DISPATCHES by Hank Kalet: The year in music: a top 30 for ’06

Along with the holidays comes the annual discussion of this year’s music

By: Hank Kalet
   It’s that time of year again.
   Rolling Stone magazine is offering its various best-of lists — "Best songs," "Best Bands on MySpace." The online music zines — PopMatters (for whom I used to write CD reviews) and Pitchfork — are doing the same.
   It’s a year-end, music-critics’ tradition — and one that I’ve made a business of joining in over the last few years.
   But rather than offer a numerical list of best and/or worst, what follows is a collection of 30 CDs that, for a variety of reasons, struck a chord with me in 2006.
   These are not necessarily the best discs — some, in fact, are pretty uneven. But they all featured something worthwhile that helped define 2006 for me. So here goes, in alphabetical order (go to my blog, www.kaletblog.com, for a list of my 10 favorite singles of the year):
   Christina Aguilera, "Back to Basics." This disc, a mixed bag, part self-indulgent mess in which the fame-obsessed singer obsesses on her own fame, part retro revisionism — with a rowdy lead single, "Ain’t No Other Man," that is worth the price of admission.
   Arctic Monkeys, "Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not." The best of the debuts, a bouncy, danceable punk-rock record with stellar lyrics (though sometimes it falls into unintelligible British localisms) and a subtle disco undercurrent.
   Art Brut, "Bang Rock & Roll." Sometimes bands come out of nowhere and become a personal soundtrack of sorts. This British band — which makes its mark with a mix of distorted guitars, manic drums, an obsessive but unreachable desire to hit the top of the charts and Monty-Pythonesque sense of humor — was that for me during the month of March.
   Beyonce, "B-Day." Beyonce is one of those artists whom I find myself singing and dancing along to, only realizing afterward the complexity and richness of the music.
   JJ Cale and Eric Clapton, "The Road to Escondido." Clapton has been playing Cale’s songs for years, now he records with him and produces his finest album in too many years.
   Neko Case, "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood." The music obviously is new country-folk, what is sometimes called alt-country, but something in the voice and the production makes it sound like its speaking from the past.
   Roseanne Cash, "Black Cadillac." At turns dark and pensive, bluesy and driven, the album is a meditation on the loss of her parents and stepmother — country legend Johnny Cash, his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin, and second wife, fellow legend June Carter Cash.
   Guy Clark, "Workbench Songs." Guy Clark is a legend that sometimes flies under the radar. This disc features a great political song, the paean to the politically committed, "Walkin’ Man," and a host of tales of love and loss, drinking and the road.
   Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, "The River in Reverse." Several Toussaint classics, some new music, anger over the government’s abandonment of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina — a bluesy, rueful disc.
   Brett Dennan, "So Much More." An intelligent, introspective debut from someone I’m hoping we’ll hear more from.
   Dixie Chicks, "Taking the Long Way." The band turns toward a more contemporary pop-rock sound, almost classic rock, on an album that fights back against former fans with one of the year’s biggest and best singles, "Not Ready to Make Nice."
   Bob Dylan, "Modern Times." The master continues his late-career resurgence with another gem. Rank this No. 2 on my year’s best list.
   Earl Greyhound, "Soft Targets." A surprise album — I hadn’t heard of the New York trio until recently, when I heard the manic single, "All Better Now," on WXPN’s Y-Rock show while driving home after putting out the paper. Garage rock meets mid-70s metal and punk.
   Editors, "The Back Room." I first heard these guys — the song "Bullets" — on an NME (New Musical Express) compilation and was immediately grabbed by the interplay of synthesizer and guitar, by its throwback quality and simultaneous freshness.
   Alejandro Escovedo, "The Boxing Mirror." The Texas songwriter with the reedy voice continues to put out underappreciated gems.
   Gnarls Barkley, "St. Elsewhere." A funky hybrid disc that contains the year’s best song — "Crazy."
   Gomez, "How We Operate." Gomez bends genres effortlessly, though subtly, pushing through softer roots-rock and folk into Beatle-esque pop and some jangly, early-REM-ish sounds.
   The Hold Steady, "Boys and Girls in America." Straight-up, intelligent rock from the heartland, with echoes of Springsteen, the Replacements and a bit of the first, underrated Tommy Tutone album stirred in — an important CD that easily belongs on the shortlist of the year’s best.
   Jolie Holland, "Springtime Will Kill You." Holland’s voice has an elusive quality, something I can’t quite explain, a catch or a slight warble that both sweetens and darkens the music.
   New York Dolls, "One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This." Where have they been all these years? This is a surprise disc, the punk precursors reuniting and finally getting their due.
   Prince, "3121." This is where the old Prince meets the new R’n’B, with the sexy, salty single "Black Sweat" burning a hole in my car speakers for much of the spring and summer.
   Pearl Jam, "Pearl Jam." This was, simply, a return to form with several great songs — especially the political firebreathers "World-Wide Suicide" and "Life Wasted."
   Corrine Bailey Rae, "Corrine Bailey Rae." A stellar debut, Rae’s jazzy, acoustic soul is soft, but subtle, led by the infectious single, "Put Your Records On" — my other summer song — and the opening track, "Like a Star."
   Bob Seger, "Face the Promise." I have been a fan since high school, but lost my connection to the Detroit rocker sometime in the early 1980s. But here he is, back with a rock and roll record that takes no prisoners. Wow.
   Paul Simon, "Surprise." This is the year’s best disc. Brian Eno’s production underscoring Simon’s most evocative lyrics in years, a wonderful meditation on life in this new, uncertain century of ours.
   Snow Patrol, "Eyes Open." The huge sound of this record has echoes of Coldplay, but is less pretentious and more firmly grounded in the rock camp — with one of the best songs of the year, "Chasing Cars."
   Bruce Springsteen, "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions." This album is the blueprint on how to make a great folk record. This is no curio piece, but rather a bunch of musicians having a good time making a lot of noise with some old songs.
   The Strokes, "First Impressions of Earth." Over-hyped on their first disc, downright boring on their second, these New York rockers come back and grind out their best disc and one of the best of the year.
   Hank Williams III, "Straight to Hell." The only thing I can say about this record by the grandson of one of country music’s most important artists is that the title says it all. And that’s a good thing.
   Neil Young, "Living with War." A feedback-drenched op-ed, a musical screed, an angry rebuke to President Bush and his war — this CD may not have the staying power of some of Young’s earlier classics, but it spoke the truth at a time when we needed it most.
Hank Kalet is managing editor of the South Brunswick Post and The Cranbury Press. He can be reached via e-mail, or through his web log, Channel Surfing.