I've got to start with one from 1993 that was my favorite r'n'r rec of the 90s; sorry to break the rules, tough. First Muffs album. I'm going to see them tonight, I think. They're playing nearby. They've never come close to the first record, but that's a tall order, really. Criminally overlooked. Honorable mention from 1993 would include the first Pharcyde album, Big Star's live Columbia recording, and Nirvana's In Utero.

From 1994 I'd go first with Nirvana's Unplugged rec & also the first of the four Johnny Cash American recordings. All of which I think are as good as they are interesting. And while Odelay was hailed as his masterpiece, I thought Beck's Mellow Gold was better & deserves inclusion. And I certainly listened to the first Portishead rec enough times.

Not sure when it came out, but the Best Of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds is one HELL of a rec. I guess Tom Waits' offerings give him a run for his money, and Steve Earle, but overall I'd say his output was the best in the way of singer-songwriter stuff over the course of the 1990s. I know that's not a real album but I can't really pick one and I certainly never played any of 'em as many times as I've flogged this. Honorable mention to Bob Mould, but 10 years ago was the last Sugar album...which wasn't quite as good as the first...and his 1996 solo album was real good, yes...but the followup was only okay...

P.M. Dawn's Jesus Wept is pretty darned good. Have to program it to skip the weaker tracks, but I still listened to it plenty. Not much else in the way of rap...1st Eminem album, hell, all the Eminem albums, but that's the one I've listened to most. I think they're all brilliant, but honestly I can only listen to it so often. Nothing from the Beasties in the past 10 years I'd place in this category. Their videos have been consistently better than their albums. Still haven't quite gotten Outkast, though I need to give it another shot. And while I never heard much about Tupac Shakur I thought was all that great, I did hear a Notorious Biggie cut recently that I did think was quite good. The voice he had, it really stood out. One of these days I'm going to check him out...when he was at his height I'd long given rap up for dead...

Beck's Mutations was probably my favorite album of the 90s, if I liked it more than the first Muffs album, that is. Sea Change struck some pretty similar chords but just doesn't hold up as well, as Midnite Vultures hearkened back to Odelay. Some moments of brilliance on recs like MV, but Mutations is the best thing he's ever done, sez I. But hey, when Odelay, MV, & Sea Change are the recs you've put out that aren't as good as yr best, that's quite a resume there.

I liked Dylan's Time Out of Mind an awful lot, then I heard Love & Theft. Wow. Much better, I thought. And that's saying something. In a similar vein I'd say Neil Young's Greendale & also even My Morning Jacket's It Still Moves. Which I didn't listen to as much as the others but when I did I thought it was real, real good. Love & Theft, though...a great record, and if you're only buying one Dylan rec from this century, I figure this'll be the one to grab.

Wilco sure gets a lot of juice. Not from me. I like AM a lot, and I like a bunch of stuff on Being There, too. But it's a double album that can easily fit on a single disc. Summerteeth never grabbed me, and I probably never gave Yankee Hotel Foxtrot a fair shake. But in 1997 I saw the Old 97s & ordered their album out of curiosity. It didn't thrill me. Not sure why I took a chance on Fight Songs, but I did, and that rec for me is everything that Wilco should've been trying to do. I think Tweedy's talents would've been well-suited towards making a rec like that, instead of Summerteeth, and if he'd gone in that sort of direction--not that what he does is all THAT different--he might be thought of quite differently these days, instead of an eccentric pill-gobbling Radiohead-wannabe weirdo. Satellite Rides is real good, too, but although I like Fight Songs better, I still think that the 97s have really done what they can to develop a strong melody-first approach to songwriting. And that's important, especially if you can't write lyrics like Dylan. And that's why a rec like the Cult's Electric or the Mooney Suzuki will always grab me on first listen, & make me want to listen to it more. The 97s lyrics are better than average garage fare like MS, but you understand what I mean. I think. I think I understand what I mean.

It's hard to believe hearing her subsequent releases (especially the 3rd album) that I'd like Jane Monheit's debut rec as much as I do, but hey, I do. The new one's not quite as bad as its predecessor, but I do not understand this woman's career. Much as I'd love to hear her do something in the way of electronica--jazzy trip hop, most likely--I suspect that's not going to happen. Hearing her do Barbara Streisand schmaltz when she has such a natural gift for jazz is disappointing, but what can you do. Wait--I know what I can do. While she does the major-label dance with Sony (why the HELL would they issue her major-label debut on Sony Classical?) Listen to her first album, that's what.

I like the turn David Johansen took a few years ago, doing the blues thing. And the first Harry Smiths album has gotten a LOT of play in this house. Don't hear a lot of great blues recs these days so this stands out. Oh, actually I did hear a blues rec I liked a lot--Nick Curran & the Nitelifes' new one. Very good stuff, & a Stooges cover to boot.

As for new stuff just coming out that I think might qualify in the future, I'll nominate the new Luka Bloom, the Libertines, & the new Green Day as possiblities. I've never really heard any LB prior to this, but I like this a lot. As I said before, very Leonard Cohen. The Libertines has been grabbing me lately the way the Replacements once did. And Green Day--I have liked them an awful lot for 10 years, but always thought of them as having great tunes but not great albums. Still, I can't think of a r'n'r act from the past 10 years that I really thought was better. Guess what--this might be the album. It's not perfect or anything, but so far I think it's damn good. I never thought they had great lyrics, but they always got away with their words, managed to say what they had to say without spilling over into outright inanity (though it was sometimes close). Well, Billie Joe is no Bob Dylan or anything, but the way this rec flows, it might just be heard in this house a lot from now on.

Lastly, couldn't let this go without mentioning last year's Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros record, Streetcore. Definitely the best thing he'd done since Sandanista (which might not be saying all THAT much), and possibly since London Calling (which is). The best r'n'r record of this decade probably so far, and something that I hope the White Stripes, the Hives, the Strokes, Jet, & others were listening to--so they can hear what a well-done piece of work from start to finish sounds like. They sure have the potential to put one together, but I haven't heard it yet. I'd sure like to.