1. The Bog Country – Talking Heads – Elitist, wiseacres, rhythmically jumpy, ontense, insulated, New York centric, it's a big country and you can kep it, David Byrne claims. And the band slithers through the snideness like a beacon for funk still to come. Grade: A
2.The Ghost Of Tome Joad – Bruce Spriingsteen – Tom Morello's finest guitar playing ever has a tone of despair and exultation and, when I saw him play it at MSG, he stopped the concert in its tracks and lifted it to another plain. It didn't make Bruce's position clearer, it was his position, the horror of joblessness in the power of sound. Grade:A
3. Diamonds From Sierre Leone – Kanye West – Around about now, there was never going back. With a Shirley Bassey sample, an Outkast quote and the King of rap right next to him, he released a game changer. Grade: A-
4. Cupid's Chokehold/Breakfast In America – Gym Class Heroes – In which a pop rap band takes a Supertramp sample to the top of the charts. Grade: B+
5. Atoms For Peace – Thom Yorke – Listening to Thom with just an OK Computer bleeping in the back in small bubbles like atoms, he sounds more alone and crazy than ever. "No more leaky holes in your brains"? Yuck. Grade: B+
6. Black Bottom Stomp – Jelly Roll Morton Grade: A
7. Everything In Its Right Place – Radiohead – Their best song ever. Grade: A
8. Rocky Ground – Bruce Springsteen – This song works for me, it's a messy Gospel concept but he pulls it off. I mean, musically of course. Grade: A-
9. Simple Song – The Shins – Here's my take, James is good for 4 songs every two years and this isn't one of them. Grade: B-
10. Fo My Thing – Estelle – Featuring Janelle Monae and it sounds like they just staggered into a nightclub in 1967. Grade: B+.