| SULLIVAN FALL ON 2001 Preface: What was going to be another year of unimportant swill and swallow, by the end, had suffered a massacre and a cowboy reflex. Waved flags and Durst promises about lyrical accountability also followed, though these are both shallow as the rest of it. People seem to still like watching stuff blow up, but for visceral not political reasons. Everything changed, they said. At least until Britney and Justin rumors, or Michael Jackson being drowned in his own megalomania. I never knew how much I'd appreciate Kylie Minogue. At last, a Woman who sings. Note: Numerical order does not suggest supremacy, usually. Films 1) THE CENTER OF THE WORLD: dir. Wayne Wang. This is how we are right now. 2) IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE: dir. Wong Kar-Wai. Repressed love, lots of cigarette smoke, a beautiful woman in a tight dress, and a not-so fairy tale ending. Of course, it's all I could want in a film. 3) MULHOLLAND DRIVE: dir. David Lynch. Not really as strange if you accept the pre-blue box as wish fulfillment of the last part's fractured reality. Some may find it manipulative, but I find it rather melancholic. Naomi Watts should have got an Academy Award (if they didn't suck). 4) THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE: dir. Joel Cohen. Deadpan existentialism. 5) WAKING LIFE: dir. Richard Linklater. Like a really good party, without having to socialize. 6) GOSFORD PARK: dir. Robert Altman. Altman borrows all the Queen's actors and actresses and sees the superficiality of class distinction, seeing as the poor are always having to clean up the mess of the rich (when not having their children.) 7) HEIST: dir. David Mamet. Skillful genre picture. Best movie dialogue all year. 8) GHOST WORLD: dir. Terry Zwigoff. Scary in that I could be these people. Somewhat optimistic open end. 9) JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS: dir. Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan. Brilliant, no. But clever. So corporate that it chokes to death on its own branding. Which really is the point. Imagine that, a post-modern message film. 10) GINGER SNAPS: dir. John Fawcett. Like all great horror films, about more than what it pretends to be. 11) MOULIN ROUGE: dir. Baz Luhrmann. Po-mo in construction, romantic ideals. Flashy, funny, and when hearts start to break, it actually means something. 12) VANILLA SKY: dir. Cameron Crowe. With the exception of THE WILD LIFE, Crowe has yet to be involved with a crap film (it is hard to classify THE WILD LIFE as a film). Get passed the Cruise/Cruz tabloid trash and see a film about how the post-women's lib rich, white, male still has no excuses. And he doesn't. PLEASE FLUSH SOON: Mel Gibson-Can't say I've ever sat through an entire one of his movies, but the commercials make me sick enough. Does anyone else notice how this guy has the irritating skill of playing only perfect men? Enrique Iglesias-His name is on the songwriting credits, but so were Alan Freed's. Is this sexy to someone? Does anyone buy this schlock? I vote for Shakira. SINGLES: 1) "Stop Your Crying" by Spiritualized. Big and quiet, horns and choirs. What is this, 1964? Amazing. 2) "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch. Always a sucker for somewhat intelligent teen-girl angst, I'm still not sick of it. Don't have any clue if she's here for awhile, but her new single is also good, and that it makes 2-0 Branch over, say, Three Doors Down. 3) "Get Ur Freak On" by Missy Elliot. Doing her bit for multiculturalism. 4) "Whole Wide World" by Outkast. The weirder they get, the better. All bounce and circus loops. 5)"Would You Be Happier?" by The Corrs. Like the Bangles, in a good way. Always a bit of a guilty pleasure, the girls (and brother) jingle-jangle on like pop music was still about melody. 6)"Jealous of Your Cigarette" by Hawksley Workman. Creepy, funny, and when the b.g. voices start singing 'I'm really jealous for it,' it is clear we might be witnessing Canada's next popular music genius. 7)"Izzo(H.O.VA)." by Jay-Z. Egomaniac, yes. Solipsistic, sure. Unfortunately for the social conscious hip-hop head, irrepressible hooks. Come on, sing with me: 'Not guilty, ya'll got to feel me'. 8) "Imitation of Life" by R.E.M. Great lyrics and borrows a title from a Douglas Sirk film. They could probably have written this in their sleep, but that's how it sounds like Alanis writes and she can't get anywhere near it. 9) "We Need A Resolution" by Aaliyah. Tug and groove with Ms. A cooing on about something. Too bad. 10) "Drowning" by The Backstreet Boys. Now that they've done the best song they are ever going to get, I suggest they break up before it gets "No more games" embarrassing. Only criticism: awkward rhyme scheme coming out of the bridge-"You're the one I can't resist because you're the air that I breathe". What? 11) "Think It Over" by Wave. Canada's Smallville version of Savage Garden. The homo-erotic video makes me laugh, and the song survives soulless production and too much boy band vocalese to become a Can-con filler that surpasses anything by Sugar Jones (I know, easy target). ALBUMS: 1)BRING ON THE SNAKES by Crooked Fingers. Starker production that makes the misery that much more beautiful. Like being caught in the rain cold, it makes you feel-if not better-at least alive. 2)TEN NEW SONGS by Leonard Cohen. Now that I think about it, this isn't too far off from Crooked Fingers. With Sharon Robinson playing an angel of hope to Cohen's grizzled doubter, a brooding minimalism haunts the record without making it morose. A certain wisdom, a dark sense of humor, and evidence that emotion is not found in emoting. 3)THE BRIGHT SIDE by Duotang. Although their previous albums were far from bad, they lacked something from the live show. This surpasses the others: full of desperation, energy, and mangled hope. 4)GOD BLESS THE GO-GO'S by The Go-Go's. Their best ever because it is their own-pure power pop. Blasphemous cover art and a song about the bigger girls. What else do you need? 5)LOVE AND THEFT by Bob Dylan. Where the morbid loner of TIME OUT OF MIND becomes the vaudeville uncle who tells you things you're too young to understand. 6)THE RAINBOW CHILDREN by Prince. Okay, not his best. And the whole concept is a little perplexing (and, if my suspicions are right, more than a little self-righteous). However, his funk and soul and musicianship are for real amidst the cryptic Bible-talk and Miles Davis fusion experiments. 7) IS THIS IT? By the Strokes. Some say Television, I say Pavement. Rock and roll groove and vocals that sometimes have feelings almost in spite of itself. The hype has been overhyped, but I don't see too many other debuts on this list. Which is sad. 8)THE ID by Macy Gray. She's strange, but she's got songs from one to thirteen. 9)THE ARGUMENT by Fugazi. Getting past the dub-by brooding of the last two, the band is reignited with fuzz and groove and a more melodic side than anything since REPEATER. 10)FIRST BORN SECOND by Bilal. Too long, often too repetitive, but one of the few recent talents to keep the neo-soul away from turning into blazz. A stronger hip-hop soul mix than Prince has found. 11)SURVIVOR by Destiny's Child. A couple stinkers, one awful slice of mutual appreciation that should have stayed in the studio bucket, and one song that tries too hard to be meaningful. Otherwise, great singles, some of the best dance pop all year, and one ballad that gets me everytime. 12)(LAST NIGHT WE WERE)THE DELICIOUS WOLVES by Hawksley Workman. Rocks right, lots of hooks and the back porch romanticism of most of the lyrics makes one fine stew. He's only going to get better. Along with the Strokes one, this is the best sounding record I heard outside of hip-hop. 13)ESSENCE by Lucinda Williams. There is some serious sorrow on this beautiful album of ghosts and lost dreams. Or something. OTHER ALBUMS OF WORTH: FOR THE STARS by Anne-Sofie Von Otter and Elvis Costello NATIONAL SKYSCRAPER PARK by Hayden ROCKIN' THE SUBURBS by Ben Folds REVEAL by R.E.M. SONGS IN A MINOR by Alicia Keys I MIGHT BE WRONG by Radiohead AALIYAH by Aaliyah POSES by Rufus Wainwright THE GREEN ALBUM by Weezer STEPHEN MALKMUS by Stephen Malkmus THE BLUEPRINT by Jay-Z EXPANSION TEAM by Dilated Peoples Hang 0vers (from 2000) O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? Soundtrack ALL HANDS ON THE BAD ONE by Sleater-Kinney MAMA'S GUN by Erykah Badu BREACH by the Wallflowers GOOD TV: Buffy, Angel, Our Hero. |