Best and Worst of 2010 - Part I

NOTE:  The weeks around X-Mas and New Years are traditionally dead in terms of new releases so this week and next week we will be going over some of the best and worst releases to come out in 2010.  Rather than choose boring categories like "Best Song," "Best Album," etc. I've decided to make my own categories like "Best Live Cover Song" and "Scariest Album Cover."

Have a great Holiday Season!  Oh and, as my Christmas gift to you, I've gone through the trouble of finding versions of the mentioned songs (when possible) for your streaming pleasure!

Most Original Cover Album:  Amanda Palmer - Amanda Palmer Performs The Popular Hits Of Radiohead On Her Magical Ukulele

This year's most original album of cover songs comes to us from Amanda Palmer (frontwoman of The Dresden Dolls).  Palmer gives us an album of offbeat covers of seven of Radiohead's more famous songs--all performed on the ukulele!  (Okay, okay "Exit Music (For A Film)" has a piano and violin accompaniment but I digress).  Give a listen to the entire album of Amanda Palmer Performs The Popular Hits Of Radiohead On Her Magical Ukulele below:




Best Studio Cover Song: Cee Lo Green - "No One’s Gonna Love You" (Band of Horses)
Cee Lo Green has had a pretty good year with Grammy noms in the Song of the Year and Record of the Year categories for his so-catchy-it-should-be-illegal song, "Fuck You" (or "Forget You" if you're going for the clean version).  So it isn't a huge surprise that his cover of a relatively unknown but one of my personal favorite songs from Band of Horses, "No One’s Gonna Love You," hasn't gotten a lot of attention.  Well, it's only the best cover song of the year, people!!!  Cee Lo turns a pretty somber and slow tempo song from Band of Horses into an orchestral journey with a funk-tinged twist and a unique syncopation choice on the beats.  It's absolutely enchanting.  Listen to it below or watch the video on YouTube.




Best Live Cover Song:  Lissie - "Pursuit of Happiness" (Kid Cudi)
This was a tough category for me because there were a lot of good live covers this year.  I was sorely tempted to choose Jimmy Fallon's (performing as Neil Young) cover of Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair" because it is by far the most unique live cover of the year.  However the song that won out is Illinois singer/songwriter Lissie's cover of the Kid Cudi song "Pursuit of Happiness."  She takes a pretty serious and hardcore sounding hip-hop song and turns into a catchy indie anthem for the ages.  That and the fact that in the clip below Lissie takes a giant swig of tequila before singing the song makes this one the winner by a nose.  Listen to it below or watch the video.






Scariest Album Cover: Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

The cover to the left was eventually changed to one of these alternate versions but not because Kanye or any of the record execs came to their senses and realized that is one of the scariest and most horrific album cover in years.  No, they changed the cover art because Wal-Mart refused to carry the album if they pressed it with the image to the left.  My guess is the people at Wal-Mart didn't like the cover not because it was overly prurient but instead they just realized it is a butt-ugly picture.  Both characters on the original cover look absolutely frightening and the phoenix character on the right looks like she has a face growing out of her armpit for heaven's sake!  That is seriously one dark, twisted fantasy you have, Kanye.  




Most (Potentially) Racist Cover Art:  Massive Attack Heligoland

Okay, the cover to Massive Attack's album from the beginning of the year looks like you have a guy in black face that has just gotten in a bar fight.  That and you have a bleeding black and white rainbow raining down on his head which can be viewed symbolically many ways but most of those interpretations will not be positive I'm guessing.  Great band, horrible choice in album art. 






Coolest Album Cover Art:  Faithless The Dance

Okay, I admit I really don't know what's going on in the cover to the left but I love the imagery they use and how they leave it open to interpretation.  I'm going to assume the big throng of people in the middle are dancing (hence the title of the album) but that's about as far as I am willing to guess without knowing more.  But the color palette is absolutely gorgeous and the layout of the figures on the image is immaculate in terms of framing without being boring.  It's a complex and well thought out piece of art that I find very mesmerizing.