Product Shop NYC has covered The Best Sex Records, The Most Disappointing Albums Ever, and various Album of the Year lists.
Our next list will compile the worst solo albums ever made and we need your input. We need your suggestions and advice in putting this list together. This list is all about artists who strike out on their own, leaving behind their recognized brands, to create utter crap. You can suggestion albums that were made while the band were technically still together or after they've broken up. You can go back as far as you like.
Think Scott Weiland's 12 Bar Blues, Mick Jaggers's Goddess In The Doorway (which Rolling Stone magazine gave five stars), Bernard Summers and Johnny Marr's Electonic, or Richie Sambora's Undiscovered Soul. I can go on and on right now, but these are just a sampling of the shit that has somehow gotten released.
We're working on some awesome give-aways. Feel free to write your suggestion, with any commentary you care to include, in the comments section or you can email them to [email protected] (please use the subject line: Worst Solo Album). I look forward to reading you choices..........
Ahmad Jamal's seventy-five minute set at the Blue Note was, without-a-doubt, one of the greatest performances I've ever seen. He is everything that Radiohead, Aphex Twins, Broken Social Scene, and Miles Davis want to be and he does it with such ease. After seeing him live, I understand why he's a huge influence on so many modern musicians, and why he has never quite received the mainstream acceptance he deserves
Onstage with only a drummer and stand-up bassist, Ahmad working the piano the way Frank Black works his guitar and vocals. He switches from calm and beautiful to loud and manic at the drop of a dime. He'll be sitting at his piano, calling out "yeah" to his band, playing some hypnotic piece, then slam the full weight of his body onto his keys, clap his hands, and jump up from his seat to watch his drummer bash out some crazy rhythm that Phil Selway would kill to create, before ripping through the black and white keys to create a dizzying and dazzling lead.
Idris Muhammad, the drummer, was all cool and composed, wearing shades and beret, and playing on a simple kit. Idris was a hurricane of sound. James Cammack, our man on bass, kept biting his lower lips while eye-fucking his bass and damn did he make her sing.
Now I may not be a believer in God, but I do believe that some higher power is working through Ahmad's hands. He is so charismatic and so vibrant on the piano that you can't help but think that his fingers are blessed objects. Wearing a suit with the collar up, he was all soul as he performed a mix of songs from his fifty-plus years of music.
The crazy thing is I don't even think this was Ahmad at his best. Yes it was an amazing set, but this was probably Ahmad on an okay night and it was still one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen!
Ahmad is playing at Blue Note until March 12th and if you love music, you HAVE TO GO TO THIS SHOW. Seriously, it will change the way you think of rock n' roll forever.......
PRODUCT SHOP NYC'S TEN FAVORITE SHOW EVER*
10. The Rapture + Black Dice + Lightning Bolt | Warsaw | April 19, 2002
9. Nine Inch Nails + Marilyn Manson | Roseland | May 14, 1994
8. Pavement + Guided By Voices (with special guest Kim Deal) + David Kilgour | Roseland | October 15, 1994 | Setlist
7. The Make-Up | Coffin Factory | Sommerville, MA | May ??, 1997
6. U2 + The Pixies | Madison Square Garden | March 20, 1992 | Setlist
5. Bjork | Riverside Church | New York, NY | May 22, 2001 | Setlist & Pics
4. PJ Harvey + Damon & Naomi | Knitting Factory | October 19, 2000 | Setlist
3. Arto Lindsay + Blonde Redhead + Jonathan Fire*Eater | Knitting Factory | New York, NY | ?1995?
2. Ahmad Jamal | Blue Note | New York, NY | March 9, 2006
1. Radiohead with Teenage Fanclub & Dandy Warhols | Harborlights Pavilion | Boston, MA |
*This list changes constantly. I'm missing numerous shows like the Pixies at Coachella, the Black Crowes' Lions party at the Bank on Sprint Street, AC/DC at Roseland, Blur at the Middle East, Guided By Voices final show at Irving Plaza, Billy Joel at Nassau Coliseum, Sonic Youth at Irving Plaza, The Ramones at Club Malibu, Lou Reed at Knitting Factory, and so much more.......
The genius of this President is his ability to sell lies to the public. During his speech, he said "America is addicted to oil" and announced a "Advanced Energy Initiative -- a 22 percent increase in clean-energy research at the Department of Energy." This, of course, is from the President who has set back clean air initiatives a good fifty years. But damn does his plan sound great.
Same for education. "No Child Left Behind" is one of the biggest disasters to ever happen to public education. Yet he outlined a "American Competitiveness Initiative, to encourage innovation throughout our economy, and to give our nation's children a firm grounding in math and science" that sounds so appealing, but then again, so does the empty phrase "No Child Left Behind".
Ten Highlights from President Bush's State of the Union Address
10. Moments before Bush entered the chambers, Mother and Peace activist Cindy Sheehan getting arrested for wearing a tshirt saying "2,245 Dead — How Many More??" In the 1971 Supreme Court case Cohen v. California, it was declared unconstitutional to arrest a man who wore a "F--- the Draft" T-shirt into the courthouse. Yet, somehow it was deemed illegal for an invited guest like Sheehan to wear an anti-war shirt. I guess its her own fault for taking her sweater off before the speech starting and not waiting another ten minutes......
9. Bush said, "Americans, especially parents, still have deep concerns about the direction of our culture, and the health of our most basic institutions. They are concerned about unethical conduct by public officials, and discouraged by activist courts that try to redefine marriage." So, he's against gays having constitutionally protected rights........
8. Marine Staff Sergeant Dan Clay President Bush read a letter that Dan wrote to his family, who sat behind the First Lady. Dan died on December 1, 2005. Dan was 27 years old. Dan died alongside ten of his brothers by a homemade bomb in Fallujah, Iraq. Though his platoon was hit with an almost identical bomb that ABC's Bob Woodruff was hit with, Dan did not have the same and stronger body armor. Dan also happens to be christian fundamentalist who seems to think we're fighting a religious war in the name of Jesus Christ. In the letter Bush read, Dan wrote "All of us have a duty. Duty is defined as a God given task....The simple fact that our bodies are built for work has to lead us to the conclusion that God (who made us) put us together to do His work....This is as close to Christ-like I can be. That emulation is where all honor lies....God is wonderful."........
7. The Spread of Democracy or, as Bush said, "The Palestinian people have voted in elections -- now the leaders of Hamas must recognize Israel, disarm, reject terrorism, and work for lasting peace." Bush urged Hamas to go legit. They did. They won a national election on the same anti-Israel platform they've had for twenty years and now Bush expects them to change their stance? Bush also talked about the demcoratic elections in Egypt and how "Saudi Arabia has taken the first steps of reform." Apparently, a democracy is someplace where women have no rights, balanced elections, or freedom of press. Wait, isn't that what a Bush wants America to look like.....
6. Bush said, "I have taken unprecedented action to fight AIDS and malaria, expand the education of girls." Fighting AIDS apparently means banning safe sex education, taking away women's health care rights, avoiding the problems of Africa, and leaving Bill Gates to give more direct money to the people than Bush has....
5. In defending his illegal wiretapping program, Bush said, "Prior to the attacks of September 11th, our government failed to connect the dots of the conspiracy. We now know that two of the hijackers in the United States placed telephone calls to al Qaeda operatives overseas." In truth, Bush knew about the attacks well over a month before hand and failed to act. That's called negligence and this administration has been damn good at it. Oh, and those other pre-9/11 calls were all obtained with warrants. Hmmmm..........
4. Bush said, "We have reduced the growth of nonsecurity discretionary spending -- and last year you passed bills that cut this spending. This year my budget will cut it again, and reduce or eliminate more than 140 programs that are performing poorly or not fulfilling essential priorities. By passing these reforms, we will save the American taxpayer another $14 billion next year -- and stay on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009." In his five years in office, Bush raised steadily raised the deficit to new heights (very conservative!). The programs that "performing poorly" are programs that aren't supposed to be profitable, but are suppose to help middle-class and poor people............
3. Bush said, "because lawsuits are driving many good doctors out of practice -- leaving women in nearly 1,500 American counties without a single OB-GYN." That would actually because OB-GYN's get more death threats than virtually any other professionals in America. Not to mention that OB-GYN's don't legally get the insurance coverage they should.........
2. Bush said, "Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research -- human cloning in all its forms -- creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos. Human life is a gift from our creator -- and that gift should never be discarded, devalued, or put up for sale." There goes that separation of church and state......
1. The Democrats standing and applauding when the President said, "Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security." The President looked pissed off. It definitely threw him off his game for the rest of his speech.....
ARIEL SHARON |
MISSHAPES | |
300lbs |
WEIGHT |
300lbs (collectively) |
As Big As Israel |
EGO |
As Big Is Manhattan |
Building The Wall |
JUMP THE SHARK |
Madonna |
Likud to Kadema |
PARTY MOVES |
Luck & Leroys to Don Hills |
Netanyahu & Arafat |
NEMISIS |
New York Post & Rich Richie |
Son Arrested For Accepting Bribes |
EMBARASSING MOMENT |
Kicked Out of Happy Valley For Drunken DJing |
Stroke |
FINAL BLOW |
Lost Clothing Deal |
Deputy Prime Minister |
LIKELY SUCCESSOR |
Coked Up Bi-Sexual fourteen Year-Old Blogger |
It's been another rocking year for Ted Leo and his Pharmacists. The boys have been touring endlessly since releasing their last stellar album, Shake The Sheets, in 2004 and are finally getting set to take a little break and record a new record for Lookout! Before they go quietly into the recording studio, they'll be playing a show in Red Hook, Brooklyn's The Hook on March 2nd to test out some new material.
On their official site, Ted posted the most important year end list.....
10 BEST WAYS TO WATCH "LAW & ORDER" IN 2005:
1. TNT (the current home for reruns)
2. A&E (the classic home for reruns, and releaser of first VHS collections)
3. Court TV (Bebe Neuworth/ Trial by Jury)
4. USA (SVU)
5. NBC (new episodes, if you're into that)
6. Bravo (Criminal Intent, when all else fails)
7. iTunes (download 1st season)
8. Order DVDs from www.lawandorderdvd.com
9. Special features on the official website
10. TNT (if you missed the 7 PM episode, it's on again at 3 PM the next day)
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists + Les Aus | The Hook | Thursday, March 2nd | $15, Onsale January 19th
LEAST ESSENTIAL MOAN-A-THON
Scott Stapp, The Great Divide (Wind Up)
LEAST ESSENTIAL ALBUM BY AN ACTOR
Peter Gallagher, 7 Days In Memphis (Epic)
LEAST ESSENTIAL COMEBACK
Stryper, Reborn (Big3)
LEAST ESSENTIAL DISCS THAT MAKE FREDDIE MERCURY SPIN IN HIS GRAVE
Various Artists, Killer Queen: A Tribute To Queen (Hollywood)
Queen + Paul Rodgers, Return Of The Champions (Hollywood)
LEAST ESSENTIAL ACOUSTIC ANNIVERSARY VERSION OF AN ALBUM EVERYONE'S SICK OF ALREADY
Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill Acoustic (Maverick)
LEAST ESSENTIAL ALBUM BY AN AMERICAN IDOL FINALIST (FIRST-SEASON DIVISION)
Jim Verraros, Rollercoaster (Koch)
LEAST ESSENTIAL ACT OF MUSICAL COLONIALISM
FJ & Living Souls, Ambient Africa (Eagle)
LEAST ESSENTIAL AUDIO SOUVENIR OF AN ESSENTIALLY VISUAL EXPERIENCE
Simon Carpentier & Cirque Du Soleil, Zumanity: Another Side Of Cirque Du Soleil (Cirque Du Soleil)
LEAST ESSENTIAL ALBUM THAT HAS THE BALLS TO CALL ITSELF THE GREATEST
Ian Brown, The Greatest (Koch)
(Editors Note: I heart Ian, but this "hits" collection really does sadly suck.)
LEAST ESSENTIAL TRIBUTE ALBUM
Various Artists, Back Against The Wall (Cleopatra)
LEAST ESSENTIAL ALBUM BY A LIFE COACH, CERTIFIED MASTER OF NEURAL LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING, MASTER OF THERAPEUTIC IMAGERY, MASTER OF HYPNOTHERAPY, MASTER TIMELINE PRACTITIONER, AND FOUNDER OF THE MOTIVATIONAL CHANGE COMPANY MENTAL DESIGN CONCEPTS, INC.
Chase, Somethin' To Feel About (Innerforce)
LEAST ESSENTIAL SOUNDTRACK TO A TELEVISION SHOW STARRING A SECOND-GENERATION HACK
Lil Romeo, Romeo! TV Show (The Season) (Koch)
LEAST ESSENTIAL 2PACSPLOITATION
Various Artists, The Rose Vol. 2: Music Inspired By Tupac's Poetry (Koch)
LEAST ESSENTIAL PROOF THAT PUNK IS REALLY DEAD
Misfits Meet The Nutley Brass, Fiend Club Lounge (Ryko)
LEAST ESSENTIAL ALBUM BY A PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER
John Cena & Tha Trademarc, You Can't See Me (Sony)
LEAST ESSENTIAL ROCK CROSSOVER
Ian Anderson, Ian Anderson Plays The Orchestral Jethro Tull (ZYX)
LEAST ESSENTIAL LIVE ALBUM
Candy Dulfer, Candy Dulfer: Live At Montreux 2002 (Eagle)
LEAST ESSENTIAL CLINTON-ERA RELIC
Institute, Distort Yourself (Interscope)
LEAST ESSENTIAL JAZZ/POP CROSSOVER
Herbie Hancock, Possibilities (Hear)
LEAST ESSENTIAL BEST-OF ALBUM
Hilary Duff, Most Wanted (Hollywood)
LEAST ESSENTIAL ALBUM OF 2005
t.A.T.u., Dangerous And Moving (Interscope)
Another year is about to end and it's time to compile those "best of" lists. I found this year to, once again, be a fairly boring year for new music. There were very few records that truly blew me away. The albums that stuck out seemed to be by artists who I have come to expect a lot from and who were able to deliver.
Two singer-songwriters who truly surprised me this year are Ryan Adams and Bright Eyes. I've never really cared for either act or any of their previous albums. This year, both Conor and Ryan released multiple records that caught me completely off guard. I've been converted into a fan.
You'll also find a bunch records on this list from the new crop of ultrahyped acts, including artist like Sufjan Stevens, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Nationals, Wolf Parade, Bloc Party, M.I.A., The Hold Steady, and Devandra Barnhart. When all is said and done, their records did stand out this year. Many of them get blogged about way to much, but they all released relatively good albums and deserve spots on the list.
A few old-timers also made the list this year. New Order, Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen all made beautiful albums that are easily the best material they've released in over a decade.
As for this years number one album, I'll just say that it came as a total surprise. I had written the band off after their last record, thinking their time had passed. I never thought they'd be able to mature their sound in such an elegant and rocking way. The second I started listening to their new album, I found myself completely immersed in it. It's one of those albums that needs to be listened to from start to finish. It's record that has a timeless quality to it and that's why it tops this years list. Without further hoopla, here's.....
PRODUCT SHOP NYC'S THE 57 BEST ALBUMS OF 2005
57. I Am Kloot - Gods and Monsters
56. Bruce Springsteen – Devils & Dust
55. Mommy & Daddy – Duel At Dawn
54. The Decemberists - Picaresque
53. The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
52. Mars Volta – Frances The Mute
51. Animal Collective - Feels
50. Black Mountain – Black Mountain
49. Fatlip – The Lonliest Punk
48. Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene
47. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Jacksonville City Nights
46. Franz Ferdinand – You Can Have It So Much Better With…
45. Shout Out Louds - Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
43. Laura Veirs - Years of Meteors
42. Tom Vek – We Have Sound
41. The Joggers – With A Cape And A Cane
40. Goldfrapp - Supernature
39. Beck - Guero
38. Devandra Banhart – Cripple Crow
37. My Morning Jacket - Z
36. The National - Alligator
35. DangerDoom – The Mouse And The Mask
34. Hold Steady – Separation Sunday
33. Nine Inch Nails – [With Teeth]
32. Fiest – Let It Die
31. The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike
30. Sam Champion – Slow Rewind
29. Brendan Benson - Alternative to Love
28. Clap Your Hand Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
27. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
26. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
25. The Babyshambles – Albion Seed
24. Silver Jews – Tanglewood Numbers
23. Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production Of Eggs
22. Wolf Parade – Apologies To The Queen Mary
21. Stephen Malkmus – Face The Truth
20. Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman’s Woman
19. New Order – Waiting For The Sirens Call
18. The Magic Numbers – The Magic Numbers
17. Brakes – Give Blood
16. Sleater-Kinney – The Woods
15. Spoon – Gimme Fiction
14. Sigur Ros – Takk….
13. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
12. LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem
11. Youth Group – Skeleton Jar
10. Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
9. Frank Black – Honeycomb
8. Paul McCartney – Chaos And Creation In The Backyard
7. Ryan Adams – Cold Roses
6. M.I.A. - Arular
5. The Rakes - Capture / Release
4. Gorillaz – Demon Days
3. Antony & The Johnsons – I Am Bird Now
2. The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan
1. Supergrass – Road To Rouen
----------------------------
Rough Trade Shops Top 100 Albums of 2005
TotesProbsMaybs Top 30 Songs of 2005
Largehearted Boy's Favorite Albums of 2005
East Bay Express critic's Best Records of 2005
Amazon's Best of 2005: Top 100 Editors Picks
Amazon's Best of 2005: Top 100 Customers' Picks
Informational Leafblower's Top 40 Bands In America - 2005 Edition
Basement Galaxy's Best Albums of 2005
King Blind's Top 15 Albums of 2005
Reality Check's Top 19 Albums of 2005
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
