John Davidson’s Top Ten — December 3

by John Davidson
3 December 2006

1. 
   
   TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain (Interscope)

   A lot of hype, but overall a very interesting record by a very interesting band

2. Swervedriver – Ejector Seat Reservation (Creation)

   I’ve been engaging in a bit of shoegaze nostalgia lately…wow, Creation had such a nice run in the 90s.

3. Dusty Springfield – Dusty in Memphis (Mercury)

   The classic Dusty album.

4. Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Def Jam)

   I didn’t have much use for this album when it came out, and the overbearing misogyny and gangsta worship of hip-hip will never sit well. But as I get older, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back resonates more.

5. Sloan – Never Hear the End of It (YepRoc)

   At 30 songs, the album is probably too hard to devour. But this is a band without a bad album in their catalog.

6. PJ Harvey – The Peel Sessions (Island)

   I kind of hate the idea of releasing something like this, which is aimed at collectors yet isn’t satisfying for the completist. And so those same collectors will more than likely turn to the Internets, where there is a robust trading community that collects EVERYTHING an artist like PJ Harvey broadcasts and distributes it electronically. A compilation such as this serves Luddites and the ignorant instead of serving the die-hard fan.

7. Chunklet (the website)

   Love him or hate him, Henry Owings is a gift to music, a true lover of the form and one who has spent his entire adult life putting on shows, writing books, booking bands, making magazines, getting nominated for Grammy awards, and generally just suporting the scene like few others. His website is excellent.

8. The Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis (Berkley, 2001)

   I’d read this in college and wasn’t ever a huge Zeppelin fan. But I also wasn’t a hater, and while this book is more gossipy than critically interesting, it serves as an important reminder of the parallel era that ran up to and alongside original punk.

9. Jason Falkner Demos (unsigned)

   According to Falkner’s website, he’s done recording his new album and is shopping the demos. He’s earned a good deal, as the demos show.

10. Vince Guaraldi – A Charlie Brown Christmas (Fantasy)

    Still the best recording for the season, an album that’s been in print for almost 45 years. It got the reissuing treatment this year, which is a bit of a poke in the eye to those (me) who own the LP, the cassette, and the original CD. Guaraldi has long died, never having seen or even imagined his legacy and yet you kind of have to question the legacy of copyright law (thanks in large part to Sonny Bono and the record lobby in California) that protects a work like this for so long…