Now that the 00’s are wrapping up, people are writing Best Albums Of The Decade lists like crazy, and I almost added my own top albums list to that lengthy pile.  But then I thought there was no point explaining the greatness of MIA or Radiohead or Antony and the Johnsons or The Knife, when anyone who might even remotely care probably has strong opinions about them all already, anyway.

I decided instead to base my list around a bunch of albums that probably very few of you love.  Maybe because you’ve never heard of them, or because you’ve heard terrible things about them, because they were part of a now-neglected trend, or because they were overshadowed by other things that the artists did either before or after.  The list is a top 30, because I listed all the albums I thought would qualify and came up with 31.  I rounded down.  (Sorry, Handsome Furs!)

I’m presenting this list in three installments, because it’s kind of long. As always, I’d like to make my disclaimer that this list reflects what I myself listen to; I’m sure that someone else could–and should–make lists of neglected metal, gospel, or country records.  But this list is pretty pop-oriented.  That’s just how it is.

10. Keren-Ann, Keren-Ann (2007)
French-Israeli chanteuse Keren-Ann received lots of critical buzz for her bilingual breakthrough albums Not Going Anywhere (2003) and Nolita (2004), but the hype died down before she released her fifth (and by far best) CD. The languid songs on her self-titled album are all exquisite, and her voice, somewhere in the ether between Mazzy Star and Nico, sounds especially lovely when set against the Gainsbourg-ian acid stomp of  It Ain’t No Crime.

9. Official Secrets Act, Understanding Electricity (2009)
Named, I’m guessing, after the M album and not the British espionage laws, the debut effort by nerdy Brit-rockers the Official Secrets Act is disarmingly likable. Singles The Girl From The BBC and Bloodsport didn’t get very far commercially, even in the band’s native Britain, but this album is at least as good as anything by press darlings like the Arctic Monkeys and the Big Pink.

8. The Long Blondes, Someone To Drive You Home (2007)
My favorite band of the whole decade, probably, was the stylish Sheffield quintet who broke up after just two albums. During their four brief years together they released eleven singles (all of which had excellent) and two fantastic albums; Someone To Drive You Home was produced by Pulp bassist Steve Mackey and features singer Kate Jackson at her smartest and sauciest. The Long Blondes got a lot of love in the UK, but remained virtually unknown in the US except among bloggy music nerds.

7. The Cardigans, Long Gone Before Daylight (2004)
If you’re one of the 99% of people who only know Swedish band The Cardigans for their 1996 hit Lovefool, you’d probably be surprised if you heard this gorgeous album of country-ish pop ballads. The album’s three singles are all great, but even better are moody album tracks like the Aimee Mann-ish I Disconnect and album closer 03:45 No Sleep. (FYI, The American edition of the album, released a year later than it was in the rest of the world, also has some killer bonus tracks.)

6. Macy Gray, The Id (2001)
Much like the Cardigans, R&B singer Macy Gray disappeared from most people’s consciousness after one massively popular hit, in her case the omnipresent mid-tempo ballad I Try.  However, that song barely hinted at the fact that the scratchy-voiced Gray is a ridiculously crazy and silly person; The Id features, among other things, a song about masturbation that sounds like it was written by oompa loompas and a song about how fans of her hit single are relating to a psychopath.  The Id is, to borrow Macy’s own phrase, “hot like hot wings with hot chocolate in hell.”

5. Ladytron, 604 (2000)
Ladytron’s first album is considered a classic in some hipstery circles, it’s true, but the greatness of 604 really ought to extend beyond the skinny, pale arms of the undersized jeans and black hair dye set.  For their debut, the jetsetting quartet try to replicate the stylish formality of airport lounges, but for all their icy synths singer Helen Marnie’s voice surprisingly sweet; still, the real highlight of the album is the Bulgarian talk-singing of second vocalist Mira Arroyo.

4. Tracey Thorn, Out Of The Woods (2007)
I’ve been a diehard Tracey Thorn fanboy since the very first time I heard Everything But The Girl’s Missing way back in 1994.  Over the course of two decades Thorn and collaborator Ben Watt glided from Sade-ish easy listening to acoustic Elvis Costello covers, only late in their career becoming club sensations.  For her second solo album, the self-professed bedsit disco queen stepped out of the club and into the bedroom; the singles It’s All True and Grand Canyon were dancy enough to please fans, but track titles like Raise The Roof and Hands Up To The Ceiling belie the album’s underlying introspection.

3. Clinic, Walking With Thee (2002)
Clinic have something of a cult following, which I guess is only appropriate for a rock band with a clarinet player.  But their indecripherable lyrics and moody dance-rock are really worthy of more respect; even if top hats and surgical masks aren’t your thing, it’s pretty hard not to love their swoon-inducing garage pop.  Their music never veers far from the same swoony romanticism of their early singles, but that’s okay.  It’s a really good sound, cheerily somber and poppy despite itself.

2. Pink, Try This (2003)
Is any other female pop singer as fun to watch, as vocally skilled, or as capable of genre-hopping as Pink?  In 2000 she was an R&B singer, for her follow-up she teamed up with the 4 Non Blondes lady, and then by 2003 she switched abruptly to pop-punk, which I and approximately zero other people thought was the best idea ever.  The eight songs she co-wrote with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong are more fun (and funny) than anything she’s recorded before or since, and Linda Perry collaborations Walk Away and Catch Me When I’m Sleeping add a welcome bit of sweetener.  Try This flopped commercially, selling only a quarter as many copies as her previous album, but songs like Tonight’s The Night and Humble Neighborhoods show are sadly neglected examples of Pink’s awesomeness.

1. Kristin Hersh, Sunny Border Blue (2001)
I don’t just think that the fifth solo album by kind-of-Rhode Islander Kristin Hersh is the most underrated album of the decade. I think it’s the best album of the decade, period. And unless Google blog search is malfunctioning, not a single one of the kajillion other people making “best albums of the decade” lists has included Sunny Border Blue in their rankings. What the hell?

Simultaneously miserable, angry and hilarious, the increasingly gravelly Throwing Muses founder admits to singing her throat away as she grumpily yells at lovers and confronts boozy inner demons.  “For a toxic thing you sure smell pretty,” she sings at the beginning of Summer Salt, sounding like a crabby old lady who’s tired of being tired.  Lyrically personal to the point of unease, Hersh also sang and played every instrument on the album herself.

See also!

#20-#11

#30-#21

Tags: albums of the decade, clinic, keren-ann, kristin hersh, ladytron, long blondes, macy gray, official secrets act, p!nk, pink, the cardigans, tracey thorn

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