michael Jackson were still alive and singing and entertaining us all (for better or worse). I have to wonder if anyone in the world could have seen how drastically our music listening and consumption habits were about to change. The Decade That Was undoubtedly held the most dramatic amount of change in the most all-encompassing way, that I can't conceive of the incoming decade or any in the future even coming close to topping it in that respect. But anyway, I digress.

I may be shooting myself in the foot here, not only in terms of avoiding exhausting the future subject matter for this blog, but also in terms of avoiding exhausting myself with what's sure to be an intensive flurry of posting. You see, I had originally intended this list to be 75 items long, but, well ... there were enough albums in my collection to warrant expansion of the list to a much rounder number. So, throughout the month of January, I'll be proudly presenting the countdown of my 100 favorite CDs of the 2000's! And, if you can believe it, even taking it to the century mark still left me with a handful of albums that I really wanted to put on the list, but just didn't have room for. But, if I can keep up with preparing the posts in advance like I did with my '90s list, I should be just fine.

As with last month's countdown, it's not meant to be a fully representative cross-section of the popular or noteworthy music of the last decade; rather, it's just what its title says: my favorite CDs of that decade ... meaning it's limited to ones I actually bought, still enjoy listening to, and still feel proud to have as a part of my collection. For that reason, you won't be seeing Kanye West, Franz Ferdinand, Radiohead or Alicia Keys here ... it's not that I necessarily dislike any of those artists, I just haven't bought any of their albums (yet). You'd have to understand what a jaded listener I feel I've become ... it's almost to the point that, unless an artist really grabs me in some way, I'll dismiss them fairly quickly, even if they're critically acclaimed or popular with the public. (And, unfair as it seems, the more I hear about them in the news and on the web and whatnot, the more likely I am to end up ignoring them.) But, I digress again.

So anyway, here comes my list of favorite albums of the just-closed decade. And by the way, if any of you have problems with what I put on this countdown or where I put it (and they might not completely mesh with their relative rankings in my recent annual countdowns ... haven't figured that one out yet), before you leave any snarky comments, I politely refer you to my blog's header graphic -- specifically the phrase nestled underneath the title. So ... prepare to be amazed and/or amused and/or astonished ... the countdown starts tomorrow!

Oh, what the heck ... let's make it 101!

101. JOHNNY MATHIS - "A Night To Remember"
(Columbia, 2008)

I don't know what it is about his voice -- its resonance, its clarity -- but it pulls at my ears like a magnet whenever and wherever I hear it. There's a reason why this guy is one of my favorite "old" singers, and why he's been making records for half a century.

Favorite CDs of the '90s -- NUMBER ONE!

#1. THE CONNELLS - "Ring"
(TVT, 1993)

Based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, The Connells have never had more than a cult following in the United States. This, their sixth album, should have been the one to correct that grave injustice; although it was their most popular (and its single "'74-'75" was a smash hit in Europe), its radio-ready rock recipe still fell short of giving them the mainstream recognition they were aiming for in their homeland. The Connells are most frequently compared to R.E.M. in terms of their "jangle-rock" sound, and though it's an apt comparison, I've just never managed to grow fond of Michael Stipe and company, let alone have the deep fondness for them and their music that stretches back twenty years, as I have with The Connells. Minor U.S. single "Slackjawed", the whimsically acerbic "Doin' You", sprawling ballad "Disappointed", the frantic "Hey You", the elaborate and ear-catching drumming on "Burden", and my all-time favorite Connells song, "New Boy" (with its fantastic guitar hook), all make this album well worth picking up and listening to. I vividly remember first holding this album in my hands -- my mother had been nice enough to pick it up for me at a Tower Records store when I wasn't able to go along on the 90-minute drive into the city. It was a small, boring town that we had just recently moved to, and this CD helped make the two years we lived there pass a little more quickly.

Favorite CDs of the '90s -- #3 and #2

3. BACKSTREET BOYS - "Millennium"
(Jive, 1999)

There are two kinds of music listeners: those who admit this was a good album, and those who refuse to admit it. This is the album for which the Backstreet Boys will forever be remembered, and rightfully so. Not only was it a phenomenal commercial success, but also a critical one, garnering five Grammy nominations including Album of the Year, as well as Record of the Year and Song of the Year for the outstanding centerpiece single "I Want It That Way". The pop perfection is definitely not limited to the chart-topping singles, as Max Martin and the other producers and songwriters seemed to take painstaking care to make every track worth listening to over and over again ... particularly "Don't Want You Back", "Spanish Eyes", and a major favorite of mine, "It's Gotta Be You". Their glory days may be behind them now, but this is a peak they can and should always be proud of.

2. ONE 2 ONE - "Imagine It"
(A&M, 1992)

Here's the pitfall to doing a "favorites" countdown that isn't based on tangible criteria: when you love two albums so much, for different reasons, that you keep teeter-tottering them back and forth between the #1 and #2 spots, as I did in this case. Sure, you can make it a two-way tie, but that's cheating. But calling this my #1 favorite pop album of the '90s is good enough for me. How can I possibly put into words how much I love this album? I'll give it my best effort. Louise Reny's voice is as warm and comfy as your favorite sweater, and every one of the songs is a different sublime slice of pop heaven. I know every track almost note-for-note, and I'm still pissed to this day that they never made a follow-up album. And the icing on the cake: they thanked the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in the liner notes ... how can I not love this album with all my heart?

Favorite CDs of the '90s -- #5 and #4

5. THE ORIGIN - "The Origin"
(Virgin, 1990)

I love this album almost as much for the way I discovered it as for its content. It was the end of the decade, and a good friend of mine from San Diego was in town for a visit. We were in a long-since-gone record shop, and I saw this title in a basket of cassettes that were priced at 50 cents each. So, for curiosity more than anything else, I bought it. The next day we took it along on a day-long drive through the countryside, popped it into the tape deck ... and it was like the album was made just for that occasion. My friend and I loved each and every one of these breezy, folk-tinged rock-pop tunes as they played, and we just let the tape replay over and over again for the whole drive, never getting tired of it. Shortly after he went home a few days later, he succeeded in finding two copies of it on CD -- one for him and one for me. It's been in our list of favorites ever since.

4. OWSLEY - "Owsley"
(Giant, 1999)

Power-pop doesn't get much better than this. Will Owsley, a regular member of Amy Grant's touring band, and busy session musician with a variety of artists (he can be heard most recently on the Jonas Brothers' latest album), struck out on his own in a big way with this self-titled batch of lively tunes, brimming with hummable melodies, packed with clever lyrics, and dressed with plenty of crunchy guitars. The music lover can identify with "Oh No The Radio", sincere sentimentality abounds on "Good Old Days", a mysterious and spooky time is had on "Zavelow House", and quirky paranoia is the order of the day on "The Sky Is Falling". Those are the fantastic songs; the rest of them are only excellent. This is yet another example of a superb album that everyone should know, instead going unnoticed and failing to catapult the artist into stardom the way they should have been.

My Top 15 Favorite Albums of 2009!

Well, folks, I have some bad news: my podcast appears to have died a sudden and tragic death, in the form of my Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio software not wanting to save my recordings anymore. Maybe it's for the better -- for some weird reason, I had started growing apprehensive before doing podcasts recently (one reason that you hadn't been seeing them every month or two for most of the last year); even though I had really been enjoying doing them before then, they had inexplicably turned from a "labor of love" to just plain "laborious". I don't know ... maybe I'll investigate trying to fix the software at some point in the future (usually re-installing it fixes most problems), but I'm just not interested in going through that crap right now. So for this year, at the risk of overloading you with countdowns and lists, I hope a written version of my Favorite Albums of 2009 will do ... and I'll even throw in an extra five for your trouble.

#15 ~ ADAM LAMBERT ~ "For Your Entertainment" (RCA)
Perhaps the ballsiest "American Idol" finalist in the history of the competition, he didn't disappoint with this entertaining album of electro-rock ear-candy ... I just wish I could be as complimentary about the cover art.

#14 ~ WES CARR ~ "The Way The World Looks" (Sony/Australia)
The latest winner of the Aussie "Idol" competition has put out one of the most intriguing and eclectic albums I've ever heard from an "Idol" alum. This totally delightful rock-pop debut is all the evidence one needs to see why he won the competition.

#13 ~ NEWTON FAULKNER ~ "Rebuilt By Humans" (RCA/UK)
The sophomore album by the acoustic folk-rocker is just as good as his first, with enchanting and entertaining songs like "Badman", "Over And Out" and "If This Is It". But will it see a U.S. release, like his debut? It sure deserves one.

#12 ~ BLAKE LEWIS ~ "Heartbreak On Vinyl" (Tommy Boy)
Here's the upside of losing an "Idol" show: you're usually released sooner from your major-label contract, as well as from the artistic restrictions that come with it. The result in Mr. Lewis' case: a delicious pop-tronica album like this!

#11 ~ MIKA ~ "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" (Universal Republic)
No sophomore slump here ... the UK popster's second album is just as chock-full of the technicolor pop goodness that poured forth from his promising debut, but with just a little bit of growth. Can't wait for album number three!

#10 ~ BILLY CRAWFORD ~ "Groove" (Universal/Phillippines)

The fifth album from the Filipino-American R&B singer is a set of delightful renditions of '70s and '80s pop, soul, and R&B tunes, including two Michael Jackson songs. By unfortunate coincidence, this album was released just a couple of weeks before MJ's death in June, but the two songs became what I thought was a fitting tribute to the King of Pop. The whole album is a fun listen for me, as I got to re-discover songs from my music-listening childhood that I had nearly forgotten about. Listen to: "Human Nature"

#9 ~ JONAS BROTHERS ~ "Lines, Vines & Trying Times" (Hollywood)
I didn't have very high expectations for this album, since I'd grown bored with their last two and traded them in. But soon after the first blast of horns in the opening track, I realized that this was an artistic leap forward for the boys, and I'm still enjoying it to this day. If there's any doubt that the Jo Bros, or at the very least Nick Jonas, have a long future in music ahead of them, this album should firmly cast such doubt away. I hope they carry this songwriting maturation forward, and that their audience follows them. Listen to: "Don't Speak"

#8 ~ JAMIE CULLUM ~ "The Pursuit" (Decca/UK)
I'd been waiting for this guy's next album for four years. There's something about the uniqueness of his voice that I totally love, and he's got a style all his own that similar artists like Michael Bublé simply can't touch. This, his third album, is just as wonderful a blend of classic standards ("Just One of Those Things", "Not While I'm Around") and piping-hot originals ("Mixtape", "You And Me Are Gone") as his previous ... oh, and his cover of Rihanna's "Don't Stop The Music" cannot be missed! Listen to: "I'm All Over It"

#7 ~ BETTER THAN EZRA ~ "Paper Empire" (Better Than Ezra)
This is another artist whose latest album I'd been anticipating for a few years, and again, an artist with an ear-grabbing voice which, in this case, brings back fond memories of picking up their debut album some 15 years ago and listening to it for hours on end. These guys have had their ups and downs over the years, as far as the quality of their albums goes, but this is definitely one of the ups ... and it makes me proud to have been a casual follower of theirs for all these years. Listen to: "Hell No!"

#6 ~ THE SCRIPT ~ "The Script" (RCA)
As I've mentioned before, I might never have checked these guys out if it hadn't been for the intriguing fact that they rose out of the ashes of a (really sucky) boyband from the beginning of the decade ... but then it turns out I probably wouldn't have been able to avoid the cyber-buzz about them anyway. I'm glad I gave these guys a chance, 'cause they sure do the rock thing infinitely better than they did boyband pop. I'll be quite interested to check out their second album! Listen to: "Fall For Anything"

#5 ~ BASIA ~ "It's That Girl Again" (Koch)
Of all the artists on this list, Basia is the one of whom I've been a fan for the longest. It's too bad we had to wait a decade and a half for her next studio album of Latin-inflected jazz-vocal pop, but it turns out it was well worth the wait. After all this time, she's still got the same magic in her voice that enchanted me when I first heard it twenty years ago. Just take a listen, and you'll be under her spell too. Listen to: "A Gift"


#4 ~ BEN LEE ~ "The Rebirth of Venus" (New West)
As I said in my 2007 countdown, this guy is all but guaranteed a slot in my top five every year that he puts out an album. I'm just a bit surprised he didn't rank higher this year than he does. This is his seventh album, and this time he's embraced his feminine side by dedicating it to the goddess of love and beauty, and to the fairer sex in general. I know Ben Lee may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I can't imagine what my music listening would be like if he weren't mine. Listen to: "Blue Denim"

#3 ~ TYRONE WELLS ~ "Remain" (Universal Republic)
This one seemed to come out of nowhere and win me over in a big way, 'cause I just didn't expect it to end up this high on my list this year. It's his second major-label album, and though he's the son of a preacher man and some of his songs have vaguely spiritual undertones, I don't seem to mind all that much (surprisingly, given my general dislike of spiritual music) ... mostly 'cause each and every one of the songs are just so darn good. Listen to: "Along The Way"


#2 ~ SAM & RUBY ~ "The Here And The Now" (Rykodisc)
Here's another album that sneaked up on me and ended up becoming far more of a favorite than I ever expected. (Don't you just love it when an album hits you from out-of-the-blue like that?) Sam & Ruby are a male-female duo that have mostly a folk vibe to their music, though it'd be foolish to pigeonhole them so quickly. It's all the more surprising that I love them so much, given my general ambivalence toward folk. I still just can't get over how wonderful their voices sound individually, let alone together. Listen to: "Won't Let You Go"

#1 ~ TINTED WINDOWS ~ "Tinted Windows" (S-Curve)
The beauty of this album is that it doesn't try to be anything more than what it is: a totally scrumptious slice of power-pop goodness. And considering the bands that the members of this supergroup come from -- Fountains of Wayne, Cheap Trick, Smashing Pumpkins and Hanson -- it's no wonder it's so much fun to listen to. It's probably a darn good thing that I didn't find out about this album months before its release, 'cause I would have been chomping at the bit for it all that time. I'm glad to hear that Hanson are working on a new album right now ... but I sure hope that this isn't all we hear from Tinted Windows! Listen to: "Messing With My Head"

Well, I hope you enjoyed my Favorite Albums of 2009 countdown, despite it being in written form instead of podcast. Maybe next year I'll have the technical difficulties figured out and it'll be back in podcast form. I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season, and that you continue to enjoy my decade countdowns. Happy 2010!

Favorite CDs of the '90s -- #10 to #6

10. TAL BACHMAN - "Tal Bachman"
(Columbia, 1999)

Everything about this album -- the excellent assortment of radio-ready tunes including the great single "She's So High" (one of the biggest hits of the decade) ... his appealing, lightly husky vocals ... the perfectly scruffy production by hitmaker Bob Rock -- should have made it a huge hit and started Tal Bachman off on a long and successful recording career with Columbia. But instead he disappeared just as quickly, only to quietly put out an independent album five years later. I guess I'll never know why that happens with some of the best artists ... but it does make this one jewel of an album all the more special.

9. BOUNCE THE OCEAN - "Bounce The Ocean"
(Private, 1991)

Hawk Bjorn and John Utter made magic when nobody was looking, and this fluffy white cloud of an album has tragically disappeared into obscurity. The synthesized instrumentation and occasionally (but only after the fact) trite lyrics smack of the early '90s, but they're more than made up for by how the guys managed to distill everything good about pop music into this neat little package. I know nearly every song by heart, and this album brings back nothing but fond memories, making the dull life I was living at the time quite a bit brighter. Why else would I still proudly hang onto it for 18 years and counting?

8. WILSON PHILLIPS - "Wilson Phillips"
(SBK, 1990)

Given that their parents include '60s vocal-harmony royalty -- members of The Beach Boys and The Mamas & The Papas -- then it shouldn't surprise anyone that this trio of ladies would sound pretty when they sing. But that's a massive understatement ... the indescribable harmonic bliss that results when Wilson Phillips sing together is nothing short of breathtaking. As good as the songs are, it's highly doubtful that this album would have hit the heights that it did (three of its singles hit #1 on the charts and two others reached well into the top 20) without these soaring voices to carry it there. Who can blame Harold and Kumar for singing along?

7. THE MOFFATTS - "Chapter I: A New Beginning"
(Capitol, 1998)

As soon as they hit their teens, Canadian brothers The Moffatts abandoned their "kiddie-country" singing, picked up instruments of their own, and broke out into pop-rock territory ... almost suspiciously soon after Hanson hit the scene. This album and "Middle of Nowhere" cover mostly the same territory, but I've always thought this one was the stronger of the two, with the lads showing impressive songwriting skills and grown-up rock stylings right out of the gate. Unfortunately, despite cross-pollination of their songs to movie soundtracks, The Moffatts failed to make the splash in the States that they'd hoped.

6. ELEVEN - "Awake In a Dream"
(Morgan Creek, 1991)

If there's such a thing as "hard-roots-funk-rock", Eleven (Alain Johannes, Jack Irons, and the late Natasha Shneider) are masters at it. They didn't really get into the "hard" part until later, but this debut album is packed from end to end with rollicking drum beats, thick and fuzzy guitars, and two of the most unique voices in rock. This is another one of those albums that I know almost by heart. They've only released five albums over the past 18 years (frequent production work kept Johannes and Shneider busy in between), which only means that each of their albums was relished all the more when it was finally released.