Annzaunt's Best of 1999--With a Few Extras....
For my money, 1999 was a good year for music--despite the Backstreet Boys' cover of Rolling Stone's "Readers' Edition." So here are the things that struck me as notable--both good and bad. The first five albums are ranked; the next five are along for the ride; and the final category, well, it should explain itself. Enjoy!
The Top Five of 1999
#1. Wilco's Summerteeth
Count Jeff Tweedy the "Year's Most Improved Poet." With Summerteeth, Wilco heads into new territory, both in terms of music and writing, and the results are satisfying. Hey, I enjoy belting out "Passenger Side" as much as the next person, but it doesn't hold a candle to "Shot in the Arm" or "Via Chicago." Moreover, the music works equally well as either a synthesized recording or with Jeff Tweedy and a guitar at the Lounge Ax. Hands down the best of 1999.
#2. Steve Earle's The Mountain
Steve Earle just keeps raising the bar, and when he decides to do bluegrass, well, dammit!, the man does bluegrass. For this one, he works with one of the best, the Del McCoury Band. The Mountain is a thematically cohesive, if sometimes uneven, disc. "The Mountain" and "Harlan Man" are two of my favorites of the year.
#3. The Drive-by Truckers' Pizza Deliverance
This is my "Discovery Band"of 1999. How did I live without these guys? These members of the Redneck Underground do the tradition proud, taking on cultural stereotypes in smart and subversive ways, and the music just plain rocks. It's too bad No Depression can't see past a parodic "political incorrectness" to just how great this band is. These guys deserve more attention than just the two short, incoherent reviews they've gotten so far.
#4. Julie Miller's Broken Things
Beautiful writing and singing--just an amazing piece of work.
#5. Beck's Midnight Vultures
I'm realize that I'm not smart enough to hear 25% of what's going on with this disc; I just know that I like it. Beck Rules!
Other Fine Discs
The Other Good Stuff....
Best Cover of '99: The Backslider's Southern Lines
The graphic speaks for itself. Powerful stuff.
Best Reissue of '99: Johnny Cash's Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison
Simply amazing and as timely today as it was then.
Biggest Disappointment of '99: Lyle Lovett's Live in Texas
This one captures zero of a Lyle live. Whenever I've seen Lyle live, he's never been less than fantastic, both in terms of the music and the show. When it comes to telling a story, Lyle has few peers. Live in Texas, though, misses this entirely, settling instead for a dry diet of performance with none of the good stuff added in. Don't waste your money on this one; trade for a good bootleg instead.
Worst Single of '99: Whiskeytown's "Silver Wings" on the Poor Little Knitter on the Road Tribute
Make it stop!!! I've been a Whiskeytown fan for years, but this one just doesn't work. If tribute discs are a kind of dialogue with the original, this is a conversation that's dissolved into a really ugly screaming match. It's especially disappointing after Whiskeytown's strong showing on Real.
Worst Video of '99: Kenny Chesney's "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy"
You know, the guy just wants to get naked. But the video here focuses on a local farmgirl turned on by Kenny's ol' antique John Deere--she gets turned on "watching it tilling up the land."
Kenny, any farmgirl worth her salt wouldn't go with a guy who didn't at least have a cab! (The romance of spending 14 hours in the sun on an old tractor wears thin fairly quickly.) And as for tilling up the land, well, she's looking for at least a John Deere 7810 that would drive right over that quaint piece of history you've got.
I suspect that here the tractor is a metaphor for, well, the singer's sex drive--if so, Kenny certainly ought to be smart enough to driving something bigger, faster, stronger.
Dumbest Line of '99: Montgomery Gentry's "Daddy Won't Sell the Farm"
This little masterpiece opens like this:
His cows get loose and run right through the fast-food parking lots
And Daddy gets calls from the mini-malls when they're downwind from his hogs.
This one is supposed to paint this heroic portrait of Daddy who bravely upholds the American farm tradition in the face of urban sprawl. When Daddy's cows get out, it's a sign of rural defiance!
Daddy would be better served learning how to fix fence.
Uh, sorry, boys, but it's pretty clear that you haven't spent any time on a farm because you ought to know that if there's a sure way to piss off your neighbors, it's failing to keep your animals home--whether they're McDonald's or the Jacobsons' who share a fence line with you. It shows a blatant lack of respect, and there's nothing "romantic" about it. In fact, if Daddy's not smart enough to fix fence, the odds are pretty good he's about to develop a close relationship with the county Brand Inspector who gets called in in these situations. And pretty soon, those cows won't be a problem anymore because they'll be impounded.