My Top 10 Albums of the '00s

The A.V. Club is doing it, and it was a bit of a shock to find that I only know two of their top 50 albums. So here is my Top 10, in chronological order. I limited it to one album per artist, otherwise it would be all Something for Kate and the Finn family. If your beloved album is not on the list, it may well be because I don't know it. Don't get angry, post your top 10 in the comments.


Powderfinger - Odyssey Number Five
Universal, 2000

How a band from the jungly wilderness that is Brisbane could come up with an album so beautifully grey and urban is astounding.

Buffy: Season 3

It's the one with the Mayor, Dad.

My girlfriend had never seen Buffy, so earlier this year (I'd already introduced her to Doctor Who in December) we started watching. Of late we hadn't watched much, but in the last few weeks we built up a good momentum and finished Season 3, and now we're powering through Buffy 4/Angel 1.

The thing about Buffy is that if you've never seen it, it can easily be mistaken for a silly teen drama (with monsters but whatever) for girls and silly people.

Lost: Season 1

I was getting a bit sick of watching movies, so I turned my attention to finally maybe getting through Lost: Season 1, which I’d been struggling to get engaged with since January. Surprisingly, it became engaging only once I started watching more than one episode a day.

I also finally finished rewatching Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Series 1, which I used to know by heart but hadn’t seen in many years, but I’m darned if I know what to say about that.

Lost, in which Mira Furlann once again demonstrates her uncanny ability to make mundane words creepy (Shadows, Others…what, no Babylon 5 fans in the house?). Lost sets up a lot of mysteries, but more baffling than any other question in the show is WHY COULD THEY NOT FIND ANY AUSTRALIAN ACTORS TO PLAY AUSTRALIANS?

How I Met Your Mother: Season 5 - "Definitions"

For me, the transition from watching a show five episodes at a time on DVD to watching weekly as it is screened has rarely done the show any favours. Which obviously isn't the show's fault, and yet I can't help but be biased against any new seasons, as I realised when I watched this episode. It's not hard to see where this bias comes from. Firstly, watching a show weekly is a very different experience.

Flashforward: "No More Good Days"

Now that, class, is how you make a pilot. The premise, that for 2 minutes and 17 seconds everyone on the planet blacked out and saw a vision of themselves in six months' time, is one that could go either way. The series could be a collection of heartfelt monologues the meaning of life and angels and whatnot, centred around a plot in which in each episode someone is helped by the "flashforwards." And it could still lapse into that, but it looks like this show is far more interested in being a political thriller with a sci-fi twist.

Elvis Presley

It’s easy to see why live performance of rock ‘n’ roll took over the world, but Elvis Presley the album is tinny and odd, feeling more like a collection of alternate takes than a produced album. The book admits this, implying that they didn’t know as much about album-crafting back then. The 1999 CD release adds various extra tracks, including hits from the same time such as “Heartbreak Hotel,” but I didn’t listen to them because they’re not actually on the album. An album is not just a way to get a bunch of songs on your computer; it’s a work of art that a large number of people have put hard work into creating.

Dollhouse: Season 2 – “Vows”

I moved these posts from my other blog, so keep in mind that even though they are dated November 2, they're actually my first reactions to the season premieres of these three series. Also, I had to copy and paste people's comments.

As with Torchwood, I’m still watching this show in the hope that it will figure out how good it could be. Torchwood, the spin-off of Doctor Who, stumbled through two seasons of resounding mediocrity in 2006 and 2008. Probably the only reason it survived that long is because it had likeable characters - of course it did, they were created by Russell T. Davies.

In the Wee Small Hours

“The ultimate break-up album.”

I bought the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and I am going to work through that, listening to all the albums I can listen to in Brown's music library (they have these old-school CD players; it's kind of fun). Let me be perfectly clear: I know even less about music than I know about film. The whole point of the exercise is that I am learning about the history of music, and how to write about music, and you’re along for the ride to witness my pleasant and occasionally insightful discourse on the subject. By all means quote me as “a great thinker of our time” to impress your friends, but remember that recorded here are not historical facts, but rather are my observations and reactions – generally my initial reactions, so don’t be surprised if I disagree with myself later on.

Sinatra and Ava Gardner

Anyway, the fact that In the Wee Small Hours is described as one of the first ever concept albums is a little curious to me, since its concept is “sad,” which is not exactly an album concept as we think of it post-Pink Floyd. Nevertheless, having just split with Ava Gardner, Sinatra records sixteen songs of loneliness and lost love, and that, as I understand it, is important to the development of the concept of the album as a work in itself, rather than just a collection of hits. It could better be described a mood album, and the consistency of that mood means that the album’s a bit of a downer, but in the best possible way.

I’m glad that this album was my first proper introduction to Frank Sinatra. My main concern was, given how often Frank’s music is relegated to elevator music, that I wouldn’t be able to shake the feeling that I was in Au Bon Pain. So I’m glad that this album doesn’t contain any of the most commonly heard Sinatra songs. Instead I am presented with an amazing performer, who functions as a protagonist, simply and honestly sharing his feelings.

Capitol, 1955. Produced by Voyle Gilmore.

And here, for your viewing pleasure, is an educational video starring Frank Sinatra from 1945.

What's This For?

I have no desire to whine about my life on the internet, but I am interested in writing about media. My relationships with television, movies, music, theatre, novels, comics, and...I don't know...food?...are all individually very intense and different. Also, let's be honest here. My grandparents are going to form a significant percentage of my readership. I'm not expecting a book deal like Julie Powell (whose blog is, incidentally, rather entertaining). It's just a way for me to practise my writing, keep in touch with family and friends, and maybe entertain someone.