Jim's Gems 2002: Bowie, Dylan, The Streets, and other great albums of the year
Jim Comet includes Bowie and the Chili Peppers in his list of best albums marking their 20th anniversary.
In the last of our anniversary series, we at last get to some records that were actually released this century. For those albums marking 20 years since release, the musical landscape had again changed in the intervening decade since our previous instalment. The lines between genres are becoming a bit blurred while pop is rapidly rising to become the dominant force.
By now, the digital age was already starting to disrupt the music industry, not least with the launch of Napster in 1999, and the first iteration of iTunes in 2001. The times they were a changing.
There’s an understanding among Bowie fans of a certain generation including myself that it all went pear shaped in the 80s. To be more specific when he released Lets Dance. I spent the entire 80s and 90s hoping that the next album would herald the return of the real Bowie. But to no avail. However, in 2002 the unthinkable happened. He reunited with producer Tony Visconti and made an album that was up there with his best.
Listening at times is like turning back the clock. You can hear Ziggy and The Thin White Duke. The lead guitar on Everyone Says Hi is pure Mick Ronson. Heathen is the only Bowie album post Scary Monsters I would put in my top 10. It remains the finest record of the 21st century.
When the most bootlegged artist in history decided to cut out the middleman and release his own bootlegs it was a complete game changer. The records in this series became as essential as the studio albums. In a lot of cases they were better. Without them we would have been deprived of songs like Blind Willie McTell and many others.
This is from the first half of the Rolling Thunder revue which many acknowledge was when he was at his best live, with a band that was coloured by the violin of Scarlet Rivera. The version of Mr Tambourine man is the best thing he’s ever done. Check out the Martin Scorsese documentary on Netflix which features much of the music here.
I’ve always loved the mixture of loud fast guitars great melodies. The Buzzcocks in the late 70s wrote the book and in the 80s lots of the American underground bands such as Husker Du, The Lemonheads and Dinosaur Jr had a knack for it also. This mantle was taken up by QOTSA on their third record.
A concept album that takes a trip through the California desert the songs are a classic blend of noise, melody and very catchy vocals and backing vocals. If you’re a fan of the aforementioned bands you need to hear this.
One of two albums released in 2002, both on the same day, this was originally intended as the soundtrack for the Robert Wilson stage play of the same name. Fortunately it turned out to be so much more.
This is classic Waits straight from central casting. This is a record that should be listened to while sitting on the high stool in a dimly lit dingy bar at 4am with just a bottle and a glass for company. Ideally with Waits himself in the corner hunched over the piano.
I can’t think of any other artist who managed to rejuvenate his career in later life as successfully as Johnny Cash. Written off in the 70s and 80s. playing 40 Shades Of Green to half empty ballrooms in the midlands it all changed when he teamed up with Rick Rubin in 1984 which led to a series of 6 ground breaking albums.
The 4th is generally regarded as the best probably due to the inclusion of Nine Inch Nails Hurt which Cash literally made his own. Trent Reznor himself openly acknowledges this. A must-listen.
Sometimes but not often a band that you really don’t like will surprise you by releasing a brilliant record. My wife Catriona bought this and started playing it a lot at home. At first I was having none of it but slowly it crept into my head.
It was very different from their other stuff as it completely relied on melody and song structure as opposed to that awful mix of funk and metal that I would have normally associated with them. It was actually hard to escape this record in the summer of ’02. Still can’t listen to any other of their records.
The DJ mix album emerged in the 90s and by the turn of the century they were ten a penny. Most were dull and rather predictable but some of the more eclectic ones by DJs such as Norman Jay and Andy Smith were interesting.
This in my opinion is one of the best and most adventurous. Featuring tracks by Johnny Otis, Staple Singers and Johnny Jones And The Kings Casuals brilliant version of Purple Haze it also introduced Sixto Rodriguez to a whole new generation of music fans.
Who can forget the Irish singer/songwriter explosion of 2001/02? You couldn’t swing a cat without hitting one. Some were very good, many weren’t. Damien Rice stood apart from the others. He had something they didn’t. I remember getting him for an instore in the Virgin shop and I was just amazed by the chemistry between him and his audience. He held them in the palm of his hand.
The album made with the help of his cousin David Arnold sold by the truckload worldwide, helped by the single Cannonball. Oddly enough his success upset certain stalwarts of the singer/songwriter fraternity who felt it was undeserved as he hadn’t paid his dues.
Not a studio album but a best of compilation and a very good one at that. It’s the perfect introduction the Patti Smith for those unfamiliar with her work. The first record features tracks from the classic albums such as Easter and Horses while the second is b sides and rarities. My cousin Tony Shanahan, whose parents are originally from Cork, has been playing bass and keyboards in her band for the last 20 years.
By the mid to late 90s the UK underground was thriving and developing a life and identity of its own. Driven by mix tapes, pirate radio and, of course, the clubs, it stood head-to-head with its rivals from across the ocean with its homegrown drum & bass and speed garage. Mike Skinner was probably the Elvis of the whole scene as he repackaged it cleverly and took it from the clubs to the coffee tables.
Soul, funk, dub, electronica and much more. An essential night driving record.
Superb follow up to Things Fall Apart.
Didn’t really get it until I saw the live at the Electric Picnic that year and they blew me away.
The other album he released in 2002. While not as good, it still has amazing moments.
Back In The US: Ok I know, but hear me out. I’m including this because we saw the show in the RDS that year and it was like seeing The Beatles.
