Playing Favorites.

I'm not saying they're the greatest albums ever made...Just my favorites, and, thus, quite spectacular. Or, you know, the "greatest" ever.

Besides, I do change my mind a lot. For lack of a better system, they are in chronological order.

1. A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles (Capitol) 1964: Choosing just one Beatles album is tough, but faced with the decision, this easily wins out for me. No, it does not have the unexpected elements of experimentation of the later albums, but I like it because it really does showcase the early Beatles at their best. Plus, it has what may be my favorite song of all time (even just for the harmony), "If I Fell." There needs to be no justification for this pick, obviously.

2. Beauty & the Beat, The Go-Gos (IRS) 1981: Sure, go ahead, make fun of me. Tell yourself that they were just girls, just partying whore drunk druggies hanging out with that shady dude that ran IRS. Tell yourself whatever you need to. Then run down to the Salvation Army or Goodwill and pay the two bucks it'll cost you for a decent copy of this totally righteous LP. These girls are some pop-song writers, in the tradition of all the girl groups that came before them, they moved the bar just a little higher, even if no one actually noticed. But, like I said, I did. My favorite song on the album is "Our Lips Are Sealed," but it also has what is probably the MOST famous of their songs ("We Got the Beat"), as well as the LEAST famous of them ("Skidmarks on My Heart"). My take? Both rule!

3. Split, Lush (4AD) 1994: Yeah, I am truly a child of the 90's. And yes, when I recently listened to this stunner, I was surprised to hear that the album truly is dated (though I do NOT think in this case it is a bad thing). Lush is without a doubt my favorite rock band to have ever existed. That said, I recognize the facts as they are: not exactly multi-purpose. You don't, for instance, necessarily want to party to this band. Compared against themselves, I think this is obviously Lush's best work, and the most fully realized product of the distinct thing that they were. Listening to these songs, I hear the voice of adult songwriters able to call a thing as they see it. My favorite songs are never everyone else's- most people love this band for what have been perceived as their pop-feminist anthems ("Hypocrite," "Ladykillers," "Single Girl") but I love this band when they are most difficult. Maybe that's why Split is and always was my favorite album of theirs. I love its seriousness, and its sense of the dramatic. That said, I rarely want to listen to it these days. I'm far too happy for them now.

4. Speaking of albums that don't live up to my happiness quotient, Wowee Zowee by Pavement (Matador) 1995 strikes me as an album made by slightly unhappy, but, more importantly, very TIRED people. That said, it is by far one of the best (if not absolutely the BEST) albums of the 90's. Sure, it can be a real fucking downer and yes, it is laden and heavy with memories of the year that I graduated from high school. But it is also filled with all of the best things about Pavement in one package. I have little else to say- I can't pick favorite songs because I think of this album as an album, a complete organism incapable of being rent apart. So I won't. Rend it.

5. Pinkerton, Weezer (Geffen) 1996. I know what you're thinking. Wait, really I don't. I don't want to discuss Weezer. Obviously a bunch of complete douche bags that somehow made two fantastic rock albums. This is the second one. Of two.

6. whitechocolatespaceegg, Liz Phair (Matador) 1998. I'm not even sure this is the best Liz Phair album, so what the hell is it doing on this list? Oh, I don't know: it holds up better than ANY album from the 90's, and I'm saying this with confidence, recognizing the fact that I have not even heard it in about 3 years. The early Liz Phair (Exile in Guyville, that other one) is hilarious and ground-breaking. This album is what I like to call mid-Phair- before the total shit phase of her last two (or was it three?) albums, lies this one, all alone. Lyrically strong, sonically challenging, and still kind of hilarious, this album is on here because of all the albums from the 90's that I can think of this minute, I'd like to listen to this one the most. The end.

7. One Beat, Sleater-Kinney (Kill Rock Stars) 2002: The first totally bitching rock album made by an all-girl band where the consideration of gender is totally beside the point and stupid. Period(s).

8. Title TK, The Breeders (Elecktra) 2002: I don't know what travails poor Kim and Kelley had to survive to give birth to this mother, but whatever, it makes me feel good. Whereas Lush brings to mind the weight of being an adult, Title TK is to me, the perfect soundtrack to the Special Olympics- and I'm not putting down either side here. The sound IS adult, but also overwhelmingly simple. There is joy here and exasperation- but not that awful sound of adolescence and puberty that the truly young making music often cultivate (maybe a little too much alcohol). I recognize this music: it is familiar and never uninteresting to listen to. Its main characteristic, as I see it, is "not empty." Incidentally, that is what ties all of these to one another, in my O-P-I-N-I-O-N.

9. More Parts Per Million, The Thermals (Sub Pop) 2003: Energy. Smacked in the face. Haven't heard something to excite me so much since the Spice Girls.

10. Standing in the Way of Control, Gossip (Kill Rock Stars) 2006: There are three members in this three piece. They all do their jobs better than you do.