OK, one last word about year-ending top ten lists. Coolfer was rather fascinated by the collection of Rolling Stone critics' "best of" lists. What was so fascinating?

• Rolling Stone critics listen to the same music as bloggers. It's the same titles over and over. Franz Ferdinand. Modest Mouse. The Go! Team. Devendra Banhart. Blonde Redhead. The Killers. Joanna Newsome. TV on the Radio. A.C. Newman. Ray LaMontagne. Elliot Smith.
• I saw the first includion of The Mooney Suzuki's Alive & Amplified, this on Lily Moayeri's top ten list. For an album that got good reviews upon its release, it certainly has been flying under the radar since. If the band blows up in 2005 (which is highly unlikely, unless they can convince people they're not a garage rock band but just a good ol' fashioned rock band) I wouldn't be surprised to see the album on some "best of 2005" lists.
• I always wondered if people really liked some albums I considered to be overhyped. They do. The Zutons' Who Killed....The Zutons? The Hives' Tyrannosaurus Hives. Jay-Z and Linkin Park's Collision Course. Razorlight' Up All Night. Those would all make Coolfer's list of most disappointing albums of the year. OK, the Hives' record wasn't that disappointing. But I listened once and never went back to it.
• They're showing their age. You're not exactly fresh out of college if you're listing albums by Paul Weller, Patti Smith, Sam Phillips, Los Lobos or Dirty Dozen Brass Band. It's not a bad thing, either. Some critics need to help balance out the incessant Killers love fest.
• Danger Mouse's The Grey Album showed up on two lists, and just like almost every other critic's list I've seen it on, it's the only hip hop album on the list. There's little doubt in my mind that the rock community has embraced the album much more than the hip hop community. It's an indication that rock fans need hip hop to be safe and familiar. The Beatles samples provide all the necessary reference points (read: familiarity) for the non-hip hopper to get his/her feet wet. The political/legal implications/ramifications of the album are also reasons The Grey Album was so well regarded in 2004. They don't make the songs any better, but they offer a critic an easy way to show an opposition to "the man" and "the power" and big ol' greedy EMI.