Commentary: 10 Things I Liked About Music in 2010…

… or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Hipsters and Their Skinny Jeans

Late December… the days are short (but getting longer) and cold as the year draws to an end. What better time than now to look back upon the past year and reminisce over some of the music related things that brought joy and warmth to our hearts over the last twelve months? So… in no particular order, here are 10 things I liked about music in 2010:

1. The Dead Weather – Sea of Cowards

This was a tremendous record. Jack White shows off his drum skills, and the caterwauling Alison Mosshart out Zeppelins Heart. There’s a huge leap occurring here from the band’s first record, Horehouse, to Sea of Cowards, most notably in the songwriting department, where the protean riffs and jams of the former have coalesced into some of the best and sludgiest blues metal since Led Zeppelin II. It’s quite simple, really. You put this record on, you bang your head. Rinse. Repeat.

2. The Black Keys – Brothers

If I were making a top 10 albums list, I think this would be my number 1. I had thought that Attack and Release was the most definitive expression of what the Black Keys are about that could ever be put out. Boy, was I wrong. This is just one of those records that from beginning to end hooks you in and won’t let go. It’s a perfect mix of blues and r&b and pop music with infectious drumming and insane guitar sounds. I also think it’s great that they started touring with a bass player and keyboard player this year. It really opens up their live sound and allows them to perform live some of the more elaborate arrangements found on their records. I hope they keep this up.

3. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings – I Learned the Hard Way

The 60s r&b revival coming out of Bushwick is still going strong. I couldn’t be happier. Sharon Jones, Bosco Mann (ne Gabriel Roth), Homer Steinweiss and the gang at Dap-Tone Records knocked another one out of the park with I Learned the Hard Way. If you’ve ever listened to classic Motown or Stax records, you’ll feel right at home with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. If you like classic r&b, it doesn’t get any better than this.

4. Vampire Weekend – Contra

I can see Vampire Weekend getting annoying really quickly, but until that happens I’ll be happy to listen to the pop gems on the 21st century’s version of the Talking Heads’ latest release. These songs have the kinds of hooks that just stick in your head all day… “Your sword’s grown old and rusty….” Arghhh… make it stop! Get out of my head! Damn it. I give up. Vampire Weekend, you win.

5. Yeasayer – Odd Blood

I think I first saw Yeasayer on Later.. with Jools Holland. My feeble mind could not comprehend the awesomeness that was Yeasayer. To my ears they sounded as if some mad scientist had spliced the DNA of Syd Barrett, Yoko Ono and Peter Gabriel together and imbued it with the spirit of Salvador Dalí. Bizarre indeed, but like I said, awesome nevertheless. I loved the psychedelic goodness of their first album All Hour Cymbals and couldn’t wait to hear what the new record was going to be like. Well, it was absolutely nothing like their first record. Of course. What else should I have expected? But it was still awesome. I defy you to listen to “Ambling Alp” or “O.N.E.” and not have it stick in your head. Try it. I dare you.

6. Roger Waters – The Wall Live at Madison Square Garden

Hands down, this was one of the greatest live spectacles I’ve ever seen. The only thing that could have made this night better was if the entire Pink Floyd lineup, Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason and the late Richard Wright would have joined Roger Waters in the flesh. (Get it? In the flesh… Fine. Bad pun. Whatever…) Nevertheless Mr. Waters assembled a reasonable facsimile and put on a show for the ages. I can’t express how floored I was by the wall itself. The puppets and the exploding plane were cool, no doubt, the band played the material faithfully (closer to what you can hear on the live Is There Anybody Out There than on The Wall itself, to be honest), and Waters duet with a younger version of himself was neat… but the wall was something else. First it’s just simply awesome to watch the stagehands build the wall throughout the performance, slowly entombing the band. Second, the videos projected on to the wall in its various stages of construction are flat out mind blowing. Picture an IMAX show but bigger. Words do not do it justice. And I wasn’t even on any hallucinogens. I swear. If the tour hasn’t come by your town yet, do whatever you can to get a ticket to see it. You won’t be disappointed. I mean, sell a kidney if you have to. It’s that good. And the rumor is that David Gilmour is going to show up one night and play the solo on “Comfortably Numb” from atop the wall. I think it’s 50/50 on whether or not I would kill to see that. Eh, on second thought, make it 80-20 in favor of homicide.

7. Keith Richards – Life

I seem to be running out of superlatives. Best. Rock n’ Roll. Autobiography. EVER!!!!!!!!!! Ever, damn it. And I’ve read a bunch of them, but this one is a step above. If you read it with Keef’s accent in your head, you can almost picture him sitting across from you in a Chippendale recliner, clutching a cigarette and scotch in his arthritic eagle talon fingers and relating these stories to you as if the two of you were old mates. Everything you could possible imagine about Keef, and a ton of stuff you and I, as mere mortals, could never possibly fathom, is in this book. Form his tumultuous relationship with longtime co-conspirator, the diva Brenda (the Stones’ nickname for Mick Jagger, folks) to drug and alcohol fueled near death experiences and narrow escapes from law enforcement, it’s all there. Heck, it’s a good thing Keef wasn’t into freebasing. Otherwise those five hotel rooms of his that caught fire and blew up due to faulty wiring might be a little suspicious. This book needs to be greenlighted as a joint BBC/HBO miniseries starring Johnny Depp STAT!

8. The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street Deluxe Reissue

Speaking of the Stones, my favorite Stones album is easily Exile, and I’ve always felt this album represented the musical peak of the band. Mick Taylor had been part of the band for over three years at this point and had really recharged the band from a creative standpoint. Building upon the success of Sticky Fingers, the Stones created a masterpiece in Exile of Main Street. 2010 saw the album get the deluxe reissue treatment, the album itself was remastered and a bunch of outtakes were dug out of the vault and finished by Mick Jagger. The album itself has never sounded as good (on CD), and the new old material was a treat. Coinciding with the reissue however was the release of a couple of DVDs: The Stones in Exile, a must-see documentary on the making of the record, and Ladies and Gentlemen… The Rolling Stones, a concert film chronicling the Stones’ American tour in support of the Exile, the band’s first tour of the States since the infamous Altamont incident. 38 years later, both the album and the tour film document just why the Stones deserved to be called the world’s greatest rock n’ roll band. Alas, the distinction would prove ephemeral. While 1973’s Goats Head Soup would maintain some of the magic of Exile, by the time It’s Only Rock N Roll was being recorded, the Stones were quickly entering the “late” period of their career, a kind of cruise control with occasional flashes of brilliance. Nevertheless, just as Rick and Ilsa will always have Paris, Stones fans will always have Nellcôte.

9. The Who – Live at Leeds 40th Anniversary Reissue

When it was released in 1970, in its original form as a 6 track 35 minute explosion of rock n roll, Live at Leeds was hailed by critics as “the greatest live album ever.” The Who, always known for an energetic live set, were riding high on the success of their rock opera Tommy, but were starting to gain a bit of a reputation for being a little on the artsy fartsy side of the rock spectrum. Live at Leeds was intended to rectify that and show that the Who could still out rock any other band live. Forty years, and a number of reissues, later, Live at Leeds still lives up to its designation as “the greatest live album ever.” This is a nice package they’ve put together here, too. It comes with the entire concert from which the original record was drawn (released in 2001 as Live at Leeds Deluxe) on 2 CDs, the complete concert from the band’s performance the following night at Hull, also on 2 CDs, a vinyl repressing of the original Live at Leeds record, a repressed vinyl copy of the Summertime Blues 45 originally released to promote the record, an LP-sized hardcover book, with extensive liner notes, essays, photographs and ephemera from the band’s early career, and a reproduction of the famous Maximum R&B poster used to promote the original album’s release, all packed into a sturdy slipcase. And “Young Man Blues” will still melt your face.

10. The Beatles on iTunes

Actually… I couldn’t give a fuck about that. Big fucking deal. I’ve had the Beatles entire catalog on my iPod since I first got an iPod many, many moons ago. And in better quality than iTunes offers. So, here’s a big raspberry to that 😛 I’ve given you enough money, Steve Jobs. How many black turtlenecks do you need?

So those are ten things I liked about music in 2010, and from where I sit 2011 looks to be just as good if not better in terms of the music that we’ll be listening to. Off the top of my head, we’ve got new albums to look forward to from Beady Eye, Radiohead, the Fleet Foxes, the Red Hot Chili Peppers (with new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer – I hope it’s better than the dreadful material they put on By The Way and stadium Arcadium – yeah, I said it!), the Arctic Monkeys, some Jack White project or other (please, please, please, let it be the Raconteurs… please, please, please)… and who knows how many new bands we’ll hear for the first time next year and fall in love with… I can’t wait. Until then, Happy New Year, everybody!