Since 2020, I’ve been ranking and reviewing the top 5 albums - plus a fair few extras - according to users on rateyourmusic.com (think IMDB for music) from every year from 1960 to the present. If you want to know more, I wrote an introduction to the ‘challenge’ here. You can also read all the other entries I’ve written so far by heading to the lovely index page here.

Welcome to 2002. The year the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan government signed a cease-fire agreement, ending 19 years of civil war, East Timor became a new nation, President Bush did his ‘axis of evil’ speech, Russia and the US agreed to reduce their nuclear weapons, and North Korea admitted they had some, in defiance of the treaty.

Musically, here’s what rateyourmusic.com users rate as the year’s top 5 albums:

#1 Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
#2 Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
#3 Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
#4 Various Artists - The Fire This Time
#5 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

And here’s a bunch of others I’m getting from further down the list.

#7 Sigur Rós - ()
#10 The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
#11 Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
#16 The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas!
#19 Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around
#22 Boris - Heavy Rocks

Finally, one from NPR readers’ best albums of all time by women list:

Tori Amos - Scarlet’s Walk

Off we go…

12. American IV: Man Comes Around

Johhny Cash

“American IV: The Man Comes Around is the sixty-seventh studio album by American country musician Johnny Cash, the last to be released during his lifetime. It is the fourth entry in Cash's American series of albums, considered by some critics to be his finest work towards the end of his life. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.” - Wikipedia

There’s a stark beauty to the stripped-down production here, allowing Johnny Cash’s weathered, magnetic presence to take centre-stage. His renditions breathe new life into the material—none more so than on “Hurt,” a haunting, visceral performance that’s rightfully iconic. That said, it’s hard not to see it as ground zero for the wave of brooding acoustic covers that would saturate movie and game trailers for years to come. Fortunately, that trend seems to have run its course, and it’s tough to fault Cash for the imitators. While this collection of mostly covers doesn’t quite hit with the force of his finest work, it’s still a compelling listen—resonant, reflective, and unmistakably him.

7/10

“Heavy Rocks is the fourth studio album by Japanese band Boris, released in 2002. It is the first of three Boris albums titled Heavy Rocks, with the others released in 2011 and 2022; all feature the band exploring hard rock and heavy metal sounds.” - Wikipedia

Boris’s Heavy Rocks lives up to its title—a thunderous barrage of tidal riffs that surge with unstoppable momentum. The band melds sludgy textures with swaggering grooves, but it’s the lead guitarist’s wailing, expressive solos that truly set them apart, slicing through the chaos with electrifying precision. The vocals, delivered in Japanese, would likely be a lot more interesting if I understood them, and that’s what, unfairly, holds the album back for me. They just don’t quite do enough to pierce the language barrier for me.

7.5/10

10. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

The Flaming Lips

“Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is the tenth studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips. The album saw the band pursue a more electronic direction than previous efforts, incorporating acoustic guitars and rhythms influenced by hip hop and top 40 music. The album was well-received critically and commercially, helping the band break into popularity, and was adapted into a musical in 2012.” - Wikipedia

A warm, woozy pop record that drifts through themes of mortality and technology with a gentle smile. Yoshimi trades the emotional volatility of The Soft Bulletin for a more subdued, psychedelic sweetness. It’s full of lovely sounds and comforting melodies—though a little too smooth to truly astonish. A hug in album form, if occasionally a bit predictable.

8/10

9. Yanqui U.X.O.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

“Yanqui U.X.O. is the third studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It was recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago in late 2001, and was the band's first album released after their slight name change (moving the exclamation mark from the "emperor" to the "you"). Shortly after its release, the group announced an indefinite hiatus so band members could pursue differing musical interests; it was their last album for a decade until the release of 2012's 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!.” - Wikipedia

More Godspeed You! Black Emperor, more epically sprawling post-rock—but Yanqui U.X.O. brings with it a colder, more sinister undertone. The grandeur is still there: surging crescendos, mournful strings, complexities buried in the mix. But there’s a sharper edge this time, a sense of dread hanging over everything. The melodies feel like they’re decaying as they unfold, and even the quiet moments are tense, like something is about to collapse. It’s less cinematic triumph, more slow-motion ruin. Another brilliant record from the band—just one that feels more haunted than hopeful.

8/10

8. Songs for the Deaf

Queens of the Stoneage

“Songs for the Deaf is the third studio album by the American rock band Queens of the Stone Age. It features guest musicians including Dave Grohl on drums, and was the last Queens of the Stone Age album to feature Nick Oliveri on bass. Songs for the Deaf is a loose concept album, taking the listener on a drive through the California desert from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree, tuning into radio stations from towns along the way such as Banning and Chino Hills. Songs for the Deaf received critical acclaim and earned Queens of the Stone Age their first gold certification in the United States.” - Wikipedia

I was first introduced to this album by a school friend who played in my band at the time, and while I liked it then, I’ve grown to appreciate it even more over the years. Josh Homme’s riffs have always had a singular presence—rugged, hypnotic, and dusted with the sun-baked grit he carried over from his Kyuss days. Grohl’s drumming, dry and tightly wound, doesn’t pack the raw punch of his In Utero performances, but that’s not the point. Here, his playing is like a frantic, mechanical heartbeat—urgent, precise, and perfectly offsetting Homme’s lurching guitar lines.

Vocals are shared between Homme, bassist Nick Oliveri, and the late Mark Lanegan, creating a dynamic push and pull that keeps things fresh while maintaining a surprising cohesion. It also reins in some of Homme’s more theatrical tendencies, adding grit and variety without ever losing the thread.

At its core, this is a hard rock record that leans into accessibility without sacrificing edge—call it pop hard rock, and I mean that in the best way. It’s sharp, weird, and catchy as hell.

8.5/10

“Turn On the Bright Lights is the debut studio album by American rock band Interpol. Upon release, the record peaked at number 101 on the UK Albums Chart. It reached number 158 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, as well as spending 73 weeks on the Billboard Independent Albums chart, peaking at number five.” - Wikipedia

If Is This It was New York’s cool, leather-jacketed reintroduction to the world, Turn on the Bright Lights is its sleepless, overthinking cousin. Interpol’s debut trades swagger for tension, cloaking its post-punk revival in shadowy poetics and a glacial sense of drama.

The lyrics often flirt with nonsense (“The subway is a porno”) but somehow land with conviction. They’re less about clarity and more about mood, vaguely remembered impressions. Paul Banks’ monotone drawl only deepens the mystique. Meanwhile, the drumming is far more forward than you might expect from anything of this ilk—crisp, commanding, propelling the band’s mid-tempo dirges as they slowly build into something almost grandiose. Guitars shimmer, loop, and echo into the void, subtly driving the songs while less subtly thickening the atmosphere. It’s like watching city lights blur through rain-streaked windows—steady, detached, and hauntingly beautiful.

8.5/10

“Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Wilco. The album showcased a more atmospheric and experimental sound than the band's previous work, and has been described as art rock and indie rock by music critics. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot received widespread acclaim from music critics at release, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of the 2000s and of all time.” - Wikipedia

On the surface, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is just an album of simple, enjoyable songs, but the more you listen you realise it’s an album of simple, enjoyable, perfect songs. The production stays understated, never showy, but it’s laced with just enough experimental flair to keep things feeling fresh and quietly adventurous. Somehow, the album manages to echo countless influences while still sounding wholly its own—familiar yet distinct, and ultimately, timeless.

Song Picks: Jesus etc, Kamera, Pot Kettle Black

9/10

“Scarlet's Walk is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter and pianist Tori Amos. The 18-track concept album (described by Amos as a "sonic novel about a road trip") details the cross-country travels of Scarlet, a character loosely based on Amos, and was greatly inspired by the changes in American society and politics post-September 11, 2001.

The album was a commercial success, reaching number seven in the US and becoming Amos's fourth top 10 album. Considered one of her best and most conceptually elaborate works, it received positive reviews. “ - Wikipedia

At 75 minutes, Scarlet’s Walk should feel too long for a pop album, but it doesn’t. Tori Amos somehow keeps things engaging from start to finish without ever resorting to shock tactics or dramatic reinventions. She isn’t particularly edgy here, but she doesn’t need to be.

There are plenty of catchy choruses and familiar pop structures, but they’re wrapped in a kind of mystique that’s hard to define. It’s accessible and melodic, yet it moves with the pacing and depth of something more progressive. Maybe that’s the secret — Scarlet’s Walk feels like a pop album filtered through a sprawling, introspective lens. The result is something quietly compelling, even hypnotic.

9/10

“The Fire This Time is an audio documentary on the history and consequences of the Gulf War and following economic sanctions against Iraq. Produced by filmmaker Grant Wakefield, the 2-CD set featured music from electronic artists including Michael Stearns, Pan Sonic, and Aphex Twin.” - Wikipedia

The Fire This Time isn’t interested in subtlety, nuance, or even musical cohesion—and that’s part of what makes it so gripping. A sprawling, furious protest record released in the aftermath of 9/11, it fuses spoken word, dub, electronica, and sampled media into something more like an activist transmission than a traditional album.

The scattered production—sometimes sparse, sometimes dense—mirrors the global confusion and anger it’s responding to. That said, this is not a balanced or carefully moderated work. At times it feels like one of those very one-sided documentaries, hammering its points home with little room for interpretation. For some listeners, that might be off-putting—but the clarity of vision is also its power. It wants to persuade, unsettle, provoke. And for me, it did.

The instrumental second disc, while interesting, feels more like a bonus than an integral part of the experience. Without the political content, it loses much of the urgency and cohesion that makes the first disc so compelling.

Still, The Fire This Time completely sucked me in. It’s not easy listening, nor is it trying to be. But it captures a historical moment with fire and fury, and in doing so, becomes something more than just a compilation—it becomes a document, a statement, and a challenge.

9/10

“Geogaddi is the second studio album by Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada. The album was intended to be—and has been described as—darker in tone than their debut studio album Music Has the Right to Children, released in 1998. Geogaddi received critical acclaim upon release, in addition to being acclaimed by several publications as one of the year's best albums. It was listed by music website Pitchfork as one of the best intelligent dance music albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

Less optimistic than their debut, Geogaddi feels like a walk beside a 10-foot wall you’ve never been allowed to climb. You’ve been told what’s on your side is better—but you can’t shake the sense that you're being lied to. Tunneling synths and a subby, almost heartbeat-like kick drum lay the foundation, while disjointed field recordings and warped space-age flourishes flicker across the surface. It’s music that decorates decay, like ivy growing over an abandoned broadcast tower. Seductive, paranoid, and slightly unhinged.

9/10

“( ) (also referred to as Svigaplatan, which translates to The Bracket Album) is the third studio album by Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. It comprises eight untitled tracks, divided into two parts: the first four tracks are lighter and more optimistic, while the latter four are bleaker and more melancholic. Lead singer Jón Þór Birgisson ("Jónsi") sang the album's lyrics entirely in "Hopelandic", a made-up language consisting of gibberish words.” - Wikipedia

Brackets is another post-rock masterpiece from arguably the genre’s finest band. Jónsi sings in a made-up language, using his voice less as a conveyor of meaning and more as an instrument of pure emotion. Compared to its predecessor, the album feels slightly more modern—its synth textures more prominent, its drums more compressed. It may meander more, but the journey is so unwaveringly beautiful that it hardly matters. Post-rock can sometimes lapse into formula, with predictable crescendos and valleys, but here Sigur Rós once again make every note feel intentional and deeply felt.

9.5

1. All Hail West Texas

The Mountain Goats

“All Hail West Texas is the sixth studio album by the Mountain Goats. After the slight increase in production values on The Coroner's Gambit album of 2000, All Hail West Texas was the last Mountain Goats album recorded entirely on John Darnielle's trademark Panasonic RX-FT500 boombox until 2020's Songs for Pierre Chuvin. Similarly, it marked the end of an era for the band, as it was the last album by the Mountain Goats to feature only John Darnielle until 2020.” - Wikipedia

Captured on a Panasonic boombox that sounds like it’s breathing its final, wheezing breath, this record is as lo-fi as they come. Long presumed dead, the tape recorder Darnielle had used for countless previous recordings was exhumed from a closet and miraculously sputtered back to life, just long enough to catch one more dispatch from the margins. What emerged is a set of raw, urgent acoustic sketches—melodic, immediate, and devastating in their intimacy—written in the solitude of a home suddenly too quiet, with his wife away and only the ghosts of ideas to keep him company.

There are no tricks here, no overdubs, no studio sheen—just Darnielle, a guitar, and the soft mechanical churn of the boombox as it spins tape into a kind of lo-fi transcendence. The fidelity may be primitive, but the emotional clarity is crystalline. These songs feel like they were written moments before the red light flicked on, catching Darnielle in the act of discovery. It’s a document of artistic impulse in its rawest, most unfiltered form - thus the core brilliance of the songwriting hits all the harder.

Song Picks: Jenny, The Mess Inside

9.5/10

Over what will likely be the next few years I’m going to be ranking and reviewing the top 5 albums - plus a fair few extras - according to users on rateyourmusic.com (think IMDB for music) from every year from 1960 to the present. If you want to know more, I wrote an introduction to the ‘challenge’ here. You can also read all the other entries I’ve written so far by heading to the lovely index page here.

Welcome to 1999, the year I started primary school, the year war started in Kosovo after Yugoslavia's president Slobodan Milosevic clamped down on the province, massacring and deporting ethnic Albanians, the year Nelson Mandela stepped down, the year everyone freaked out about the Y2K bug, the year everyone partied like it was… well….

Our lovely rateyourmusic.com masses rated the following albums as the year’s top five:

#1 Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun
#2 Fiona Apple - When the Pawn
#3 Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
#4 Gustavo Cerati - Bocananda
#5 The Roots - Things Fall Apart

And I’ll add a bunch from further down the list:

#6 Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
#7 Opeth - Still Life
#8 The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
#9 Built to Spill - Keep It Like a Secret
#10 American Football - American Football
#23 Tom Waits - Mule Variations
#27 Advantage Lucy - Fanfare

And from NPR’s best female albums of all time list, we’ll take Sleater-Kinney’s The Hot Rock.

Let’s finish of the 90s in style.

“Still Life is the fourth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth. In 2014, TeamRock put Still Life at #83 on their "Top 100 Greatest Prog Albums Of All Time" list with Jordan Griffin stating that it is "still regarded by many fans as a career high point, Still Life’s deft blend of beauty and brutality was lauded by metal and prog fans. Opeth’s first true classic.". Loudwire placed the album at #54 on their "Top 90 Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Albums of the 1990s" list commenting that Opeth closed out the 90s with their strongest album yet.In 2021, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 1999 by Metal Hammer magazine.” - Wikipedia

Still Life is a concept album, following the narrative of someone banished from their hometown due to a difference of faith. This is quite hard to pick up on amongst the unintelligible roars that Mikael Åkerfeldt’s vocals generally consist of. The album is a great mix of brutal riffs, and more delicate clean and intricate guitar sections (Benighted a fine example of this). Once again, it’s never going to be my favourite album due to the roaring and overly theatrical vocals, but I did thoroughly enjoy this, and I can see how influential it is.

Song Picks: Benighted

7/10

12. American Football

American Football

“American Football, also known retrospectively as LP1, is the debut studio album by the American emo band of the same name. American Football was positively received by critics and US college radio stations, but the band split up soon after its release. The album has since received further critical acclaim and attained cult status and is today considered one of the most important math rock and Midwest emo records of the 1990s.” - Wikipedia

‘Never Meant’ is a masterpiece, the next three tracks are superb, and then it kind of meanders to a nice warm finish, with nothing else being particularly memorable. I feel like it’s an album to get lost in, but it’s just never quite pulled me in enough for that to happen. At times sublime, always pretty, but occasionally a bit unexciting.

7.5/10

“The Hot Rock is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney. The Hot Rock marks a considerable change in the band's sound, veering into a more relaxed and gloomy direction than the raucous punk rock style of its predecessors. The lyrical themes of the album explore issues of failed relationships and personal uncertainty. The album received positive reviews from music critics, who praised the songwriting and the vocal and guitar interplay between band members Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein.” - Wikipedia

This is a really dynamic album, with more vocal range and complex instrumental arrangements. The great riffs are still there, but they’re now backed by more intricate beats from Janet Weiss, more varied songwriting in general, and great guitar interplay from Tucker and Brownstein. It all adds up to another kick ass album from the band, but one with a bit more pizzazz. It also feels like the entirety of 2000s indie’s riffs were probably based off the ones on this album in some way. I still don’t love the more bellowed vocals, I find them a bit monotone, but it’s a minor gripe.

Song Picks: Start Together, Burn Don’t Freeze, God is a Number

8/10

“Bocanada (Puff) is the second solo album by Argentine rock musician Gustavo Cerati. The album, an eclectic mix of neo-psychedelia and trip hop with a variety of styles, is considered by critics and fans as a highlight in Cerati's career and one of his best albums. His first album release after the breakup of Soda Stereo, Bocanada followed Cerati's time with the groups Plan V and Ocio, two bands oriented towards electronic music. Bocanada is mostly an electronic music album, with an art pop, trip hop, and neo-psychedelia sound, making a huge change of Cerati's classic pop rock sound and influences. Similar to other artists of trip hop scene like Massive Attack or Portishead, several songs use one or more samples.” - Wikipedia

Considered one of the most important influences in Latin rock, Bocanada is an album that ties together his rock background and contemporary electronic influences. Tracks like Puente are fairly straight rock numbers (though very good ones), while most tracks lean much more into the electronic side of things, clearly taking influence from the trip-hop scene, with simple, tunneling beats. Cerati’s vocals have an enticing huskiness to them, but they also sound like some lost genius from the 60s, his Beatles influences being obvious. The production and instrumental variation doesn’t always feel that cohesive, but the variety is exciting, and Cerati’s enticing melodies sung with the slight haziness of that glorious album art are the wonderful glue that holds it all together.

Song Picks: Rio Babel, Perdonar es Divíno, Paseo Inmoral

8.5/10

9. Keep It Like a Secret

Built to Spill

“Keep It Like a Secret is the fourth studio album released by American indie rock band Built to Spill. After feeling burned out from constructing the lengthy songs on his previous album, Perfect from Now On, Doug Martsch made a conscious decision to write shorter, more concise songs for Keep It Like a Secret.” - Wikipedia

Keep it Like a Secret is Built to Spill cut up into more bite-sized chunks. Martsch’s twisting riffs are still there, the vocals are still infectious, and the the jam element is still evident, even if it has been cut down significantly. Speaking of which, the final track, Broken Chairs, has a jam outro which is one of my favourite ways for an album to end. If Perfect from Now On was standard Weetabix, Keep it Like a Secret is those bite-sized ones with chocolate in. Just as nice, some might even prefer them, but they’re probably a tad less wholesome.

Song Picks: The Plan, Center of the Universe, Broken Chairs, Sidewalk, Else

8.5/10

“Mule Variations is the thirteenth studio album by American musician Tom Waits. It was Waits' first studio album in six years, following The Black Rider (1993). Mule Variations won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album and was nominated for Best Male Rock Performance for the track "Hold On". It has sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide. In 2012, the album was ranked number 416 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Upon its release, Mule Variations received widespread critical acclaim. AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated that "the album uses the ragged cacophony of Bone Machine as a starting point, and proceeds to bring in the songwriterly aspects of Rain Dogs, along with its affection for backstreet and backwoods blues, plus a hint of the beatnik qualities of Swordfish.” - Wikipedia

That bloke from AllMusic above pretty much sums it up. Mule Variations feels like a combination of everything that’s come before from Waits. It’s packed full of great songs; growling vocals; percussive, ramshackle production and a sense of sincerity. I think the fact it’s a Tom Waits melting pot means it lacks some of the distinct character that Waits’ albums from his famous trilogy had, but this is still the kind of album any songwriter would kill to write. I think you could also make a pretty strong argument that this features, as a whole, his best vocal performances on a single record. Basically, I can’t fault it other than by saying it’s not quite as good as Rain Dogs, but considering that’s now one of my favourite albums, that doesn’t mean much.

Song Picks: Hold On, Get Behind the Mule, Picture in a Frame, Georgia Lee, Filipino Box Spring Hog

9/10

7. Emergency & I

The Dismemberment Plan

“Emergency & I is the third studio album by American indie rock band the Dismemberment Plan. At its release, the album was met with critical acclaim, receiving praise for its instrumental performances and lyrics. Initially released on CD, Barsuk Records reissued Emergency & I in vinyl format for the first time on January 11, 2011 where it received further praise from critics and listeners, with many calling it a landmark indie rock album and the band's best release.” - Wikipedia

Emergency & I feels like a confluence of alt-rock, prog rock, emo and punk which then splits out again, influencing countless records well into the 2000s and 2010s. Although Morrison had aimed to make the album less wacky, it still has plenty of wackiness to it. It also has a refreshingly optimistic world view, something not all that common in this style of music. Apparently inspired by the birth of his sister's daughter, and the death of their father, Morrison was keen to get into more real life topics, but to address them in a less self-absorbed manner which is again, refreshing. Emergency & I gets crazier as it goes on, like a speeding car gaining a little too much confidence in the corners (and nearly crashing on Girl O’Clock in particular) finishing with a perfect mix of catchy choruses, bouncy riffs, restless time-signatures, and energetic. slightly unhinged vocals. It’s a ride.

Song Picks: Memory Machine, The City, Back and Forth, Girl O’Clock

9/10

“The Fragile is the third studio album by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as a double album. Looking to depart from the distorted production of their previous album, The Downward Spiral, the album features elements of ambient and electronic music within a wide variety of genres. The album continues some of the lyrical themes from The Downward Spiral, including depression and drug abuse. The album notably contains more instrumental sections than their previous work, with some entire tracks being instrumentals. The Fragile is also one of the band's longest studio releases, clocking in at nearly 1 hour and 45 minutes long.

Upon release, critics applauded the album's ambition and composition, although some criticised its length and perceived lack of lyrical substance. However, in the years following its release, it has come to be regarded by many critics and listeners to be among the band's best work.” - Wikipedia

Pitchfork gave this a paltry 2.0 in 1999, and then an 8.7 in 2017, which I think is fine. Two different people reviewed it, which just re-emphasises (shock!) this is all subjective opinion, which, again, is fine. My subjective opinion is that this thing slaps. Maybe I’m mad, but this thing sounds very nu-metal to me. It’s 1 hour 44 of face-smashing riffs with simple melodies growled over the top through a very loud transistor radio. Trent Reznor essentially says it’s about the chaos of his existence when struggling with drug abuse and depression, but it sounds more like a cohesive statement than that makes out. As it’s final, simple and targeted chaos ends, I can just see Trent Reznor dropping his mic, exhausted that he’s let all his demons out. At the same time, he’s inadvertently rendered much of the heavier music that followed in the 2000s a bit redundant.

Song Picks: The Wretched, We’re In This Together, La Mer, Where Is Everybody, The Mark Has Been Made

9/10

“When the Pawn... is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple. In 2010, Spin named the album the 106th-greatest of the last 25 years, and Slant Magazine named it the 79th best album of the 1990s. The album received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Album. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked When the Pawn... at number 108 on its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.” - Wikipedia

The album title, which is posted out below in full (yes, that’s all the title) is a response to an unflattering piece Spin wrote about her in 1997.

When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a king
What he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight
And he'll win the whole thing 'fore he enters the ring
There's no body to batter when your mind is your might
So when you go solo, you hold your own hand
And remember that depth is the greatest of heights
And if you know where you stand, then you know where to land
And if you fall it won't matter, cuz you'll know that you're right

When the Pawn... is an album that sounds unlike anything else, and yet features very accessible and mature songwriting. The production choices give space to Fiona’s deep vocals, and everything pulls in the same direction: just the right amount of embellishment and never over-dramatic. It is what it is. It feels like the musical equivalent of that hyper-realistic film about a slice of life that hits harder than the one with a million special-effects about the future of mankind. I’m not sure you’ll ever necessarily be singing along, but somehow - even though the songs are not particularly complex - it never loses its significant intrigue. It’s hard to describe - but you owe it to yourself to listen.

Song Picks: Limp, Paper Bag, Fast as You Can

It’s hard to find much about Advantage Lucy online, besides the fact that this is their debut album, and that they were initially called ‘Lucy van Pelt’ after the Peanuts character, but changed to their current name due to copyright concerns. I want to thank the rateyourmusic.com community for enlightening to me to this bundle of joy.

While it’s in no way ground-breaking it’s just so darn ‘nice’ that I have completely fallen in love with it. Much like reading the Peanuts comics that inspired their name, listening to their debut fills me with a nostalgic warmth, optimism, and the childhood innocence that the album’s cover portrays. The band’s melodies are happy, and just the right side of twee, with the instrumentation never being particularly attention grabbing and but always serving the song. Want a feeling of contentment? Get that gentle lighting on and put this on at a room filling volume. Sit back, maybe sketch some cartoon characters on a pad with a nice pencil, stare at the ceiling, whistle along, smile. Relish in the beauty that music, and the sheer amount of it us humans have made for each other, really is rather wonderful. I can see myself putting this one on regularly for as long as the world lets me.

Song Picks: Armond, Metro, So,

“Things Fall Apart is the fourth studio album by American hip hop band the Roots. Recording sessions for the album took place at Electric Lady during 1997 to 1998, coinciding with recording for other projects of the Soulquarians collective, including D'Angelo's Voodoo (2000), Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun (2000), and Common's Like Water for Chocolate (2000). According to Spin magazine, the album became a landmark moment for the Roots and the collective, as it "swelled the Roots clique into a movement-style posse." - Wikipedia

Thee album has been considered by music writers as the Roots' breakthrough album, earning praise from major publications and critics, while becoming the group's first record to sell over 500,000 copies. It includes the song "You Got Me", which won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, while Things Fall Apart was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album of the same year, losing to Eminem for The Slim Shady LP. Rolling Stone called it a "top-flight record", while AllMusic cited it as "one of the cornerstone albums of alternative rap." The album takes its title from Chinua Achebe's novel of the same name.” - Wikipedia

The Roots are always known as a hip-hop ‘band’, and that’s definitely something that distinguishes them from many other hip-hop artists who are more apt to put together a bunch of samples than play instruments. But on Things Fall Apart, the Roots blend more into that more traditional hip-hop sound, with Questlove’s beats seemingly put through a food processor, while the bass lines wobble like something synthesised on Pro Tools, rather than played by the laid back maestro Hub, who sadly died in 2021. On the hit You Got Me (you’ll know it trust me) everything is so relaxed it’s impossible not to bop from side to side, lost in the groove as Black Thought raps in the pockets with the smooth flow of an angrier Nas. Questlove’s drums tap, tap, tap and skitter like the restless limbs of a being that is actually at its core very relaxed. Things Fall Apart is lyrically dense, but it’s the production that sets it apart. Questlove’s drum grooves are some of the best in hip hop, and the way they work with Hub’s chatty basslines has me hop-stepping on pretty much every track. They’re cut down to their essential elements, Questlove’s snare sounding almost like a clap, Hub’s bass so low it’s underground, the guitars and key stabs as precise as a laser. It’s perfect, and yet human.

Song Picks: You Got Me, Don’t See Us

9/10

“Black on Both Sides is the debut solo studio album by American rapper Yasiin Bey, then known as Mos Def. Released after his successful collaboration Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, Black on Both Sides emphasises live instrumentation and socially conscious lyrics. Black on Both Sides received universal acclaim from critics.” - Wikipedia

Black on Both Sides feels prophetic, not since Nas’ Illmatic have I listened to hip-hop so buttery smooth and clever. The beats are laid back, the vocals more creamy than tart, and the lyrics deft and intelligent - written by a man who seems to see everything from a bird’s eye view. In an era of gangsta-rap and egotistical, self-interested rap (not that there’s anything wrong with those), it’s refreshing to have something like Black on Both Sides, which says it like it is. It being more or less everything - doing so in a manner that is pretty much irresistible, with beats that got me boppin’ like it’s 1994.

Song Picks: Hip Hop, Love, Speed Law, Rock ‘n’ Roll

9.5/10

“Ágætis byrjun (A good beginning) is the second studio album by Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, Ágætis byrjun represented a substantial departure from the band's previous album Von, with that album's extended ambient soundscapes replaced by Jónsi Birgisson's cello-bowed guitar work and orchestration, using a double string octet amongst other chamber elements.”

Ágætis byrjun was a commercial and critical breakthrough for the band. It won numerous awards, and has appeared on multiple critics' lists of the best albums of the 2000s.” - Wikipedia

Ágætis byrjun sounds otherworldly. Birgisson playing the guitar with a cello-bow is probably the most famous aspect of Sigur Rós‘ sound, but it’s his falsetto singing and the general atmosphere they create that really pulls them apart. He hits some frankly daft notes, and his falsetto vocals give the whole thing an angelic, ethereal feel, but without the religious connotations that come with that. It’s one of those albums that changes the hue of the world when you put it on, but also seems to make everything float. It’s an anti-gravity album, a spiritual journey for those of no religion. I don’t believe in god, nor do I feel there’s any grand meaning to our existence beyond the one we give it and the effect we have on those around us, but I can listen to this and feel aconnection with everything around me. Not necessarily in a euphoric way, but just that, a connection. It feels like a reminder that everything and everyone is a minuscule cog in a ginormous, random machine. And I’ve always found that pretty glorious. It sounds like nothing else, it’s its own thing, a glorious, emotive gift.

I’ve said this before of other albums, but this feels like another where the word ‘magical’ feels completely appropriate.

Song Picks: Svefn-G-Englar, Staralfur, Flugufrelsarinn

9.5/10

2002 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challe

1999 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge