First an album I already own/know:
Blue Sky, Maybe (1998) by Moxie
Maybe not the most original band you'll ever hear: Blissdays sounds like a lost Breeders song but still sounds great; Confusion sounds like a lost Sonic Youth song but still sounds great. But they're just a Belgian band of which I only know this album I have always liked. There is a bit of filler here but the album does climb from the 52nd to the 30th rank.
And an album from my wishlist:
The Pace Is Glacial (1998) by Seam
I liked their first album and this is their fourth and last. I have the feeling they suffer a bit of tiredness here. The first track is still very good but after that the songwriting skills seem to be grinding to an end. Saved by one good and a few ok tracks this album enters my year chart at the 49th rank.
Nothing of Petkovic or Doug Gillard in 1998 but I just want to mention a great Doug Gillard album that was released last Friday (ie 2026):
Parallel Stride (2026) by Doug Gillard
just a great power rock album which easily finds its way to the top ranks of my year chart.
First an album I already own/know:
Come Pick Me Up (1999) by Superchunk
This is still Superchunk but it must be one of their albums I like the least: it's more poppy and the distinct voice of Mac McMaughan sounds very thin here. There are still a few good tracks here so the album still goes from the 62nd to the 38th rank.
And then two albums from my wishlist with links to John Petkovic and Doug Gillard:
First another album by Cobra Verde of which both of them were member:
Nightlife (1999) by Cobra Verde
Everything about this album smells like Roxy Music, the title, the album art and especially the first five tracks. A lot of times I was thinking: what is the Roxy Music which is getting a makeover here, only a bit harder. And there are also reference to the likes of David Bowie and even U2. But I must say it works: the album has a swagger that I really like and it's a pity that they don't hold this swagger for the whole of the album. But overall this is a good album which enters my year chart at the 33rd rank.
This while Doug Gillard was also making Doing The Collapse with Guided By Voices but was also forming a duo with Robert Pollard on:
Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department (1999) by Robert Pollard With Doug Gillard
I think I listened to this album before (at least partly) but needed to do that again. This albums could as well have been sold as a solo album of Robert Pollard, safe for a a few good guitar solos which are clearly coming from Gillard, and like everything by Pollard's hands around this period there are brilliant passages mixed with filler as there are again a lot of tracks here. But overall again a good one which enters my year chart at the 49th rank.
First an album I already own/know:
Two Against Nature (2000) by Steely Dan
Their comeback album after a long hiatus and there's two kinds of reactions to it by Steely Dan fans: misses the old magic and too cold or just as great as the old albums. And I tend to be of the second school: this is just another great and very jazzy one. Especially the closer West Of Hollywood stands out with very interesting sax work and just a very good song. I like it more than I thought when the album was released and it rises from the 64th to the 20th rank of 2000.
And an album from my wishlist:
Everybody Loves Urusei Yatsura (2000) by Urusei Yatsura
This is another very powerful guitar album by this English (not Japanese) band with only one less good track and our shining Path as the best one. So the album enters my year chart at a whopping 9th rank.
And an album from my wishlist:
The Green Hour (2001) by The Autumn Defense
Really good first album from this album by two members of Wilco and I especially like the harmonies. This one immediately enters my year chart at the 22nd rank.
First an album I already own/know:
Human Conditions (2002) by Richard Ashcroft
After a few solo albums I think in general that his music is on the verge of being too mellow but decided to still keep it in my year chart at the 41st rank (coming from nr 45).
And an album from my wishlist:
Beautysleep (2002) by Tanya Donelly
However much I love Belly, the band she played in, this solo album is not really great in my opinion. The only track I really like is Keeping You. I doubted but decided not to include it in my year chart.
First an album I already know/own:
Ride 'Til I Die (2003) by George Thorogood & The Destroyers
Not his most known nor best album but this is one of those albums where I am reminded why I like this artist so much and as much for his raspy voice as his fantastic guitar playing which is both bluesy and hard rocking. So this album moves up from the 50th to the 37th rank of the year.
And then I saw that there was an album I already own/know featuring one of my themed artists:
Mist King Urth (2003) by Lifeguards
By this year Doug Gillard had left Cobra Verde and joined up again with Robert Pollard but now in one of his side projects, Lifeguards, of which this is the first album. This one still sounds a lot like Guided By Voices but is maybe a bit more quirky. There are maybe a few too weird songs on it to be very good but it's still a good one especially when the guitar of Gillard shines like on Starts At The River and Red Whips & Miracles and it moves up from the 68th to the 48th rank (btw their second album Waving At The Astronauts was much better).
But Cobra Verde moved on and this one of their albums from my wishlist:
Easy Listening (2003) by Cobra Verde
And to help out John Petkovic after the departure of Doug Gillard, J Mascis also played guitar in some of the tracks like on the wonderful Til Sunrise. Overall this is still very muscular guitar music which even goes a bit too much in bombastic territory. But still a good addition to my year chart where this album arrives at the 24th rank.
First an album I already own/know:
A Ghost Is Born (2004) by Wilco
I suppose YHF is a bit better than this album but both are classics in the best sense possible. Also this album is just filled with excellent tracks with Handshake Drugs as one if the greatest songs every written in my opinion. There are only a few tracks which keep this album from the absolute top with the overlong Less Than You Think as the best example. But this album just has to go from the 11th to the 2nd rank of the year (maybe I should revise Funeral which is now at the top 😈 ).
And one from my wishlist:
Salamander (2004) by Doug Gillard
I just can't understand why an album like this is not generally picked up and appreciated as the wonderful album it is, I even had to enter it as a new album to BEA. It's melodic, it's powerful and while still a bit in GBV modus (He was a member of the band in the year of Half Smile Of The Decomposed which was also released in 2004), this Doug Gillard solo album has some melodic qualities which go beyond GBV with Momma as the highlight. The album enters at the 20th rank of the year.
And for 2005 I have only an album I already own/know:
The Woods (2005) by Sleater-Kinney
I'm not a big fan of the voice of Corin Tucker and the combination with the oversteered guitars on many tracks is sometimes a bit too much. Only on the long track Let's Call It Love it works but that is mainly because of the good guitar solos. Not that it's a bad album and it even moves up from the 85th to the 49th rank.
First an album I already own/know:
Wilderness Is Paradise Now (2006) by Morning Runner
A britpop type band (cf Keane etc) which didn't really break through and maybe rightly so because the music on this album is fairly average except for one great track: Burning Benches. Nevertheless the album moves up from the 65th to the 55th rank.
And an album from my wishlist:
A Stitch In Time (2006) by The Twilight Singers
An EP of only 5 tracks but they are very good and on which Greg Dulli is accompanied by Mark Lanegan on the first track (they would later form a band together: The Gutter Twins). As good as anything of Afghan Wigs I would say and this EP enters at the 23rd rank in my year chart.
I also need to check out their full album of that year, Powder Burns, which is supposed to be very good but doesn't seem to be available on Apple Music.
First an album I already own/know:
Two Against Nature (2000) by Steely Dan
Their comeback album after a long hiatus and there's two kinds of reactions to it by Steely Dan fans: misses the old magic and too cold or just as great as the old albums. And I tend to be of the second school: this is just another great and very jazzy one. Especially the closer West Of Hollywood stands out with very interesting sax work and just a very good song. I like it more than I thought when the album was released and it rises from the 64th to the 20th rank of 2000.
I'd go along with that. I think that this was a great album. maybe not quite up there with
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