ChordStrike

Progressive Rock - Not Very Progressive?

Press Releases are always to be read with a degree of skepticism, but one I saw the other day set me off on a train of thought that I'm still trying to put the brakes on. It called a new band, who shall remain nameless, "prog rock innovators," likened them to prog rock giants like Pink Floyd and Yes, and described them with a barrage of prog rock key words: "abstract," "figurative," "intelligent," "conceptual." The album only had a handful of tracks but each were several minutes (and "stages") long, and the album even had a silly pretentious name. PRs are always full of dubious claims, but it seemed particularly odd to me that this band was being held up as "innovators" when they stuck to every prog rock cliche in the book.

So what does prog rock actually mean now? Is it intrinsically "innovative," even when it's formulaic? I don't think it can be. In the 70s, progressive rock was so-called because it involved high-minded ideas about what rock music could sound like with a little experimentation, and much of it was incredibly pioneering when compared to the rock scene of the time. But surely modern progressive rock must still be progressing, and its comparative rock scene must be today's -- 2009s -- not the early 70s? What we should now be talking about as modern progressive rock should be bands like Battles and Animal Collective, surely, neither of whom sound anything like Pink Floyd. Isn't that kinda the point of being "progressive"?

It seems to me that music which is in thrall to the early 70s is retro, and retro is the opposite of progressive.

But if the meaning of "prog rock" is stuck in a time capsule, that's no different from what's happened to "alternative rock" or "indie rock," genres which now don't seem to require the artists to be alternative or independent at all.

While you ruminate on those ramblings, why not improve your day by watching this clip of Pink Floyd performing "Time," from Dark Side of the Moon, in London in 1994.

Oh and, hi, btw. I'm Ally. This is my first post for Chordstrike. Nice to meet you!

--Ally Brown

Blender Blended

Blender magazine's April 2009 issue will be their last.

The Melvins Remember Back in the Day

The Melvins are turning 25. To celebrate, they are planning a little run of shows featuring a set with the original line-up: Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover (on bass), and Mike Dillard on skins.

Can we call this a "boutique" tour? I think we can.

May 15 New York, NY Webster Hall

16 Boston, MA Paradise

18 Chicago, IL Double Door

20 Austin, TX Emo’s

Read more on 4metal.

PJ Harvey & John Parish on Leno Tonight, 3/24

Cool collaboration alert: tune in tonight to check out PJ Harvey and John Parish performing "Black Hearted Love" from their forthcoming album, A Woman A Man Walked By. The Tonight Show airs at 11:35/10:35c on NBC.

The 100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums of All Time

The term “Indie Rock” is undeniably tricky. We challenge anyone to definitively define what is and what is not indie rock--you will fail. For the purposes of compiling this list we’ve decided to use a combination of hard and fast rules and gut instinct. Our hard and fast rules are listed below, but as for gut instinct—you just kind of have to know. For example: John Oates put out a rock record called Phunk Shui on an indie label, however, in no way should Phunk Shui be mistaken for indie rock. Likewise, Black Flag put out many seminal punk albums on SST, but we’re not talking about punk or grunge or classic post-kraut-rock, we’re talking about indie rock. Are Black Flag really indie rock? Not to our ears.

With that in mind, we squeezed the minds of our music editors (who fought and screamed at each other over omissions, inclusions, and rankings) to deliver you this, our list. If you’ve got complaints (and we know you will), bring it to our comments below. You can argue about whether Sub Pop is really an indie label, about why we should make an exception for Weezer, or about why we chose Unrest’s Imperial f.f.r.r. instead of Perfect Teeth—whatever you want. We’d love to hear what you think.

Here are the hard and fast rules:
• One album per artist.
• No EPs or singles, this list is about albums.
• No greatest hits collections or compilations of previously released tracks.
• Nominations must have been originally released on an independent label. Albums released on indies which were later acquired and/or re-released by majors are allowed (like Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation, originally released by a pre-1989 major label merger Enigma Records).

1. Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
2. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over The Sea
3. Slint - Spiderland
4. Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
5. Unrest - Imperial f.f.r.r.
6. Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted
7. Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
8. Pixies - Surfer Rosa
9. Elliott Smith - Either/Or
10. Sebadoh - Bakesale
11. the Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
12. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
13. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan
14. Death Cab For Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
15. Bonnie Prince Billie - See A Darkness
16. Superchunk - No Pocky for Kitty
17. Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
18. Postal Service - Give Up
19. Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
20. Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
21. Bright Eyes - Lifted
22. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
23. Cat Power - Moon Pix
24. Arcade Fire - Funeral
25. Beat Happening - Black Candy
26. The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
27. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
28. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
29. Jawbreaker - 24 Hour Revenge Therapy
30. Husker Du - Zen Arcade
31. Fugazi - Repeater
32. Replacements - Let it Be
33. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
34. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country
35. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
36. Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
37. Beulah - When Your Hearstrings Break
38. Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
39. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
40. Fall - Our Nation's Saving Grace
41. Beirut - Gualag Orkestar
42. The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
43. Imperial Teen - On
44. Galaxie 500 - On Fire
45. Joan of Arc - How Memory Works
46. Mirah - Advisory Committee
47. Red House Painters - Red House Painters (rollercoaster album)
48. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
49. Smog - Wild Love
50. Television Personalities - And Don't The Kids Just Love It
51. Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup
52. Go Betweens - Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express
53. Half Japanese - Sing No Evil
54. Bikini Kill - Pussy Whipped
55. Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs
56. Heavenly - The Decline and Fall of Heavenly
57. TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
58. Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles
59. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
60. The Bats - Daddy's Highway
61. The Notwist - Neon Golden
62. Tortoise - TNT
63. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
64. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands
65. Of Montreal - Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies
66. Deerhoof - Milk Man
67. Ida - Will You Find Me
68. The Shins - Oh Inverted World
69. Calexico - Feast of Wire
70. The Sea and Cake - The Fawn
71. Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
72. Camper Van Beethoven - II & III
73. The Delta 72 - The R&B of Membership
74. Low - The Curtain Hits the Cast
75. Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullaby
76. Swell Maps - Jane From Occupied Europe
77. The Hidden Cameras - The Smell Of Our Own
78. Promise Ring - Nothing Feels Good
79. White Stripes - De Stijl
80. Cursive - The Ugly Organ
81. Rachels - The Sea and The Bells
82. The Aislers Set - The Last Match
83. The Make-Up - Save Yourself
84. Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Hearts of Oak
85. Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls
86. Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti - Worn Copy
87. Morphine - Cure for Pain
88. Electrelane - The Power Out
89. Joanna Newsom - The Milk Eyed Mender
90. !!! - Louden Up Now
91. Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird's Park
92. A Silver Mt. Zion - Horses In The Sky
93. The National - Alligator
94. Portugal. The Man - Waiter: "You Vultures!"
95. The Apples In Stereo - The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone
96. Trans Am - Trans Am
97. Built To Spill - Ultimate Alternative Wavers
98. Joan as Policewoman - To Survive
99. Black Angels - Passover
100. The Dirtbombs - Dangerous Magical Noise

This list links to the MP3 versions. If you prefer CDs, you can find the list on shiny disc here.

--Alan Wiley

MGMT Covered on iPhone & iPod Touch

The Mentalists, a band of innovative British ladies, have done a magnificent cover of "Kids" by MGMT, played entirely on iPhones and iPods.

I've got several of these apps on my phone, but haven't managed to pull together anything close to this cool. Have you?

--Alan Wiley

Chrissie Hynde Breaks up the Chordstrike

Chrissie Hynde was kind enough to answer some Chordstrike questions, as the Pretenders wound down their North American tour in support of Break up the Concrete.

 

Chordstrike: Break up the Concrete is the highest-charting Pretenders album in 20 years. There’s no “story” there, no hit single, no movie soundtrack. It’s just a great Pretenders album. Clearly there are a lot of Pretenders fans that think so. Before it hit the streets last October, did you feel like you nailed this one?

Chrissie Hynde: Yes, I felt good that it was recorded live and we had a vibe. There is far too much over-production out there. Not on this baby.

Chordstrike: Break up the Concrete seems particularly wistful. It opens with a “Telstar” riff and closes with a Graham Parsons kind of country song with a train metaphor. There’s a fair dose of straightforward blues in there, alongside the classic feel of the early Pretenders. It’s far from mired in the past, but would you agree that this album is nostalgic?

Chrissie Hynde: No, I don't think it feels nostalgic. I think it feels quite "of the moment." I like things that feel timeless.

Chordstrike: What was the approach you took in the studio?

Chrissie Hynde: We spent less than two weeks in the studio.  I had hardly any notes as I had been carrying the songs around in my head for a while. I explained how the song should feel and called out the arrangements as we went along. That "dak dak dak" stuff on "Break Up" was me calling out the drum fill to Keltner in an initial run-through.  Everybody said we should leave it in. I thought they were crazy, but it was "all for one and one for all," so I let them have their way.

Chordstrike: “Roselee” is a Robert Kindney tune. He’s a somewhat legendary figure in Cleveland. Were you a Numbers band fan? Is there a story behind your choice to cover the song?

Chrissie Hynde: The Numbers band is the band my brother has played sax in since the '70s. He was always the musician of the family, not me. I used to see Bob Kidney perform solo in a hippy coffee bar I used to go to in 1969, The Berth, so I've known him a long time. I was in Akron just before we were due to go into the studio and saw them play and noticed they were doing a new song. I asked my brother Terry if he could get a demo of it off Bob. He did and when I played it to the guys they just loved it. The demo was great, just Bob singing and a haunting guitar. I think we did a good interpretation. James rips it up live.

Chordstrike: “Almost Perfect” has an archetypal vocal jazz feel, from its structure, feel, and tempo, to the sexy lyrics about bad boys. Did the song start out with that approach, or did it evolve in studio?

Chrissie Hynde: That was done with the guys trying to follow my rough performance. We laughed our asses off when we listened back to it.

Chordstrike: You clear your throat in the middle of it, which is something that a producer would normally edit out. What did you like about that?

Chrissie Hynde: We just thought it had a certain charm. I would have got rid of it, but the guys seemed to like it. I have no pride.  

Chordstrike: Also, in “Almost Perfect” you refer to film director Don Siegel, director of The Beguiled, about a man that seduces and manipulates generations of women within the same family. Were you thinking of that film?

Chrissie Hynde: I was thinking more of Charley Varrick.

Chordstrike: Would you rather be beguiled or beloved?

Chrissie Hynde: I'll take what I get.

Chordstrike: “Love’s a Mystery” is a lovely, reflective, timeless pop song. As good as any you’ve written. Is love a theme that you approach with trepidation?

Chrissie Hynde: I just tell it like I see it.

Chordstrike: You’ve played a lot of large clubs and small theaters this time, some that you may have played in the early ‘80s. Do you have mixed feelings about that?

Chrissie Hynde: I love those venues, where you can see the whole audience. I've never wanted to go bigger. I don't want to do any more support slots. I can't control the catering then--the smell of meat throws me off my stride and makes me quite abusive--and it can't compare to playing to your own audience.

Chordstrike: What’s next? More touring? New record? Restaurant openings?

Chrissie Hynde: We still have to get the record out in the rest of the world. So far we only have a deal in the States.  Then tour Europe. I'd love to get to South America. Mexico. South Africa. Israel. Russia. Everywhere.  And get my vegan restaurant going in more cities. It's all about cow protection.

--Patrick

Five Friday Favorites

For those of you ready to start your weekend with some new music, here are a few new discs in rotation that you might enjoy. Disagree? Got any better suggestions? Let us know by nominating other new releases in high rotation on your stereo or MP3 player to help us find and share new music with our readers in future editions of the Five Friday Favorites post.

Just nominate them by searching for your favorites in the "Add more products to the tag fridayfavorites" field at the bottom of this page and click the "Add Tag" button for us to find them.

16 year old Australian Gabriella Cilmi and her retro chanteuse musings run circles around comparable young divas today including Amy Winehouse, Duffy, and Adele. Watch for this young Aussie to go big.

Marc Olson and Gary Louris, two former front members of The Jayhawks, offer up a good soundtrack to accompany a happy hour sojourn in a dusty remote tavern with a poetic blend that's a little bit Alt and a little bit Country.

So you're looking for something a little bit heavier yet melodic? Something with a little more Foo Fighters, you say? Then sit back, relax, and take a flight with People In Planes. Cruising altitude is just above the stratosphere.

With Plunt, Montreal Alt-Indie Femme Rock collides with 80's Euro Pop and a hint of Twang to keep things rooted. Fans of Sleater Kinney, come one and all.

Glasvegas radiate melodic Brit Pop with a dense and drone-filled sixties wall of sound à la Phil Spector. If you're looking for a little retro bombast to go with your shoegazing introspection, check this one out.

--Lucas Hilbert

Verbatim: "Sonic Fakery in 'Slumdog'" by David Yearsley

ChordStrike appreciates good music writing as much as the next reader, which is why I recommend David Yearsley's "Sonic Fakery in Slumdog from the Mozart of Chennai." The Mozart in question is, of course, Slumdog Millionaire composer A.R. Rahman. Yearsley begins:

"A. R. Rahman’s two-fisted Oscar haul a couple of weeks ago was richly deserved. Without his soundtrack, Slumdog Millionaire would have been largely unwatchable. It was the palliative of Rahman’s score that allowed the movie’s grim images of poverty and violence to be served up as entertainment. Even more skillful and necessary was the way his music energized the film’s central conceit--Redemption by Game Show--with a kind of urgency and excitement that the narrative nonsense itself could hardly sustain."

The piece goes on to review the film, the score, the broohaha. It may not stay up long, but for now, the full article can be found at the highly recommended CounterPunch.org:

Read the whole article.

Meanwhile, in a mildly limelit, record-setting corner of the Internet, Chicago Public Radio's Sound Opinions rock talk show outdid itself by saying of the new Chris Cornell album: "This may be the worst album we've reviewed in Sound Opinions history."

Listen to the whole sad, scathing review: http://audio.soundopinions.org/streams/200...rnellreview.m3u

Help keep ChordStrike turned on to music writing worth repeating. We are each other's eyes and ears...

     --Jason Kirk

Vanilla Ice and the Most Insincere Apology of All Time

I'm hard pressed to find an example of a less sincere apology than this:

Suggestions welcome!

     --Jason Kirk

Pretenders on Jimmy Kimmel Tonight 3/12

 

Message of love: The Pretenders will be on Jimmy Kimmel tonight, 12:05/11:05c, on ABC.

Repeat Offender - Songs I Never Get Sick Of

When I was a kid I would play my favorite songs over and over again.  I had to know all the lyrics perfectly due to the ridicule I would receive in carpool if I didn’t know every song on the radio. I recall Mediate by INXS to be the most complicated task of my youth.
I played songs I liked back-to-back repeatedly every day. My sister hates The Beatles because of me.
Eventually, I would get sick of the song and it went on “hiatus.” I compare song hiatus to the period between a movie’s theatrical release and its DVD release. Once the song was out of ear-range for long enough, I could add it back into my regularly scheduled listening activities.
But it was never the same. That song would always be slightly annoying and not get as much play-time as the latest obsession.
On the rarest of occasions, however, a song comes along that I never get sick of. Every time it comes on the radio, I listen to it – when it pops up on my iPod, I never skip it. I still love it almost as much as I did when I first heard it.
This is a bit embarrassing, but here are my top 3 – and clearly, they have no base in genre or artist! 

  Freedom ’90, George Michael ,– I love, love, love this song.  Even writing about it, I have had to find it on my IPod so I could listen and type. I am not even a giant George Michael fan. The lyrics are honest and I love that. “There’s something deep inside of me – there’s someone I forgot to be…." I feel like he decided to tell his fans who he really was and that the ‘leather jacket’ era was over.  And the video was AWSOME too. It featured a bunch of models lip synching the lyrics, and him burning the jacket that made him so famous in the Faith video. I just can’t get enough.

Into the Mystic, Van Morrison –– this song relaxes me like no other. It makes me feel like everything in the world just might be okay, and I have nothing to be afraid of: When it's over, it's over. Half the time, I don’t have a clue what the man is saying. Even in the first 3 seconds of the song – “We were born before the wind, also younger than the sun, and blah blah blah blah boat was blah, as we sail into the mystic?”  No, I have never looked up the lyrics.  I am sure someone will tell me and put me out of my misery.  I listen to it almost every night before I go to bed, and it always sends me off into a peaceful and relaxed sleep.

Teenage Dirtbag  by Wheatus, which replaced Canary in a Coalmine by The Police (because you can’t live in the past.) I love songs that have a great story. I never listened to Iron Maiden, but this song is good enough to make me want to give it a try. Who doesn’t love it when the dorky, nice guy gets the girl instead of the IROC driving, gun-toting boyfriend? (if that sentence makes no sense to you, go listen to the song.)

Am I the only one that does this? What songs do you never get sick of? Discuss.

New Instruments: The Silent Drum Controller

Jamie Oliver, a PhD candidate in Computer Music at UCSD recently won 1st prize in the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology with his innovative new instrument, the silent drum controller, which uses visual cues from an elastic drum head to shape and control sampled sounds. Check it out:





With her penchant for using cool new sound technologies, I expect to see this used in a Bjork performance in the not-too-distant future.

--Alan Wiley

Happy birthday, musicians! Shut up, Lil' Kim!

Today is a really good friend's birthday, which put me in the mood. A quick shout-out, then, to the following musicians celebrating their birthdays today:

Carrie Underwood 1983
Robin Thicke 1977
Timbaland 1972
Edie Brickell 1966
Neneh Cherry 1964
Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) 1963
Tom Scholz (Boston) 1947
Dean Torrence (Jan & Dean) 1941

Hopefully, all of the above had a better day than the Notorious B.I.G. did. According to Lil' Kim, whose increasingly bodacious attempts to remain relevant defy belief, Biggie's ghost will soon make known his unhappiness with the new biopic, Notorious. If she's right and he actually deigns to show up and express his disappointment, we'll cover it here. Stay tuned...

     --Jason Kirk

Monday Morning Bluegrass, Er, Redgrass

Forget currency fixing, trade deficits, six-way summits, and bad fusion food. What the world needs now is... Redgrass! That is, bluegrass performed on traditional Chinese instruments, as seen here in a spirited performance by Mei Han's Red Chamber ensemble with John Reischman and the Jaybirds:

Thanks to Kim Komando, self-dubbed Digital Goddess, for first offering up this performance video, taped in May, 2008, here in the Northwest at Vancouver Community College.

     --Jason Kirk

Mt St Helens Vietnam Band Explodes Amazon Conference Room

Back at the dawn of the calender year, I sent a note 'round the Amazon Music squad asking for their 2009 predictions. Who would break big in 2009?

One of the memorable responses was from Chordstriker Jason Kirk: The Mount St Helen's Vietnam Band.

He was kind of joking. The Mount St Helen's Vietnam Band were the Seattle band-of-the-minute, who had performed a total of two shows. They sold out Neumos, a feat that well-established bands often fail to duplicate, and, yes, they were great: weird and joyous, with imaginative song structure and the goofy interplay that perhaps only a family band, that is a band that includes family members, can pull off.

As far as we knew, they had recorded nothing more than a demo tape.

Leave it to Jason to be right, even in jest.

The Mount St Helen's Vietnam Band is indeed rumbling. The album streets Monday. It's produced by Scott Colburn (Arcade Fire, Animal Collective), and it's very good.

We were pretty tickled that the band stopped by Amazon Music Galactic Headquarters Command Center, conference room 1432, and played four songs, albeit without their keyboardist. They also served us ice cream. We like ice cream.

We asked The Mount St Helen's Vietnam Band four questions:

What’s the inspiration for the song “Going on a Hunt”?

Benjamin: We were having a band meeting at our manager’s house. She has a young son and he suddenly chimed in “did you forget, Mom, we’re going on a hunt?” I just thought that was great. But the song’s about relationships, like when one person wants to be adventurous, and one is sort of just stagnant.

If you weren’t touring, but could still play hooky, what you do?

Marshall: Just go back home to rest and watch movies, and eat as much as I want: fried chicken, pizza--anything but mushrooms.

What tour stop are you most apprehensive about?

Jared: I’m worried about SXSW. It’s going to be incredibly exhausting. We’re playing seven times in three days. I’m usually wiped out after just one. I think we’re doing a couple of outdoor shows, an in-studio performance for WOXY, and a few club shows.

What is your favorite time signature?

Matt: 5/4 feels weird but you can get a groove going with it. It doesn’t go where you expect it to.

Meteorology, Fugazi, and Online Social Networking

I nearly fell off the elliptical trainer this morning when CNN weather guy Bob Van Dillen made an incongruous Fugazi namecheck in his weather forecast.

Using a Facebook news release as a segue, CNN's morning news anchor admitted that she did not have a profile on the popular online social networking service. As the camera pans over to Bob, he admits he also does not and, to paraphrase, “I hear that there’s a Fugazi page there, so it might have to get on it.”

No reaction yet from the Bob Van Dillien fan group.

I wait, I wait, I wait.

100 Film and TV Theme Tune Challenge

This has me captivated.  I'm lost on too much of the TV stuff, to go for the prize, but if nothing else it tells you what American TV shows did strike a chord with Rick, growing up in England in the 70s.  That and he has a real penchant for Bond movie scores.  What is it about recognizing tunes from movies and TV that I find so enjoyable?

The 100 Greatest Singer-Songwriter Albums of All Time

My fellow editors and I put our heads together and nailed down a list of the 100 greatest records by artists who can do it on their own. Hit the comments to let us know where we made horrible, unforgivable mistakes, but head over here to read up on our selection criteria for the list in case you care to do something wacky like make an informed argument. We like arguments. That's partially why we make lists.

1. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
2. Carole King - Tapestry
3. Joni Mitchell - Blue
4. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
5. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
6. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
7. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
8. Randy Newman - 12 Songs
9. Neil Young - Everyone Knows This is Nowhere
10. Crosby Stills & Nash - Crosby Stills & Nash
11. Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
12. Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman
13. Bill Withers - Still Bill
14. Ani Difranco - Ani Difranco
15. Elliott Smith - Either/Or
16. Billy Bragg - Talking With The Taxman About Poetry
17. George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
18. Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls
19. Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years
20. Jim Croce - You Don't Mess Around With Jim
21. John Lennon - Imagine
22. Carly Simon - No Secrets
23. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
24. Jackson Browne - Jackson Browne
25. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
26. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
27. Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger
28. Steve Earle - Train A Comin'
29. John Prine - John Prine
30. Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust
31. Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
32. Kris Kristofferson - Kristofferson
33. Beck - Sea Change
34. Melissa Etheridge - Yes I Am
35. John Mellencamp - Scarecrow
36. Richard & Linda Thompson - Shoot Out The Lights
37. Townes Van Zandt - Townes Van Zandt
38. Emmylou Harris - Pieces of the Sky
39. Donovan - Sunshine Superman
40. Bright Eyes - Lifted
41. Gram Parsons - GP
42. Janis Ian - Between The Lines
43. Phil Ochs - Pleasures of the Harbor
44. Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
45. Jeff Buckley - Grace
46. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
47. Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
48. Paul McCartney - Ram
49. Tish Hinojosa - Culture Swing
50. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
51. Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright
52. Elvis Costello - King of America
53. Feist - The Reminder
54. Suzanne Vega - Nine Objects of Desire
55. Dolly Parton - Jolene
56. Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullaby
57. Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
58. Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales
59. Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
60. Sam Phillips - A Boot and a Shoe
61. Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy
62. Tim Buckley - Starsailor
63. Morrissey - Bona Drag
64. Lyle Lovett - Pontiac
65. Patty Griffin - Children Running Through
66. Marco Antonio Solis - Trozos De Mi Alma
67. Dan Fogelberg - The Innocent Age
68. Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstacy
69. Harry Nilsson - The Point!
70. Lou Reed - Transformer
71. Laura Nyro - Eli and the Thirteenth Confession
72. Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen
73. Billy Joel - The Stranger
74. Mary Chapin Carpenter - Come On Come On
75. Shawn Colvin - A Few Small Repairs
76. Loggins & Messina - Sittin' In
77. Bill Callahan - Woke on a Whaleheart
78. Bonnie Prince Billy - I See A Darkness
79. Tracy Chapman - New Beginning
80. John Denver - Rocky Mountain High
81. Jenny Lewis - Rabbit Fur Coat
82. Aimee Mann - Lost in Space
83. Don McLean - American Pie
84. Loudon Wainwright III - History
85. Cass McCombs - PREfection
86. Ben Harper - Welcome To The Cruel World
87. Al Stewart - Year of the Cat
88. Andew Bird - Armchair Acrophya
89. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
90. India.Arie - Acoustic Soul
91. Cat Power - Moon Pix
92. David Sylvian - Secrets of the Beehive
93. Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most
94. Mirah - Advisory Committee
95. Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls..
96. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
97. Gian Marco - Resucitar
98. Sondre Lerche - Two Way Monologue
99. Nick Cave - No More Shall We Part
100. The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely

-- Jeff Reguilon