8. The Roots, The Tipping Point
This Philadelphia-based quartet bridges the gap between popular and underground hip-hop with its rich, poppy choruses and harsh beats. The band’s sixth studio album gets down to the band’s “roots” with real instruments and a simple, relaxed sound, as opposed to its last album’s frantic, techno-influenced tracks.
The point of this no-frills approach may be just that: get rid of the excess, the techno and the non-live sounds, and the listener is left with a sound that is real, raw and unforgettable.
MC Black Thought takes the lead throughout the album, particularly with pumping tracks, such as “I Don’t Care” with his gritty, low-key vocals and straightforward, thinking man’s lyrics. His quick, lisping, rough old-school flows contrast with the smooth, relaxed instrumentals.
The album will have audiences dancing and nodding their heads to its funky beats and loose vocals, and although it keeps these two staples throughout, the band is clearly not committed to a single genre or sound, with tracks like the harsh “Guns Are Drawn” and the sexually-infused “Stay Cool” next to each other.
This CD brought the world of old school hip-hop into the pop world, ignoring boundaries, and created its own unique genre. J.CHANCE
9. Goapele, Even Closer
Welcome to the truth.
Goapele’s tracks are laced with wholesome, well-worn melodies. The richness of her sound and the honesty by which her soul is poured out is a testament to good music. Her sound is delicately infused with her thoughtful spoken-word lyrics.
But this album certainly was overlooked by many and deserved much more critical acclaim than it received. It managed to dodge the proverbial radar at the disadvantage to listeners everywhere. This record definitely is on the level of soul classics like Marvin Gaye and Etta James.
It isn’t the kind of record you want to jam to in your vehicle. It isn’t the record you throw on for a party. This record is for you. It makes you want to sit, relax, close your eyes and just absorb the sounds over a snifter full of single malt scotch. Its ability to remove you from consciousness is unnatural. This is a project that demands heavy rotation and deserves your undivided attention.
More than anything else, Goapele is easy to listen to and even easier to enjoy. Goapele is for serious listeners. This album is the only soul record on our list for a reason. T.B.
10. Beastie Boys, TO THE 5 BOROUGHS
When a group is a pioneer for its genre, it’s inconceivable that the music the group helped define could be any less than extraordinary. The Beastie Boys live up to this living-legend standard with its sixth album filled with political discord and dutiful respect to New York City.
The Beastie Boys have made their contempt for the current presidential administration well-known, but this album powerfully reiterates its desire for change.
The record is also homage to the city that raised and inspired the notorious trio. “An Open Letter to NYC” is an emotionally-raw recognition of the diverse people and various locales that frame New York City, and also a sympathetic remembrance of the 9/11 tragedy.
“To the 5 Boroughs” is a continuation of the Beastie Boys’ hip-hop prominence. They remain loyal to their sound and style, yet continue to be uniquely innovative with still just three MCs and one DJ. C.JOHNS
11. The Hives, TYRANNOSAURUS HIVES
Alternative music is increasingly mainstream and less alternative. And with the lines between pop and punk blurring, doing something daringly unique and rebellious is the norm.
This record calls for a look back at what made punk music great in its heyday — simplicity.
The breakneck guitar riffs and explosive lyrics suggest that The Hives is this generation’s answer to The Ramones.
The follow-up to “Veni Vidi Vicious” finds the band sticking to what makes it great: producing battle-ready, straight-from-the-pit rock anthems. “Abra Cadaver,” the first track, launches out of the speakers and immediately demands attention. After the first 90 seconds, not a beat is lost as each track flawlessly launches into the next.
Even the so-called “love songs” are brutal. “Diabolic Scheme,” a ballad of sorts, does not for a moment slow the record down. It is not acoustic guitar whining backed softly by the rest of the band; it is just as fierce as the rest of the album, only a little slower.
And in the classic punk-rock mindset, sheep-like behavior is ridiculed; especially in tracks like “Walk Idiot Walk” and “Dead Quote Olympics.” The record is a rare one in that the artists do not do anything that is remarkably “new,” yet it still manage to maintain their own distinction and integrity.
By remaking an old style into their own, these Swedes are forcing audiences to take notice and remember that new instruments and aural tricks will never replace what rock music is and should be — loud, vicious and, above all, simple. Z.B.
12. Elliott Smith, FROM A BASEMENT ON THE HILL
Smith’s songs have always been known for their sad beauty, but his recent death makes this posthumous album even more distressing.
His songs hint at waste — wasted lives, wasted loves, wasted drugs.
The album gives a farewell to Smith’s career, starting with “Coast to Coast,” a beautiful, graceful muddle, with an off-center guitar strumming along to hopeless lyrics. It turns the bleak into the beautiful.
Smith’s lyrics may be a bit drug-laced, desperate, heartbroken and discouraging, but they are never whiny, and his sound is anything but usual.
Against twangy, upbeat guitar strumming, Smith sings “Fond Farewell,” a haunting track that is a very fitting parting song, although it is unclear to whom or to what he is saying goodbye — love, himself, his audience or maybe just his drug habits.
Smith performs with his former Heatmiser band mate Sam Coomes on “Pretty (Ugly Before),” with angry lyrics against light, pretty harmonies, creating an twisted sound in this bittersweet love song.
The album is certainly full of Smith’s usual sadness, but songs like “Strung Out Again” offer listeners more than just songs to cry to. Smith uses clever, sometimes sexually-suggestive, lyrics to keep things from getting too depressing.
Smith’s harder songs, such as the erratic “Don’t Go Down,” offer offbeat, syncopated instrumentals, showing his dizzying musical talents extend beyond writing pretty verse.
Smith still manages to turn the desperately hopeless into the lovely, making this album his best yet, which may make it even more difficult for listeners to say goodbye. J.C.
13. Scissor Sisters
 If Elton John had come out the closet in the new millennium (and possibly had a large drug problem), this record is what it would sound like.
The melding of tinkering pianos with pulsating electronics creates the soundtrack to an underground gay mecca that would make even Studio 54 seem mundane.
With their lids perfectly drenched in eyeliner and their tongues firmly planted in cheek, the Scissor Sisters rip through catchy songs about cheap champagne and haircuts as they pull listeners to the dance floor.
It’s so rock-n-roll, it’s disco.
The album harkens back to the days when classic rock albums were the things of exaggerated artistry — overdone album covers, outlandishly campy stage shows and wonderfully-crafted, sexy sing-along anthems.
The songs are instantaneously catchy, luring listeners into a clubby underworld that dares them to shake their asses in the face of convention.
Every tiny electronic bleep, clunky piano chord, funky bass-line and winding guitar riff is an integral piece in this calculated assault on the ears.
But the band is not just a bunch of drag queens. Sweeping ballads such as “Mary” take listeners from the bar to the bedroom, and prove the band has the chops to take their talent beyond the club.
The album is the melting pot not just of decades of gay culture, but of the best musical trends from the 70s to the present. Campy dance records never sounded so good. K.M.
14. Gwen Stafani, LOVE, ANGEL, MUSIC, BABY
  Gwen should have left the boys years ago. She has made a sassy statement once again, but this time it is her own music. This edgy, pop-rock album is full of Stefani’s voice and style, comparative to Madonna’s early sound, proving herself “hella good.”
“Harajuku Girls” blushes a slight obsession with Japan when she says, “Harajuku girls, you’ve got the wicked style, I like the way that you are, I am your biggest fan.” H.P.
15. Jamie Cullum, TWENTYSOMETHING
  Cullum features modern day cynicism and disillusionment set to a cheery blend of 1970s pop and extraordinary piano skills that brings to mind Elton John, but younger and more hip.
A UK import, Cullum cleverly restructures Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over,” and Radiohead’s “High and Dry” to soaring elegance, while his verison of Pharrell Williams’ “Frontin’” just breaks the mold. J.C.