Over the last few weeks of 05 we will be posting our writers' picks for the best of 2005. Each day we posted a new Top 5 list from one of our writers. Now at the conclusion we are please to present the master list comprised of the top picks from all of our writer submissions. Morley Seaver's Top 5 (or so) of 2005. OK, you want ME to pick my Top 5 of the year? Well, you gotta give me a bit of latitude on that one, cuz this was a great year for music, and I like a lot of different types of music. Three of them are slam-dunk-easy to be tied for the Top Pick and another four come in pretty even after that OK so if I can have three tied for first place (all right I know it's a cop-out ---- YOU try and pick �em) then this all works. Here we go. 5. Cori Yarckin - Ringing in My
Head: I'm a metal head. Cradle
of Filth is my favourite band. So why do I like this record so darn
much? Because it's a great one that's why, dammit! Cori churned
out 10 cuts of perfect power pop/rock material that laughs in the face
of Hillary Fluff and Ashlee Lip-sync. She delivered great songs and
vocals framed perfectly in terrific instrumentation/production courtesy
of Jimmy Landry.
4. Crisis - Like Sheep Led to
Slaughter: East Coasters turned West Coasters scorched ears with this
release in their own particular extreme metal way. Karyn Crisis scared
the crap out of everybody listening with her demon vocals and the songs�.well,
there's not much better this year than "Nomad" and "Waking the Dead".
Awesome stuff!
3. Scarling - So Long Scarecrow:
Jessicka and company followed up last year's "Sweet Heart Dealer" with
an amazing record that works on a bunch of different levels. It's
entertaining lyrically. Instrumentally and sonically the band has
never sounded so good or confident. And the songs are the best the
group has penned. "City Noise" and "Bummer" just kill.
2. My Ruin - The Brutal Language:
The wrecking crew from Los Angeles stripped down to basics and retooled
themselves. Vocalist Tairrie B and guitarist Mick Murphy went into
the studio after their rhythm section quit and merely knocked out the best
album of their career. Brutal yet smarter, like a boxer who has learned
to do more than just throw hammer-fall right hands, the record has a torqued
up guitar sound and varied vocals from Miss B. This is music to decompress
by�like primal therapy.
And finally the amazing, spectacular trio that tied for #1 1c. Janeen Leah - Time is Never
Wasted: Sneaking in just before the end of the year is the singer-songwriter's
massively awesome debut record. Janeen has a voice that is just pure
heaven and she uses it to great effect in thirteen quality cuts.
There is a blues song and a jazz-oriented cut and the rest can be described
as simply awesome. Nothing fancy. No frills. Just the most solid
adult-oriented rock album of the year.
1b. Imogen Heap - Speak
for Yourself: I heard about five seconds of the song "Hide and Seek"
and from then on couldn't play anything else. When I got the record,
my jaw dropped. This is the best record Bjork never made. There are
twelve spectacular cuts from Britain's own Ms. Heap. Electronic wizardry
is mixed with emotive vocals to make a record that stands at the top of
the�..Heap (sorry).
1a. Green Carnation - The Quiet
Offspring: Green Carnation was already three albums old by the time
I got to hear them with this, their newest, released in Feb of this year.
Like a shot of pure adrenaline, I was hooked by this masterpiece as easily
as a cougar taking down a deer. These guys write songs so perfect
it's unreal. With a six member group, talent abounds as everybody
had a hand in writing. Strangely, it sounds really cohesive instead
of fractured as you would think. I've played this record to death
all year and haven't yet got tired of it.
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