The best albums 2000 - 2024, 7 of 10

Onwards we go. Today we count down from 70 to 61.

70. Lay Low. Lou Doillon (2015)

Two of three Lou Doillon's albums made it to this list, as I found I've slowly fell out of love with 'Soliloquy' lately. Two out of three ain't bad of course. It all started with Lay Low for me. Not long after finding out about the album I bought it on vinyl. She recorded this album with Canadian Taylor Kirk of Timbre Timber. It is very clear that the two got the best out of each other. The album has that distinctive Lou Doillon mood and not just because of her voice. Despite working with different producers, all her albums have her mark, just like e.g. Lana del Rey's, someone Doillon can certainly be compared to and on a very positive level. Lay Low is the proof of the pudding.

69. Superior. Tim Christensen (2008)

What happened to Tim Christensen after 2012? I have not heard of him since. All his four solo albums are great to listen to. It is the last two that can be found here. always released long before I could pick them up here in The Netherlands. On Superior his sound has evolved, the songs better and the use of a mellotron gives it all a touch of mystery. Moving between loud rock and soft, even tender ballads, Christensen moves his listeners on different levels. Where have you you gone, Tim Christensen?

68. Elephant. The White Stripes (2003)

All The White Stripes albums have their moments, but there's not a single one I rate as a truly great album. Let's say that Elephant is in this list as a sort of amalgam of all the albums of this century. The Jack White histrionics are present, in voice and guitar. And don't let anyone tell me that Meg White is a bad drummer. If you can follow everything White comes up with to a t, then you're good. Meg used to be a powerful, inventive and flexible drummer, a big part of what The White Stripes were. Why Elephant and not another album? For one reason: 'Seven Nation Army' of course, a song that got a life way beyond the alternative, blues based rock of The White Stripes.

67. Cartoon Darkness. Amyl and the Sniffers (2024)

Amy Taylor and her Sniffers' third album really hit the jackpot. The Melbourne based punkers have truly found their own. With a female singer who impersonates Johnny Rotten better than he can himself these days. There's a slight, a snarl, a cry and plain anger in her voice when she needs it, and something bordering on tenderness in the few ballads the album contains. The band plays tight but allows some great guitar solos in the mean time. With Cartoon Darkness this band has a career in front of it.

66. Rammstein. Rammstein (2019)

Rammstein is Rammstein, also after a decade of silence where new music was concerned. And then came that very controversial video of the song 'Deutschland' and the world knew: Rammstein's back. 'Rammstein' easily fits in with the best albums of the band, 'Reise Reise' and 'Mutter'. Yes, it is metal maybe even industrial, but there's also melody in abundance. This combination makes Rammstein a band that, even in countries that do not speak nor teach the German language at schools, is huge. This is an album every band making a comeback dreams of making.

65. Suck It And See. Arctic Monkeys (2011)

The first of four Arctic Monkeys albums on this list. Three did not make it, including the two latest. Suck It And See is the album that is very good but sort of falls through the cracks because of them other three. I will always play them and not this one. Yet, it has a strong collection of songs and it was the right move to make after the weaker 'Humbug'. Today, I have no idea any more what to expect of the band. Suck It And See promised greatness that in the end was not delivered in my humble opinion.

64. Resist. Midnight Oil (2022)

Speaking of comeback albums. Midnight Oil called it quits in 2022, once again, but went into retirement with a bang. Resist is a fabulous album and in direct competition with 'Diesel And Dust' or 'Earth And Sun And Moon'. The album opens with songs that haunt my head regularly. 'Rising Seas', 'The Barka-Darling River', 'Tarkine', most bands would kill to open an album like that. Not everything after this is that good, but most of the music is very consistent, with singer Peter Garrett as the ever energetic frontman. Midnight Oil is no more, but we have Resist.

63. Sing Loud, Sing Proud. Dropkick Murphies (2001)

It all started with a free compilation cd with punk songs if I remember correctly and my seven or eight year old picked out one of the songs. The Irish folk punk or punk folk, whatever you prefer, of Bostonians Dropkick Murphies. I went out to listen to the album and was taken by it immediately. The mix of punk with folk traditionals, ulleian pipes and tin whistles next to the ironclad voices of the two singers does it all. From the local pubs to the larger venues, it happens all the time. Sing Loud, Sing Proud indeed.

62. Fast Forward. Joe Jackson (2015)

And there, out of the blue, Joe Jackson appeared into my musical life once again. I had stopped listening to his new work for decades, with the exception of 'IV' when the old band reconvened. Fast Forward returned the Joe Jackson I had come to love listening to in the middle of the 1980s with his superb albums 'Night And Day' and even more so 'Body And Soul'. Fast Forward has it all as well. So does the follow up album 'The Fool' but Fast Forward is better (and was more surprising). Sixteen great songs were added to my list of favourite Joe Jackson songs; yes, that's the whole album. Each side of the double LP pointed to a specific city, recording studio and mood. And then there's bassist Graham Maby of course.

61. Baby Darling, Doll Face Honey. Band of Skulls (2009)

My album of 2010 and then I found it's from 2009. Mistakes happen. Just like I recently found that the band had split when I noticed bass player and co-singer Emma Richardson surfacing in Pixies. No, the whole album is not that good but the songs that are justify this position. The light and the shade in a song is taken to new extremes here. Band of Skulls can be sweet as a purring kitten sitting in your lap, only to turn within seconds into the bearded devil itself. The Hulk or Mr. Hyde are play toys compared to the fury unleashed in the best songs on Baby Darling, Doll Face Honey. It's a fair point to make that this album is The White Stripes with superb bass parts. That takes nothing away from the fact that this band has 'Death By Diamonds And Pearls'. Afterwards the band certainly had its moments but it would never be this good again.

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