Best Albums of 2003

Posted on | January 29, 2004 at 10:52 pm | 1 Comment

I just submitted my vote in the LoudFans Best Albums of 2003 poll. In this poll, you vote for your top 15 albums on a point system (top album gets 5 points, bottom five get 1 point each, etc.). (If viewing this on the front page, click on the “more..” link below to get the full list.)

5 points:
New Pornographers, Electric Version

4 points:
Nada Surf, Let Go
Echoboy, Giraffe

3 points:
Ted Leo And The Pharmacists, Hearts Of Oak
Ad Frank And The Fast Easy Women, In Girl Trouble
Idlewild, The Remote Part

2 points:
Fountains Of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers
The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow
Various Artists, Every Word – A Tribute To Let’s Active
Even In Blackouts, Myths and Imaginary Magicians

1 point:
Pinataland, Songs for the Forgotten Future Vol. 1
Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks
Grandaddy, Sumday
Hot Hot Heat, Make Up The Breakdown
Placebo, Sleeping With Ghosts

It’s interesting to me that only one of these (Even In Blackouts) was a digital download from eMusic, and the rest were all actual physical CDs I bought. Though the MP3 revolution is changing the way I listen to music, I’m not sure it’s having that much of an effect on my tastes yet. It’s worth noting that some of the others were available on eMusic, but I bought the CDs before they were there. Also, I’ve been telling myself that I’ll buy the CD versions of downloaded albums I really like (essentially paying for them twice), yet I haven’t picked up the Even In Blackouts disc as yet.

Disclaimers:
As always, I didn’t have nearly enough time to give a thorough listen to everything I acquired in 2003. If I had, then I’m sure this list would’ve been much different. Not only a different order, but probably some different discs as well. Some that I acquired fairly recently (like Logic Will Break Your Heart by The Stills), might’ve appeared if I had gotten them earlier. Also, there were several I wanted to get but never even heard (in many cases, I was waiting to see if they would show up on eMusic), and some of those might’ve scored highly. The latest Steve Wynn, Static Transmission is one example of that. David Bowie’s new one is another – I did finally get it, but haven’t listened to it yet. A lot of people seem to like that Thrills album too, and I wish I had gotten a chance to hear it. And I’ve only heard one Darkness song, but I want to hear more. Oh well, there’s only so much time and money in my universe.

Some favorite songs of the year (not necessarily in order):
New Pornographers – The Laws Have Changed
Echoboy – Comfort of the Hum
Nada Surf – Blizzard of ‘77
Mandy Moore – Senses Working Overtime
OutKast – Hey Ya!
Ted Leo And The Pharmacists – I’m A Ghost
Idlewild – You Held The World In Your Arms
The Shins – Mine’s Not A High Horse
Grandaddy – Now It’s On
Ad Frank And The Fast Easy Women – Dumb Trilemma (my iPod keeps playing this one on shuffle play, so it’s drilled into my head)
Kathleen Edwards – One More Song The Radio Won’t Like
Doug Powell – Waters Part
The Stills – Love & Death
Liz Phair – Extraordinary
Alkaline Trio – This Could Be Love
Dandy Warhols – I Am Sound
Firewater – I Often Dream Of Trains
Poster Children – Western Springs
Even In Blackouts – 27 Seconds of Flame
Pi???ataland – Ota Benga’s Name