Top 10 CD's I purchased this year..

*The following list has been updated with links to the records on Amazon.com and I also had mistyped the title of the Zero 7 record. (Thanks for the correction.) enjoy!

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The end of the year is also the time to do all those "best of" lists, but we all know they are usually full of a bunch of BS. So I'm going to break it down for you. These were the top 10 CD's that I purchased this year. Some of these may have even been released in 2003. But I didn't know about them until 2004.

These are the best to me for a number of reasons, either I applaud them for their sheer ingenuity in this time of musical blandity or I either simply fell in love with the album for whatever reason and couldn't stop listening to it. That to me is the sign of a good record. It grabs you, it makes you listen over and over and you discover something else with each listen.

As I look back it is also interesting to notice the complete lack of hip-hop that I purchased this year. Even when I did purchase an album it was more than anything to support an artist that I felt was trying to do something different than the everyday radio BS. But more often than not, I listened to it a couple of times, then never picked it up again. I know I'm getting old because 4 of my top 10 were either originally released 20+ years ago or are compilations of songs released 20 years ago.

1. Lizz Wright - "Salt"
Simply amazing. The sheer sensuality and strength and character and love and hapiness that exists in this woman's soul comes through her voice on this album. I tried 4 times to see her live this year and something happened every time preventing it from happening. Then someone I know sees her and said the only two concerts that were better were Nina Simone and Sade. A tremndous album from start to finish fusing jazz, blues and gospel into an unforgettable musical journey.

2. Fertile Ground - "Black Is"
Each Fertile Ground CD gets better and better and more closely resembles their tremendous live show that I first saw while bartending at State of the Union around 1997-98. Powerful vocals with soulful afro-latin rhythms made this a mainstay in my car. Not to mention, they put on one of the most energetic and fun live shows around these days.

3. Miles Davis - "In a Silent Way" (3 CD box set)
- I had the original CD for a few years and occassionally listened to it and felt it was a solid CD, but this release has gorgeous packaging, incredible liner notes that give you great insight into each individual session as well as alternate versions of tracks to give you an idea of what the track could've been, unedited that stretch as long as 20 minutes. These are the real original versions before they would've been edited down to fit on vinyl. This is a tremendous box set that any jazz fan should grab if you can still find it.

4. Jeff Mills - "Choice: A Collection of Classics"
- This CD is great to me for a number of reasons. Here is a guy who was a DJ during the era that I grew up in so he acutely spans the gamut from music my momma used to play (Teddy Pendegrass) to music I loved to hear on the radio from Chicago and St. Louis such as old electronic classics and that early detroit techno sound that I would only hear on mix tapes from someone's older brother that just happen to come back from the 'city' and it's all seamlessly mixed into my personal trip down memory lane. Even though I only really knew about half the songs on the CD, they are all in the spirit of songs I enjoyed while growing up.

5. Amp Fiddler - "Waltz of a Ghetto Fly"
- This album should've received much more press than it did. To me it was much more solid than Donnie's album, more cohesive than Van Hunt and/or Cody Chestnut, not to mention being incredibly funky and it had the ability to stretch into the underground house music scene in ways that others had to show the above mentioned guys how to do. This album is a true R&B album to me and I hope we hear more from him in 2005.

6. Louie Vega - "Elements of Life"
- I love this album so much. I received a couple of promo-vinyl only singles of this album way back and was so excited that I dropped like $30 to buy the Japanese Import of the album 5 months before it came out in the US. Then I purchased each subsequent 12" to receive all of the remixes of the 5 singles that were released off of this album, not to mentioned all of the other tracks released on his record label that I bought, so damn, Louie got a lot of my loot this year. I shouldn't need to give his ass any more props since he got all my money, but he is doing hot hot shit right now and is clearly on top of his game with every release he does and every remix he touches. I guess I haven't even talked about the album yet... umm, latin, house, jazz, funk, soulful, dancefloor, samba, salsa, etc... all in one. AND, they're about to release a remix album of all the alternate versions that were previously only available on vinyl which is probably worth checking out too. It's called "Extensions" you can pre-order it and be the first to check it out allowing you to stay ahead of the curve when people try to tell you about this CD. Isn't nice to be able to say, "But do you have the REMIX album?"

7. Amel Larrieux - "Bravebird"
- Amel has one of the most beautiful voices of our generation and I applaud her for saying screw you to the major labels, releasing her album independently without any press at all, no publicity at all and relying strictly on the strength of the record to move units. Much props and I hope you continue to do the independent thing. This is why I continue to support Ani DiFranco whose albums I can kinda fuck with on a good day, but her conviction alone makes me give everything she does a second look.

8. Zero 7 - "When It Falls"
- Most Sophomore albums aren't that great. D'angelo, Badu, Portishead, and Maxwell are exceptions that come to mind, but Zero 7 stuck to the same no nonsense straightahead downtempo formula and created the best underground lounge sountrack of the year. When you listen to this you can only somehow feel like you are cooler than everyone else around you. The albums is way laid back and is just long enough to not bore you. However, if they come with the same formula for round 3, it would be extremely tired.

9. Dimitri from Paris - "In The House"
The former DJ from Dee-Lite brings us this 2CD set which is a great mix of house music from past and present and contains classic tracks by Lil' Louis, Crystal Waters, The O'Jays and Jestofunk all updated and re-edited as well as understated and not overdone remixes by Blaze, Dubtribe, current hot producer of the moment Rasmus Faber and the Africanist vibes of DJ Gregory. Nice stuff here.

10. Marvin Gaye - "Here My Dear"
Lastly, but not least, I bought the reissued version of this old Marvin Gaye album that I never knew about. He created this to help pay off his divorice debt to his ex-wife. It is an extremely personal manifesto of love, hate, and pain that creates probably the most personal record I've ever heard. From the beginning he states, "here it is, this is what you wanted right?" and it is very clear that the entire album is about the pain of this divorice he's going into and how he realizes he has to make this record with all of the proceeds going to her as part of their settlement. From the metaphoric cover art to the incredible liner notes that talk at length about how he would come in from court pissed off and start singing without knowing what he might say. You can hear the pain in Marvin's voice yet on other tracks you can tell how much he loves his ex-wive Anna. I'm still trying to figure out if this is something I listen to when I'm happy because of the incredible underlying sense of humor he shows or when I'm sad because of the obvious pain and truth that exists between his jokes. Though it was released in 1978 it is still a tremendous album to this day.