+  CHARLES TAYLOR'S TOP TEN +







1. Sleater-Kinney, "Call the Doctor" (Chainsaw)




When Corin Tucker,  the most compelling voice in rock 'n' roll, bar
fucking none, sings, "I'm your monster/I'm not like you," she's expressing
the pain and glory of choosing to be an outsider, neither
suppressing any emotion nor being felled by any. Tucker and
guitar-heroine-in-the making Carrie Brownstein made the most exciting music
I heard all year.



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2. The Spinanes, "Strand" (Sub Pop)




Mysterious and lovely, this album is powered by singer/guitarist/songwriter
Rebecca Gates's gift for turning evanescent wafts of feeling into seductive
pop that, after nearly a year of listening, still sounds nowhere near
exhausted to me.



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3. Elvis Costello, "All This Useless Beauty" (Warner Bros.), "Costello & Nieve" (Warner Bros.) and "God Give Me Strength" ("Grace of My
Heart" soundtrack, MCA)




Elvis proves that, right now, there isn't a singer in rock `n' roll who
can touch him.



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4. Pulp, "Common People" (Island single)




The glorious return of class hatred to rock `n' roll. The rich girl who
wants "to be like the common people" gets the same treatment as the
deceitful normal wife in "Freaks." Jarvis Cocker sings to her as if he has
the power to make every one of her whims come true, and to make her regret
it the rest of her life. One of us, one of us, one of us...



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5. Bobbie Cryner, "Girl of Your Dreams" (MCA)




As slick as country gets and, with Cryner's bourbon-with-an-edge-of
sugar contralto, as heartfelt. Cryner sings about the compromises,
annoyances and  disappointments of marriage, and damned if she doesn't
make it sound like a good deal.



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6. Hole, "Gold Dust Woman" ("The Crow: City of Angels" soundtrack,
Miramax/Hollywood)




Proving that Hole is neither Courtney Love's side project nor her
backing band, the group emerged with this track that left Fleetwood Mac's
version in the dust (and that's saying something). Caught between the
thunder of Eric Erlandson's guitar and the crunch of Patti Schemel's drums
was Love herself. Toward the fade out, buried in the mix, she spits out the
line "Black widow of a woman," turning the tabloid view of her into an
acknowledgement of the rancor and grief she still feels.



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Because when it's playing, grief doesn't stand a chance.



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"Singer-songwriter" would never have become a dirty word if most
singer-songwriter stuff was as sharp, funny,  heartbreaking and sexy as
this. Isn't this what dreams are for?



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9. Dance/Hip Hop/Techno




The only way I can get these favorite records on a list with ten
entries: Pet Shop Boys' "Bilingual," Stereolab's "Emperor Tomato Ketchup,"
Everything But the Girl's "Walking Wounded," "Entroducing ... DJ Shadow,"
Spring Heel Jack's "68 Million Shades," Orbital's "In Sides," and a pair of
diva debuts, Billie Ray Martin's "Deadline for My Memories" and Kristine
W.'s "Land of the Living."



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After months, the boast "We used to be number ten/Now we permanent one"
came to sound like Muhammad Ali predicting the outcome of a fight. It ain't
boasting if you do what you say you're gonna.







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