The Best and The Worst!

We have an exercise here that we do every week where one person picks an album that they have not heard, purchases it, and makes every other daCapoite listen to it. We then have a group review of the album and express our deepest feelings about it to everyone.

This has been going on for about a year now, so I have compiled daCapo’s list of the best and the worst of ‘Albums Of the Week’ for 2005/06. Here they are, by staff member along with any comments they passed on to me. All of these discs are available for purchase from Apple’s iTunes, if you are interested. Finally, a full list of the year’s worth of albums of the week is at the bottom.

Kevin Aichele

TOP 3
1. John Mayer - Continum
2. Carolyn Dawn Johnson – Love and Negotiation
3. Sarah Slean – Day One

WORST 3
1. Chantal Kreviazuk – Ghost Stories
2. James Blunt – Back to Bedlam
3. Aphix Twin – Come To Daddy






Annalee Schellenberg

Top 3
1. Carrie Underwood – Some Hearts
"I love pop country"
2. Sarah Slean – Day One
"This is just overall a really great, catchy album"
3. Beck – Guero
"Okay, this is a good album, not actually my favorite album but instead of choosing yet another female singer I thought I would choose this album to try and present my musical taste as slightly more well-rounded. I did actually get hooked on this song-of-the-week."

Worst 3
1. Westernhagen – Nahaufnahme
"OLAAAAAF uuugh!"
2. Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Journey of Dreams "I just plain don't like this style of music, and this album goes on forever!"
3. Massive Attack – Collected
"I'll show you what's not massive.... this album"






Olaf Pyttlik

TOP 3
1. John Mayer – Continum
2. Cake – Comfort Eagle
3. Imogen Heap – Speak for Yourself

WORST 3
1. Carolyn Dawn Johnson – Love and Negotiation
2. Westernhagen – Nahaufnahme
3. Chantal Kreviazuk – Ghost Stories






Clint Skibitzky

Top 3
1. Hot Hot Heat – Elevator
This album has creative and original instrumentation mixed with hooky melodies and strong pop rhythms.
2. Camille – Le Fil
This is a wholly original production with a very unique sound construction. After listening to it once, I was not certain that I liked it, but I knew I had to hear it again.
3. Sarah Slean – Day One
Creative, catchy, melodic...

Worst 3
1. Carolyn Dawn Johnson – Love and Negotiation
"Every bad cliché both musically and lyrically...please SHUT UP!)
2. Miami Vice – Soundtrack
"This is the best selection of bad tracks by several well known artists I have heard in a while, with the exception of the Phil Collins cover"
3. Chantal Kreviazuk – Ghost Stories
"Ghost Stories indeed...the last track on this album is incredibly haunting, and NOT in a good way!"






Nolan Balzer

Top 3
1. Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself
"Great Variety. arrangements and production. All round consistent flow and presentation."
2. Donald Fagen - Morph the Cat
"The classic oddball storytelling of Steely Dan with the best damn musicianship ever.
Sparse but funky production and crystal clean sound."
3 Sarah Slean - Day One
"Great song writing and arrangements without a low moment on the album. Always interesting and a tip of the hat to cabaret in a pop sensible manner."

Worst 3
1. Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy
"What the hell is this. Interesting if I wanted a soundtrack to losing mind.
2. Westernhagen – Nahaufnahme
"He should get over himself. I think he had a bunch of tunes no one else would take and he put them all on one album. When they sounded awful he decided to play trumpet on them. Unfortunately the sound worse now than they must have before the trumpet debacle. Bad decisions all over the place"
3. Chantal Kreviazuk – Ghost Stories
"Apparently she recorded this at home. Why am I not surprised?"

Date	Artist	Album	Picked By
October 17, 20005	Aphix Twin	Come To Daddy	Nolan
October 24, 2005	Hot Hot Heat	Elevator	Clint
October 31, 2005	Enigma	Love Sensuality Dev..	Olaf
November 7, 2005	Jamie Warren	Make Me Believe	Annalee
November 14, 2005	Sarah Slean	Day One	Nolan
November 21, 2005	Ladysmith Black Mambazo	Journey of Dreams	Clint
November 28, 2005	Pink Floyd	Dark Side of the Moon	Olaf
December 5, 2005	Imogen Heap	Speak for Yourself	Annalee
December 12, 2005	Bruce Cockburn	Speechless	Nolan
December 19, 2005	Beck	Guero	Clint
January 2, 2006	James Blunt	Back to Bedlam	Olaf
January 9, 2006	Madonna	Confessions on a Da..	Annalee
January 16, 2006	Fiona Apple	Extraordinary Machine	Nolan
January 23, 2006	Tori Amos	The Beekeeper	Clint
January 30, 2006	Depeche Mode	Playing the Angel	Olaf
February 6, 2006	Paul Anka	Rock Swings	Annalee
February 27, 2006	Jason Falkner	Can You Still Feel	Nolan
March 6, 2006	The Be Good Tanyas	Blue Horse	Clint
March 13, 2006	Kanye West	Late Registration	Olaf
March 20, 2006	Carrie Underwood	Some Hearts	Annalee
March 27, 2006	Donald Fagen	Morph the Cat	Nolan
April 3, 2006	Arctic Monkeys	Whatever People Say..	Clint
April 10, 2006	Westernhagen	Nahaufnahme	Olaf
May 15, 2006	P!nk	I’m Not Dead	Annalee
May 22, 2006	Van Hunt	On the Jungle Floor	Nolan
June 12, 2006	Train	For Me, It’s You	Clint
June 19, 2006	Massive Attack	Collected	Olaf
June 26, 2006	Dashboard Confessionals	Dusk and Summer	Annalee
July 3, 2006	Kean	Under the Iron Sea	Nolan
July 10, 2006	Camille	Le Fil	Clint
July 17, 2006	Cake	Comfort Eagle	Olaf
July 24, 2006	Carolyn Dawn Johnson	Love and Negotiation	Annalee
August 22, 2006	Esthero	Wikkid Lel’Girrls	Nolan
September 5, 2006	The Killers	Hot Fuss	Clint
September 12, 2006	John Mayer	Continum	Kevin
September 19, 2006	Miami Vice	Soundtrack	Olaf
September 29, 2006	Chantal Kreviazuk	Ghost Stories	Annalee
October 15, 2006	Joseph Arthur	Nuclear Daydream	Nolan