Four albums released in 2003, but
bought and loved by me in 2004, would have been high up in either this year or
last year’s lists. As such, I owe them a
mention. The most important of these is A Perfect Circle’s Thirteenth Step which would beat my 2003 winner (Mars Volta) and would only lose out to Amplifier this year. It is a staggering number of leaps on from
the first album (and meant I bought the shoddy covers album this year, darn it!). An utter classic. Oceansize’s
epic Effloresce album is superb
too. The eponymous Firetheft album (featuring a Foo
and a former Foo – Firetheft is essentially the new name
for Sunny Day Real Estate) is also great. Firetheft
are mellow, intelligent rock – an album that is grand without ever
overstretching itself. Finally, The Dandy Warhols shocked me with how
damn good Welcome to the Monkey House
is: ‘I am a Scientist’ is a three minute masterwork.
As for 2004 releases, The Red Hot Chili Peppers gave us a great
live album, though I doubt it would have made my list anyway. Oceansize produced an admirable follow up to
the above mentioned Effloresce album
(curiously titled Music for Nurses),
but this was only in ineligible EP form. Shame, because
it would have featured in the list, although Effloresce is better. Sigur Rós produced
an ep follow up to the excellent, but stupidly named ( ), with the utterly pants and even more stupidly named Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do. The only list this might make is the ‘most
dull eps ever made’ list. Avoid at all
costs. QOTSA released a stonking limited edition EP(Stone Age Complications) which acts, I guess, as a farewell to Nick
Oliveri. Bittersweet, then, because they
won’t sound this good again, I fear. Perhaps
they had their day. Perhaps he still has
it in him. We can live in hope. [Note,
2014: he does indeed; how great was 2013’s …Like
Clockwork - #2 that year - ?].