Month: December 2002

It's hard to call 2002 a great year for music when we had no new music all year from bands ranging from old warhorses U2 to exciting newcomer Michelle Branch, and major talents like The Jayhawks and Shawn Mullins found themselves cut loose by their labels. And the best thing I can say about the whole boy-band-Britney-American Idol circus is that it appears the record-buying public may finally (praise the god of your choice) be losing its taste for pre-packaged "singers" with better asses than voices. Nonetheless, it was a solid, perhaps even promising year, especially for female artists. Since…

1987. 1992. 1997. 2002. These years kicked the music world in the ass. Each came after years of music business complacency. It started rather calmly last spring. Chemical Brothers released their excellent CD Come with Us. At that time, it may not have been an 'album of the year' contender. But still, the album would be an easy Top-10 selection at the end of the year, right? I mean, unless 10 other albums came along to boot it out of the list. But, how likely would that be? Wilco *wam* Beck *Biff* Blackalicious *Ka-Pow!* Flaming Lips *Zap* And it keeps…

Been a busy year for yours truly, with some new ventures and a lot more work. But I still had time to listen to a lot of music. Some of it was bad, most of it was average -- and some of it was wonderful, proving once again that the Internet has brought us more musical diversity. Without further ado, here are 2002's Top Ten CDs: 10. Shana Morrison -- 7 Wishes The daughter of Van Morrison proves she has some pipes and some talent of her own on this outstanding pop release. 9. T. Thorn Coyle -- Give Us…