Village Voice Pazz & Jop 2004 Poll Results!

The past few years I've been reading the Pazz and Jop poll assembled by Village Voice music critic Robert Christgau...Pazz and Jop basically functioned as my Grammy Awards! I'd wait until it came out and if I had "missed" a few well placed records go out and snag them; probably at the underground music store in New York City a block from Tower on Broadway. During 2004 I heard few new albums and doubt I'm going to run out the door though a few lower ranked albums peak my interest (#99 Rio Baile Funk/Favela Booty Beats). If there ever can be such a thing the list represents the American music critic concensus. Time will tell if these records hold up or eventually make their way to landfills across America. Glad to see Loretta Lynn at number 3; Van Lear Rose was my favorite and confirms that even while on "sabbathical" Jack White who produced it is the man in modern rock and roll. Nice to see Green Day back up there for having some ambition. Another ambitious feller, Nick Cave, is appropriately on the list if a bit too low. Per usual Wilco is far too high and what are the Libertines doing here? And- gasp- U2 in the top 10? However, overall this is a good representative list. One further nitpicking note: For the first time, I notice a reissue on the list of "new albums." Though I know Faces' Five Guys Walk Into a Bar.. deserves accolades, and its a box set I will acquire it ought not be here (see my brief blurb on Faces of February 2). I'm going to read some of the essays and find out what Christgau has to say about 2004. There's also a singles list and I acclaim with a hearty hear hear Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out as Single of the Year. Below the first 40 albums on the Pazz and Jop.

1. Kanye West The College Dropout
2. Brian Wilson Smile
3. Loretta Lynn Van Lear Rose
4. Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand
5. Green Day American Idiot
6. Arcade Fire Funeral
7. Streets A Grand Don't Come For Free
8. U2 How to dismantle an atomic bond
9. Modest Mouse Good News
10. Danger Mouse The Grey Album
11. Madvillain Madvillainy
12. TV On the Radio Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
13. Wilco A Ghost is Born
14. Riko Riley More Adventurous
14. Nellie McKay Get Away From Me
16. Drive By Truckers The Dirty South
17. Fiery Furnaces Blueberry Boat
18. Bjork Medulla
19. Interpol Antics
20. Joanna Newsom The Milk Eyed Mender
21. Animal Collective Sung Tongs
22. Eliott Smith From a Basement on the Hill
23. MIA/Diplo Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1
24. Dizzee Rascal Showtime
25. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus
26. Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters
27. Killers Hot Fuss
28. Davendra Banhart Rejoicing in the Hands
29. Tom Waits Real Gone
30. The Libertines Libertines
31. Hold Steady Almost Killed Me
32. Ghostface The Pretty Toney Album
33. PJ Harvey Uh Huh Her
34. Yossou N'Dour Egypt
35. Usher Confessions
36. Morrissey You Are the Quarry
37. Sonic Youth Sonic Nurse
38. Black Keys Rubber Factory
39. Big & Rich Horse of a Different Color
40. A.C. Newman Slow Wonder