THE BEST CDs OF 2002 (1 Viewer)

[Dean DeMass]

I can't believe I am going to be only the 2nd person to mention Ben Folds Live.
Anyway, here are my 5 favorites in no certain order:
Ben Folds: Ben Folds Live
Nine Inch Nails: And All That Could of Been (2 disc Limited Edition)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Dave Matthews Band: Busted Stuff
Audioslave: Audioslave (Even though 4 songs are horrible, the other 10 are incredible)
Honorable mentions:
Eminem: The Eminem Show
Foo Fighters: One by One
The White Stripes: White Blood Cells
The Chemical Brothers: Come With Us
-Dean-

 

[Eujin]

My favorite of the year has to be the Man in Black's 'American IV: The Man Comes Around'.

I don't know if it's my favorite of the year, but it's close. It's a must-buy if you've ever liked Johnny Cash in the past and have been away for a while. Did anyone else feel, while listening to it, that this is his farewell album? It felt like he was confronting his own mortality and the fading of his abilities--definitely not his talents as an artist. I'll say this: it was the only album of the year, indeed for many a year, that has moved me close to tears. Highly recommended even if you've never listened to The Man in Black.

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

Douple post

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

Peter Gabriel - Up. At least his best album in two decades, and the more I listen the more I think it may be his best ever.
Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. A prog rock masterpiece on the same level as Genesis' Foxtrot and Yes' Close to the Edge. Everything good about DT.
Def Leppard - X. The kickass hard-rock-no-shlock they hinted they might be growing into with 1995's brilliant Slang, but better.
Truly, though, it's been a pretty slim year.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Meshell Ndegeocello - "Cookie: The Anthropological Mix Tape" I don't like it as much as "Bitter" or "Peace Beyond Passion", but there's good stuff to be had on here.

I'm a big Me'Shell fan and I don't think that the new album stands up to any of the first three. Not even in the same league. Very dissapointing after the brilliant "Bitter".

 

[Dan Stone]

Interesting to note that two artists as diverse as Judas Priest and Ryan Adams both released albums titled 'Demolition' in 2002.

While I've not heard the Ryan Adams album, the JP album would definitely NOT qualify as a best of 2002 despite my being a big fan of their older work.

 

[Eujin]

Just a quick question: are we counting BOTH the merits of the music AND quality of recording when putting up our lists? I just ask because I might have put Demolition (Ryan Adams) on my list, but found the recording quality a bit inconsistent--some tracks were very good, and some pretty bad ("Nuclear" for example).

 

[Todd Hostettler]

I can't believe I am going to be only the 2nd person to mention Ben Folds Live.

Conversely, I can't believe I'm only the 2nd person to mention When I Was Cruel!

 

[Van Patton]

Well I haven't bought many new CD's of 2002 but of the ones I have, here are my favorites:

Trey Anastasio: Trey Anastasio
Queens of the Stone Age: Songs for the Deaf
Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Phish: Round Room
Rolling Stones Remastered Discs

 

[LarryDavenport]

Here is a list of my, released in 2002, CD purchases (at least all that I can remember) the one's with an asterick would be in my top ten:

*Beck - Sea Change

The White Stripes - *White Blood Cells, The White Stripes, De Stijl

*Queens of The Stone Age - Songs For the Deaf

Filter - The Amalgamut

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Echo & the Bunnymen - Live in Liverpool

Black Sabbath - Past Lives, Symptoms of the Universe

Doors - Live at the Aquarius Theater Vol. 1-3

*Camper Van Beethoven - Ciggarettes and Carrot Juice "The Santa Cruz Years"

*Stereolab - ABC Music

*Ween - Live at Stubbs 2000

*Frank Zappa - FZ in OZ 76

Bob Marley - Rastaman Vibrations (Deluxe)

Nazz - Open My Eyes

Velvet Underground & Nico (Deluxe)

*David Cross: Shut Up You Fucking Baby

T-Rex: 20th Century Boy: The Ultimate Collection

Bob Dylan - Bootleg #5 Live 1975

Simon & Garfunkle - Live in New York City 1967

Love - Love, De Capo (Mono/Stereo two-fers)

Jimi Hendrix - Wild Blue Angel 2 disc version

Rolling Stones - ABCKO Remasters (*multiple tie)

Johnny Cash - Live at Madison Square Garden, Orange Blossom Special, The Fabulous Johnny Cash

*Zombies - Decca Stereo Anthology

Pavement - Slanted & Shanted Luxe & Reduxe

 

[Rob P S]

Ryan Adams - Demolition
Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise - Higher Ground
Kasey Chambers - Barricades & Brickwalls
The Clarks - Another Happy Ending
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
Counting Crows - Hard Candy
Cracker - Forever
Steve Earle - Jerusalem
Jack Ingram - Electric
Barry Manilow - Ultimate Manilow
Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff
Buddy Miller - Midnight & Lonesome
Rhett Miller - The Instigator
Paul Westerberg - Stereo/Mono
Kelly Willis - Easy

 

[Angelo.M]

Peter reminds me to add Tift Merritt's Bramble Rose and Caitlin Cary's While You Weren't Looking to my list. They've been part of my local music scene for a long time, as were Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown before them, but they are no longer our little secret. That's a very good thing.
This past year was an incredible one for the alt-country/new-country school with these two incredible albums along with great records from Ryan Adams, Buddy Miller, Wilco (working mostly out-of-genre), Kelly Willis, Neko Case, Steve Earle, Allison Moorer, Rhett Miller, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, most if not all of which have been mentioned on this thread already.
Happy listening.

 

[paul h]

Saliva - Back in Your System
NIN - And All that Could Have Been
Idlewild - The Remote Part
Stabbing Westward - Self Titled
Paul Oakenfold - Bunkka

 

[John Tillman]

Johnny Cash - Man Comes Around
Dixie Chicks – Home
George Harrison – Brainwashed
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
Jorma Kaukonen - Blue Country Heart (SACD)
Mark Knopfler – The Ragpickers Dream
Alison Krauss - New Favorite
Kim Richey – Rise

Reissues:
Bahtt/Douglas/Meyer – Bourbon & Rosewater hybrid
Emmylou Harris – Roses in the Snow
Hoffman hybrids:
Willie & the Poorboys
Cosmos Factory
Green River
Zombies
Presley – 30 #1 Hits (DVD-A)
Stones – Hot Rocks hybrid

 

[Juan Castillo]

Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For the Deaf, funny how one single can spark interest, and you find that the rest of the album is so much different, and yet so much better than the single.

Coldplay - Rush of blood to the head - Had never bothered listenging to these guys, cuz I thought they were too girly.. but dang, they are quite good indeed. Picked up Parachutes also, after hearing one of their songs on a TV program.. John Doe...

Audioslave???? REally guys? How long did you subject yourself to listening to this before it grew on you? Are the people here that liked this both Soundgarden and RATM fans, or neither, or only fans of one? I was a fan of both, more RATM than Soundgarden, and aside from the first single, I couldn't get into it. Just wierd on my part I guess.

I had a few more favs, but I don't want to spend the time to figure out which ones came out this year.

 

[Peter McM]

John Tillman:
Nice to see someone else gave a nod to Kim Richey. I've been a fan ever since her first album.. I've seen her in concert twice in the last four months-- --the second less than two weeks before her appearance on the CMA awards.

 

[Greg_C_T]

Norah Jones - Come Away With Me

It has yet to leave my CD changer after four months. I've bought three copies as gifts already.

Honorable mentions:

Elvis - 30 #1 Hits
Bon Jovi - Bounce
Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytails

 

[Chuck L]

I am going to go out a huge limb and vote for an album that I think was sorely overlooked in 2002:

Cher's Living Proof

Other Mentions:

Chris Issak Always Got Tonight
Fleetwood Mac's The Very Best of...
Pat Benatar's Summer Vacation 2001

 

[John Tillman]

Peter... Kim Richey is probably very good in concert as she has lovely voice that has matured some on Rise. I heard her do a couple of songs live on radio and she sounded great, she also seems like she would be a bundle of fun.

 

[Rick Deschaine]

Some of My favorites for the year...
Neko Case - Blacklisted I would be hard pressed to find a better voice than her's right now.
The Black Keys - Big Come Up Heard this playing on the house sound system prior to a Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash show. Simply incredible! Sounds a lot like the White Stripes but a lot better. No kidding!
Buddy and Julie Miller Great Husband Wife duo. They have an incredible range of styles represented on this CD. Was able to catch them in Austin backing up Emmylou. What a treat that was. Julies voice is simply divine.
Hope you all enjoy!