Well, even though it is mid February and no one really cares about 2000 anymore, I will share with you my favorite releases of yesteryear. So to make it easier on you I will relate the type of music to a character. I will make make each CD a person. Then you can say , am I that CD? Can I ever be that CD? What will my parents think if I am that CD? For example: a Barbara Streisand CD is an annoying grandmother from Florida ( mine is from Brooklyn. So not for a second, think I am insulting my grandmother. I love her dearly. She makes latkes and loves me unconditionally. She will on occasion visit florida for the winter (in case, you did some investigating on your own and felt the need to "make me look stupid") but she is not one of those grandmothers who always asks you why you aren't married ( "why aren't you married already?") and still thinks it's sexy to get a tan at 78 (what are they thinking? Is it better to look like leather?). She reads romance novels with only Fabio on the cover and insists she can't have a whole piece a cake but will finish it anyway ("why didn't you tell me not to eat that cake?"). Stay away from Barbara's CDs unless you relate to the person aforementioned.
And now the best CDs of 2000 according to me ( in no particular order or disorder. It just kinda happened.
Wait, but isn' t that disorder?):
Radiohead – Kid A
Allow me to introduce you to a very sophisticated person (remember, each CD is an individual. Play along for godssakes. Stop whining) This person, if I may call him Chester, is smarter than you and me. But you don't mind that. It's like having one of those friends that you want on your team for Trivial Pursuit (are those pieces called pie pieces or wedges? Many people argue over this) or someone you can always call on when you're on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. "Hello, Chester, this is Regis"….doesn't that just sound right? Well, Chester is a deep pensive person. He won't warm up to you right away. He's shy and lonely. Try harder though because he will like you a lot and you will like him back. It is a relationship worth developing. One warning though: Chester may at times be loud and boisterous one minute and sad the next but he is always be powerful. Oh, and he always prefers Heinz Ketchup to the other brands like Hunts (you know who you are). Translation: Kid A is a layered thick album. At first I didn't "get" this album (that's funny. At first, I really didn't get the album. I downloaded it off Napster. My, that's funny. But not funny haha, like funny, weird)I and I was quite disappointed in the band I felt I could call my own. They had excused themselves from the club of Rock Music and joined the club of obscure and difficult mood music. The songs are dying to be very experimental music like those of the Aphex Twin and Autechre (can you even call "Kid A" a song?) but I really love this album. Like really, love. It grew on me. With some patience, I realized that this was an album I as a consumer (I bought it, ok? Get of my back) could take great pride in owning. When I saw these songs performed live, my internal organs moved. My heart traded shifts with my kidneys. It got messy. One stand out track, "National Anthem", incorporates a horn section at the end of the song, inspired by Charlie Mingus's performance at Town Hall. Mingus supposedly never rehearsed for the show and told the horn section to play "just like a bluebird flies". Well, "National Anthem" sounds like a pissed off vulture swooping in to eat your posterior. Look out, bitches, because that thing will bite. "Optimistic" is an incredible rock anthem for smart people (no, not you) with a forthright positive chorus ("you can try the best you can…the best you can is good enough"). And "How To Disappear Completely" could make anyone cry. Even my uncle (who doesn't cry often. There was that one time when we were in Israel and there was a severe dust storm. He got some dust in his eye and began to shed tears. But that doesn't count as crying, does it?). It is perhaps the most emotional song I have ever heard since "Quit Playing Games With My Heart" (such sincerity. It kills me!). So overall, this is a very difficult album and be warned, you may not like it (but then again you may not like Chester either) but if you do like it, it will be worth the effort and you will have joined the upper echelon society that gets into movies for free and can park in handicapped zones. There is a reason this album has found so many fans amongst those that "get it".
The rest of the best of 2000 continues….