Review of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) by Some G — 15 Jul 2004

Posted previously in another thread, my twenty-five favorite albums thus far from the year two thousand and four:

1. TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes.

2. Air - Talkie Walkie.

3. The Walkmen - Bows and Arrows.

4. The Secret Machines - Now Here is Nowhere.

5. Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly.

6. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs.

7. The Album Leaf - In a Safe Place.

8. Beastie Boys - To the Five Burroughs.

9. Ambulance LTD - Ambulance LTD.

10. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans.

11. Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News.

12. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free.

13. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse.

14. Wilco - A Ghost is Born.

15. Devendra Banhardt - Rejoicing in the Hands.

16. Broken Social Scene - Beehives.

17. Cee-Lo - Cee-Lo Green is the Soul Machine.

18. Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles.

19. The Beta Band - Heroes to Zeros.

20. Tortoise - It's All Around You.

21. Madvillain - Madvillainy.

22. Stereolab - Margarine Eclipse.

23. Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days.

24. Morrissey - You are the Quarry.

25. The Divine Comedy - Absent Friends.

The first five albums are all highly recommended. Six through ten are the second tier. Eleven through fifteen are good, but hardly essential. Sixteen through twenty-five are worthy of a listen, but I wouldn't pay good money for them.

If you're too cheap to actually buy any of these albums (like me), here are some of the tracks that you should download instead (one from each band, in sequential order):

"Ambulance", "Alone in Kyoto", "The Rat", "Sad and Lonely", "Elephant Woman", "Mouth Wooed Her", "Over the Pond", "An Open Letter to NYC", "Swim", "In the Devil's Territory", "Black Cadillacs", "Get Out of My House", "Peace Attack", "Theologians", "The Body Breaks", "Hallmark", "Soul Machine", "Clowne Towne", "Liquid Bird", "Crest", "Curls", "The Man with 100 Cells", "Free Until They Cut Me Down", "America is Not the World", "My Imaginary Friend".

All in all, a pretty disappointing year so far. I have high hopes for the new Interpol album, however.