Overlooked Alternatives: 2006 Spotlight, Part 4: The Best of the Rest

“What? Part 4?!” you may be saying to yourself. Did you miss something, you wonder? Nope, not at all. Part 3 is still in its infancy, a list of my favorite metal-ish albums of the year, partially written, awaiting the delicate plinking at my keyboard that will take it to fruition. In the meanwhile, this, the final installment in this far too lengthy series, has sat nearly finished for weeks, waiting on Part 3 so it could take its rightful place in line behind it. After all, shouldn’t the “best of the rest” follow the “rest of the best” of every genre I cared to talk about? Technically yes, but it’s already February, and since I’ve already poured so much time into this, I just decided that during this quiet release week, why not unleash this monster instead.

So here it is, the albums that didn’t quite make the cut for the best of rock, 2006. Although they are often pretty close to doing so, they often just narrowly missed the cut, so that’s why I decided to go ahead and give them the spotlight, too. They may have some flaws, but they’re also going to provide a lot of enjoyment for years to come. And who knows? Given a few months, and a few mood changes, things might change a whole lot – have you revisited your previous year-end lists to see if they’re still valid?

• Jay Bennett – The Magnificent Defeat: It took Jay Bennett a few years, but in 2006 he finally released the kind of album that made listeners sit up and think “Maybe Jeff Tweedy should have kept him around in Wilco after all.” Full of heartfelt ballads and Stones-influenced rockers, The Magnificent Defeat hearkens back to the Being There and Summerteeth years of Wilco, only stumbling on a few tracks where Bennett stretches too far for experimental sounds that don’t completely work toward the songs’ benefit. Minus those minor stumbles, this is some extremely strong material.
• The Black Keys – Magic Potion: The Black Keys keep taking small steps away from their swampy blues-rock origins and, depending on how you feel about staying true to roots, that’s either a good thing or a bad thing. Here, the Keys are found incorporating some Sabbathy metal licks into their early ZZ Top sound. It’s a grower, to be sure, but one thing’s certain: “Your Touch” is one of the year’s best songs. Go ahead, try getting it out of your head.
• Decemberists – The Crane Wife: For their major label debut, the Decemberists didn’t pull any punches. If anything, they seem to have gone off the deep end, as if attempting to get the label to cry foul. But they played along (“13 minute songs? Sure, why not?”) and we the listeners benefited with this odd, beautiful alternaprog album that’s destined to be an underground classic.
• Kaki King – …Until We Felt Red: When we last heard from guitarist King, she was wowing audiences with her astounding technique, which had a worrying effect on many who wanted more from her musically. Well, she delivered this year. …Until We Felt Red lays off of the showy guitar fireworks and instead focuses on textures and songcraft. Having Thrill Jockey mainman John McEntire producing and manning various percussive duties also doesn’t hurt: the album feels like a typical Thrill Jockey release but with the added benefit of King’s incredible guitar skills peeking out here and there.
• Glenn Kotche – Mobile: The Wilco drummer turns in a surprisingly beautiful and effective minimalist classical drum suite reminiscent of the best works of Phillip Glass and Steve Reich. It’s not something that will get played a lot, and it’s probably not terribly original because it is territory that’s been covered before, but it still manages to be a good listen for sympathetic ears.
• Lambchop – Damaged: There’s a country tendency to Lambchop’s soul, but that’s only because it’s leftover from their origins in Nashville. Singer Kurt Wagner tells stories like the best country songwriters, but his are darker and weirder than you might hear coming from the songwriting capitol of the world. The 15-person band turns in music that fans will expect – sweeping ballads full of strings and complex melodies, but with Damaged, its the narratives that take a slightly more personal angle than usual, with less dependence on the wry observations that made Lambchop’s music so fun in the past. That’s not to say that Damaged is a let down – it’s just a different animal than fans may be used to, and maybe more disturbing than they’d like.
• Liars – Drum’s Not Dead: Easily one of the weirdest albums of the year: a story about a conflict between a drum and a mountain. AllMusic suggests that this is about “the struggle between energy and productivity” and “stress and self-doubt.” I honestly don’t know if they’re dead-on or not, but with Liars, anything’s possible. Sparse, tribal music and simplistic singing is the order of the day here. In writing, this doesn’t sound very interesting, but it makes for an intriguing listening session for adventurous ears. Definitely not for everybody, but if you’re into Animal Collective already, or like noisy things like Einsturzende Neubauten’s early works, give this a try.
• Muse – Black Holes And Revelations: The most completely self-indulgent, ridiculously over the top fun album I’ve heard in a long, long time that didn’t bear the name Queen. Maybe it doesn’t quite live up to or even near that massive throne, but that’s certainly what Muse is striving for – they’ve forsaken their Radiohead fetish and grabbed their sceptors, and luckily it actually works for once where so many have tried and failed.
• Willie Nelson – You Don’t Know Me: The Songs Of Cindy Walker: Once you’ve heard this strong album of covers, it’s easy to see where Nelson gets his knack for songwriting – he obviously studied Walker’s template and then took it in his own direction. What’s surprising here is that an album of 50-60 year old music could sound so vital today.
• Willie Nelson – Songbird: If Songbird doesn’t sound quite as vital as You Don’t Know Me, it’s probably more the source material than Willie himself. Perhaps releasing a companion album of mostly covers was not such a good idea so soon after such a powerful set as You Don’t Know Me, but Songbird has its share of good pieces, too, my favorites being his cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Stella Blue” and his very Willie-like reading of the Leonard Cohen classic, “Hallelujah.” You wouldn’t think it would work, but he makes it work. This album isn’t Stardust certainly, and neither is You Don’t Know Me, but there’s enough here to keep coming back for more.
• Robert Pollard – Normal Happiness: The album that I initially thought was better than From A Compound Eye, but which finally revealed that, over time, it just isn’t quite as strong. While it contains more pure-pop Bob, the quality overall just isn’t there to sustain it through out. It’s still a fine disc, but you’ll find a better value in the Keene Brothers release as well as From A Compound Eye.
• Duncan Sheik – White Limousine: After an embarassing attempt at recapturing the limelight he had with his first big hit (“Barely Breathing,) Sheik focuses once again on the dark-hearted pop that he’s so good at. He misses the mark here and there, but more often than not, this unfortunately overlooked disc delivers some decent tunes and has kept at least this reviewer returning for more.
• Paul Simon – Surprise: “Surprise” is right – sounding more like a spiritual and sonic brother to 1990’s fantastic Eno and Cale album, Wrong Way Up, Surprise hardly sounds like a Simon album at all. And that’s what seemed to have long-time fans scratching their heads – the odd instrumentation and textures, not to mention Simon’s take on modern lyric writing, didn’t add up to the man they knew. But for Eno fans and open-minded listeners in general, this wound up being a fantastic, fun little album.
• Sparklehorse – Dreamt For Lightyears In The Belly Of A Whale: It’s impossible that Mark Linkous could possibly follow-up the masterpiece that was It’s A Wonderful Life with another, and so I won’t hold it against him that Dreamt For Years doesn’t live up to those expectations. That said, when the album works, it’s full of stunning beauty, the kind of dusky sunlight-filtered-through-tree-branches feeling one gets deep in a forest, and when it doesn’t, as when it tries to rock out, it simply starts to feel depressing. Fortunately, there’s more of the former than the latter.
• Tortoise – A Lazarus Taxon: Three discs and a DVD that cover the entire career of Tortoise (so far – I assume they’re still together?) That’s generally a formula for something pretty spotty, but like Tom Wait’s magnificent Orphans box, this one works on the virtue that it covers so damn much territory that it keeps listeners on their toes. And what we’ve got here are all those loose ends that so badly needed tying up – remixes, b-sides, covers, you name it: pretty much everything the band did that didn’t wind up on a regular, domestic release is here, and that makes for a great thing. In fact, there’s better listening here than on some of their albums, believe it or not. A recurring species? Let’s hope.
• Tragically Hip – World Container: The Hip felt a little lost on 2004’s In Between Evolution, and some feared that the end was near for the band. When word came that the band had paired up with producer Bob Rock, feelings were mixed – would Rock come in a significantly alter the band’s sound as he had Motley Crue and Metallica? The answer, thankfully, is a resounding NO – Rock seems to have simply helped the band tighten up their sprawling songs and refocus their songcraft. It only goes to show that a strong band can resist the urge to let the producer bend them beneath their weight, and that a good producer knows when a band is strong enough not to need bending.

  But shame on the band’s label letting this be released everywhere but America for 6 months – the bands fans will surely have bought the import version before the US release date (March 6, 2007 if you’re one of the few who didn’t.)

• Yo La Tengo – I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass: One of the year’s more eclectic and, for lack of a better word, spazzy releases, Beat Your Ass actually works because it lacks focus. Rather than get bogged down in one particular style, the band instead pretty much covers every bit of territory they have ever touched upon. It may seem a bit schizophrenic, but it makes for a hell of a fun listen.
• Thom Yorke – The Eraser: Radiohead frontman Yorke must have had a bunch of material laying around after Kid A because, as every review seems to point out, that’s exactly what this album feels like. The major difference with The Eraser is the tendency toward more organic textures, especially on Yorke’s vocals. Strangely, the album comes across slightly colder and more distant than you’d expect.

Overlooked Alternatives – 2006 Spotlight, Part 2: Jazz

I took a breather from jazz for a while, it seems, and missed out a bunch of great releases. I’m still catching up and still have some notable releases to pick up. That doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion on which of last year’s releases that I did pick up were the best, however. Read on:

1. Bill Frisell/Ron Carter/Paul Motian: Frisell heads back to his jazzier roots with this collaboration after years of exploring Americana, or, more accurately, it seems that drummer Motian and bassist Carter steered him toward jazzier material. That said, Frisell is still typical Frisell, but we get to hear him in a less wheat-fields and dirt-roads setting and more of a smoky jazz club sounding atmosphere, where his typical twang has some interesting textures to work against. Let’s hope this trio works together more (there is a fantastic little downloadable EP of four leftover tracks from these sessions available on Frisell’s website if you can’t get enough that comes highly recommended.)
2. Dave Douglas – Meaning And Mystery: Another year, another great Dave Douglas release. The trumpeter may have made a slight mistake in releasing this solely on his Greenleaf imprint on the Musicstem website early in the year rather than through traditional routes, keeping it out of more ears than it deserved to reach, but it finally made its way to stores in the fall. Like many of my favorites of the year, I found myself initially slightly cold to this one – and then I warmed up very nicely to it. It’s a true grower. Given time, this thing spawns deep roots. It may not quite live up to predecessor, Keystone, but it’s cool soul may just burrow a little further under listeners’ skin.
3. Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau – Metheny Mehldau:Quiet and reserved as Metheny Mehldau may be, my first reaction to it was damn. Cool, beautiful and quiet, this primarily duet-based album features the pianist and guitarist Metheny together for the first time in one of those matches that seem a little worrisome at first – are they too similar, will their styles simple ooze together and produce nothing of note? – and proved to be a perfect match. They function almost like twins – finishing each other’s musical sentences, complimenting each other in ways that couldn’t have been imagined. Things get even more interesting when Ballard and Grenadier from Mehldau’s trio appear for two tracks to turn up the heat – a setting that is promised as the second Metheny Mehldau album sometime early this year. I can’t wait. I’ve already got a slot in my best of 2007 list open for it.
4. Branford Marsalis – Braggtown: Marsalis can burn it up with the best of them, and I typically love that most about him, but this time around it’s the haunting and lyrical “Hope” that has snared me. That’s not to say there isn’t hard-edged material, because there is – “Black Elk Speaks” is angular avant-garde, “Blakzilla” gets your blood pumping – but the heart of Braggtown lies in its quiet work, and the “Hope” sets up the listener early on for the quiet darkness that surrounds these pieces. It’s a two-faced album, almost – you get two distinct sides of Marsalis’ Quartet and that’s what makes it so compelling and dynamic.
5. Ornette Coleman – Sound Grammar: It’s astounding that Coleman could come back after 10 years and sound this fresh – time is clearly good to this man, creatively-speaking. Sound Grammar ranks among Coleman’s greats when most musicians are just cranking out music because that’s all they know how to do. If you ever liked Ornette, you’ll love this.

The best of the rest

• Nels Cline – New Monastery: Part of the fun of guitarist Cline’s work is getting to answer the question “What next?!” This time around it’s almost straight-ahead jazz in the form of a tribute-of-sorts to one of his heroes, Andrew Hill. While Cline takes Hill’s compositions as starting points, that’s all they are – Cline lets his muse and his band take things in wild new directions from there. It’s safe to say that I’m going to be chewing on this one for some time.
• Kenny Garrett – Beyond The Wall: While it doesn’t reach the heights that Standard of Language reached, Beyond The Wall comes pretty damned close. Holding it back are some unfortunate uses of vocals that, frankly, completely grate on this listener’s nerves such as in “Qing Wen,” where the title phrase is repeated so often that it’s nearly impossible to ignore and enjoy Garrett’s impressive sax playing. Were it not for a few tracks like that, this would have been a near-perfect album.
• Brad Mehldau – House On Hill: I’m a Mehldau fan, and as such, this wound up getting plenty of play and wound up a favorite of the year. Despite that, something’s missing, something vital, and seeds of that were sown in this trio’s previous outing, Anything Goes, which also lacked a certain something. Both albums were recorded in the same sessions and as such, these are, in a way, “outtakes,” if that name can apply in a case like this. Following these sessions, drummer Jorge Rossy left the band to be replaced by Jeff Ballard, who recorded with continuing bassist Larry Grenadier and pianist Mehldau to produce last year’s fantastic Day Is Done. So what is missing? Fire, burning amibition, I don’t know . . . it’s just not quite as vital feeling. Maybe it’s just that much of the material feels so similar. I’m painting a much worse picture of it than I should – this is, after all, being listed among my very favorite albums of the year. That’s the thing – it still is. All of the elements of a typical Mehldau album are there – his chunky, complicated chording, the fantastic drumming, thoughtful bass lines making their own melodies . . . but as an entire piece, the album just lacks that great oomph that makes me go damn when it’s finished that so much of his other material has.
• Jamie Saft – Trouble: One of 2005’s more interesting album’s was Saft’s exploration of John Zorn’s latest material in the Masada song book, Astaroth: Book Of Angels. This time around, pianist/organist Saft chose the work of Bob Dylan as his source material. Along with Greg Cohen on bass and Ben Perowsky on drums, the trio bends and twists Dylan originals in sometimes radical shapes, but most intriguing is when former Faith No More/Mr. Bungle vocalist Mike Patton and Antony (of The Johnsons) sit on one song each to color them with their own unique traits.
• David S. Ware – BalladWare: Recorded after a grueling tour in 1999, for some reason this remained hidden away until 2006. You’ll be scratching your head too when you hear it – not only is it an unusually restrained performance from Ware and his band, it’s one of their most beautiful, too. While they may focus on ballads, this doesn’t keep the band from diving deep into improvisation that takes them far into unknown territory. A great starting point for beginners due to the band letting up on the intensity a bit, but also extremely rewarding for demanding longtime fans.

Overlooked Alternatives – 2006 Spotlight, Part 1: The Rest of the Best

No numbers, no ranking, just the best of the best that rock had to offer in 2006. My number one pick can be found among the Blogcritics list (where there’s a good discussion about them) or on my site, but, of course, I can’t live on just my number one alone. Here’s the rest that dominated my ears in 2006:

• Built To Spill – You In Reverse: After a long break, Doug Martsch stormed back with his band for an unlikely comeback that is stronger than anything else the band has ever released. While it’s not necessarily anything “new” from Built To Spill – if you’re familiar with the band, everything here is going to sound familiar, too – but it’s all done perfectly and with such raw abandon and emotion that this could almost be considered their best performance on record. You would be hard-pressed to find better straight-up, driving guitar rock than “Mess With Time” or “Conventional Wisdom” this year, and if album opener “Goin’ Against Your Mind” doesn’t grab you, well, you’re just dead inside.
• Calexico – Garden Ruin Sometimes bands make a big change and it just leaves you thinking “Why, why?!” This time out, after a strong, pleasing EP with Iron & Wine, Calexico decided to emphasize the “north of the border” sound and de-emphasize the horns that gave them such a tantalizing Southwestern flavor. In writing, this sounds like a disaster – “the Calexico horns,” as they are often called, are a key part of the appeal – but once the album was given time to find a spot in listeners’ hearts, the more straight-forward pop-song format worked extremely well. Calexico still manages to write dark, dramatic songs with an emphasis on the cinematic and the exotic. The songs are just slightly more accessible this time around.
• Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings The Flood: I found myself initially disappointed with Fox Confessor, and I haven’t quite grasped why. Case has made a fan of me with her Loretta Lynne/Patsy Cline vocals set in modern alt-country surroundings, but this album threw me at first. Perhaps, being swept up in the thrill of finding Case with Blacklisted and The Tigers Have Spoken, it was impossible for her follow-up to surprise me. Fox Confessor ended up being a sleeper for me – I bought it, listened repeatedly, and didn’t find it evoking a deep love that her previous albums had, and it wound up sadly shelved and ignored. But then it slowly started working its magic on me, first by snagging me with the hooks of “Star Witness” and its lilting, soaring melody, and then uncovering genuine perfect pop songs sprinkled all throughout the album – they’re just more subtle than her previous albums would have you prepared for. This was a very strong contender for that number 1 spot by the end of the year.
• Cheap Trick – Rockford: This was, without a doubt, my main “go to” album of 2006. When I was scrounging for something to listen to and just didn’t know what to turn to, when I needed a lift, when I was in a good mood, when I was in a bad mood, whatever the occasion, this album was it. Rockford delivered every time. Full of exactly what you always hope for in a Cheap Trick outing – incredible hooks, great, catchy songwriting, and Robin Zander’s incredible voice. There isn’t a flaw on the damned thing. I had a hard time not calling this album of the year, actually.
• The Church – Uninvited Like The Clouds: Like Neko Case’s Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, this was a surprise: an album that didn’t immediately grab me, then worked its way under my skin over a matter of months.

  The Church has managed to maintain an amazingly solid career for a band whose biggest hit, “Under the Milky Way,” was nearly 20 years ago. With a few minor stumbles in the 90s and some drug problems in the past decade, it doesn’t seem like the band should be so vital, but in the past few years, they’ve turned out some of their best albums in well over a decade. Steve Kilbey’s chant-styled vocals may not be for everyone, but if you ever enjoyed the Church, now’s the time to check back in on them.

• Def Leppard – Yeah!: No one would have expected a Def Leppard album in 2006 to be good enough to be on any list, let alone an album of covers by them, but here it is, 2006 and they’ve done a killer covers album – the best thing they’ve released in nearly 20 years. What makes it work best is that the covers are primarily songs that weren’t hit singles, unlike most covers albums that rely on songs that everyone knows so well that instant comparisons are impossible to live down. Here, it’s possible to just let the obvious fun the band had creating this album overtake you instead of mentally A/Bing theirs with the originals. Serious fun.
• Bob Dylan – Modern Times: Sure, he’s starting to look like a creepy, cranky old man, but you’ve never heard a creepy, cranky old man turn out music quite like this. Picking up where the infectious and strangely jubilant “Love And Theft” left off, Bob continues to just sounds like he’s having fun, and that’s fun for listeners.
• Jeremy Enigk – World Awaits: Another little surprise – I didn’t expect that much from Enigk’s second solo album and it wound up pretty much blowing me away. If you’re familiar with Sunny Day Real Estate, you already know what to expect – I’m loathe to apply the term “emo” but SDRE was at the heart of the genre before it become corrupted by what it’s become today, but this is emotional rock, full of heartfelt declarations and grandiose movements. However, there are moments on this album that approach prog-rock excesses and for that I’m appreciative – Enigk clearly allowed his muse to take him where he needed to go and the end result is one of 2006’s most beautiful rock albums. Don’t miss it.
• Keene Brothers – Blues And Boogie Shoes: The first of two Pollard releases to make it into my “best of the best” list (and that’s of seven Pollard-associated releases in 2006,) the Keen Brothers might just be the best and most successful all around. Named so because of his association with former Guided By Voices band member Tommy Keene (no, they’re not brothers,) this project focuses on extremely catchy hard rock, with Keene turning in some of the best guitar performances you’ll find on any Pollard release, and Pollard cranking out some incredibly catchy tunes. This ranks up there with some of the best GBV releases, believe it or not.
• Mike Keneally Band – Guitar Therapy Live: The best way to experience Zappa alum Keneally is live and finally he’s put out a the perfect live document – a CD and DVD set (the previously available Half Alive In Hollywood is currently out of print but has never been a favorite of mine, but it it is supposedly being remastered in the coming year for those who are seeking it.) This set also features him at the top of his game with arguably his best band, featuring his best music (although I might argue that Wooden Smoke, an acoustic album, is truly his best album, but that’s another matter.)
• Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris – All The Roadrunning: A match made in heaven – Knopfler’s throaty rumble and Harris’ angelic lilt seem too perfect and, in places, the album comes across a bit glib in nature, but when it works it’s absolutely wonderful.
• Ray Lamontagne – Until The Sun Turns Black: I admit it. For whatever reason, I find myself drawn to Van Morrison-esque singers, yet I don’t particularly enjoy Van The Man himself. Add Lamontagne to that list. There’s something hypnotic about the darkness that surrounds this album, and it’s not just the black album cover – the music is dramatically draped in low strings that compliment Lamontagne’s husky, smokey voice. Modern, yet timeless, Until The Sun Turns Black feels like the kind of album that will never get old.
• John Mayer – Continuum: And here’s the other big surprise of the year. Not only am I surprised that I even bought a Mayer album, I’m shocked that it rocketed up so quickly to the top of my most-played list. Aside from a few sore-thumb songs, the album is a mature artistic statement of love lost and found, hope and yearning, and growing up, and contains some of the tastiest guitar in any pop album I’ve heard all year. Completely unlikely and almost completely satisfying.
• Mission Of Burma – The Obliterati: No one could have predicted that this post-punk band, formerly a one-album wonder in the 80s, would return in 2002 and turn out two albums that blow away their groundbreaking debut. Nor could anyone have said that they’d manage to one-up themselves with each of those three albums. But they did – The Obliterati is by far the band’s most mature and most intense piece of work.
• My Brightest Diamond – Bring Me The Workhorse: One of two huge surprises for me this year, a complete unknown turning in an album that absolutely enslaved me. Vocalist Shara Worden is gifted with one of those voices that doesn’t seem possible in indie rock – deep, rich, and operatic. Every review will point out that she’s actually a trained opera singer, but you can ignore that – she doesn’t sing opera, but it’s obvious she has the ability to blow away just about every pop diva dominating the top 40. She just chooses not to. What she does do is enchant listeners with a mix of dark modern dream pop with the sensibilities of a Nina Simone or a Billie Holiday, much as Portishead’s Beth Gibbons does with a slightly less capable voice. There’s no telling how she will fare with fickle audiences, but one thing is for sure, if Bring Me The Workhorse is merely a debut album, this is a stunning beginning to a career for music aficionados.
• Tom Petty – Highway Companion: There’s nothing even remotely “new” sounding about Highway Companion, but it doesn’t matter at all. Some artists you just want more. Petty wisely picks up where Full Moon Fever and Into the Great Wide Open left off, providing another album of lush ballads and driving rock.
• Robert Pollard – From A Compound Eye: Pollard’s “first” solo outing (that is, first after leaving Guided By Voices at the end of 2004) finds him diving headlong into a full-length prog-rock epic. It’s a big, difficult, often ridiculously convoluted smorgasbord of just about everything Pollard can do – which is why I’m apprehensive to recommend it to everyone because unless you know what you’re getting into, this might be way more than what the casual listener can handle (I’d direct them to the Keene Brothers release, frankly.) But patient, adventurous listeners will be rewarded with an epic that reveals its reward little by little – for every difficult twist, there’s a deliciously Who-esque turn around the next corner.
• Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped: In what seems like a bit of a trend in 2006, bands returned with albums that may not have done anything “new” and yet somehow managed to absolutely kick ass, sometimes all over their previous releases to the point of almost rendering them unnecessary. They’re no longer “youth” in anyway, but that’s the case with Rather Ripped. Sonic Youth, already on a high after Sonic Nurse, stepped it up a notch and turned out one of their best performances while managing to actually sound mature. What’s more, the subject matter often gives grown adults something meaty to chew on. Jim O’Rourke may have jumped ship in between albums, but they gained back that hunger that makes young bands sound so fresh and exciting.
• TV On The Radio – Return To Cookie Mountain I have been saying for some time now that if you want to hear where rock can go, listen to this band. Opening track, “I Was A Lover,” alone demonstrates the avenues that rock has yet to fully explore with its stuttering drum machines, sampled guitars and horns, and Bowie-esque vocals. This is the sound of the future.

Coming soon: the best of the rest. They didn’t quite make the cut, but they’re still good albums and they deserve some extra attention. And you don’t want to miss my picks of jazz and metal, either.

Overlooked Alternatives: The Best of 2006

This is the first in a series of posts dedicated to spotlighting the best releases of 2006. Rather than a simple list, I’ve decided that it would be more fair to pick out those releases that will continue to provide enjoyment for years to come – because putting numbers next to names really doesn’t mean anything when it comes to enjoyment. These are the things that, when it comes down to it, just depended on mood as to which I prefer rather than what was truly better than what. However, one in particular stood out above the rest, and today is dedicated to solely to that release:

1. Tom Waits – Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards: Somehow, 30+ years on, Tom Waits has done the unthinkable – he’s managed to turn out a set of essentially lost songs that winds up being one of his most stunning and beautiful pieces of work. The amazing thing about Orphans isn’t just that it’s beautiful – it’s consistently great, which stands as a testament to not only Waits’ quality as a musician and writer but to his choices as sidemen.

   What makes Orphans best-of-the-year is that not only is it one of the most exciting releases of the year, it’s one of Waits’ best releases, period, a feat not too common among box sets, and especially not of rarities sets. Sourced from disparate places and covering a considerable amount of Waits’ career, each disc can stand on its own but the set taken as a whole flows like a big, beautiful epic.

   Like the best of Waits’ music, Orphans presents an oddly beautiful look at a ramshackle world filled with compelling characters often of the most disturbing sort. They beg the listener back to revisit them again and again because the stories and the music continually reveal new details. Orphans is something truly special.

Check back in coming days for further installments!