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Once again, some of the absolute best albums are rereleases and newly released live albums...
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation remastered and Live Daydream
Charles Mingus Sextet (featuring Eric Dolphy) - Cornell 1964
Pink Floyd - The Piper At the Gates of Dawn 40th anniversary set (limited edition bonus disc 3 has some real gems)
Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall 1971
R.E.M. - R.E.M. Live (from The Point Theatre, Dublin '05...personally, I think the 5/07/01 studio 105 la maison de la radio, Paris FM is a better performance with many of the same songs)
Sebadoh - Wade Through The Boggs (live, alt. tracks, and previously unreleased material compilation)
...and then there's the upper echelon of the new releases...
The Original Silence - The First Original Silence (the album of the year, actually from a Rome '05 live performance, so I suppose this also actually belongs in the category above)
Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II (features an unreleased 18-minute track "Ordinary People" from 1988's This Note's for You with the Bluenotes, so again, I suppose this also actually belongs in the category above; also, much of it sounds like Prairie Wind, but that's not a bad thing; "The Painter" from Prairie Wind was my 2005 song of the year)
Battles - Mirrored (remarkable debut lp and the best truly new album of the year)
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (they just keep getting better)
Bruce Springsteen - Magic (about half of this is amazingly great, an absolute return to fine form, and the other half is not bad)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (something new from these guys)
Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond (a reunion dealie, "Crumble" (Mascis vox) and "Lightning Bulb" (Barlow vox) are the standouts)
Meat Puppets - Rise To Your Knees (another reunion dealie; "Disappear" is wonderful in particular)
...next comes the uneven, but very enjoyable listens...
Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy (still diggin' the frozen gtr lead-off track the most)
Patti Smith - Twelve (all covers of course, most are very good)
Melt-Banana - Bambi's Dilemma (probably the most relentlessly insane album of the year, and battles is included in that assessment)
Liars - Liars (completely over-the-top at times, and right-on the other part of the time)
Bjork - Volta ("Earth Intruders (Mark Stent extended mix)" is probably the single best track of the year, but yeah, the album is a bit uneven; and the cover has got to be the most ridiculous)
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity (somewhat of a disappointment as a Deerhoof album, but very good nonetheless)
Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime (go Lee!)
Bad Brains - Build A Nation (yet another reunion)
The Stooges - The Weirdness (another reunion; "Passing Cloud" is one of the very best songs of the year)
Wolf Eyes - Black Wings Over Sand (dronier than ever, less noisy overall, and much less assaultive, this one is a magnificently heavy trip)
T.I. - T.I. vs. T.I.P. (yo, yo, yo this is an ambitious undertaking that's also a good record; as you may know, he's currently in very hot water over some guns)
Low - Drums & Guns (much more stripped-down, but the minimalist approach works for the most part)
Black Dice - Load Blown (slighty better than Broken Ear Record from a couple of years ago)
Brad Mehldau - Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz Radio Broadcast (fairly amazing jazz piano duets)
...cassette craziness...
Thurston Moore - Free/Love cassette
Thurston Moore - Black Weeds/White Death cassette
Bark Haze - McCannibis cassette
uneven, but better than I expected...
Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Ween - La Cucaracha
Built To Spill - You In Reverse
...and the, I suppose, decent, but also somewhat disappointing...
Public Enemy - How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?
Mehldau/Metheny Quartet - s/t (I've never liked Pat Metheny much. I know Lee likes him though. Yes, I am a Mehldau devotee, but I've never been particularly wild about Larry Grenadier's bass and I like Jeff Ballard on drums, but Jorge Rossy was greatness. It's a pity Jorge has opted to form his own band.)
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under the Stars
The Bad Plus - Prog (as good or better than any Bad Plus, but that's not saying much; the piano in the bridge of the "Tom Sawyer" cover rocks socks eight ways from Sunday though)
Magik Markers - Boss (the best thing they've ever done, but that's not saying a whole lot)
The Dead C - Future Artists
Throbbing Gristle - Part Two: Endless Not (more reunions)
Skinny Puppy - Mythmaker (more reunions)
Cowboy Junkies - At the End of Paths Taken
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Merle Haggard - The Bluegrass Sessions
John Fogerty - Revival (the Letterman replay I just saw explains it all: "Long Dark Night" blisters, and "I Can't Stand It No More" is almost throwaway junk)
Grinderman - Grinderman
Richard Thompson - Sweet Warrior
Tomahawk - Anonymous (points for ambition, but this is perhaps a little too ambitous)
Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound (yet another reunion)
and the mostly extremely disappointing...
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand (team-up action that mostly falls flat)
The Beastie Boys - The Mix Up (yet another reunion; an instrumental album from these guys is a head-scratcher...this shit is boring)
Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist (yet another reunion; pretty much all fluff except for the so-so wannabe epic "United States")
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (I wonder how many more years these formulaic hacks are gonna keep doing the same damn types of songs)
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Bryan Ferry - Dylanesque
Frog Eyes - Tears of the Valedictorian
Merzbow - Coma Berenices
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