10 Albums Part II

4. Hitchhike to Rhome- Old 97s: Named after a Johnny Cash song (Wreck of the Old 97) these four guys from Dallas, blended country, power pop, and punk to create a sound distinctly their own, which with singer Rhett Miller's comedicly clever and witty lyrics capture exactly what it was like to be a slacker Dallasite both in love with country and rock music. That is to say, the Old 97's capture a moment for many people of my generation, just graduated from college, cool, optimistic, and completely Texan. While some of their later work Too Far to Care and Fight Songs were more polished and well received, Hitchhike was the Old 97's in their original element. Here are songs about lost love, cheating girlfriends, broken hearts, unrequited passion, and crime (all country standard themes). Moreover, there is a certain rock-a-billy/honky tonk groove that retains a specific hipster/alternative edge to all the music. These guys made it cool for all the kids in Deep Ellum with their horned rimmed glasses, Doc Maarten's, and Tripping Daisy t-shirts to love and apreciate country and their Texas roots. This is a fun album, that will make you laugh.

Essential Tracks: If My Heart Were a Car, Wish the Worst, Doreen, Stoned

Key Lyric: If my heart were a car/ You'd have stripped it along time ago

5. Hollywood Town Hall- The Jayhawks: Critically acclaimed, this is a beautiful and heartfelt album, that comes right out of the heartland of America. In the spirit of The Byrds, harmony and melody are the key words here. The two lead singers, Mark Olson and Gary Louris, share harmonies that are both elegant and exhilirating, both with such unique and un-imitatable (is that a word) voices. With these two part harmonies, come catchy guitar hooks and well layered songs, with rock and folk emphases. They also are not afraid to rock out. There is not a bad song on the album. The lyrics themselves give us glimpses of stories in progress, and transfer feelings and sentiments of sadness, longing, faith, and hope more than actual story lines. The Jayhawks with both Olson and Louris would go on to make only one more album together, before Olson retired from the group to take care of his wife, singer Victoria Williams, who had been diagnosed with multiple-sclerosis. Tis a pity, Louris kept the band together and put out a number of solid albums, but nothing that ever matched the beauty and harmony of this album. P.S. I had a friend whose first date with his future wife was to a Jayhawks concert, so they can't be bad.

Essential Tracks: Waiting for the Sun, Crowded in the Wings, Two Angels, Clouds

Key Lyrics: Your words hung high in the rafters/ And settled down like rain/ Remain happy ever after

6. All That You Can't Leave Behind- U2. The second but not the last U2 album in the list. After experimenting with dance music, electronica, and ironic self mockery, U2 went back to playing straight forward, honest rock n' roll on this album. The opening Beautiful Day quickly became the anthem of this first decade of the new millenium, with its hope and faith ("See the bird with the leaf in her mouth/ After the flood all the colors came out) and was timely and relevant enough to help heal a mourning nation after 9-11 (they were the first band to play a big concert in NYC after the attacks and their performance at the following Super Bowl was a patriotic, pastoral, and touching memorial to those who lost their lives). U2, as Bono liked to say, were re-applying for the job of best band in the world, and this album earned them the job. The ablum follows the typical U2 album formula of a series of rock anthems, soulful ballads all touching on the U2's favorite themes of love, relationships, faith, and hope ending with the beautifully simple Grace a meditation on God's mercy. What is most amazing about this album is how worshipful it is. Elevation and Grace are basically worship songs and could work in any church service. When I Look at The World is a treatment of Christ's enduring love and compassion for the world. In the end, the album's thesis is that through our lives in this transient and temporal world, it is love that is all that you cannot leave behind. Through it all you get what you would expect from U2, a perfect blend of guitar, bass, drums and voice producing songs of worth that have the power to change your day, make you ponder life, or get you through some of your hardest moments.

Essential Tracks: Beautiful Day, Walk On, Elevation, Kite

Key Lyric: You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been/ A place that has to be believed to be seen