Golden Globe nominees announced
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Chicago received a leading eight Golden Globe nominations Thursday, including best musical or comedy and best actress for stars Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Chicago leads all Golden Globe nominees with eight nominations.
Miramax
The Hours, a three-tiered story about women whose lives are linked to a novel by Virginia Woolf, had seven nominations including best film drama, best actress for Nicole Kidman and supporting actor for Ed Harris.
The comedy of in-jokes, Adaptation, about its own writers' attempts to fashion its screenplay, had six mentions including best musical or comedy, screenplay by Charlie Kaufman and best comedy actor for Nicolas Cage.
Nominees in 13 movies and 11 television categories for the 60th annual Golden Globes were announced by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The awards are regarded by some as indicators of front-runners for the Academy Award nominations in February.
The Globes will be awarded on Jan. 19 during a live telecast on NBC.
Besides The Hours, the best film drama contenders were the bittersweet Jack Nicholson road-trip saga About Schmidt, director Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, the fantasy sequel The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Roman Polanski's Nazi escape story The Pianist.
Along with Adaptation and Chicago, the Charles Dickens classic Nicholas Nickleby, the Hugh Grant redemption comedy About a Boy and the crowd-pleasing blockbuster My Big Fat Greek Wedding will compete for best musical or comedy.
Meryl Streep received two nominations, competing with The Hours co-star Kidman for best dramatic actress and in the supporting actress category for Adaptation.
Other dramatic actress nominees were Salma Hayek for Frida, Diane Lane for Unfaithful and Julianne Moore for Far From Heaven.
Nicholson's turn as a bedraggled widower in About Schmidt earned him a dramatic actor mention along with Leonardo DiCaprio's runaway con artist in Catch Me If You Can, Daniel Day-Lewis' brutal crime lord in Gangs of New York, Michael Caine's weary, seen-it-all journalist in The Quiet American and Adrien Brody as the piano player evading Nazis in The Pianist.
Cage's role as screenwriter Kaufman and his fictional twin brother in Adaptation placed him against Grant in About a Boy, Kieran Culkin in Igby Goes Down, Richard Gere in Chicago and Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love in the comedic or musical actor category.
Besides Zellweger and Zeta-Jones in Chicago, Nia Vardalos' role as a Greek woman who marries outside her ethnicity in My Big Fat Greek Wedding received a musical or comedy actress mention, along with Goldie Hawn in the The Banger Sisters and Maggie Gyllenhaal in Secretary.
Directing nominees included Scorsese for Gangs of New York, Peter Jackson for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Stephen Daldry for The Hours, Spike Jonze for Adaptation, Rob Marshall for Chicago and Alexander Payne for About Schmidt.
In a blur between reality and fiction, Kaufman was credited along with his fictional twin brother Donald in the screenplay category for Adaptation. Also nominated: Bill Condon for adapting the stage musical Chicago, David Hare for his version of the novel The Hours, Todd Haynes for Far From Heaven and Payne and Jim Taylor for About Schmidt.
Kathy Bates in About Schmidt, Cameron Diaz in Gangs of New York, Queen Latifah in Chicago, Susan Sarandon in Igby Goes Down joined Streep in the supporting actress category.
Supporting actor nominees were Chris Cooper for Adaptation, Harris for The Hours, Paul Newman for Road to Perdition, Dennis Quaid for Far From Heaven and John C. Reilly for Chicago.
Perennial award nominees The Sopranos and The West Wing competed again for best TV drama along with Six Feet Under,The Shield and 24.
TV comedy nominees included The Simpson,Will & Grace,Sex and the City,Curb Your Enthusiasm and Friends.
HBO led television networks with 26 total nominations for its shows The Sopranos,Six Feet Under,Curb Your Enthusiasm and the movies Path to War,Live From Baghdad and The Gathering Storm. NBC had 13, followed by Fox with seven and CBS and FX with three each. ABC and TNT had two apiece.
Golden Globe nominees are chosen by the association's roughly 90 members who cover Hollywood for overseas publications.
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Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Film critics broadcast their movie picks
The Broadcast Film Critics Association announced its 2002 movie nominees Tuesday. The nominees for best picture are About Schmidt, Adaptation, Catch Me If You Can, Chicago, Far From Heaven, Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Pianist and Road to Perdition. Winners will be announced Jan. 17.
Golden Satellites race ahead of Globes
Also Tuesday, the International Press Academy announced nominations for its seventh annual Golden Satellite Awards. Nominees for best drama are Road to Perdition, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Far From Heaven, The Quiet American, The Hours and Antwone Fisher. Comedy/musical nominees are My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Igby Goes Down, Punch-Drunk Love, About a Boy, Adaptation and Chicago. Winners will be announced Jan. 13. The rival Golden Globe nominees will be announced Thursday.
Get set for the most competitive Oscar race in years
Best Actor:
Going by past history, the old farts of the Academy will probably never give Eminem the shot to take on the big boys with his surprisingly acclaimed performance as himself in 8 Mile. But what fun to see Slim Shady, a.k.a. Marshall Mathers III, slugging it out with favorite Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt) -- a fourth Oscar will tie him for the record. As it stands, it's Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York) with the best chance to outfox Nicholson, followed by former winners Michael Caine (The Quiet American), Nicolas Cage (Adaptation), Al Pacino (Insomnia), Tom Hanks (Road to Perdition) and Robin Williams (One Hour Photo) -- great performances all. Allowing for an upset from Leonardo DiCaprio (Catch Me If You Can), the younger Turks -- Kieran Culkin (Igby Goes Down), Edward Norton (The 25th Hour), Campbell Scott (Roger Dodger), Sam Rockwell (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher), Adam Sandler (Punch-Drunk Love) -- can expect to join Eminem on the bench.
Best Actress:
My heart is with Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven), but the favorite has to be Nicole Kidman (The Hours), who creates a brilliant portrait of an artist coming apart. And how can you not love Renee Zellweger (Chicago) as a murderess who sings and dances her way into your heart? The rest is a fight among Salma Hayek (Frida), Diane Lane (Unfaithful), Jennifer Aniston (The Good Girl), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Secretary) and Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding).
Best Picture:
Battle stations will be manned by two epics (Gangs of New York and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers), one musical (Chicago), one feel-good true story (Antwone Fisher) and one luminous chick flick (The Hours) that may cost the worthier Far From Heaven a spot on the ballot. Adaptation (too smart), Road to Perdition (too arty) and Y Tu Mama Tambien (too hot) will yield to -- call me nuts, but I think it will happen -- a nomination for My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
PETER TRAVERS
(December 9, 2002)
The Year in Movies
Did you see more than 400 movies in 365 days?
I did. It's like Jackass: The Movie, when Johnny Knoxville's boys speed downhill in a shopping cart while cannons fire garbage at them. The trick is to grab a gold nugget or two (Gangs of New York, Far From Heaven) before you're buried in crap. Here goes.
Best You Can Say for Scum-Sucking Hollywood in 2002
The studios scammed us good. Never before have film freaks paid so much to sit on our big, fat geek asses at U.S. multiplexes. A record $9 billion in admissions is expected.
Worst You Can Say About Us as Audiences
Most of what we lined up for sucked syphilitic donkey dick. What -- you thought Scooby-Doo advanced film as an art form?
Good for Business
Spider-man snagged $404 million: Number One for the year and Number Five on the all-time box-office charts. At press time, twenty films had grossed more than $100 million, even Attack of the Clones, MiB2 and XXX. God help us.
Good for the Soul
Gangs of New York, the $110 million Martin Scorsese epic, had more lousy pre-release buzz than Titanic. But, surprise, Scorsese turns the 1860s battle between immigrant gangs (Leonardo DiCaprio's Amsterdam Vallon reps the Irish) and nativists (Daniel Day-Lewis' Bill the Butcher reps their magnetic leader) into a brutal, brilliant summation of his career as a chronicler of America's blood lust across the racial divide. Pick at its flaws if you must, but no 2002 film reached higher or achieved more.
Good for Nothing
Employing Madonna as an actress; everything in Sweet Home Alabama except Reese Witherspoon; Vin Diesel's ballooning self-love; cop-out endings as in Minority Report; plot points that make no sense (if water kills the aliens in Signs, what would happen to the movie if it rained?).
Guilty Pleasure
Jackass: the movie: OK, it's no fun watching Johnny Knoxville use an envelope to slice between his fingers and toes. I have this thing about paper cuts. Maybe you'll hurl watching the guys -- they're nude so often the film damn near qualifies as gay porn -- barf, defecate, shove toys up their butts and lick a snow cone infused with urine. But the scenes with the rental car, the wasabi and the car wash are hilarious. Spike Jonze, who directed the whip-smart Adaptation, produced Jackass and appears in it. So if he's not feeling guilty, why should we?
Best Freak
Spider-man won cheers, but the prize for hisses (far more fun) goes to Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. With veins popping in his head, elongated arms and legs, and a voice that sounds like Linda Blair in The Exorcist, this nightmare vision of a smack addict owes much to the physical and vocal talents of Andy Serkis, who acted the role in a wired bodysuit that enabled animators to copy his movements onto a computer.
New Stars Rising
Kieran Culkin giving the breakthrough performance of 2002 in Igby Goes Down; Naomi Watts, the critics' darling of last year's Mulholland Dr., headlining a smash hit with The Ring; Orlando Bloom, an archer with style in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; Viggo Mortensen growing ever more kingly in the same film; Brittany Murphy amping Eminem's sex appeal in 8 Mile; Jake Gyllenhaal (The Good Girl) and Maggie Gyllenhaal (Secretary) becoming the hottest acting siblings since John and Joan Cusack.
New Stars Falling
Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman, stalling their careers in a stilted Star Wars love story; Josh Hartnett, the Pearl Harbor stud, showing no flair for comedy in 40 Days and 40 Nights; Cameron Diaz, merely miscast in Gangs of New York, unbecomingly smug in The Sweetest Thing; Heath Ledger and Kate Hudson going down with The Four Feathers.
Loser of the Year
Winona Ryder. It's not just that she got convicted of shoplifting, it's that her taste in stolen items was so much better than her choice in movie roles. Mr. Deeds with Adam Sandler and Simone in the same year? Jeez!
Off With Their Heads
Look, if Winona is doing community service, other film offenders should be doing time: six months for Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones for walking through their roles in Men in Black II; a year for Kevin Costner for being a pompous ass in Dragonfly; and life for Madonna and director husband Guy Ritchie unless they promise never to work together onscreen again after Swept Away.
From Music to Acting
(Champ Division) Eminem in 8 mile. with the right director (Curtis Hanson) and the right role (basically, himself), he scored big. Runners-up: Ice Cube as a softy in Barbershop and Mick Jagger as a pimp in The Man From Elysian Fields.
From Music to Acting
(Chump Division) Britney Spears in Crossroads. The best you could say about her acting debut is: not as embarrassing as Mariah Carey in Glitter.
Best Five Movies You Didn't See in 2002
While you flushed cash on Scooby-doo, despite the advertised presence of Freddie Prinze Jr., you missed Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People, with Steve Coogan in a fireball turn as Tony Wilson, the founder of Factory Records; Bill Paxton's seriously scary Frailty; Burr Steers' piercing Igby Goes Down; Paul Greengrass' Bloody Sunday, a volcanic re-creation of a January 1972 massacre in Northern Ireland; and Zacharias Kunuk's The Fast Runner, a stunning exploration of an Inuit blood feud.
Best Greek Bearing Gifts
Nia Vardalos, the star and screenwriter of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, hardly expected her small, thin-budget ($5 million) family farce about a dowdy Greek girl who weds a studly WASP (John Corbett) to gross more than a few bucks, never mind $200 million. The snobs dismissed the film as a glorified sitcom; now it's the smash romantic comedy of all time.
Hot Movie Toy
A dirty little secret among Harry Potter fans is the vibrating broomstick: a $19.99 toy that gives girls such a tingle between their legs that Mattel has discontinued it, giving new meaning to J.K. Rowling's title Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Playing Against Type
A deglamorizing putty nose may help Nicole Kidman win the Oscar for Best Actress by, well, a nose. In The Hours, Kidman is almost unrecognizable as the frumpy Virginia Woolf. And the usually nonthreatening sweetie Renee Zellweger is winning early raves for playing a murderous singing, dancing sexpot in Chicago. What's next? Britney as a crack whore? J. Lo as a nun?
Stuff for the Time Capsule?
Eminem rapping with a boxer's energy as he goes three rounds at the end of 8 Mile; the first look at Daniel Day-Lewis -- a performance that will be talked about for years -- as he prepares for war in Gangs of New York; a transcendent Julianne Moore facing desertion as a 1950s housewife in Far From Heaven; Paul Newman, crowning his career in Road to Perdition, ordering a hit on a man he loved like a son; Diane Lane, alone on a train, reliving the heat of adulterous sex in Unfaithful; Michael Caine, his face ravaged by lost love, in The Quiet American; the lyrical eroticism of Y Tu Mama Tambien; Michael Constantine using Windex as a cure for everything (even headaches) in My Big Fat Greek Wedding; Jack Nicholson crying like a baby in About Schmidt; the climactic battle in The Two Towers; Martin Scorsese energizing every frame of Gangs of New York. Know what? The most vital director alive has never won an Oscar. He keeps losing to actors who dabble in directing, even -- yikes! -- Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves). There's talk Scorsese may lose this time to Denzel Washington's directing debut (Antwone Fisher). If so, that beats all contenders on 2002's Movie Hall of Shame.
PETER TRAVERS
(December 9, 2002)
The 10 Best Movies of 2002
The movies that mattered this year are meant to rile you up
The Year in Movies
1. Gangs of New York
A landmark film from Martin Scorsese, who turns a tale of immigrant gangs in the 1860s into a hot-blooded epic for the ages. Ignore the love fluff with Cameron Diaz; Leonardo DiCaprio and a stupendous Daniel Day-Lewis bring history to raw life. No one dares more than Scorsese. Watch him fly.
2. Far From Heaven
The twin peak, along with "Gangs," of the movie year is another period film -- suburbia in the 1950s. The gifted writer-director Todd Haynes uses a disintegrating marriage (superb acting from Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid as her closeted gay husband) to speak potently about the way we live now.
3. Adaptation
The most original and outrageous comedy of 2002. Twin writers (both Nicolas Cage) try to adapt a book about orchids (no sex, drugs or violence) into a Hollywood movie. Director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman are true originals: They make hilarious satire out of the end of civilization.
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Part two of Peter Jackson's film trilogy of J.R.R.Tolkien's books tops the original in thrilling spectacle. Tolkien gets fudged a bit, but the story's themes remain powerful and resonant. Jackson delivers the goods in battle scenes that will take your breath away.
5. Y Tu Mama Tambien
Two teen horn-dogs (Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal) hit the road with an older woman and learn to see beyond their hard-ons. It's an erotic ride that Mexico's Alfonso Cuaron elevates with unexpected feeling.
6. Chicago
A splashy, sexy knockout of a musical about the corrupt heart of showbiz and, by extension, the world. A razzle-dazzle triumph for director Rob Marshall. Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones are hot, hot, hot!
7. Talk to Her
It sounds bizarre: how do two men love two women -- a dancer and a bullfighter -- who are in comas? Spain's Pedro Almod-var tells you how in a one-of-a-kind film that brims over with magic and mystery.
8. Road to Perdition
Some people didn't buy Tom Hanks as a hitman and found director Sam Mendes' follow-up to American Beauty too arty. I found the film and Paul Newman, as the hit-man's surrogate father, indelibly moving.
9. About Schmidt
Jack Nicholson's turn as a Nebraska retiree is a career high, but don't discount the expansive human comedy that director-co-writer Alexander Payne has given him to play.
10. 8 Mile
With all the fuss about Eminem's striking screen debut as a rapper much like himself, you might've missed the authenticity director Curtis Hanson built into the film. Look again.
Runners-up: Besides two from Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American and Rabbit-Proof Fence) and a trio of documentaries (Standing in the Shadows of Motown, Dogtown and Z-Boys, Bowling for Columbine), there's Christopher Nolan's Insomnia, Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love, Paul Schrader's Auto Focus, Stephen Daldry's The Hours, Joe Carnahan's Narc, David Fincher's Panic Room and Paul Greengrass' Bloody Sunday.
And The Worst
Madonna sank with the shipwrecks of 2002, but she wasn't alone Britney Spears started us off with the sour notes of Crossroads: not a girl, not yet an actress. Denzel Washington won an Oscar in March, then tarnished it with the cliches of John Q. Eddie Murphy bet on a losing horse with Showtime, then made it a trifecta with Pluto Nash and I Spy. Summer brought the soggy Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II and The Sum of All Fears. Scooby-Doo was a steaming pile, except at the box office. Ditto Adam Sandler's Mr. Deeds, which even co-star Winona Ryder couldn't steal. Austin Powers in Goldmember needed Viagra. And for the holidays, we've been saddled with Roberto Benigni in a live-action Pinocchio. Still, the sheer clueless incompetence displayed by Mr. and Mrs. Guy Ritchie in Swept Away will surely go unrivaled for years. If we're very, very lucky.
PETER TRAVERS
(December 9, 2002)
Just like you, we've often wondered where bands and artists get their names from. Sometimes you expect something profound and all you get is the name of a shop (Bono), the name of a song (Radiohead) or the name of a Sports Center (Oasis). In most cases, it's something far more stupid. The list below will amuse and confuse, and look out for the Popnuvo additions! :
Dec. 9, 2002 | Conservative columnist Ann Coulter announced today that she has written a children's book, joining such celebrities as Jerry Seinfeld, John Lithgow and Spike Lee in the kid-lit field. Coulter says her book "I Know You Are but What Am I?" is aimed at the 4-to-6 age group and reflects such old-fashioned values as self-reliance, hard work and bigotry.
Claims Coulter, "Children are being ill-served by the liberal publishing industry that tries to sell them a bill of goods about how 'self-esteem' and 'compassion' will get them somewhere in life. They need books that show them the value of being white, Christian and middle-class -- now, while they are still young enough to make use of the message."
Coulter asserts that her book not only prepares children for life by teaching them basic facts, such as "Liberals are wrong about everything," but also helps them to cope with the rigors of the playground.
"Let's face it -- children can be cruel in their taunts and teasing. My book helps arm your children by giving them better, crueler invective and more creative taunts to lob at their opponents."
Coulter's effort is an "I Can Read It Myself" book, since the author believes that children should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and get literate, instead of relying on parents to read to them, or on teachers to teach them.
She also feels that a diet of fantasy books about such characters as Harry Potter and Winnie the Pooh has a deleterious effect on young people's ambition and drive.
"Children have been led to believe that you can just wave your magic wand or find a honey tree, and all your wants are met. Clearly, this is part of the Democratic agenda, which wants to keep children helpless and dependent on the party's largesse, instead of encouraging them to get jobs and support themselves. I think it's time we cut off this parental 'welfare system' for pre-adults and got them back to working in coal mines and chimneys, like their forefathers did. That's why the characters in my book are strong, self-sufficient 6-year-olds who live in the real world, where they work, pay taxes and invade Iraq."
Coulter's editor at Crown's children's division, Mary Lou Perkins, denied having any concerns about the information presented in the book. "'I Know You Are but What Am I?' has footnotes and citations, and probably dozens of facts, so I'm sure it's all accurate and true. And it has lovely illustrations showing the Little Red Hen doing all the work to make the bread and then eating it all herself while the other animals die of starvation. And there are charming pictures showing little American children throwing rocks at children of other nations. I think many parents will find it just the kind of book they've been seeking for their families."
Coulter's book faces competition not just from celebrities, but also from bestselling adult authors, including Michael Chabon, Carl Hiaasen and Toni Morrison, who are joining the children's book industry. But "I Know You Are but What Am I?" has something the others don't -- a photo of the author wearing a low-cut, black vinyl minidress. Coulter denies that this photo might be inappropriate for a children's book.
"Fathers buy 70 percent of the books for their children these days, and I just wanted to give them something to look at while they're rummaging through all the other books, with their bunnies and kittens. And while it's true that a short skirt and blond hair let you get away with a lot, I don't think I'm sending a message to little girls that they can get away with not doing their homework if they just dress like a tart and look cute. I think that is the kind of immoral liberal message sent by the rapist and traitor Bill Clinton."
Local music legends Brian and the Nightmares reuniting for two shows later this month
By Jan Hearne
Press Staff Writer
It was a high-stakes bluff: If Screamin’ Brian and The Howlin’ Tomcats couldn’t convince the crowds at the 1985 opening of the Walnut Street McDonald’s they were a real band, the boys would go home fryless. Truth be told, they were just four guys who got together for the gig. Fortunately for the Johnson City music scene of the mid- to late-80s, they decided to a) stay together and b) change their name.
Just down the street from where it all started and more than 10 years after their breakup, Brian and the Nightmares are getting together Dec. 27 and 28 for two reunion shows at the Casbah, 887 W. Walnut St. Doors open at 9 p.m. and the shows start at 10:30. Opening for the Nightmares will be Scott (“Gimme Concrete”) Pleasant and the Pleztones.
The original four members — Brian Relleva, Kurt Hagardorn, John Smith and Mark Ryalls — haven’t played together since 1989, Relleva said, but inspired by a Stinkyfinger reunion, they got together recently in Nashville (where Relleva, Ryalls and Smith live) to plan the reunion and rehearse.
“We practiced four days in a row like in the old days,” Relleva said. “After four days we needed to lie down. We’re all out of rock ’n’ roll shape. But we’re getting back into it. Yes, that is the plan.”
The rehearsals were a revelation in another way: The band members realized in the years since their 1990 breakup, their “musical maturity had continued,” Relleva said.
“We kept having these moments of clarity while running through songs. Some of those crazy arrangements we (used to) do. And everybody would look at each other and say, ‘What the hell were we thinking?’ We’d arrange songs to death. A three-minute song had like 15 parts to it, but we kept everything pretty true.”
And, he said, they are staying true to the original set lists. The two shows at the Casbah will be strictly Nightmares material — no songs from Relleva’s solo career or from the era of the Shapeshifters, the post-Nightmares band with Relleva, Ryalls and Smith.
“We’re going back in the catalog and getting proud favorites. We’re not gonna do anything new,” Relleva said.
The Nightmares will concentrate on songs from the first tape and from their album “Lizards.” The setlist will include “Parish,” “Stephanie,” “Get Out Baby,” and favorite covers like “Route 66,” “Whip It” and “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.”
Not to be forgotten is the Nightmares’ version of Simon and Garfunkel’s “I Am A Rock.” “Just the contrast of the lyrics of that song and the loud heavy way we do it are so diametrically opposed,” Relleva said. “It’s hilarious.”
Nightmares shows are not just about music; they’re about theater, too. (Who could forget Scott Pleasant at Down Home as the New Year’s baby?) Relleva said the band has a few things in mind for the reunion show, but he’s not at liberty to discuss the details. It is doubtful a mosh pit or slam dancing will be involved, because, he said, “Our bones are brittle.”
Asked if he was prepared to see the changes in the Nightmares’ audience, which in the ’80s ran the age gamut from 16 to 50, Relleva said, “No, absolutely not, but you can write this: We are planning on providing a first-aid tent.” Then he added, “I’m really looking forward to seeing people I haven’t seen in ages.”
When the band started out, Ryalls and Hagardorn were 18, Smith was 19 and Relleva was 24. Now marriage and work and fatherhood have taken over where music once began and ended. But as much as the externals have changed, the core remains the same, Relleva said.
“We’re all still juvenile delinquents inside.”
Releases are available in stores now unless otherwise noted.
POP/ROCK:
The Band, The Last Waltz (Warner/Rhino, 4 CDs, $59.98). The Band's 1976 farewell concert, captured in Martin Scorsese's rockumentary, fully unfolds in this painstakingly assembled set of live performances featuring guests Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Young and others.
Bjork, Family Tree (Elektra, 6 CDs, $59.98). The Icelandic eccentric follows a fan-selected best-of album with a CD of her own catalog favorites — plus five 3-inch CDs of rarities, electronic experiments and classical versions by the Brodsky Quartet.
Jeff Buckley, The Grace EPs (Columbia/Legacy, 5 CDs, $34.98). This collection of mostly live recordings of originals and covers stems from promotional-only and foreign releases. The late alt-torch singer, who released just one album in his lifetime, rivals rapper 2Pac for his expanding posthumous catalog.
Camper Van Beethoven, Cigarettes & Carrot Juice: The Santa Cruz Years (SpinArt, 5 CDs, $34.98). Four studio albums plus an unreleased live CD from an eclectic and influential California '80s band whose frontman, David Lowery, went on to the better-known Cracker.
Capitol Records Sixtieth Anniversary (Capitol, 6 CDs, $114.98). Sinatra, The Beatles, the Beach Boys, Duran Duran, Radiohead — the rich artistic history of the Los Angeles record label is encapsulated and annotated lovingly herein. An even more lavish version sells for $259.98.
Carpenters: The Essential Collection(1965-1997) (A&M, 4 CDs, $47.98). The brother-sister duo responsible for some of the sweetest, smoothest sounds of the '70s is commemorated on this 89-track set, which encompasses everything from early home recordings to hits, interviews, jingles, TV excerpts and Karen Carpenter's final recording session in 1982.
The Cranberries, Treasure Box — The Complete Sessions 1991-1999 (Island, 4 CDs, $59.98). The first four albums from Dolores O'Riordan and her Irish alt-rockers, including hits Linger and Zombie, are augmented by 21 B-sides, remixes and other non-album tracks.
Neil Diamond, Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings ... Plus! (MCA, 3 CDs, $29.98). In addition to 67 studio cuts recorded in 1968-72, this compilation includes live versions of such earlier hits as Kentucky Woman, Solitary Man and Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon.
Enya, Only Time: The Collection (Reprise/Rhino, 4 CDs, $64.98). The new-age singer's career is encapsulated in 51 ethereal tracks culled from albums spanning 13 years, beginning with 1987 debut The Celts through 2000's A Day Without Rain, which yielded post-9/11 therapy anthem Only Time.
Grand Funk Railroad, Trunk of Funk (Capitol, 4 CDs, $63.98). The first four albums by the '70s "people's rockers," long before We're an American Band and Bad Time, have been souped up with bonus tracks and plunked into a limited-edition, numbered trunk, which also holds a sticker, guitar pick, 3-D glasses and room for eight further reissue CDs.
Grateful Dead, Dick's Picks 25 (Grateful Dead, 4 CDs, $29.00); Steppin' Out With the Grateful Dead: England '72 (Grateful Dead, 4 CDs, $31.98); View From the Vault III (Grateful Dead, 3 CDs, $23.50). The live-album trailblazers are still truckin' truckloads of concert recordings. Steppin' Out (which unlike the others is available in stores) selects tracks from several U.K. shows, with a first-time release of the Dead covering Bo Diddley. Dick's Picks 25 combines two consecutive May 1978 shows without duplicating any songs. Vault is a companion to a DVD depicting 1987 and 1990 Northern California shows. (Latter two available at www.dead.net.)
Iron Maiden, Eddie's Archive (Portrait/Legacy, 6 CDs, $99.98). The British metalists offer three double CDs comprising BBC recordings, B-sides and a live set from a1982 tour, entombed in a silver casket embossed with the ghoulish visage of mascot Eddie.
Peggy Lee: The Singles Collection (EMI/Capitol, 4 CDs, $55.98). This 109-track set covers the breadth of the sensuous, smoky-voiced singer's career. Early work with the Benny Goodman Orchestra evolves over the next 35 years into such hits as It's a Good Day, Fever and Is That All There Is?
Like, Omigod! The '80s Pop Culture Box (Totally) (Rhino, 7 CDs, $99.98). Rhino's latest decade-spanning opus is the ultimate tribute to the age of decadence, serving up 142 tracks, heavy on the kitsch.
Mannheim Steamroller, Christmas Collection (American Gramaphone, 4 CDs, $49.98). The popular instrumental act boxes its first three seasonal best sellers with its latest, Christmas Extraordinaire, featuring its first guest vocalist, Johnny Mathis.
Metal Blade Records 20th Anniversary (Metal Blade, 9 CDs plus DVD, $79.98). The cutting-edge Southern California label celebrates with a full metal packet featuring slices from Metallica, Slayer, Gwar, Cannibal Corpse and other popular ax wielders. The DVD disc features 23 videos and live performances.
New Order, Retro (Warner, 4 CDs, $59.98, due Dec. 17). The British post-punk outfit that sprang from Joy Division to pioneer underground dance music allowed such informed fans as Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie to select songs. Tracks include hits (Temptations, Bizarre Love Triangle), B-sides, remixes and 14 unreleased live tracks.
Gary Numan, Disconnection (Castle/Sanctuary, 3 CDs, $21.98). Primarily late-period material from the British synth-popper who gave us Cars. The version of that song (and other early tunes) is a live one.
Phish, Live Phish, Vols. 7, 9-16 (Elektra, 3 CDs, $26.98 each for 7, 9-12; 4 CDs, $31.98 each for 13-16). During a hiatus, the Vermonters released nine more boxes (plus Vol. 8, a two-CD set) of live material. Besides originals, Vols. 13-16 contain the band's live covers of classic albums by The Beatles, The Who, Talking Heads and the Velvet Underground.
Elvis Presley, Today, Tomorrow & Forever (RCA, 4 CDs, $69.98). The most explosive stuff among these 100 unreleased performances comes from a 1956 Arkansas concert, but there are several attractive rarities, including In the Ghetto sans distracting background vocals.
The Rascals, All I Really Need: The Atlantic Recordings (1965-1971) (Rhino Handmade, 6 CDs, $99.98). Virtually everything that counts from arguably the '60s' finest white soul-rockers, including hits Good Lovin', Groovin', People Got to Be Free and much, much more. Available from rhinohandmade.com.
Red White & Rock (Rhino, 3 CDs, $49.98). U.S. rock and pop hits from the '50s to the '70s are assembled in a feel-good boomer scrapbook, from classics (Peggy Sue and Surfin' USA) to one-hit wonders (Louie Louie and Wooly Bully).
Roxy Music, For the Thrill of It All (EMI, 4 CDs, $55.98, due Tuesday). Available for the first time in the USA, this collection compiles 67 familiar and obscure tunes. Bryan Ferry provides annotations for songs including Love Is the Drug, Avalon and Pyjamarama. Most of Disc 4's rarities make their CD debuts.
Savage Republic,The Complete Studio Box Set (Mobilization, 4 CDs, $54.98). The L.A. punk pioneers collect four 1982-89 albums plus tracks from singles and compilations in a package highlighted by guitarist Bruce Licher's distinctive graphics.
Frank Sinatra in Hollywood (1940-1964) (Reprise, 6 CDs, $119.98). A comprehensive collection of film recordings by the pop icon. Includes selections from such classic screen musicals as On the Town, Pal Joey, High Society and Guys and Dolls.
Rod Stewart, Reason to Believe: The Complete Mercury Studio Recordings (Mercury, 3 CDs, $31.98). Tracks cover five studio albums released between 1969-74, plus singles and rarities.
String Cheese Incident, On the Road series (SCI Fidelity, 3 discs, $22.98 each). The jam band decided to make all its live performances this year available in triple-CD sets within two months of the shows. So far, the count stands at 40, with more on the way.
Johnny Thunders, You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory (Castle/Sanctuary, 3 CDs, $21.98). The ex-New York Dolls guitarist, who died in 1991, is celebrated with two live solo discs combined with the remixed and improved version of his proto-punk classic 1977 album, L.A.M.F., with The Heartbreakers.
Widespread Panic, Live in the Classic City (Sanctuary, 3 CDs, $24.98). The Bonnaroo jam-band festival headliners present live material from April 2000 in their hometown, Athens, Ga.
Yes, In a Word: Yes (Rhino, 5 CDs, $69.98). The prog-rock titans reveal influences from retro rock to jazz and classical in a five-decade songbook. Director Cameron Crowe submits a prologue to liner notes for material that varies from signatures (Roundabout, Owner of a Lonely Heart) to a retooling of Paul Simon's America and a handful of unreleased tracks.
Freedom: Songs From the Heart of America (Columbia/Legacy, 3 CDs, $49.98, due Tuesday). Inspirational and topical songs from Yankee Doodle to Donny Hathaway's Someday We'll All Be Free. Companion to next month's PBS series Freedom: A History of US, hosted by Katie Couric.
BLUES AND INSPIRATIONAL:
Roots of the Blues (Vanguard, 3 CDs, $22.98). Roots of the Blues offers a perspective on the blues via the folk-music revival of the late '50s and '60s. Several performances come from the Newport Folk Festival, including unreleased recordings from Buffy Saint-Marie, Josh White and Mance Lipscomb.
A Salute to the Delta Blues Masters (Telarc, 3 CDs, $30.98). Telarc packaged recent single-disc tributes to Robert Johnson, Charley Patton and Mississippi Fred McDowell to create this box. Artists honoring the late Delta greats include Susan Tedeschi, Chris Thomas King, Graham Parker and Taj Mahal.
When the Sun Goes Down: The Secret History of Rock and Roll (RCA Victor, 4 CDs, $55.98). Released separately earlier this year, these 100-plus early blues recordings were prime influences on stars such as Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry and Aretha Franklin.
REGGAE:
Trojan Box Sets (Trojan, 3 CDs, $17.98). A wealth of economical boxes from England's enduring purveyors of Jamaican music. You can choose from volumes devoted to ska ('60s era), roots ('70s), dancehall (more modern), dub (the fascinating '70s sonic explorations that predated electronica) and even calypso, plus a set devoted to artists associated with Bob Marley and another to acts recorded by producer Lee Perry.
FOLK AND COUNTRY:
Roots of Folk (Vanguard, 3 CDs, $22.98). This set from the seminal folk label mixes formative artists (Paul Robeson, Maybelle Carter) and folk-blues stylists (Lightnin' Hopkins) with more commercial acts (the Rooftop Singers, the Kingston Trio).
Doc Watson & David Holt, Legacy (High Windy Audio, 3 CDs, $33.98). This set mixes music and interview snippets to create a captivating portrait of Doc Watson, a blind guitarist who is one of America's most talented and charming roots-music musicians. The third disc was recorded live in March 2001.
Dwight Yoakam, Reprise Please Baby: The Warner Bros. Years (Reprise/Rhino, four CDs, $59.98). The first three discs of this hillbilly's deluxe Warner Bros. swan song assemble hits and uncompiled covers of Merle Haggard, Kinky Friedman, The Clash and others (three new recordings are also included). The fourth disc consists entirely of unreleased recordings, among them 10 songs from a 1981 demo, eight live covers and two duets with Kelly Willis.
R&B:
Prince, One Nite Alone ... Live (NPG, 3 CDs, $50). Prince's first-ever live album captures this spring's critically acclaimed One Nite Alone tour. Three hours of impressive new songs, reworked classics and stirring covers were culled from performances with his New Power Generation quintet. A 48-page book of live performance shots, liner notes, quotes and testimonials is included.
Soul Spectacular (Rhino, 4 CDs, $59.98). Assembled with PBS station WQED in Pittsburgh, this collection provides a solid survey of '60s and '70s R&B chartbusters, with Motown, Stax, Atlantic, Philadelphia International and other regional soul centers well represented.
Nancy Wilson, The Essence of Nancy Wilson: Four Decades of Music (Capitol, 4 CDs, $59.98). The ever-elegant Wilson's career is broadly surveyed on this 81-song set, though only the first disc is dedicated to her most popular work. Discs 2 and 4 feature material either unreleased in the USA or globally. Disc 3 is labeled"Nancy's Choice," some of Wilson's favorites.
JAZZ:
Charlie Christian: The Genius of Electric Guitar (Columbia/Legacy, 4 CDs, $49.98). Christian was the first important jazz musician to play electric guitar, as these 98 tracks show, and though he died at age 25 in 1942, he would be the major influence on guitarists for the next 25 years.
Miles Davis, The Complete Miles Davis at Montreux 1973-1991 (Columbia/Legacy 20 CDs, $249.98). The trumpeter's performances at Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festivalin 1973, 1984-86 and 1988-91 are documented. A bonus disc includes a 1991 concert in Nice, France.
Miles Davis, The Last Word — The Warner Bros. Years (Warner Bros./Rhino, 4 CDs, $64.98). The latter period of the great trumpeter's career is examined here. Included is 1986's Tutu, soundtrack work and sonic experiments with hip-hop producer Easy Mo Bee, which resulted in the posthumous Grammy winner Doo-Bop.
Duke Ellington: Live and Rare (RCA Victor, 3 CDs, $44.98). The 1965 Tanglewood recordings with conductor Arthur Fiedler and a long-lost radio interview are among the rarities from his final years on this 70-track set. Also, 26 unreleased tracks from a Reader's Digest recording with organist Wild Bill Davis and a 1973 U.K. concert a year before his death.
Dizzy Gillespie, Odyssey 1945-1952 (Savoy Jazz, 3 CDs, $47.98). Gillespie's emergence as a major force is captured on this set, which includes his 1945 quintet recordings with fellow jazz giant Charlie Parker. Gillespie's small-band sessions with such up-and-comers as Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey, Milt Jackson and John Coltrane are amply represented, too.
The Grant Green Retrospective (Blue Note, 4 CDs, $63.98). One of the most worthy heirs to Charlie Christian's legacy, guitarist Green was one of the '60s' most prolific and influential jazz artists. His work with such organists as Jack McDuff and Jimmy Smith is showcased, plus small-group and studio sessions with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley and Stanley Turrentine.
The Herbie Hancock Box (Columbia/Legacy, 4 CDs, $69.98). This transparent-cube box encompasses Hancock's first 16 years as a leader, beginning with 1972's Mwandishi and continuing through the techno-funk period of Rockit and Future Shock. Thirteen tracks have never been released in the USA.
Louis Prima and Wingy Manone, The Complete Brunswick and Vocalion Recordings (1924-37) (Mosaic, 6 CDs, $96). The music of New Orleans trumpeters Prima and Manone has been overshadowed by their flamboyant personalities. The 64 tracks by Prima, best known for his work with wife/singer Keely Smith, demonstrate his transition from New Orleans-style jazz to swing. Manone, who got his nickname after losing his right arm at age 10 in a streetcar accident, has a powerful trumpet style showcased in his 83 tracks.
Johnny Smith, The Complete Roost Small Group Sessions (Mosaic, 8 CDs, $128). In the mid-'50s, Smith chose a life of relative obscurity over playing 35 shows a week in New York or traveling with Count Basie or Stan Kenton. His work in the late '40s and early '50s is documented in this set's 178 songs.
Mel Torme & George Shearing (Concord Jazz, 7 CDs, $59.98). Velvety-smooth vocalist Torme teamed with elegant pianist George Shearing to put out six Grammy-nominated albums (two were winners) in the '80s. All albums are collected here, along with 17 unreleased tracks.
Sarah Vaughan, The Complete Roulette Studio Sessions (Mosaic, 8 CDs, $128). The Divine One's 1960-63 recordings find her doing everything from jazz classics to pop tunes in a variety of settings: small groups, big bands and full orchestras. Collaborators include Gerald Wilson, Frank Foster, Joe Williams, Benny Carter, Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifrin.
Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang, The Classic Columbia and Okeh Sessions (Mosaic, 8 CDs, $128). In the 1920s, violinist Venuti and guitarist Lang practically invented jazz stylings on their instruments. The box's 194 songs capture often electrifying performances as individuals, as a duo and as sidemen in big bands or small groups led by Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey and Red Nichols. (All listed Mosaic sets are available only through Mosaic Records, 203-327-7111; www.mosaicrecords.com.)
A State of Wonder: Glenn Gould's Complete Goldberg Variations (Sony, 3 CDs, $19.98). Canadian pianist Glenn Gould's 1955 debut was a masterpiece of iconoclastic interpretation that was soon ubiquitous on college campuses. The fascinating changes of Gould's later version in 1981 gain clarity in these remasterings, while a bonus CD of critic Tim Page's interviews brings out the humor and vision of this eccentric genius.
Mister D: They missed my friend's book, Bonnie Pike's, Survive the Shadowstalker
But which books to give? Even a modest-size bookstore stocks more than 25,000 titles, a "superstore" more than 100,000. We asked a dozen booksellers from Seattle to Miami what books are most likely to be gift-wrapped:
"It's the strongest season for good fiction in years," says Rick Simonson of Seattle's Elliot Bay Bookstore. "At least a dozen books are selling well," including the surprise hit, Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, as well as Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White.
At the headquarters of the Borders chain in Ann Arbor, Mich., Ann Binkley sees a good holiday for three brand-name novelists: Michael Crichton (Prey), James Patterson (Four Blind Mice) and Scott Turow (Reversible Errors).
Also touted: Donna Tartt's The Little Friend and Alice McDermott's Child of My Heart. Like The Lovely Bones, both feature young girls as the major characters.
For students and fans of pop culture, there's Kurt Cobain: Journals, "a wonderful look into a creative mind," says Cindy Dach of Changing Hands Bookshop in Tempe, Ariz. She also recommends Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller.
Mitch Kaplan of Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla., touts Les Standiford's Last Train to Paradise, about building the railroad to Key West, "a triumph of one man's obsession."
Several booksellers recommend Leadership by Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, and Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? by Louis Gerstner, the former CEO of IBM.
Robert Caro's Master of the Senate, the third of four volumes on Lyndon Johnson, is "one of the must-have gifts," says Leslie Graham of San Francisco's A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books. She also recommends The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman, and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany by Michael Beschloss.
Sarah Goddin of Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, N.C., sees strong holiday sales of Edmund Morgan's Benjamin Franklin and David Rockefeller's Memoirs.
But the season's surprise biography hit is Jane Leavy's Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, about the former baseball star. Binkley says it will have "strong Hanukkah appeal as well as Christmas."
Dach says the holiday competition in photo books will be "9/11 vs. nature, and nature books are really going to stand out." She cites Remarkable Trees of the World by Thomas Pakenham, as well as Cautionary Tales for Children by Hilaire Belloc and Edward Gorey, which includes rediscovered Gorey illustrations.
Sharon Kelly Roth of Books & Co. in Kettering, Ohio, expects strong sales for Elizabeth Taylor's My Love Affair With Jewelry and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker and Michele Scicolone.
Roth likes The Secrets of Jesuit Soupmaking by Brother Rick Curry, which includes recipes and meditations.
Richard Klein of Book Revue in Huntington, N.Y., says of Nothing Is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life by Christopher Reeve: "If his story is not inspirational, then nothing is."
Contributing: Contributing: Caroline Binham and Zubin Jelveh
The White Stripes, White Blood Cells
Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Beck, Sea Change
The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Eminem, The Eminem Show
Weezer, Maladroit
Missy Elliot, Under Construction
Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf
N.E.R.D., In Search Of...
The Hives, Veni Vidi Vicious
Felix Da Housecat, Kittenz and Thee Glitz
Sleater-Kinney, One Beat
Jay-Z, The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse
Bruce Springsteen, The Rising
Tori Amoz, Scarlet's Walk
The Roots, Phrenology
The Streets, Original Pirate Material
Scarface, The Fix
DJ Shadow, The Private Press
Bright Eyes, Lifted or the Story Is In The Soil, Keey Your Ear to the Ground
Foo Fighters, One By One
Sigur Ros, ()
Drive-By Truckers, Southern Rock Opera
Pulp, We Love Life
Red Hot Chili Peppers, By The Way
Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head
El-P, Fantastic Damage
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Moby, 18
The Soudtrack of our Lives, Behind the Music
RJD2, Deadringer
Interpol, Turn of the Bright Lights
Ryan Adams, Demolition
Audioslave, Audioslave
Various Artists, MTV Road Rules: Don't Make Me Pull This Thing Over Vol. 1
Steve Earle, Jerusalem
Cody Chesnutt, The Headphone Masterpiece
Spoon, Kill the Moonlight
Super Furry Animals, Rings Around the World
2 Many DJs, As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2
Surprises? None, really. They've ditched the perenial "Top 10 Albums You Never Heard," which seems an important shift in philosophy (depending on how you want to interpret it, the underground music scene is either inconsequential, bad, or unconsumable). I'm surprised at the vigor with which they hang on to The White Stripes. I think Spin needs The White Stripes to survive more than The White Stripes do.
Well part of it:-)
The 50 Greatest Albums of 2002
From those CDs that had us dancing like maniacs to those that made us cry like babies, Blender presents 2002’s finest recorded pleasures. Plus: The stars who made them recall the year’s highs, lows and how many times they threw up. . . .
By Jason Adams, John Aizlewood, Michael Azerrad, Clark Collis, James Hunter, Rob Kemp, Dorian Lynskey, Ben Mitchell, Alexis Petridis, Mat Snow, Rob Tannenbaum and Jonah Weiner
50
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
BY THE WAY
Warner Bros.
They shouldn’t even be breathing, let alone getting better
Worthy of a place on this list for back-from-the-dead guitarist John Frusciante’s contributions alone, By the Way finds the Chili Peppers refining the melodic template of 1999’s Californication to even greater effect. True, anyone looking for rock-rap will do so in vain. But with the pop-metal anthem “Dosed” or the flamenco-flavored “Cabron Cabron” in its stead, only the narrow-minded could complain.
49
EL-P
FANTASTIC DAMAGE
Definitive Jux
Hip-hop for hip nerds
Underground hip-hop mogul/rapper/producer El-P zips through big words and lofty phrases as if he’s being paid by the syllable. He’s the founder of New York’s Definitive Jux label, and his devotees see him as an indie David battling hip-hop’s bling-obsessed Goliaths. On Fantastic Damage, his fractured rhythms and noise-drenched beats — such as those in the paranoid fantasy “Deep Space 9mm” — win over rapheads, indie rockers and electronica snobs alike.
48
ORCHESTRA BAOBAB
SPECIALISTS IN ALL STYLES
World Circuit/Nonesuch
From Senegal, the greatest band you’ve never heard
Formed as the house band at the Baobab, a club for Senegalese government officials, this recently reunited 11-member juggernaut became a world-music institution on the strength of its ingenious adaptation of Cuban rhythms. Slickly produced by countryman Youssou N’Dour, their first album since 1982’s classic Pirate’s Choice glides by on a swinging, guitar-accentuated groove.
47
ANDREW W.K.
I GET WET
Island
Party as noun, verb and direct object
Ten seconds into Andrew Wilkes-Krier’s full-length debut, the Detroit native bellows “It’s time to party!” — and the brutal, mindless fun long missing from modern metal comes crashing back in one fell whoop. With all the goofy, shameless good cheer of a slobbering Saint Bernard, I Get Wet is death metal twisted into a Coors Light commercial.
46
THE ROOTS
PHRENOLOGY
MCA
Rap-rock with a brain and a ’fro
The Roots have always appealed to rap aesthetes, but on their blistering sixth album, Phrenology, hip-hop’s best live band welcomes a new guitarist and reaches out to the melting-pot kids raised on Run-DMC and Kid Rock. “Thought @ Work” channels the squall of classic Public Enemy, while “The Seed (2.0)” hustles like Miss You-era Stones. A black-rock breakthrough.
45
THE HIVES
VENI VIDI VICIOUS
Burning Heart/Epitaph/Sire
What’s Swedish for “Hey, ho, let’s go!”?
“My boss, he’s a probable bore!” howls Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist on “Supply and Demand,” his searing critique of capitalist exploitation, kicking in the killer rhyme: “Put me hands and knees on scrubbable floor!” The best stoopid/clever garage-punk act in captivity has the road-hardened chops, the badditude, the foundation myth and youth on its side.
44
AVRIL LAVIGNE
LET GO
Arista
Canadian skater girl rocks up MTV
While spiritual big sister Pink communes with the ghost of Janis Joplin, Avril Lavigne channels the late alt-teen magazine Sassy: On her debut, the 18-year-old is a gimlet-eyed advice columnist with a guitar, waging a one-girl war on phoniness. Shrewd new-wave production makes the music bite, and the chewy smashes “Complicated” and “Sk8er Boi” have inspired girls across the nation to pick up guitars and swipe their dad’s neckties.
“I Get Sweaty”
Avril Lavigne explains her obsession with tank tops, Josh Hartnett and the White Stripes
How are you, and where are you?
I’m fine, thank you. I’m in a hotel room in New York.
Admit it: The teen-pop boom is kaput, partly because of you and a few others. Is there any one bubblegum singer you were really gunning for?
I can’t answer that. My big mouth has already gotten me in too much trouble this year. But I will say that my music is different than many young female artists’: I write my own music, I play guitar, I don’t let other people dictate my image. I dress normally.
What — a necktie over a tank top?
I wear tank tops because I get sweaty onstage, and the necktie . . . I just do weird things sometimes.
How would you rate your year, on a scale of 1 to 10?
My year has been a 10. I had so much fun, and my album has gone triple platinum. Most importantly, I’m happy. Can I ask for anything more?
What was your favorite album of the year?
I totally love the White Stripes’ White Blood Cells.
Who were your hero and villain of the year?
My hero is Spider-Man. And no one has been enough of an asshole to me to be a “villain.”
Sex symbol?
Josh Hartnett. He’s sooo hot.
How many times did you vomit this year?
Not very many, really. Maybe 10 or 20 times.
How will you be spending New Year’s Eve?
We might be playing the Times Square New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. But if we’re not, then I’d like to go get fucked up with my band.
– Rob Kemp
43
YEAH YEAH YEAHS
YEAH YEAH YEAHS (EP)
Touch and Go
Art-punk trio’s 14-minute manifesto
It takes a special band to be acclaimed as the future on the strength of just five tracks. This blink-and-you’ll-miss-it debut shows that this New York trio is exactly that. Arty, angry and sexy all at once, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have a born star in magnetic frontwoman Karen O. “It’s our time to be hated,” she yelps on “Our Time.” Au contraire!
42
CAM’RON
COME HOME WITH ME
Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
Harlem bruiser scores crossover smash
He’s handsome, played All-American hoops in high school and talks about doing it with your mom: Cam’ron is the most popular kid and an insufferable bully rolled into one. Behind the power of the unshakeable thug jam “Oh Boy,” Cam’ron’s fourth album proves two things: One, there are indeed second acts in hip-hop; and two, the man knows how to write one hell of a pop hook.
41
SONIC YOUTH
MURRAY STREET
Geffen
Avant-garde noiseniks rediscover the art of the tune
While devotees of Sonic Youth’s eardrum-scouring guitar drone might have stuck with New York’s venerable art-rockers during the late ’90s, fans of Sister and Goo often found themselves thinking, “Hey, didn’t these guys used to write great songs, too?” So they wrote a few more, such as “Disconnection Notice” and “Karen Revisited,” making Murray Street their most welcoming, and welcome, release in over a decade.