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Janet Jackson’s ‘All For You’ vs. Jimmy Eat World’s ‘Bleed American’

May 20, 2026May 19, 2026by KevinLeave a Comment

Best Record of 2001: Day 43

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at Janet Jackson’s ‘All For you’ as it takes on Jimmy eat World’s ‘Bleed American.’

In 2000, Janet Jackson found herself on the wrong side of a divorce filing from Rene Elizondo. He was suing Janet for $25 million in spousal support despite there being a prenuptial agreement. (Janet ended up settling out of court in ‘03. Rumor is she paid him $10 million.) Nice work if you can get it!

At any rate, nothing says “turning over a new leaf” like making a new album.

Jackson, on the record:

“I call my latest release All for You. The You is my fans who’ve stayed with me and watched me grow; the You is the mysterious force of love that’s the source of creativity; and the You is also me. All for You is a suite of songs that helped me move from one emotional level to another. I’m the kind of artist who has no choice but to write what I feel.

Velvet Rope took me inside my fears and frustrations. All for You has brought me outside, happy on a natural high, convinced that I really can express joy in the face of pain. My moods are changing. If you listen to the CD, you’ll hear what I’m going through. There’s anger, hurt, regret, even that familiar vein of severe self-criticism that I can’t quite shake. (I still can’t stand seeing any of my movies or concert tapes; I still cringe when I watch myself act or dance.) Yet there’s also confidence.

I hope this doesn’t sound egotistical, but this time I stood alone and crafted my art according to my heart. I feel free, and there’s nothing more wonderful than freedom.”

The TL;DR here is that Miss Jackson is horny.

I mean, All for You has her singing, “You got a nice package all right / Guess I’m gonna have to ride it tonight.” God damn.

And that’s just the start. The entire record gives off a “newly divorced and making up for lost time” energy, and the heat only goes up from there.

“Love Scene (Ooh Baby)” has a wait, what?! moment (spoiler: she’s saying exactly what you think she’s saying). And on “Would You Mind,” we get: “I just wanna touch you, tease you, lick you, please you…”

Look, I’m a guy, and let’s be real: horny Janet is entertaining… but only for a minute. It would be better if she were surrounded by something — anything — more interesting. There are a couple of great moments on here. “Son of a Gun,” with its lifting of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” is fun. Ditto “Someone to Call My Lover,” with its sampling of America’s “Ventura Highway.” It’s a close race between that and the title track for the record’s highlight.

“Truth” is a raw ballad that’s at the wistful end of the breakup spectrum — the yucky part you have to go through to get to the fun one. I guess what I’m trying to say is that All for You is at its best when she’s not hot and bothered and chooses instead to lean into breaking new (for her) ground.

Okay! So, Jimmy Eat World. You ever get a ride to a party from someone who then gets into a knockdown, drag-out fight with their partner, and you’re stuck there because… no ride? Yeah. And then maybe, for whatever reason, “The Middle” happens to have some sort of significance to the two of them, so it gets played at full blast while they verbally tear each other to shreds, leaving the song permanently attached to that memory? No? Just me? Oh, okay then.

So, 25+ years later, and I’m finally hearing the rest of the record, and it’s not terrible! This is the sort of standard-issue rock-y power pop a lot of emo bands moved toward back then. Dug “If You Don’t, Don’t”; I thought that had some oomph to it, and I’ll likely listen to it more after this. The rest sounds like what was pouring out of Anthropologie speakers at the time, or at parties in SE Portland.

Bottom Line: Horny Janet > bog standard emo/power pop. Bracket pick and vote are both going to Damita Jo.

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my take? Sound off in the comments!

Gorillaz, Clearlake, and the Blur of Reality

May 18, 2026May 22, 2026by KevinLeave a Comment

Best Record of 2001: Day 41

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at Gorillaz’ self-titled debut as it faces off against Clearlake’s Lido.

Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challenge and noted that I’d be writing some of these up.

The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll ~~probably~~ be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!

Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.

KA—

In an era where AI blurs the line between what’s real and what isn’t, a band of cartoon avatars feels almost quaint. But in 2001, this was all wild-frontier kind of stuff, even if we knew the voices behind the characters. Damon Albarn had seen massive success in Blur, while Del Tha Funky Homosapien had given the world one of the most lethal earworms in the form of “Dobalina.” As part of Cibo Matto, Miho Hatori was also a bit of a cult figure. So yeah, plenty of firepower and street cred in equal measure.

Things kick off with the steady groove of “Re-Hash,” and quickly establish that this is not a Blur record, or a Del or Cibo Matto record, for that matter, but it is a collective effort. And of course, we have to talk about “Clint Eastwood,” the track that put them on the map. The blending of Albarn’s vocals with Del’s and the beat, which, if memory serves, came from the demo mode of a Casio keyboard, made for a fantastic on-ramp for most of us.

“19-2000” is also an all-timer, but for my money, the real star here is “Rock the House” (another Del feature). It’s a dance-floor filler. There’s also plenty of dub and other spacey vibes in every corner of the record, which leads to its biggest fault: for all the highs, there’s an equal amount of not-so-high stuff. This is a 15-track record that could have very easily been a 9- or 10-track masterpiece. With that much talent in one space, it was bound to happen.

Still, the good far outweighs the bad. We know the heights the band will reach later with tracks like “On Melancholy Hill” and “Dare.” But none of that happens without the noodling and adventuring taking place here. It’s a little rough around the edges, but ultimately this is a solid debut from a collective finding its footing.

With Lido, Clearlake seems to have found theirs, which ironically sounds not a little like Blur and later-era Beatles. And with Sunday Evening, maybe a little like Portishead? Maybe that’s just me. Maybe I’m overthinking it. No matter. This was supposed to represent the next wave of Britpop, but people want Parklife or the snotty fury of Oasis. They come close with “Something to Look Forward to” (this writer’s favorite on the record), but mostly this is atmospheric, woozy music with Jason Pegg’s vocals over the top. It’s an aesthetic that only comes from living somewhere that sees a lot of rain. It’s appealing enough, but not something I can see myself returning to.

Bottom Line: Gorillaz are seeded 7th here, and going up against #122 seems unfair. Part of me wants to vote for Clearlake just to see what happens, but as maudlin as the record can get, I’m not sure they’d appreciate a pity vote. Bracket pick and vote are both going to 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel.

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my take? Sound off in the comments!

Discussion: What’re You Listening To?

May 18, 2026May 17, 2026by KevinLeave a Comment

Note: May 18th is a big day both in music history and for anyone who lived in the PNW in 1980. I first ran this piece when there were about 6 of us here (and 3 of them lived with me), and it’s become an annual tradition.

We don’t have many musical traditions in my family. On Thanksgiving, my wife & kids have to endure “Alice’s Restaurant” at least once (or rather, my attempts to sing it). Sometime in the next few weeks after that, Otis Redding’s version of “Merry Christmas Baby” gets a spin, and that’s about it for the year…with one exception.

Growing up, we hardly had any traditions- musical or not. In fact, about the only time I can remember us doing anything even remotely collective had to do with this song. This started in 1980, in the lead-up to Mt. St. Helens’ eruption, when the song was played as a bit of gallows humor. Anytime it played, we’d all just sort of start singing along. No other song before or since can make that claim.

If you can’t control something, you might as well sing about it, right?

P.S. Since this first ran, my mom moved. I’m not sure the Sanka can came with her, but I’d like to think it’s still in a box waiting to be unpacked.

KA—

Living under a looming threat and widespread mask use was a new phenomenon for most of us. But for those of a certain age living in the Pacific Northwest, it evoked memories of 1980.

People wearing masks in Portland Oregon ahead of the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. — Photo: Oregonlive.com

Living in the shadows of the Cascade Mountains, it’s easy to forget that it’s a volcanic range. Easy, that is, until Mother Nature reminds you.

And so it was in late 1979/early 1980 with Mt. St. Helens.

At first, the eruptions were nominal enough; some steam here, a small landslide there. Later as they grew in scale, ash began to rain down on downwind communities, and painter masks became de rigueur fashion.

This culminated with a cataclysmic eruption on May 18th, 1980, which permanently changed people’s lives — and left the landscape unrecognizable.

On that day, just five words let the world know it was about to be changed forever. Volcanologist David Johnston had been camped on the mountain’s flank to monitor the increasingly dangerous situation.

The morning of May 18th, in a radio call to the USGS office, he announced the eruption to the world, his last words being, “Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!

Buffett had a different mountain in mind when he wrote “Volcano.” He was talking about the Soufriere Hills volcano on the Caribbean Island of Montserrat.

But radio stations in places like Portland, Oregon, and Spokane, Washington, put it in their rotation as a part of a gallows humor approach to the impending disaster everyone knew was coming but didn’t know when — the calypso style offering a sunny contrast to the (literally) gray pall cast over the area.

Four decades on, the song remains a staple at Buffett performances—and in my house on every May 18th.

If you have friends who grew up in Oregon or Washington, don’t be surprised if pictures of Johnston are on their timelines today.

And for many of those same people, a coffee can full of volcanic ash remains on a shelf in their garage as a souvenir — a reminder of when life got sketchy, and nothing was left to do but sing about it.

Besides Jimmy and Joy Division, this week’s list has new tracks from Dan Pritchard, The Mountain Goats, and Kurt Vile. We’ve also got the usual sonic comfort food/deep cuts from GBV, XTC, and more.

Side A is tracks 1-15 (ends with Wilco). Side B is tracks 16-31.

On to the music…

Other sources: Apple | Qobuz | YouTube Music|

Now it’s your turn.

Any new releases or shows you’re looking forward to? Whatcha got? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Aaliyah’s Red Album: A Break Out Record Frozen in Time.

May 12, 2026May 11, 2026by KevinLeave a Comment

Best Record of 2001: Day 37

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at Aaliyah’s self-titled record, aka “The Red Album.”

Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challengeand noted that I’d be writing some of these up.

Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.

KA—

On August 25, 2001, a small plane crashed just after takeoff in the Bahamas, killing all 9 aboard. This event would likely have been lost to time had one Aaliyah Dana Haughton not been on the manifest.

In aviation, there are multiple layers of safety (the Swiss cheese approach). The idea being that if there is a hole somewhere, there’s another layer to stop things from getting through. Acting as one of those layers is a large part of my day job. It almost always works- there’s a reason we get to complain about things like bad food and long check-in lines and not planes falling out of the sky. There’s never just one single point of failure. But when the holes line up, disaster is usually inevitable. And in late August in Marsh Harbour, they did just that. I don’t want to go too inside baseball here, but almost everything that could go wrong here did. It’s maddening, tbh. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that this incident now serves as a great example of what not to do when it comes to flight safety and demonstrating preventive practices.

Just a few weeks prior, Aaliyah’s self-titled third album dropped. It was a turning point: a record poised to expand her reach beyond R&B’s borders. We didn’t know it yet, but it would also turn out to be the last we’d hear from her, the album now frozen in time as her final statement.

Working closely with Timbaland, Missy Elliott, and Static Major, Aaliyah leans into a hybrid of hip-hop, electropop, and soul. On this record, she’s cast off the New Jack Swing shackles of her previous two records (and R. Kelly, too, for that matter). “We Need a Resolution” wastes no time setting the tone—its stuttering rhythms and negative space give her voice room to glide. Elsewhere, “Rock the Boat” (they were returning from the video shoot when the crash occurred) slows things down into a lush, quiet storm anthem. It’s an all-timer, IMO. These two tracks are the album’s high points—both unmistakably “Aaliyah” and suggest an even greater artistic leap looming on the horizon. In a lot of ways, this reminds me of Janet Jackson’s “Control” album, right down to the red background on the cover.

Elsewhere, the record can feel uneven. There are stretches where the songwriting doesn’t quite match the sophisticated production (you can only pen songs about f**king so many different ways), and a few tracks blur together.

That said, it still makes for a compelling listen. Tracks like “I Can Be” experiment with distorted guitars and fragmented vocal loops, while “It’s Whatever” drifts into airy, soul. The record’s willingness to push at genre boundaries is undeniable—even when the results don’t fully land. I appreciate that she never feels like she has to oversell anything. She’s here, she’s singing, and that’s the deal.

Her death, just weeks after the album’s release, inevitably colors how it’s heard. Aaliyah captures an artist at an early peak, but I couldn’t help but think “what if?” while listening. In another universe, this would have been her breakout album- a statement record, if you will. Instead, it marks the end of life and a career cut down way too soon.

Bottom Line: This is up against Hope Sandoval. Both have incredible voices, and on paper, Sandoval would be my pick on the strength of her duet with The Jesus and Mary Chain alone. but the Red Album makes a compelling case. My bracket pick went to the late Ms. Haughton. My vote? Well, I’m not sure yet…

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

What’re You Listening To?

May 11, 2026May 10, 2026by KevinLeave a Comment

The 2-lane highway from Portland’s western suburbs to the Oregon Coast was exactly 72 miles.

It usually took about an hour and a half. It was a little faster if traffic was light and we were in a fast car. Or a little longer if we were in my friend Matt’s VW bus. It never bothered us, though.

It’s hard to be in a hurry when the sun’s out and you’re with your friends.

No one ever felt the need to check their watch while moseying through the Coast Range listening to Bob Marley.

At this point, Marley’s “Legend” compilation record is the default reggae record. Even if you can’t name a single other title or artist, you invariably at least know this one. Released posthumously, it’s the best-selling reggae record of all time, racking up millions of copies sold as of this writing. At least a dozen of those sales were from us.

Is there any other record so closely associated with it’s genre?

Most of us wound up going deeper into Marley’s discography, but like so many others, “Legend” was our on-ramp to his music. There we’d be, singing, “Every little thing’s gonna be all right,” while the bus wheezed and gasped, struggling to carry us over the hills. We sang “get up stand up” and would wind up doing just that through the years. The Bush family derisively referred to Portland as “Little Beirut.” We wore it as a badge of honor.

But over on the left side of the map, those concerns were a million miles away- our only worries being gas money and hitting spots like Indian Beach.

Today, we remember Marley on the 45th anniversary of his passing.

Four decades plus is a long time to have been gone from this life, yet Marley’s music & vision resonate now more than ever.

If we want every little thing to be all right, we need to get up and stand up.

This week’s list has factory fresh tracks from BODEGA, Nightbus, Onesie, and Taxi Girls, and well as the usual sonic comfort food and deep cuts.

Side A is tracks 1-14 (ends with “The Barbeque Party”). Side B is tracks 15-27.

On to the music…

KA—

Other sources: Apple | Qobuz | YouTube Music |

Now it’s your turn.

Any new releases or shows you’re looking forward to? Whatcha got? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Bright Flight Finds David Berman at His Most Spartan, and Most Vulnerable

May 11, 2026by KevinLeave a Comment

On the Silver Jews’ 4th record, David Berman turns country influence into something wry, spare, and strangely intimate.

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a quick look at Silver Jews’ Bright Flight

Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challengeand noted that I’d be writing some of these up.

Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.

KA—

David Berman strikes me as someone who could spend a week fussing over a line or turn of phrase, the kind of writer who sets an impossibly high bar for himself and then plays it off, trying to convince the world none of it matters. That contradiction is at the fore on Bright Flight, a record made in Nashville, a city fueled today by polish and sounds ready-made for radio by people whose idea of a pickup is an $80,000 monstrosity that never leaves the pavement. This is not Berman’s Nashville, and these are not his people. He’s much more at home among the rogues’ gallery of characters in the city’s underbelly, yet his lyrical skill is as good as anyone at the song factory that dots the city.

The record is filled with stories that are relatable and ones that likely only make sense in his head. Put simply, these are some of the best words he ever put to paper. Listening to a Silver Jews record always feels a little voyeuristic, like we’ve swiped his journal and are reading by flashlight.

Musically, this is one of the most spare records he put to tape. That’s by design. In Berman’s world, “going country” isn’t about big sounds or high production. Everything has an intentionally amateur quality to it; there’s some dirt on the lens. It’s also the first Silver Jews album on which his wife, Cassie, makes an appearance.

Nashville has certainly left its mark. “Run Away with Me, Darlin’” is country 101, and “Tennessee” meets the textbook definition, but only someone like him could drop a line like “Come to Tennessee / ’Cause you’re the only 10 I see” and not have me spraining my eyes from rolling them too hard. His cover of “Friday Night Fever” is far enough removed from George Strait’s original that you’d be excused for not knowing it wasn’t an original.

We all know how this story ends, but before Berman’s mid-air breakup, Bright Flight gave us some of the finest Silver Jews songs to date.

Bottom Line: Bright Flight is up against Princess Superstar’s Is, another artist I’d never heard of, and whose record turned out to be a godamned delight. My bracket pick went to Silver Jews, but tbh, had I listened to Is ahead of time, you might’ve been reading a different sentence. Either way, either of these will be fun to talk about in Round 2.

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

De La Soul Grow Up Gracefully on AOI: Bionix

May 10, 2026by KevinLeave a Comment

Best Record of 2001: Day 35

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at De La Soul’s AOI: Bionix.

Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challenge and noted that I’d be writing some of these up.

Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.

KA—

A wise man once famously asked, “Well, how did I get here?” On AOI: Bionix De la Soul seems to be asking the same. Not in a bad, confused, old-man way, but in a bemused, slightly disoriented way. This is made by—and for—people who have graduated, moved out to the suburbs, and might have this playing while cleaning the house, instead of at a house party.

De La Soul sound older here, sure, but “older” doesn’t mean tired or reaching into a tired bag of tricks. They’re still playful, still clever, and still love a good sample. But there’s a polish on AOI: Bionix that makes the whole thing feel more measured than the chaos of 3 Feet High and Rising. Hard to put into words, but it feels like they turned the “sheen” dial up to 11.

That maturity works for me. In fact, it’s a big part of what makes the album interesting. Bionix isn’t trying to recapture youth so much as it’s trying to capture where the trio’s at. The record is uneven—feel free to skip “Pawn Star”— and tbh, it could probably lose three or four tracks and a few of the interstitial skits without sacrificing much (why are these skits a thing?!).

But even with the padding, the middle 100% holds. The production is smooth, the rhythms are locked in, and the samples are still doing that De La thing where they’re just familiar to recognize but also just far enough out of reach that you find yourself going to WhoSampled a lot.

“Baby Phat” is an obvious standout, and for good reason: it’s a banger. Or at least I think that’s still what we’re still callin’ ‘em. “Simply” and “Watch Out” also hit that sweet spot, with effortless grooves. They even took “Wonderful Christmas Time” and smoothed it out into something good. That’s a rare talent! Cee-Lo rocks up and puts in good work, as do Slick Rick and B Real. I’ve seen others comment that these two drag things down, but I didn’t see it that way. Sure, B Real is talking weed. What else did you expect? If anything needs to go, it’s the goddamned skits.

What AOI: Bionix really shows is that De La Soul could evolve without losing their personality. It’s not the wild, youthquake daisy-age energy of their debut, and it doesn’t need to be (nor should it). It’s a late-era album with some extra baggage but also a lot of charm, good taste, and enough great moments to make the uneven parts easy to forgive.

Bottom Line: This is up against Dismemberment Plan’s Change, a record that had we been doing in this in 2001 or even ‘02 or ‘03, I would’ve been lauding from the rooftops. This is very much the lane I was in at the time. And man, even now there are spots that just nail it, yaknow? If I squint hard enough, I can see mid-20s me, dart in one had, steering wheel in the other making my around town listening to this through (almost) blown speakers. They also get bonus points for helping to propagate Maritime (via bassist Eric Axelson); one of the best bands to come of Milwaukee. I dug AOI: Bionix more than I thought I might, but old habits die hard. No changing things up for me; Change it is.

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

A Quick Look at Pete Yorn’s Musicforthemorningafter

May 7, 2026by KevinLeave a Comment

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at Pete Yorn’s Musicforthemorningafter.

Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challenge and noted that I’d be writing some of these up.

Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.

KA—

One of my favorite things about writing this series is finding new records. I get that typing something like that isn’t exactly revelatory. The last bracket was packed with personal favorites and a ton of field trips back in time to whenever I first found them. This time around, I find myself wondering what I was doing that caused me to miss these entirely.

Late March of ’01? Good question. It’d be another week before I got my official transfer notice, so my guess is that I was already looking to move. We filed everything manually in those days, filling out triplicate forms and putting them in interoffice mailers, then putting those into big heavy-duty bags marked “COMAT.” From there, someone would grab it off the plane, drop it somewhere else, where yet another person would pick it up and (hopefully!) get it to where it needed to go. Efficient stuff! Yet somehow, it all worked better than what we have now. But I’ve already gone way too far into the weeds.

My point here is that my (now) wife was actively looking to jump off the corporate hamster wheel, and I was looking to get a promotion. I don’t know what all we were listening to, but I can tell you Musicforthemorningafter was not on the list.

Same, really, as this is a goddamn delight. “Folk rock” isn’t usually my bag, and until about 30 minutes ago, I couldn’t have told you the difference between Pete Yorn and Pete Droge (I thought one had done “some” work on Jim Carrey films. Turns out each had a track featured on separate films. Okay then).

Opener “Life on a Chain” grabbed me right away, and “Strange Condition” made for a killer 1–2 punch. Both are strong cuts on a record full of them. “Black” is my favorite on the album. I’m a sucker for a good outro, and the last 60–90 seconds of the track are right up my alley. Same story with “Sense.”

I was looking west (I’d put in to transfer back to Portland), and this is sui generis West Coast indie. Would not be surprised to hear early copies came with a gift card to Coffee People (IYKYK). Even now, as I’m typing this, I can see places where this would’ve fit nicely as a soundtrack. “Murray” would’ve sounded great coming out of my windows on the way to the Gorge. Probably would’ve sounded pretty good on Murray Boulevard too.

Back then I had no taste for sad sacks or ballads, but even the slower stuff on here, like “Lose You,” hits nicely. And the darker moments don’t last long. In doing some reading, it looks like he had a track featured on Dawson’s Creek, which, I mean—who didn’t?

At 15 tracks, there was a greater-than-zero chance this would’ve had some fluff on it, but if it’s there, I didn’t hear it. My favorites happen to be on the front end, but each track feels like it’s pulling its own weight. No Black Tiger, no decaf; everything’s just the right potency.

Bottom Line: This is up against Shakira’s “Laundry Service,” and both are closely seeded. Hoping Yorn wins the day if for no other reason than it’ll be a good excuse to keep playing this.

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

The Strokes vs. Ryan Adams

May 6, 2026May 15, 2026by KevinLeave a Comment

Two Music Nerds Revisit The Strokes’ Is This It—Does It Still Hit?

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at Is This It? as it faces off against Ryan Adams’ Gold.

In early fall 2024 Sam Colt and both took one look at Apple’s Best Records engagement bait and had, um, some “strong thoughts.”

We also decided that if we were gonna talk shit we should at least put our money where out months were. Distilled down, it was two avowed music nerds each making their case for a record, and the other one sharing their take. That itself was worth the price of admission, but we’re from different generations and grew up on opposite coasts. I wanted to see where our tastes would converge, and where they’d be miles apart.

The Tl; dr is each of us wound up hearing a ton of records for the first time. This was some real fish out of water type stuff for me, and I loved it.

Check ‘em out if you get some time. You can laud our great taste, or yell at us in the comments. Dealer’s choice!

At any rate, coming in as his #34 pick, Is This It was almost old enough to rent a car when I heard it for the first time. Fighting his corner, he said:

It’s hard to understand if you weren’t of age with Is This It dropped, but mainstream rock was pretty terminal with bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park dominating the airwaves. The Strokes felt like someone stuck a hot dagger in your belly. I first heard “Someday” in middle school and was immediately hooked. The music has this swagger that very few bands even attempt to have and even fewer can pull off.

And my take:

2001: I decide to take what’s supposed to be a 4-month temporary assignment back in Portland. My (now) wife decides to give corporate life the finger and come with me. I cross the country for the 4th time in 3 years. This time, I have a cool copilot and a car with working heat/AC.

It’s spring, and the world is full of promise. That’ll all change in the fall, of course.

Looking back, the whole year was kinda upside down (for a whole host of reasons). Musically, in a year when even New Order released a record, my favorite was Kylie Minogue’s “Fever.”

That’s a lot of words to tell you that I was in a musical desert. I know who The Strokes were, but outside of “Last Nite,” I knew more about Al Hammond Sr.’s music (“It Never Rains In Southern California”) than I did about his son’s band. For some reason, The Strokes, Jet, and a handful of other bands blur into one for me. That’s more of an indictment of my listening habits that year than anything else. At any rate, I was expecting 11 tracks that all more or less sounded like “Last Nite.” It was not the first time this week that I was wrong about something. “Barely Legal” is a favorite, and as I type this, has been playing on & off for a couple of days now. This record didn’t rearrange my mind, but it’s a rock-solid, straight-ahead rock record. Sometimes that’s more than enough.

Flash forward to today: I don’t know that I’d consider this an all-timer, but it was 100% a pleasant surprise. I still listen to more Al Hammond Sr. more than his son’s, but Julian Casablanca’s’ 11th Dimension is one of my more played songs over the last 12-18 months. It’s exuberance is like catnip for me.

As for Ryan Adams? I unironically and unabashedly love “New York, New York” and his cover of T Swift’s “All You Had to do Was Stay” blows the original out of the water. But that’s where it begins and ends for me, and I think that’s all I’m gonna say for now. I’m sure the discourse will be discoursin’, with people sharing their own strong thoughts on Adams, separating art from the artists, etc.

P.S. My #34 pick? Ella Fitzgerald- Ella Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook

Bottom Line: Is this It? Yes. Sometimes that’s all you need. Bracket pick and vote will both be going to The Strokes.

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros vs. The Beta Band

May 5, 2026by KevinLeave a Comment

Best Record of 2001: Day 32

For a hot minute, I had a weird streak going: I’d make the drive from Portland to Seattle and tune into 107.7 The End as soon as it came in. And sure as shit, every time I did, I’d hear The Clash’s “Train in Vain.” They certainly made more tracks than that, and certainly made ones that are more resonant, but my point here (besides some musing about the universe working in mysterious ways) is that it was incredibly catchy and stuck with you long after you heard it. It felt like Mssr. Strummer, Jones, Headon, and Simonon could do no wrong. Then came the split, Cut the Crap, and the most important band in the world suddenly… wasn’t.

Flash forward a couple of years, and Strummer starts writing some songs and playing with the Mescaleros. There’s a record. Rock and the X-ray Style? Not his best work. To be fair, I think the world held him to a high- even if unfair- bar. And maybe this first one was needed to get his sea legs again.

Whatever, the second act would have to wait a bit.

So along comes Global a Go-Go, and it’s clear that Strummer has spent his time shaping the corners. This is an amorphous record that comes across like everyone brought some ideas to the garage just to see what might happen. Remember when you were a kid, and the fixins bar at Fuddruckers seemed like a dare? Yeah, like that. (Just me? Oh. Okay.)

At any rate, all of these elements make for what is often diplomatically called a ‘challenging listening.” It’s catchy in parts, and there are a few spots where I caught myself catching the groove, but it doesn’t have the cohesion of something like Train in Vain or Rock the Casbah. And that’s fine! At this point, the days of Combat Rock were firmly in the rearview mirror. At the same time, I can’t help but wonder if having someone keep him in check a little bit would’ve helped. I mean, an almost 18-minute track to wind things up? C’mon. Some sort of editorial guidance (for lack of a better term) could’ve elevated this from simply interesting to really good.

You know, the kind of thing you hope is playing when you turn your radio on.

While Strummer & the Mescaleros come across as serious musicians trying not to be taken seriously, The Beta Band seems just the opposite. Hot Shots II is also a sprawling, throw-everything-in-the-mixer kind of thing. But sometimes a soufflé collapses in on itself. Every time I thought, “Ah, here we go!” something would shift… or, worse, an annoying crackle or pop that set off my misophonia. Maybe I’d like this better if I still got high? I dunno…

Bottom Line: On Bluesky, someone posted that Strummer should win everything this week, and I’m all in on that. Global a Go-Go it is…

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!