Ek's Top 100 Albums of the '10s: #50-26

Well, it is time to move a little further down the list of my favorite albums this decade. We're through the bottom half of the top 100, but now we're going to slow down a bit to give the top half the attention it deserves.

I've realized, however, that the worst part of lists like these are all of the glaring omissions, so before I go any further, I'm going to give a bonus mini-list of the Top 5 Bands That I Probably Should Have Gotten Into But Didn't This Decade:

1. Radiohead: Not only are they on the top of this list; they're definitely on the top of my personal "Oh my God, I can't believe you aren't into them" list from any decade. Time and priorities were definitely a factor in my not following all bands on these lists, but I'll try to give some other rationales as well. In this case, I got turned off by the overwhelming consensus among their fans that they (1) would always be an indie band at heart (which was obviously not true) and (2) were one of the greatest and most influential rock bands ever (even when their more groundbreaking work was too new to have influenced anyone). The band didn't help by having the highest degree of British self-importance and refusal to accept criticism since Led Zeppelin. On the other hand, I realized when I went through my Pandora phase that they were coming up with a lot of bands I do like, and a lot of their music was actually good. Maybe not good enough to justify their off-putting arrogance, but then again, they aren't really any worse than Zeppelin in that respect. Or Axl Rose. Or Dave Mustaine. Or John Fogerty. Maybe I should give them a shot.

2. Tool: They should be right up my alley as one of the top prog-metal bands ever, and of what I've heard, they have several good songs and at least a handful of great ones. They seem to have an overwhelming aura of negativity and anti-religiousness that has kept me from really wanting to get to them, although there are tons of bands I listen to despite the fact that I don't agree with their politics, religion, and/or philosophy. Part of the problem for me is that they actually come off as anti-God, rather than just criticizing the Church, the latter of which I don't have a problem with (Christians should constantly be thinking about how to make the institutional Church better, and part of that process is listening to and respecting valid outside criticism. Unlike Radiohead.). I haven't listened to them enough to really analyze their lyrics, so if I'm wrong about this, someone let me know.

3. AFI: They are one of those rare really nice stories of a band that paid their dues for a really long time and eventually got huge. Some of their stuff I've heard I've loved; some of it doesn't do that much for me. I don't have a real rationale for missing them this decade other than that every time I've been about to pick up Sing the Sorrow, there's some other album that I'm more interested in or is on sale.

4. Wilco: This is the only band on the list that I've actually seen live (thanks James!), and I have to say they put on a really good show. They are also established local heroes, and in some ways that fact that they haven't become national household names to the same extent as Kanye West, Rise Against, Fall Out Boy, or The Smashing Pumpkins makes them that much more beloved here. I feel like a bad Chicagoan for not listening to them often. The thing is, a lot of their studio stuff I've heard is just kind of boring. Since music is ultimately entertainment, I'd rather be scared, offended, frustrated, or depressed by something I listen to than bored.

5. Rap/Hip-Hop and Country: Look, I like rock music. I won't apologize to anyone for that. That said, on this whole list of 100, there's one country/bluegrass album and one rap album. Even though I won't promise to change my tastes, I have to acknowledge that there are those whole other genres out there, and that they include "songs about real life, with stories you can relate to and words you can understand."

Now that that is out of the way, I can continue to move on with the list:

50. The Killers - Hot Fuss ('04): I'd consider this album to be this decade's equivalent of Pearl Jam's Ten. This is high praise for an album that only came it at #50, but the similarities are there: both were debut albums from relatively unknown bands, both became overnight successes without really having time to figure out how to handle it well, and, although neither really created a new genre of music, both were able to combine an older style of music with recent developments to create a sound that blew away everything else on the radio. Both then were copied to the extent that they couldn't really maintain their sound on their next album while remaining original - Pearl Jam's Vs. and Vitalogy are textbook examples of how a band can expand their sound without abandoning it, and the next two Killers albums...well, they weren't, which is why Pearl Jam is our generation's Rolling Stones and the Killers are less than a decade away from playing County Fairs. Still, that shouldn't take away from how good this album was.

49. Saves the Day - Under the Boards ('07): Remember when I said it is better for a band to depress me than bore me? Well, this is one of the most depressing albums of the decade, and it doesn't help that the follow-up album, which was supposed to tell the redemptive portion of the trilogy, has become the Chinese Democracy of emo. So what's so great about it? Saves the Day had previously established themselves as a band capable of playing a lot of different styles well, pulling off '70s era punk on their early albums, art-pop on In Reverie, and melodic pop-rock punk on Sound the Alarm and Stay What You Are. However, this is the only time where they've managed to put so many different styles together on the same album - I had actually been under the impression that rock bands agreed to stop doing this some time in the early '80s. In fact, I'd put this in the same category as Vs. and Vitalogy were in the last entry - they really push the limits of their sound in multiple directions, but they never stop sounding like Saves the Day. Now put out another album already.

48. Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage ('05)

47. Black Tide - Light From Above ('08): When I was a little kid in the '80s, the metal genre was dominated by spandex-wearing glam rock bands that had vocalists with immense range, guitarists who could shred, an innate sense of fun, and almost no ability to put an interesting or unpredictable song together. These bands traced their lineage back to Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden, but weren't really talented enough to write songs that enabled them to rival such giants. Then the Metallica, Megadeth, and others blew everybody away and the era of thrash metal began. Metal bands started to focus on dark, lengthy, compositional pieces and shied away from compromising for mass appeal; eventually, many bands in the genre even gave up on traditional singing for cookie monster vocals. Songs about drinking, sex, and rock and roll were out, songs about war, insanity, and conspiracy theories were in.

All of this was all well and good, except that, somewhere along the way, people gradually forgot that metal was supposed to be fun. Dragonforce's biggest achievement, apart from playing faster and more ridiculously than anyone else, and breaking Joel Zumaya's arm, was helping people remember that, and Black Tide gets bonus points for proving that you can make metal fun without trying to bring back the spotty legacy of hair metal. Oh, and more bonus points for making the best album by high school students since Frogstomp. While I'm here, I also have to mention that "Warriors of Time" has earned its place on the list of songs that frequently have their intros cut by radio and in other public settings even though the intro is one of the coolest parts of the song. I hate it when they do that.

46. Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most ('01): Yes, there is something a little bit lame and pathetic about a guy in his mid-20s writing songs about high school relationships. And yes, the over-the-top sensitive guy routine is at least as obnoxious as the over-the-top alpha male routine. But it is impossible to deny that every song on this disc is well-crafted musically and lyrically, and it is rare to find anything this personal from a band that would eventually make it big, or, for that matter, from any band (at least in 2001). You have to approach this album the same way you approach Rambo II - just enjoy it and try to bear in mind that at the time it came out, nothing in it was cliche.

45. System of a Down - Toxicity ('01): I know I just berated Heavy Metal for taking itself too seriously from the late '80s to early '00s, and this album is a prime example, but I can look past that for an album that seethes with anger without ever losing its overriding sense of melody and musicianship, and that has two or three great riffs on every song, even though I wouldn't call it a "guitar album" in the traditional sense.

44. Shai Hulud - Misanthropy Pure ('08): I don't like hardcore vocals, and I rarely like heavy metal songs that don't have significant instrumental breaks, but in this case, it doesn't matter. There are more tempo and time signature changes in all of the songs here than there are on most prog rock albums, and they somehow manage to keep it from ever becoming unlistenable.

43. Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures ('09): This gets my pick for the best "disappointing but still good" album of the decade. The Queens of the Stone Age sound seemed to take over, which is unfortunate since they're my least favorite of the three big-name parent bands involved. Ultimately, they wound up somewhere between '70s guitar rock and '00s stoner rock, but I'm pretty sure aficionados of either will like this album, although people who wanted it to sound like the next Zeppelin or Foo Fighters album will be let down. On a positive note, every song on this album is different, but there's still an overall sound bringing them all together. So far I've liked it more with each listen, meaning it could probably move up a few spots if and when I ever revisit this list.

42. Underoath - They're Only Chasing Safety ('04): The "Life, the Universe, and Everything" position goes to the best work from a band that managed to be both intensely brutal and easy to listen to, sometimes on the same song. Definitely a "gateway album" for hardcore.

41. Death Cab For Cutie - The Photo Album ('01): There hasn't been anyone else I know of since Bob Dylan that has this kind of ability to put enough emotion for a feature-length movie into less than forty minutes of music. In this case, it only took one year for the best lyricist of the decade to emerge. While musically this isn't a flat-out amazing album, it is solid, and the band manages to match the tone of the lyrics well.

40. The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show ('04): Part of me almost wishes they don't put out a post-reunion album since this one was such a great farewell. A small part of me.

39. Pearl Jam - Lost Dogs ('03): Exhibit A in the case that Pearl Jam was tanking, Vince Carter-like, due to ongoing problems with their label and/or ticketmaster. A collection of B-sides and unreleased material that ranks with their best albums will do that, as the argument that they simply lost their sound or their ability to write good songs is shot down here. This also puts Pearl Jam into the discussion when considering all-time great bands - all of the greatest bands of the classic rock era played all sorts of different styles of music, which is part of the reason I dislike the heavy specialization of bands in the current era. Even as a fan, I can't really say Pearl Jam's catalog was all that diverse prior to this album. Here, though, you get to here Pearl Jam doing things you don't expect from them, like using harmonized vocal layering, playing instrumentals, using singers other than Vedder (which is a plus since non-PJ fans can then understand the lyrics!), playing surf rock, playing soundscapes, and playing acoustic folk. They even manage to capture the sound of The Who (who they had always cited as an influence, but never sounded much like) well on "Black, Red, and Yellow." The only downside is a handful of the stronger songs on it (like "Dead Man" and "Yellow Ledbetter") had been floating around for years before this came out, but there was more than enough to like among the more obscure or totally unreleased material.

38. John Mayer - Room For Squares ('01): As with Places You Have Come to Fear the Most, you have to remember what this album was like when it came out, back when there was nothing obnoxious or frustrating about Mayer, and instead just a great acoustic rock album with a ton of great songs. I think half of the problem is that he's been miscast as a "guitar legend" when he really is more of a singer/songwriter who also happens to be an above-average guitar player. That's not really his fault. That said, I'm still holding out hope that he'll start his version of Derek and the Dominoes with Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

37. Further Seems Forever - How to Start a Fire ('03): This album grew on me once I got used to the fact that it wasn't The Moon Is Down. In some ways, Jason Gleason replacing Chris Carrabba was like Steve Young taking over for Joe Montana - both were perfectly capable in their own respects, and actually brought some things to the table that their predecessors didn't, but they really had no chance to ever be quite as beloved or iconic. (I should mention that, even though Hide Nothing was my lowest-rated FSF album, Jon Bunch deserves a better comparison than Elvis Grbac.) In Gleason's case, he was a hell of a vocalist (as evidenced by their cover of Bye Bye Bye in which the vocals sound as good or better than on the N'Sync version), but his lyrics rarely if ever made any sense, not to mention that he apparently didn't get along with the rest of the band at all. Still, the guitar layering on this album is great, and "The Sound," "A Blank Page Empire," and "I Am" are some of FSF's best songs. We're now well into the albums I very strongly recommend.

36. Sunny Day Real Estate - Rising Tide ('00): I know it isn't considered their best album by most, and it even got made fun of in emogame, but I get to avoid comparing it to their earlier work since it happened in a different decade. Sometimes it is nice to make the rules.

35. Stairwell - The Sounds of Change ('01): I'm not sure which is more fun: listening to the vocal harmonies and interplay or listening to the guitar harmonies and interplay. This album is so good, Girden thought it had to be their Greatest Hits album when it came out. The bad news for Stairwell's career is that it pretty much is.

34. Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me ('06): A 54-minute album that doesn't remotely feel too long. Plus, Eric once described it as the soundtrack to his life (or something like that). This album also proves that just because bands had long since stopped trying to do anything new and interesting with the grunge sound, it doesn't mean there weren't interesting possibilities still left out there.

33. The Mars Volta - Amputechture ('06): The intro and outro tracks are kind of boring, but there's such a feast of prog rock in between that I don't even care. I can't really even describe Tetragrammaton and Day of the Baphomets adequately, and Asilos Magdalena expands the acoustic side of the band beautifully, even if they can't quite resist putting weird feedback and effects in at the end of it.

32. Rise Against - The Sufferer & The Witness ('06): The punk scene was already thriving in the first half of this decade, then Rise Against gave it the one thing it was missing: a really good punk band that wasn't a holdover from the '90s and didn't need to be qualified with something like "emo punk" or "pop punk."

31. Circa Survive - On Letting Go ('07): There's definitely a shortage of vocalists that can sing in the upper register without sounding whiny, but this band has one, and in addition, they just sound better together than most other bands do.

30. Flobots - Fight With Tools ('07): This is the album that made me realized that I actually don't dislike rap at all; I dislike overproduced music. By contrast, this album has great live instrumentation, and is even an innovative lineup by featuring a cello in a rock group (it works, by the way). They might come off a little preachy with their politics, but at least it is earnest and makes you think, and frankly, rap works way better with some kind of social or political message behind it anyway.

29. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind ('00): Spawned more legitimate radio hits than most bands have in their entire career, in fact, I'm not sure if any of the songs on this album weren't hits. It also helped to make 2001-02 the (school) Year of Bono at Wheaton College and probably many other places. Let's face it, it is impressive for a band to say they are "reapplying for the job of best band in the world" and actually back up their talk (unlike Roberto Luongo). Thanks to this album, U2 would eventually join Dethklok among bands that are also among the world's largest economies.

28. Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism ('03): If The Photo Album marked Gibbard's emergence as one of rock's best lyricists, this is the album that established it fully for him, and for that matter, the band continued to develop their sound instrumentally into something that not only complemented the lyrics but would be worth listening to for its own sake. I know I've said the middle of the album drags a little bit in the past, but that's a minor flaw.

27. Rhapsody - Symphony of Enchanted Lands Vol. II: The Dark Secret ('04): I know we frequently use the term "epic" to describe a rock album, but it is pretty rare that a rock album actually also is part of an original fantasy epic. Since no musical interpretation of a fantasy epic is complete without a full orchestra, operatic vocals, choirs, lengthy guitar solos (including, but not limited to, guitar duels against orchestra instruments), and Christopher Lee, all of those are thrown in as well. At this point, you're probably already thinking "wow, that sounds awesome," or "wow, that sounds terrible," so further description from me isn't needed.

26. Margot & the Nuclear So And So's - The Dust of Retreat ('06): There are two approaches to putting a band together - one is to get a drummer, bassist, one or two guitar players, and a singer in some order and start practicing. The other is to just get everyone you'd want to be in a band with that plays something, figure out what everyone plays, and have that be your lineup. The second approach results in more creative and interesting bands, and, as you'd expect, is almost never used. Well, kudos to these guys for putting together a lineup with bass, drums, electric and acoustic guitar, but also a keyboardist, violinist, trumpet, and percussionist. To make matters better, no three of them looked like they really should have been in the same band together. While you might expect a lineup like this to come up with intricate, compositional, heavily produced work, they actually somehow managed to keep their songs simple and likable without making it feel like any of the band members weren't involved. Their disjointed look and lineup also helped them enjoy a one-year run as the most fun obscure band to see live, crushing forever the myth that bands should have a unified "look." Based on Wikipedia, they've since gone to a more stripped down, traditional lineup. In a related story, nobody I know liked their subsequent albums.

That's it for now. Later, I'll return with #25-11, then the top ten. Have a nice summer everyone.

Ek's Top 100 Albums of the '10s: #51-100

Since the Sports Guy is the spiritual father of this blog, I'll let him introduce the concept: "It's a gimmick that needs no introduction. It's a gimmick that says'I couldn't come up with a real column that has a beginning, middle and end,' as well as 'You're hopefully going to be entertained anyway.' It's a gimmick that insinuates the rankings reflect a nationwide consensus, even though it's the opinion of one person and one person only. It's a gimmick that seemingly relies on a secret statistical formula, even though one doesn't actually exist. That's right, it's a...[giant list] column!" Point taken. The only thing I'll argue with is the beginning, middle, and end thing, since nothing has a more obvious beginning, middle, and end than a giant list (although this may not apply to TSG's lists since he always jumps around so much). Anyway, the '00s were a crappy decade in a lot of ways, but it was a good decade for music, especially after a shaky last few years of the '90s (except for Journey reuniting with a new lead singer. That was a terrible idea).

I also originally intended this to just be a top 50 list, but there were too many good albums to do it. I can see now how Eric's annual "top ten" lists usually end up mentioning fifty different albums. Anyway, in the interest of this not becoming a full-length novel, I'm just going to list #51-#100 in reverse order, then over (hopefully not all of) the summer I'll release the rest in groups with some (I promise) brief comments.

Before we start, the hardest albums to leave off of my list were these:

Velvet Revolver - Contraband ('04):

Don't worry; if I ever get around to making a top-100 list for the '90s, the members of this band will get their revenge.

Alkaline Trio - Remains ('07)

Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs ('08)

Dethklok - The Dethalbum ('07)

Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Linings ('09)

Fall of Troy - Doppelganger ('05)

Unearth - III: In the Eyes of Fire ('06):

All of these have multiple great songs on them, but I had a hard time listening to any of them all the way through after the first couple listens. We're not talking "skip a couple of tracks," either, we're talking "go to another album less than 2/3rds of the way through."

Cute Is What We Aim For - The Same Old Blood Rush With a New Touch ('06)

Damone - Out Here All Night ('06)

Snow Patrol - Eyes Open ('06):

2006 was really a great year for guilty pleasure albums that are a blast to listen to but I immediately forgot about once they fell out of my rotation. I should try to come up with a less cumbersome name for this category.

Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel the Illinoise! ('05):

This is the The Royal Tennenbaums of albums for me - underrated nationally; overrated by the people I know.

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix ('09):

Disqualified because I'm afraid they're leading us into a "prog rock to synth rock" transition, which would be fine, except that we already tried this in the early '80s with mostly awful results. Think about it - do we really want to see Herman Li or John Mayer writing songs on a keyboard? If it could happen to Eddie Van Halen or Geddy Lee, it could happen to those guys. If it is any consolation, they will be on every other "best of the decade" music list made this year (although, let's face it; there's a decent chance this is the last one since it is already May).

Mastodon - Blood Mountain ('06):

The toughest cut and the only one I feel legitimately bad about. The thing is, I didn't start to like this album that much until after hearing Crack the Skye, and I had a copy well before that. An album on a top-100 list for a whole decade needs to be capable of getting me into a band that I don't have any prior exposure to; it's part of my non-existent secret formula.

To balance that list, the easiest albums to leave off were St. Anger, Dusk and Summer, and Ultra Beatdown.

With that, we'll get started. As you might expect, this is limited to albums that I purchased or otherwise acquired and, in most cases, managed to listen to multiple times before now. For those of you that want music recommendations, I'd recommend any of these:

100. Seume - It Is What It Is ('08)

99. The Showdown - Temptation Come My Way ('07)

98. Megadeth - United Abominations ('07)

97. Coldplay - Parachutes ('00)

96. Dashboard Confessional - The Swiss Army Romance ('00)

95. Portugal The Man - Waiter: You Vultures! ('06)

94. Coheed & Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV Vol. 2: The End Complete ('07)

93. Alkaline Trio - Maybe I'll Catch Fire ('00)

92. Drive-by Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark ('07)

91. Death Cab For Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes ('00)

90. Greenchoby - Big City ('00)

89. Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony ('08)

88. Angels & Airwaves - I-Empire ('07)

87. Foo Fighters - In Your Honor ('05)

86. Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil ('05)

85. John Mayer - Continuum ('06)

84. Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies ('06)

83. Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King ('09)

82. Moneen - The Red Tree ('06)

81. Saves The Day - In Reverie ('03)

80. Pennywise - Land of the Free? ('01)

79. Muse - Origin of Symmetry ('01)

78. Further Seems Forever - Hide Nothing ('04)

77. The Darkness - One Way Ticket to Hell and Back ('05)

76. Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam ('06)

75. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm ('05)

74. Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos ('07)

73. John Mayer - Heavier Things ('03)

72. Death Cab For Cutie - Plans ('05)

71. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand ('04)

70. Copeland - In Motion ('05)

69. Drive-by Truckers - Southern Rock Opera ('01)

68. Say Anything - ...Is a Real Boy/...Was a Real Boy ('04)

67. Alkaline Trio - Crimson ('05)

66. Green Day - American Idiot ('04)

65. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand ('07)

64. Owen - At Home With ('06)

63. Paul Simon - You're the One ('00)

62. Sleeping At Last - Ghosts ('03)

61. Hey Mercedes - Loses Control ('03)

60. Spill Canvas - One Fell Swoop ('05)

59. Jeremy Enigk - World Waits ('06)

58. the lower 48 - When I Finally Saw the Sea ('09)

57. He Is Legend - It Hates You ('09)

56. Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache ('04)

55. The Detholz - Who Are The Detholz!? ('02)

54. Alison Krauss & Union Station - Lonely Runs Both Ways ('04)

53. Jimmy Eat World - Futures ('04)

52. Copeland - Beneath Medicine Tree ('03)

51. Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff ('02)

Ok, that's it for this one. Check back in a week or two and I'll have #50-#26 up. If you have thoughts about any of these albums, or if you can't believe how I had one of them as high or as low as I did, leave a comment.

Rock 'n Jock

After watching the Bulls collapse earlier today, I came to realize that a basketball team isn't that different from a rock band - there's about the same number of people on stage/the court at the same time, and you need the right mix of talent, chemistry, and knowledge/acceptance of roles in order to be successful. So here's my take on how the comparison breaks down.

Scorers = Guitar Players: In both cases, you need to have at least one good one, but more than two always gets complicated over time, and more than three simply doesn't work at all. There's arguably more skill involved here than at any of the other positions, and a great one can single-handedly carry a team or band to the next level. On the other hand, the importance of these guys is heavily overrated, both in their own minds and by casual fans. Plus, everyone filling the other roles has probably at least dabbled in it at some point and deep down thinks/knows they could do a better job. While really great ones are rare, decent ones can be found at every subway stop, and for every one of those, there are about ten guys who think they are decent at it but would probably be better off trying something else.

Point Guards = Singers: There's more than one way to do it right and people need to embrace their own style to have any hope - ultimately, most people either know how to handle themselves here innately or they're unlikely to ever figure it out. The most important rule for both is not to forget that there are other people out there with them, because this position has the most potential to make everyone else happy or miserable. In other words, not being a huge douche bag is half of the battle. This makes the '90s Bulls the equivalent of a badass thrash metal band that was able to kick tail despite the lack of anything resembling decent singing.

Rebounding = Bass Players: Frequently goes unnoticed, except when either dominating or incompetent, which is when most people realize "holy crap, this is actually really important." Also, bass players are almost never the biggest personalities or troublemakers in a band, they generally get along with everyone, and while the rebounders frequently piss off opponents, everyone loves the rebounders on their own team...mostly because it allows them to go do something else that they'll get more glory for.

Screens/Cut/Off-the-ball Movement = Drumming: Watching an NBA team that is bad at this is boring, just like listening to a band with a bad drummer is boring. Actually, the bad drummer might be more entertaining because of the Rex Grossman Entertainment Factor, where you have to keep watching just to see if everyone else can actually manage to keep it together. Either you understand where I'm coming from already or I can't explain it to you.

Defense = Songwriting: Only the real die-hards spend a lot of time thinking about it, and the existing system seems to be increasingly rigged against those who are good at it, but if it isn't there, you aren't going anywhere. There's a few cases where a weakness here has been overcome, but only when every other aspect is absolutely nailed - think the Phoenix Suns this decade or Dream Theater.

Coach = Producer: People always expect changes here to make a drastic difference, mostly because they're fun to speculate about, but in reality, most of them do the same handful of things, so it only matters a lot if you have one of the top five guys in the country or someone that is just horrifically incompetent. Due to the first part of the last sentence, they are always the first one to get the axe when expectations aren't being met, and due to the last part, it almost never solves the problem since continuity here is way more important than marginal improvements in quality.

NBA Officials = The Music Industry: They work hard and there are times when they get it right, but for the most part, they're pretty incompetent, they reward past success and expected future success (a.k.a. hype) more than they pay attention to what is actually happening in front of them, and it is at least possible that they're taking bribes.

A "Master"ful Performance?

In an effort to bring something new to the Village Tavern, we're actually going to make an attempt at reviewing something that came out recently. Anyway, here's my review of Halo 3.

Story: C-

Despite some rumors to the contrary, Halo 3 picks up pretty closely to where Halo 2's (drastically disappointing) ending left off. The game begins with the Master Chief bailing out of the forerunner ship that he was (apparently) on and crashing on Earth, conveniently near a party of marines. The story from then on is pretty similar to the Master Chief portion of the Halo 2 story – you fight your way through the Covenant on Earth (in this case Africa) for a little while, and then eventually end up on a forerunner installation trying to cause some giant explosions and prevent others. That's a little bit of a simplified version – in actuality, the depth of the story is somewhere between those of the first two games. While this game doesn't have a bad story, there were a few things I didn't like about it:

- A lot of the scenarios, and in some cases even level layouts, are really, really similar to stuff that happened in the other two games.

- The arbiter follows the Master Chief along throughout the campaign, and while it's kind of fun to see both fighting alongside each other, it essentially eliminates the arbiter's storyline, which was the most interesting aspect of Halo 2's story. Remember how the story for The Lord of the Rings was entertaining when the characters were all traveling together, but then got really interesting once Tolkein split them up? This is kind of the complete opposite of that.

- I'm not a huge fan of boss battles in shooters as a general rule, but they did a pretty good job with them in Halo 2, and the problem here is that a lot of this game's story seems to be building towards epic boss battles with Gravemind and the Prophet of Truth, neither of which actually end up so much happening. Seriously, how do you kill off the two primary villains in a video game without a boss battle? It's unheard of. I should mention that there is at least a battle with 343 Guilty Spark (the Monitor), which is nice since everyone who plays these games has wanted to kill that thing since 2/3rds of the way through the first game.

- Although the ending is not nearly as bad as the end of Halo 2, it's still a minor letdown, not to mention the fact that the final scene is a little bit confusing, both in regard to what actually happened and how.

Gameplay: A

This was probably both one of the biggest strengths of Halo and Halo 2's most severe weakness, so considering those facts, and the fact that this is what I consider the most important aspect, this is obviously the make-or-break point for this game. Well, I'm happy to report that it's mostly good news. In Halo, the Master Chief was quick and agile, much like Mike Williams at USC. Once Halo 2 started, it looked like the Chief had taken a year off and then trained with the Lions. You have to play the games back-to-back for it to be very noticeable, but the walk speed was substantially reduced in the second game for no apparent reason. While it doesn't seem like a big thing, it not only makes it take longer to walk to an objective in a level or multiplayer game, but also reduces the extent to which dodging and strategic movement is helpful, and basically makes the game a lot less fun. And while I'm not sure if the Chief is as fast in Halo 3 as he was in the first game, he's definitely quicker than in Halo 2.

Another significant improvement is the weaponry available, both in the quality/quantity of weapons available and in the weapon balance. While Halo 2 introduced dual wielding, they attempted to compensate for this by making every dual wielding weapon weak and useless as a stand-alone gun. This took a lot of the fun out of the multiplayer games in Halo 2, since in order to be successful you had to spend as much time looking for weapons and items as you did hunting down the other players. While I haven't played the multiplayer game a lot in Halo 3 yet, the only really useless gun in the game is the plasma pistol, and even that's more of a situational weapon than it is truly useless. The end result is a game which includes all of the added wrinkles from Halo 2, such as dual wielding, vehicle boarding, and melee weapons, but has fixed the major flaws from that game. So basically, you have the game that Halo 2 should have been.

Improvement Over Previous Games in Series/Genre: B+

This game doesn't do anything new that's Earth-shattering (beyond fixing the issues from Halo 2 mentioned earlier), but there are some nice new wrinkles:

- Several new weapons, including a machine gun that shoots spikes, mini-shotguns that can be dual wielded (weld?), and the hammer that Tartarus had at the end of the second game, which is called the “Gravity Hammer,” which is a little bit of a strange name since I thought that was how every hammer worked.

- You can pick up the turrets and walk around with them, although you move at Halo 2 speeds when you do. There are also a couple of other heavy weapons that work this way, like a missile launcher and a flamethrower. Which is always a nice touch.

- A few new vehicles, although with the exception of the Hornet (which is basically a helicopter), most of them aren't that great; the Ghost, Scorpion Tank, and Banshee are still the most fun vehicles in the game to use by a pretty good margin.

-There are now four kinds of grenades, including a fire grenade and a spike grenade, although this was probably the one addition I didn't really like, since you now can only carry 2 of each kind, and I honestly would rather just have more frag and plasma grenades.

- You now can pick up items, like deployable shields and active camo, and use them at strategic times during the game. While I don't think I've really figured out how to take full advantage of most of these, it's a very nice touch.

Graphics: A

While the graphics in this game don't blow everything else out of the water like the first Halo game did, it does look better from a real standpoint than either of the first two and, honestly, almost everything else that I've played. The Brutes actually now look vicious and more resemble the ancient vampire from season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer than they do evil care bears or ewoks on steroids. I actually saw them and thought, “oh, THAT'S what those were supposed to look like." The flood also has been revamped and are basically a whole lot creepier. Between that and the fact that Cortana and Gravemind occasionally appear in hallucinations throughout the levels, the game seems to be going for more of a Resident Evil/horror movie type of feel. Watching someone play one of those games gave you the feeling that you were watching a great horror movie (which is the exact feeling you don't get while watching the Resident Evil movies) and although Halo 3 never really manages to do that, this is more because it's a space fantasy than because of any problems with the graphics.

Replayabilityness: Incomplete (tentatively C-)

Officially I'm giving this an “incomplete” since it's not really possible to judge how well a game that I've had for two weeks will hold up. But there are a few reasons that I'm not all that optimistic. The campaign is too short – I finished it on heroic the first time in about ten hours over two days, and for that matter I don't remember using the banshee or the rocket launcher even one time during that, which was a little bit of a downer. The other glaring flaw is that it was widely reported/advertised that this was finally going to be the shooter that had a four person co-op mode, and it most certainly does not, or more accurately, it only has this feature online, which is stupid, unnecessary, and completely defeats the purpose. I suppose it's better than nothing, and it will hopefully pave the way for other games that will do this (even though other genres have been doing it for a long time and it should have happened at least five years ago), but it still stands that Bungie had a chance to make possibly the most replayable game ever, and they dropped the ball by not including this feature as a split-screen option. In some ways, they fell into Microsoft's typical approach to customers, which is:

Step 1: Imagine who your ideal client/customer would be.
Step 2: Force as many people as possible into that mold by making sure that it's completely necessary in order to take full advantage of any products you make.

The thing is, I sometimes get the impression that Microsoft (and Sony, for that matter) are trying to kill split-screen gaming in favor of online action, which of course enables them to collect activation and subscription fees on a regular basis. And while it's nice to have that as an option, the fact of the matter is, people who don't mind paying monthly fees for their gaming, not being able to talk trash to someone's face that you're playing against, and spending the majority of your time playing against 12-to-15 year-olds that treat gaming as a full-time job are not big console gamers; these kind of people mostly play PC games. Console gamers for the most part are either kids or more casual gamers who don't really have the need, desire, or even ability to be a big part of an “online community.” Anyway, that's it for the soap box about that...and I will mention that I haven't played the multiplayer game – online or otherwise - very much, so if the multiplayer game is really good (and it seems like that's what they put more of their time into) and the game holds up well over time, this could easily move up to a B or even an A-.

Overall: B+

This is a good game, but I was hoping it would be better, and for various reasons (not all of which have to do with the game), I'd be surprised if I get nearly as into this one as I did Halo, or even Halo 2. I think the legacy of the Halo trilogy could be similar to that of the Matrix trilogy – an awesome, generation-defining first chapter followed by two sequels which were actually pretty good, but didn't quite live up to the promise of the original.


And now, so we can review TWO things that came out within the last two weeks (for the first time ever on the Village Tavern)....

Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace: A

Unsurprisingly, this album includes a mix of numerous hard rock songs, poppy, radio friendly songs, and a couple of nice acoustic numbers, in other words, everything you would expect from a Foo Fighters album at this stage in their career. What is a surprise, and a good one, is that it also includes a lot of things you wouldn't expect from a Foo Fighters album. While it's well-known at this point that Dave Grohl is a great drummer and songwriter, he's also become a very good guitar player and is starting to show it, with some legitimate guitar solos on a lot of the songs and an acoustic instrumental. They also mix their acoustic sound with hard rock on several songs, which I don't really remember them ever doing in the past. While there's some cases where they fall into the “play a nice acoustic song for a couple of minutes, then play something similar but rock it out” style of songwriting, there are also some cases (like “Let it Die”) where they're already doing this brilliantly. They've also gone to a much more classic rock sound, and while the influence of the grunge scene Grohl helped to develop isn't completely gone, this is an album that sounds more like Neil Young or Led Zeppelin than Nirvana or Pearl Jam, which in this case is a good thing.

Throw a Quarter in the Village Tavern Jukebox

Well, it now appears that Sexley is no longer going to be writing for this fine establishment, so that leaves me as the only contributor who pretends to have taste (editor’s note: to date it has not been shown that anyone at the VT actually has taste, and it has been well established that James does not). But anyway, in this newfound role, I feel it’s somewhat necessary to attempt to introduce a little more culture to the site. So I’m going to go ahead and review the last ten albums I bought. And yes, when you see what they were, it will probably confirm your suspicion that I don’t have any taste and should never review anything (well, maybe reading the reviews will confirm that second part...).

Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam:

First off, I’ll just get this out of the way – I am one of those crazy Pearl Jam fans who gets offended when people say they haven’t done anything good since “Ten.” For the record, I thought that Vs. and Lost Dogs were great albums and that just about everything they’ve done has been very good. I haven’t seen them live yet, but it’s on my “things I’d really like to do before I die or it becomes impossible” list (well, if I made such a list, it would be). But I think there may actually be something to the Sports Guy’s Vince Carter theory with this album: the songs aren’t really better written than the songs on Riot Act or Binaural were, but on this album they put in the effort to make the rock songs sound like they, well, rock, and even going back to their earlier work I can’t think of any previous Pearl Jam album where the bass and drums sounded so good. So you won’t have to go out and buy a live album in eight months or so to hear these songs the way they’re supposed to sound: A

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Pronounced Len-Nerd Skin-Nerd:

What, do you think I only buy new stuff? It’s actually a little surprising that this wasn’t in the collection already. The main reason is that I’d always had a two-disc best collection for Skynyrd, and it seemed pointless to buy the albums. I wouldn’t recommend this, because any great band is worth experiencing through the full albums. On the other hand, there was maybe one halfway decent song on this album that wansn’t in the two-disc set I had. The version I bought also included demos of Tuesday’s Gone, Gimmie Three Steps, and Freebird, and let me say this much: production really makes a difference. Of the three, Tuesday’s Gone is the only one where you can even still tell it’s a great song. They did manage to throw in a couple of non-demo extras as well, both of which were good tunes (for the record, I hate it when record companies do this). All in all, I expected this one to be a little better than it was, but it still has the two greatest Southern Rock songs ever on it; and I shouldn’t hold it against them that I knew them already, so it’s hard to justify anything lower than an: A-

.Moneen. – The Red Tree:

I saw these guys opening up for Saves the Day and liked them enough that I bought their next album, and I absolutely love it when that happens. Anyway, most of the songs on this album kind of sound the same, but at least it works when they try to do something different, and at least the sound is pretty good: B+

The Drive-by Truckers – A Blessing and a Curse:

Probably their saddest album lyrically to date, which is saying something. It’s not their best album, but calling it a letdown
would be a little harsh. Also, if you bought it at Tower Records during the week it was released (and probably some other places), it came with a bonus disc including Jason Isabell’s “When the Well Runs Dry,” which would have been one of the best four songs on the album. Probably the worst such oversight I can think of other about fifteen songs from Lost Dogs not making an earlier Pearl Jam album. I hate it when bands do that: B

Saves the Day – Sound the Alarm:

For those of you who were concerned by In Reverie, don’t worry, Saves the Day was just messing with us and they’re back now. Oh, and if you don’t know who Saves the Day is, you should go pick up Stay What You Are at the same time Mike Holmgrem suggests calling a timeout…IMMEDIATELY!!!!!: A

Foo Fighters – 2005: Five Songs and a Cover:

I found this one at Best Buy…finds like this almost make it worth shopping at a place where it takes ten minutes to check out at 1:15 on a Tuesday, mostly because they try to sell magazines to everyone who goes through a register. Anyway, it opens up with a live version of “Best of You” that was so bad that it moved the Foo Fighters from the top level of “bands I need to see before they break up regardless of cost or inconvenience” to the level of “bands I would pay to see maybe even if I didn't like the people I was going with.” It’s a subtle difference. And I don’t know if I really needed a Foo Fighters version of “I Feel Free,” especially if it doesn’t even include Dave Grohl singing. But the other four songs were good: B+

Twothirtyeight – Matter Has a Breaking Point:

I used to own a burned version of this from a friend with eight songs on it and only learned when I actually bought the album on iTunes (at least four years later) that there are actually sixteen songs on this album. Oddly enough, with eight songs it was one of those really short emo albums that you can listen to three times in your car in a normal day of driving, and now it’s one of those albums that’s good all the way through but a little longer than it needs to be. Actually, I haven’t listened to the extra songs nearly enough to give this a fair review. I’ll do what my Old Testament professor did in the same situation: A

Metallica - …And Justice For All:

History’s been a little rough on this album. It still has some classic songs, but it’s impossible to think of it as great rock music now that everything else sounds so much cleaner. And I wouldn’t hold it against them, but the same thing isn’t true of early Foo Fighters, early Pearl Jam, or even Led Zeppelin. Heck, AC/DC music still rocks twenty years later, and they weren’t even talented. In fact, the best thing I would think about this album if it came out today was, “wow, this is a lot better than their last album…”: C+

Allison Krauss & Union Station – Lonely Runs Both Ways:

What can I say, she has a great voice…let’s not dwell too long on the fact that I own this album and listen to it occasionally: B

AC/DC – Back in Black

As I was saying earlier, this album still rocks. The only real knock on AC/DC was that, apart from the vocals (which actually don’t sound good by any sort of conventional definition) and some of the guitar solos, most Junior High rock bands can play everything they’ve done. But hey, not everything has to be complicated: B+

(and yes, I know I didn’t use any Ds or Fs. This is because I don’t buy crappy music. If you want to send me one of the albums above, I’ll review them, but I’m not paying for them, I mean, come on!)

Nacho-rama - The Appetizer

I didn’t have time to work on an in-depth article like my counterparts, so y’all are going to be stuck with some random thoughts and short points this week instead. Let’s get started.

1. Great post by Ek on why the NFL is better than College Football. Being a recent NFL convert myself, he did a great job of stating the problems with the college game and voicing the frustrations of many of the game’s critics. Also, I had completely forgotten that USC only one the AP National Championship in 2003 while LSU won the BCS National Championship. Kudos to Ek for the reminder.

Two quick counterpoints (although they aren’t nearly enough to tip the scales in favor of the college game):

A. The three of us are probably all biased by the fact that we went to Wheaton College, which is located in Chicago, Illinois, and only a Division III football team. There are no big time college football programs in the area (no, Northwestern doesn’t count), so we weren’t exposed to the tradition and excitement of being on a major college campus on a Fall day right before kickoff. The other factor working against the college game for us is the fact that the majority of the students at Wheaton generally did not get along with the football players. Whereas Mountaineers are generally regarded as celebrities and demigods up here in Morgantown, the majority of Wheaton’s campus thought that the football players were jerks. I’m not saying whether this was the right or wrong opinion, but it definitely introduces a bias into our opinions of college football players in general.

B. The NFL cannot compete with the college game in terms of tradition. From the “Dotting of the ‘I’” at Ohio State, the DawgWalk at UGA, or the singing of “Country Roads” after WVU victories, there a many more long-lasting and meaningful traditions among colleges as compared to the NFL. The only NFL team that comes close to this kind of tradition would be the Green Bay Packers. However, compared to collegiate traditions, the Packers’ traditions such as the Lambeau Leap simply don’t make the grade. Also contributing to this more storied tradition is the fact that the college game has been around longer than professional football (1880’s versus 1920’s for the earliest professional football). Some of the biggest rivalries in college football have been played for over 100 years. It’s hard for the NFL to beat that tradition when we are only up to 40 years since the league merger and we're still adding expansion teams like the Houston Texans as of 2002.

Just thought I’d quickly make the counter arguments since no one else decided to make them.

2. Just so you know, I’m watching the Dave Matthews Band on VH1 Storytellers right now. Sorry if my distraction is evident. There is absolutely nothing more entertaining to me than listening to Dave Matthews talk. I love the man’s music, but I just start laughing when I ever I hear him speak. Watching him interact with the band members when they are being interviewed is pretty awesome too. He's like a little, giddy kid. Even if you don’t like the music, you should be watching the show just for these kinds of interactions. Also, Carter Beauford (the drummer for those of you unfamiliar) just said that they (the band) “trust” Dave lyrically to express his opinions and the opinions of the band without going overboard. It’s insights like this one that you can only get from VH1 Storytellers. Jeez, I had no idea that the primary song writer and lead singer for the band was in this position. Unbelievable!

3. A very enjoyable and entertaining article from Mark on the absurdity of Frank Robinson’s 45 second staring contest with the umpire in a recent National’s game. The Will Ferrell references scattered throughout were a real treat. I’m very impressed because Mark is not a baseball guy, but he put in some serious effort and time researching for his article. Plus, he was very creative (and at times a bit too personal – going from naked to fully dressed) in coming up with things to do in 45 seconds. It might have been a little bit better had the entire article only taken 45 seconds to read and the final point was “read this entire article.” However, this approach would not have given us the same full glimpse into Mark's psyche that we all now possess.

4. I know it is a great song, but do they always have to play “Ants Marching” at every live show and put it on every concert cd that is released by the band? What? They do? Oh, my bad; I didn’t realize that. Sorry.

5. Just wanted express my condolences and sympathy to Javon Walker since he is out for the season with an ACL tear. I realize that calling a professional football player’s season ending injury tragic is not appropriate in light of the recent true tragedies (not even a strong enough word) of Hurricane Katrina, but Walker’s injury was a major disappointment for Packers’ fans and NFL fans in general. He was in the process of becoming (and may still after he returns next season) one of the best WR in the NFL, although he was paid less than many back-ups. His agent Drew Rosenhaus threatened to hold him out for the season if the Packers didn’t increase his salary to level of other #1 Wide Receivers in the NFL. Javon reported to camp without a new contract, and then tore his ACL in the first game. Granted, Walker still made more money than most of the world can ever dream about, but it is disappointing to see him not get the amount of money that we as a society have deemed professional athletes (entertainers really – a forthcoming article from me that will challenge all your perceptions and preconceived notions about professional sports) at his level should receive. I hope that he is able to get back to this level after his injury for his sake and for our sake as fans whom get to watch him play.

6. There is nothing quite like the group of individuals that assemble at the DMB concert. It’s truly phenomenal. By the way, according to his imdb.com page, Dave’s favorite drink is Jack Daniels. Also, if your one of those people that jumped off the DMB bandwagon, you’ve been beaten to the punch by the man himself (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39670/print/).

Well as you can see, I ran out of material a while ago. I promise actual articles with research in the future, but I had to get something up fast. I also realize that I have promised at least 4 or 5 specific articles in the course of my first 2 posts. Get ready.