Joe's Top Ten Records of 1998

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Top Ten of 1998

  1. "The Best if Paulo Conte" (Italian cabaret singer; Fun for the whole family).

  2. "The Salesman and Bernadette," Vic Chesnutt (Vic writing in the character of a broken-down traveling salesman. Like Wim Wender's "Wings of Desire" for guitar and horns).

  3. "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" (O.K., so I'm just like everybody else. It's not my fault that she's groovy and beautiful).

  4. "Black Music," Chocolate Genius (ragged, soulful and heart-breaking. "Half A Man," "My Mom"...I prayed this was fiction; I heard that it isn't).

  5. "The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions," Miles Davis (dark, thick, grooves; spastic blues. "Let the man go through...!").

  6. "Live 1966," Bob Dylan (Again, I hate to state the obvious, but this is essential listening for everybody. He was a tightrope-walker across an electric barbed-wire fence. And he did it in high-heeled shoes wearing a fabulous, plaid suit. Infinity goes up on trial).

  7. "Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman" (So fabulous is he, so deep, funny, and heart-breaking, that this four-disc set cannot contain him. Even given the staggering omission of "A Wedding in Cherokee County," this kind of effort must be encouraged. Next: a Randy Newman postage stamp?)


Most Listened To Records of 1998

  1. "The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat Cole Trio" (disc 3). (There are 18 CDs in this boxed set, but I can't get past the third one).

  2. "Songs In The Key Of Life", Stevie Wonder (other than coffee, I can't think of anything that is this good and this popular).

  3. "Songs for Swinging Lovers," Frank Sinatra (possibly the best pop music ever recorded).

  4. "Criss Cross," Thelonius Monk (This record changed my life when I was sixteen. It still does daily).

  5. "Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus," Charles Mingus (Nobody rocks harder. Listen up, you young people).

  6. "Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane" (The greatest hazz vocal recording of all time, where an obscure, brilliant singer is accompanied by the greatest quartet in the history of modern jazz.)

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