Personal Pazz & Jop 2002
The Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll came out today, prompting me to finally get off my ass and come up with my comprehensive list of favorite discs for the past year. The P&J is a completely incestuous affair, in which a majority of the nation’s self-regarded experts (yup, me included) try to pontificate in such a clever, inside-smartass shorthand that our brethren will marvel and rue in envy such compelling prose while the rest of the nation, a few die-hard music geeks aside, will collectively exclaim, “Whaaa?”
I was a P&J star one year, sometime back in the mid-90s, with six or seven pithy phrases cited in their comment-roundup, most of which I’d dashed off in less than 45 minutes between writing assignments. In subsequent years, I labored mightily to duplicate my showing, only to be “rewarded” with at best one or two mentions. The couple of years, I’ve merely shipped in my ballot, sans comments, knowing that my cleverness factor has passed its pop-cultural moment. But that doesn’t mean I don’t devour the comments section and, worse yet, understand most every word uttered. This year, City Pages current stable of music scribes is well-represented by Melissa Maerz and Peter Scholtes, and our music section alumni puts in better showing than any other paper can boast, with Will Hermes, Keith Harris, Laura Sinagra, Michelangelo Matos, and most especially Jon Dolan, king of the P&J riff, offering up their wisdom. Congrats to all, and god help you.
If any of you care (and Allah help you too), my following list does not exactly correspond with either my P&J ballot or the one submitted here at City Pages. In the former case, it is mostly because I don’t include my jazz picks for the Voice poll, which, despite its name, is skewed by writers who never give jazz a chance. In the latter case, it is simply a matter of me semi-changing my mind about the order of things. For that matter, this list could honesty change every day from here to eternity. Consider the order here to be a mild satisfying of my anal need to render judgments, and not a hard and fast preference. On the other hand, something in my top ten is indeed something I’ve enjoyed more than a disc down in the forties or fifties. Suffice to say, all these CDs are worth owning and listening to.
1) The Roots, Phrenology
2) Scarface, The Fix
3) Tift Merritt, Bramble Rose
4) Ruben Blades, Mundo
5) Hugh Ragin, Feel The Sunshine
6) The Tragically Hip, In Violet Light
7) Cee-Lo, Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections
8) Dave Holland Big Band, What Goes Around
9) Badly Drawn Boy, About A Boy soundtrack
10) The Streetz, Original Pirate Material
11) Jason Moran, Modernistic
12) Joi, Star Kitty’s Revenge
13) Nappy Roots, Watermelon, Chicken and Gritz
14) The Donnas, Spend the Night
15) Various Artists, Red, Hot + Riot
16) Eric Alexander, Summit Meeting
17) Craig David, Slicker Than Your Average
18) Steve Earle, Jerusalem
19) Nas, God’s Son
20) Various Artists, Soundbombing III
21) Tori Amos, Scarlet’s Walk
22) Andrew Hill, A Beautiful Day
23) Avril Lavigne, Let Go
24) Lauryn Hill, MTV Unplugged 2.0
25) Bruce Springsteen, The Rising
26) Roy Haynes’ Birds of a Feather: A Tribute to Charlie Parker
27) Eels, Souljacker
28) Salif Keita, Moffou
29) Lil Wayne, 500 Degrees
30) Kinky, Kinky
31) Joe Lovano, Viva Caruso
32) George Brooks, Summit
33) Eliades Ochoa, Estoy Como Nunca
34) Sleater-Kinney, One Beat
35) Orchestra Baobab, Specialist In All Styles
36) Fred Hersch Trio, Live at the Village Vanguard
37) Patricia Barber, Verse
38) Missy Elliott, Under Construction
39) Sean Paul, Dutty Rock
40) Something Corporate, Leaving Through The Window
41) Coldplay, A Rush of Blood To the Head
42) Jorma Kaukonen, Blue Country Heart
43) Various Artists, Brown Sugar soundtrack
44) The Blind Boys of Alabama, Higher Ground
45) Jaguar Wright, Denials, Delusions & Decisions
46) Greg Brown, Milk of the Moon
47) Anouar Brahem, Le Pas Du Chat Noir
48) Boyz II Men, Full Circle
49) Elvis Costello, When I Was Cruel
50) Joe Zawinul, Faces and Places
51) Wayne Shorter, Footprints Live
52) Bryan Ferry, Frantic
53) Bob Mould, Modulations
54) For Against, Coalesced
55) Citizen Cope, Citizen Cope
56) Ron Carter, Stardust
6:56:51 PM 
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