2001 was not exactly an incredible year for music. Sure there was some good stuff, some great stuff even. Maybe it�s just because 2000 was such a great year that everything else pales in comparison � especially its following act. But nothing this year had the staggering brilliance of Radiohead�s Kid A or ethereal beauty of Sigur Ros�s Agaetis Byrjun; nothing had the sonic bombast of Primal Scream�s XTRMNTR or the super space-funk of Outkast�s Stankonia. But then, maybe a repeat would have been poor form. At any rate there was a fair amount of good stuff, which I have managed to separate from the chaff and provide for you here, mainly because I like being able to make my own top ten lists, it�s fun stuff. So, sit back and enjoy the Best Albums of 2001 and its companion piece, the Good Albums of 2001.

Oh, and fuck the Strokes.

The 10 Best Albums of 2001

1. Super Furry Animals � Rings Around the World: After last year�s lo-fi Welsh album MWNG, smacking of olden days and recorded at roughly the cost of your last pair of shoes, the Furries took the alternate route this year and splurged for their major label debut. Drawing on every influence they�d used over the last four albums, Rings Around the World went in every direction, from pop-rock gems (�(Drawing) Rings Around the World�, the best single this year) to twisted ballads (�No Sympathy�). If you haven�t gotten into the Super Furry Animals by now, this is the perfect time � RATW serves as a great overview of their previous work � �Juxtapozed with U� channels the tropical rhythms of Guerilla-era SFA while �Run! Christian, Run!� evokes a slow-moving western ditty that wouldn�t have been out of place on Radiator � while moving in new directions � �Receptacle for the Respectable� starts innocently but grows into one of the Furries� heaviest songs to date, while �Shoot Doris Day� brings them to a whole new orchestral level. Sadly there are no Welsh songs on the album � though after MWNG it�s not quite as noticeable. RATW was also released simultaneously as a DVD with music videos and several remixes for each album track � in 2001, there was more than enough Furry madness for everyone � hell, even all the b-sides were great � even though the US domestic release has been pushed further and further back, currently scheduled for February 2002. Hopefully they�ll be able to find as much success in America next year as they have already across the pond.

2. Radiohead � Amnesiac: Let me get one thing out of the way right now: Amnesiac could have been better, it could have been incredible, had they worked on the tracklist a bit more. Some of the songs that ended up as b-sides (�Cuttooth� and �Amazing Sounds or Orgy�, for example) are even better than a good majority of the actual album tracks. This isn�t to say that Amnesiac is bad at all, of course; songs like �Pyramid Song�, �Like Spinning Plates� and �Life in a Glass House� are all grade-A Radiohead material. And I can respect their decision to put songs such as �Hunting Bears� and �Morning Bell/Amnesiac� on the album, though considering what they�ve replaced I�m a little less forgiving. At any rate, Amnesiac is still a great album � I�m just a little miffed that it could have so easily been an incredible album, especially after last year�s incredible Kid A. I actually burned myself a copy of Amnesiac with a different tracklist, which I listen to all the time now. I�ll provide it here, so you can compare and perhaps see my point of view.

3. Bob Dylan � Love and Theft: his 43rd album? His 75th? 909th? However many the man has actually done, it�s amazing he still has anything to say � yet here he is at 60, creating an album that holds up to the likes of Blood on the Tracks and Blonde on Blonde. Maybe it�s because he self-produced it, or because he actually brought his touring band into the studio with him this time � at least now Dylan songs can be appreciated for the music as much as the words (�The Hurricane� is still one of my favorites). Or maybe it�s because Mr. Zimmerman actually sounds happy again � after the wake-like Time Out of Mind it seems as if he�s found a new lease on life, aging gracefully as that old man who�s still more mischievous than you ever were in your prime.

4. Gorillaz (self-titled): The bastard child of Damn Albarn, Dan the Automator and Jamie Hewlett would have been good enough as another indie one-off in the spirit of Deltron 3030 and Handsome Boy Modeling School. But Gorillaz broke the rules and went multi-platinum, thanks to endless play on the airwaves and MTV2. Suddenly Del the Funky Homosapien�s voice was on everybody�s lips (!), and more than a few indie geeks could say they�d actually heard a song with Miho Hatori. But although the singles �Clint Eastwood� and �19/2000� were great, the rest of the album was just as great, if not even better � check out the post-apocalyptic �Tomorrow Comes Today�, the beat manifesto �Man Research� or the all-out wackiness of �Dracula�. One of the biggest success stories of the year, Gorillaz has already been signed to produce three more albums for Virgin (though I doubt they�ll likely recapture the freshness that made their debut album so satisfying in a year like this) � not bad for a group of nonexistent animated characters.

5. Jay-Z � The Blueprint: I would say this is a great album after listening to just three of its tracks. Hell, I would say it�s great just for including �Renegade� (in which Eminem delivers some of his best rhymes, ever). But the best part about The Blueprint is that it�s consistently good � not just a few good jams surrounded by filler or other crap. And it�s incredibly raw and stripped-down, too � about 90% of the album is just Jayhovah by himself, most of it laid down in one take. �Heart of the City� is already timeless; �Izzo (Hova)� is the epitome of stoopid fun. �The Takeover� simultaneously samples The Doors and destroys any self-respect that Nas might have once had. One of the only decent rap albums this year, and easily Jay-Z�s best since, well, ever. Bonus fun fact: Jigga recently recorded an MTV unplugged album, to be released soon (if not already). How did he manage to lay down the beats while staying �unplugged�? Easy: he got the Roots as his backing band. The motherfucking Roots, do you hear me? Mark my words, unless Jay-Z forgets all the words and the Roots use kazoos as instruments, there�s no way this album could be bad.

6. REM � Reveal: Before it�s even over, you will become convinced that �The Lifting�, Reveal�s first track, is one of the greatest REM songs to be produced in recent memory, if not ever. Maybe it�s because, after the dirge-like ending of 1998�s Up, the song serves as a dramatic return to the living, the positive, the beautiful. Even as Michael Stipe sings of �sunken cities, memories of things you�ve never known,� you can hear those ancient cities rising from the depths in a burst of light. And the rest of the album doesn�t disappoint; whether Stipe is relaxing in the summer (�Beat a Drum�) or seeking refuge from the winter (�I�ll Take the Rain�), the songs all exude a sense of fragile happiness, that REM have reached a point that they can finally sit back, relax and take pleasure in the finer things in life. Reveal offers the perfect portrait of REM aging gracefully as few other bands have been able to do.

7. The Dismemberment Plan � Change: The album title couldn�t be more apt for the band�s new direction � after the post-punk dance aesthetics of Emergency & I, DP comes back down to earth with a more matured, layered sound. Not that they�re singing about the economy and whippersnappers, but rather Travis Morrison turns to contemplate life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and all that good stuff. Existentialism abounds in �Sentimental Man� while �Pay for the Piano� lays down a utopian manifesto. Also check out �Superpowers� and �Time Bomb�, mainly just because they�re good, and I can�t really describe them all that well. So, there you go.

8. Burning Airlines � Identikit: Who says you need hooks to produce a good rock album? Actually, though most critics would have you believe that most of the songs on Identikit are user-unfriendly, the hooks are definitely there � just cleverly hidden and understated. Listen to the album a few times and you�ll still be singing �Morricone Dancehall� and �All Sincerity� in your head later on in the day. �Outside the Aviary� is the best opener a post-punk band could ask for: brazen, swift-hitting and rife with a vocabulary that would make the guy from At The Drive-In jealous, it sets the pace for a great album that�s too intelligent to simply slap you in the face with all of its virtues on first listen.

9. Guided by Voices � Isolation Drills: Absolutely bizarre for a GBV disc in that it�s both well-produced and well-performed. That�s probably going to upset some of the hyper-indie types, but they�re probably still off creaming their jeans over the Strokes so they�ll just have to find out later. Isolation Drills is also important in that frontman Robert Pollard has found a way to marry his classic pop songwriting (see �Glad Girls�) with a more arena-rock feel with which GBV has been recently experimenting (try �Run Wild�).

10. Rocket From the Crypt � Group Sounds: In which RFTC successfully return to the underground after that Interscope debacle. Group Sounds is further evidence of my theory that horns are the best thing you can put into a rock band (well, aside from the guitars, I guess. And the drums. But anyway) � check out �Return of the Liar� and �Venom Venom�. The 12 raging hardcore tracks on here are better than anything you�ll hear from Staind or Disturbed, while the finisher �Ghost Shark� serves as a great warm-down after the chaos, or at least as the hangover after the party. Also, greatest album cover of the year.

Other Good 2001 Albums

The Dollar Canon � Are You here?: Like waking up on a wintry Colorado morning and deciding that you just have to rock out. They�re so underground that they can hardly be found on Audiogalaxy (though the best two tracks, �By Design� and �A Written Apology� can be found on the band�s website), but Are You Here? is worth the search, trust me.

Weezer � The Green Album: A triumphant return to form (and pop consciousness). Songs like �Island in the Sun�, �Crab� and �O Girlfriend� are so good that you almost want to ignore the fact that the CD isn�t even half an hour long and pretty much ignores and any musical development that Pinkerton brought about.

The Trans Megetti � Fading Left to Completely On: Some good post-punk (if that means anything anymore) including �Rio Nexpa�, �On the Monday� and �Following�. Sort of like Burning Airlines� younger brothers, and not just because the planes on the cover look like they�re broken and/or crashing.

Tenacious D (self-titled): The D happen to be the Greatest and Best Band Ever, so it�s about time y�all recognize. �Tribute� recounts the frustrations of the D having played the best song in the world but not being able to remember it, while �City Hall� details their epic struggle against The Man, and how the duo eventually kill each other. And by all laws of nature, �Fuck Her Gently� should be the slow-dance song of the year. Sadly, the album lacked a studio version of �Jesus Ranch� (and was perhaps a little over-produced), but I guess you can�t have everything.

OK, now go read the 2001 Special Achievement Awards.

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