Leonard Cohen's Death of a Ladies' Man:
Everything written about this record puts fault in the hands of Phil Spector. However, his "Wall of Sound" is made spare enough to work within this slowed down, epic-length setting, and the only thing preventing the songs from always working is Cohen's vocals. Many of its flaws would disappear if someone like Ronnie Spector covered the whole record for Kill Rock Stars, and I think the hard-on song would make a wonderfully provocative feminist statement.

Freddie Mercury's Complete Collection:
10 CDs and 2 DVDs is more than enough to cover the solo career of a man who released one bona fide solo album, but I see this as the most mesmerizing testament to the power of a beautiful voice. The demos are particularly wonderful, especially the handful for "Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow". When I was listening to this three hours out of the day, it was hard work to find an indie singer who did not, in contrast, sound miserable. Maybe that's why I often put so much focus on a band's lyrics in my reviews. As an afterthought, the DVDs do not work on Region 1 players, so remember to also buy a regionless DVD player if you wanna see Freddie in a skirt.

Jimmie Driftwood's Americana:
This three-CD box set, put out by Germany's Bear Family label, is a valentine to a man who put history, and lots of it, into song. His most famous work is "The Battle of New Orleans", and while it may just be his delivery, damned if his version doesn't cram a ten-thousand word essay into four minutes.

Tommy James and the Shondells' Greatest Hits:
Most of the indiepop scene aspires to make songs like "It's Only Love" and "I Think We're Alone Now", and that's what makes the indiepop scene better than the rest.

Bands that sang Tony Macauley's songs:
Though the music behind the songs is very basic, few bands made more eminently enjoyable pop than The Flying Machine, the Pinkertons, the Foundations and Edison Lighthouse. It's too bad that no respect is given to artists who do not write their material these days, 'cause Britney should have stuck with whoever wrote "Lucky".

Roger Waters' Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking:
If you listen to the record without looking at the cover, it's hard to ever think of a naked female hitchhiker. When you listen with each of its three covers in front of you, the one with the closeup of her ass captures the sound of the album most perfectly. The "censored" version, which paints a black square over the lady's buttocks, is misleading, because Clapton gives Waters some of his fleshiest guitar here, and there's not a single feeling hidden from the listener. It's very raw, and over-the-top, like a person dealing with his problems directly through music. I am still a Roger Waters fan, and would love to see him make another concept record on the Falklands War.

The Band's Northern Lights, Southern Cross:
The original album was wonderful, and nearly as strong as their first two albums. Time and the inclusion of two beautiful bonus tracks ("Twilight" and "Christmas Must Be Tonight") make the reissue a must, as none of these songs suffer, like "the Weight", from over-familiarity, with "Acadian Driftwood" standing among the greatest masterworks of American music.

The Easybeats' Volume Three:
These Australian Beatles have been given a wonderful reissue treatment by Repertoire Records. Their first two studio albums traditonally receive the highest praise, but I think this one is their most ambitious. If you find it asinine to make your first Easybeats purchase a record without "Friday on My Mind", be aware that the reissue's bonus tracks include a medley with their hit "Friday on My Mind".

Other Two's Superhighways:
While I'm happy New Order had a new album in them, Peter Hook's Monaco and the Other Two made nearly perfect records just prior to the reunion, and it's a shame they received no public support. Neither were released in the United States, and both are worth hunting down in overseas online music catalogs.

Stray Trolleys' Barricades and Angels / Secret Dreams of a Kitchen Porter:
The best reissue of the year; you cannot hear it and wonder what other unknown, unsigned band exists out there that makes music this fabulous. As this is Martin Newell's catchiest and poppiest work, it's my favorite. He's the rare cult artist whose entertaining life (in a recent autobiography, he shared a moment when he opened the door and began having a serious discussion with Hare Krishnas while nude) need not be known to enjoy his music.

Family's A Song for Me:
Lots of great acoustic guitar, and Roger Chapman's fabulous voice, helped this to become my favorite, semi-recent discovery. While it's embarrassing that you can own so much, and still not know about thousands of great artists, it's also the thing that keeps a critic clamoring after freebies, even when his collection has long since surpassed his not-very-modest goals.

The Banana Splits' We're the Banana Splits:
While it's one thing for the Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Show to disappear from the major networks' Saturday morning schedules, it's utterly abysmal that no Saturday morning cartoon or teen show is about kids in a band. Without question, the late sixties and early seventies was the absolute heyday for catchy Saturday morning pop, and the Banana Splits are the most interesting to old folk, since they also occasionally went psychedelic. Another super Saturday band, Josie and the Pussycats, have recently had their music reissued on CD, but Rhino (and Rhino Handmade, who put out Josie) is like the Disney Corporation. They are never attacked like other major labels, who are "all about the money", but who else would sell "limited edition" CDRs for 25 bucks and get away with it?

The Kingston Trio's Last Month of the Year:
Easily one of the best holiday records ever made, this and every other worthwhile Kingston Trio album (in my opinion, all from the Guard era and six from the John Stewart era) is available through Collector's Choice. Like Rhino, the label is well aware that their typical buyers have money to blow, but I like that they market the Kingston Trio as a simply terrific band. Feel free to ignore the Kingston Trio's reunion shows, unless you like picnics, but never blow them off as whitebreads. And if your parents own them, rejoice! It means you are not excluded from reviewing for Splendid.

Ornette Coleman's Colors: Live from Leipzig:
It's fair to turn around the compliment Terry Adams gave the Shaggs, and say that Coleman plays like the Shaggs. However, while the Shaggs eventually learned how to steer their instruments in the direction they intended them to go, Coleman has never been able to play "straight". I recommend his later output, because I love how his bands included punk rockers -- or in this case, a nice German pianist (Joachim Kuhn) that I once met at a bar.