Top 10 Albums of 2001

1. Is This It? (RCA) - The Strokes\nYes, it's cliche to place this ingenious album on our list seeing as how everyone and their brother has included it on theirs. But there's no denying the sheer power punk ferocity of New York's favorite sons -- The Strokes. Is This It? could best be described as the album that the Velvet Underground and The Ramones never got together to make.\n2. Love and Theft (Columbia) - Bob Dylan\nAfter 1997's dirge-like Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft is like the old man discovering Viagra. Not since the '60s has Dylan sounded so playful, funny and alive. Dylan's voice now has the correct timbre to convey every true emotion in his songs. Just listen to the way his voice boogies over the music provided by the best backing group he's ever played with on "Honest With Me." It'll rip your heart right out.\n3. Gorillaz (Virgin) - Gorillaz\nThese guys are the best cartoon band since Josie and the Pussie Cats, and with singles such as "Clint Eastwood" and "19-2000" it doesn't get much better. The artistic pedigree behind this oddly animated ensemble, which includes Blur's Damon Albarn, Del the Funkee Homosapien and the Automator, alone merits their high-ranking position on the list.\n4. Hot Shots II (Astralwerks) - Beta Band\nThe Betas proclaimed their self-titled debut "the worst album of the year," and for the follow-up they adopted another unique anti-marketing strategy by giving it a title easily confused with a Charlie Sheen movie. Ironic, then, that it's their tightest, most accessible work to date, thanks in part to hip-hop producer C-Swing. Great beats coupled with the laid-back stoner style that they're already loved for: can success be close behind?\n5. I Might Be Wrong-Live Recordings (Capitol) - Radiohead\nThe inclusion of the long sought after "True Love Waits" sets this live album apart from the rest of Radiohead's recent offerings. And boffo renditions of "Like Spinning Plates" and "Everything In Its Right Place" also add to the proceedings.\n6. Live 11/6/2000 Seattle, WA (Epic) - Pearl Jam \nPearl Jam's groundbreaking live CD release parade culminated in the last recorded Seattle show -- three discs of energy pumped tracks for a price you can afford. Pearl Jam's effort to release the high quality "bootlegs" for a decent price shows that despite all the back talk they taken, the guys still care about their fans. \n7. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch) - Wilco\nJeff Tweedy and Wilco created an impressive array of soundscopes and themes rivaling the Band in sounding effortless and timeless. Wilco has created an album with the ability to transport the listener with such pleasing and familiar sounds, that though you have been there before, you haven't seen it in this light. So much was said about the new sonic adventures of Radiohead, but Wilco has found the real innovational synthesis between the new and the old. \n8. Tenacious D (Epic) - Tenacious D\nJack Black -- need I say more.\n9. We Love Life (Polygram Int'l) - Pulp\nPulp's seventh album, and third stone cold classic in a row, finds the band growing old gracefully, as singer/lyricist Jarvis Cocker finds himself preoccupied with… plants? That's right, songs like "Weeds," "The Trees" and "The Birds in Your Garden" might not seem like the Sheffield gang's standard sex-and-drugs fare, but the core message is the same, as Jarvis sings on the title track: "You've gotta fight to the death for the right to live your life." Criminally, still unreleased in the U.S., it's well worth the import prices.\n10. Lonelyland (Universal) - Bob Schneider\nThis Austin artist has gone unknown to the majority of the nation for much too long. Schneider mixes his super songwriting skills with a variety of genres, adding a great percussive style to the background. \nHonorable Mentions\nRockin' the Suburbs (Epic) - Ben Folds\nToxicity - (Columbia) System of a Down \nSongs in A Minor (BMG) - Alicia Keys\nIsolation Drills (TVT) - Guided by Voices\nWeezer (the green album) (Geffen) - Weezer