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TOP ALBUMS 2016
Conor Oberst - Ruminations
Weezer- (White Album)
Drive By Truckers – American Band
Car Seat Headrest – Teens Of Denial
Green Day – Revolution Radio
Sing Street – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Pinegrove – Cardinal
Monkees – Good Times
Sting – 57th & 9th
Tancred – Out of the Garden
Luke Buck – Dark Matter
TOP ALBUMS 2015
Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Just Sit & Think & Sometimes I Just Sit
Jason Isbell – Something More Than Free
The Front Bottoms – Back On Top
Beach Slang – The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us
Wilco – Star Wars
Kacey Musgraves – Pageant Material
Craig Finn – Faith in the Future
Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
Death Cab For Cutie – Kintsugi
Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love
Dawes – All Your Favorite Bands
TOP TEN ALBUMS 2014
Drive By Truckers – English Oceans
Courtney Barnett – Double EP
Jenny Lewis – Voyager
Weezer – Everything Will Be Allright In The End
Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams
Bob Mould – Beauty & Ruin
Chrissie Hynde – Stockholm
The Both – The Both
Lydia Loveless – Somewhere Else
Eels – Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett
TOP TEN ALBUMS 2013
Front Bottoms – Talon of the Hawk
Grouplove – Spreading Rumors
Avett Brothers – Magpie and the Dandelion
Kacey Musgraves – Same Trailer Different Park
Jason Isbell – Southeastern
Dawes – Stories Don’t End
Neko Case – Man
Billy Bragg – Tooth and Nail
So So Glos – Blowout
Haim – Days Are Gone
Ty Segall – Sleeper
TOP MUSIC 2012 - by FrankCap
Alabama Shakes: Boys & Girls
Bob Mould: Silver Age
Shins: Port of Morrow
Japandroids: Celebration Rock
Bruce: Wrecking Ball
Mumford & Sons: Babel
Fun.: Some Nights
Motion City Soundtrack: Go
Green Day: Uno/Dos/Tre
Ben Gibbard: Former Lives
Jason Lytle: Dept. Of Disappearance
Jens Lekman: I Know What Love Isn’t
Jack White: Blunderbuss
Craig Finn: Clear Heart Full Eyes
John Mayer: Born & Raised
Gaslight Anthem: Handwritten
TOP MUSIC 2011 - by FrankCap
Wild Flag – Wild Flag
Death Cab For Cutie – Codes and Keys
All Time Low – Dirty Work
Wilco – The Whole Love
Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
Radiohead – King of Limbs
Pains of Being Pure At Heart – Belong
Jayhawks – Mockingbird Time
Jonathan Coulton – Artificial Heart
Blink 182 – Neighborhoods
Glen Campbell – Ghost On The Canvas
Paul Simon – So Beautiful, So What
Adele – 21
Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest
Black Keys – El Camino
Top Music 2010 - by FrankCap
Motion City Soundtrack – My Dinosaur Life
New Pornographers: Together
The Hold Steady – Heaven Is Whenever
Surfer Blood: Astro Coast
Sleigh Bells: Treats
Weezer: Hurley & Death To False Metal
Drive By Truckers: The Big To-Do
Kings Of Leon – Come Around Sundown
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – III/IV
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Jenny & Johnny – I’m having Fun Now
Best Coast: Crazy For You
Bruce Springsteen – The Promise
Top Music 2009 - by FrankCap
Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
Morrisey - Years Of Refusal
Weezer - Raditude
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Wilco - Wilco
U2 - No Line On The Horizon
Bruce - Working On A Dream
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
The Swell Season - Strict Joy
Cracker - Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey
The Decemberists - Hazards Of Love
Conor Oberst - Outer South
Owl City - Ocean Eyes
Monster Folk - Monster Folk
Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D.
Ray Davies - The Kinks Choral Collection
Top Music 2008 - by FrankCap
Hold Steady – Stay Positive
Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs
Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
Lucinda Williams – Little Honey
Coldplay – Viva La Vida
Weezer – Red Album
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cardinology
Randy Newman – Harps & Angels
Connor Oberst – Connor Oberst
Stephen Malkmus & The Jiks – Real Emotional Trash
Black Kids – Partie Traumatic
Metallica - Death Magnetic
My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
Ben Folds – Way To Normal
REM – Accelerate
The Pretenders – Break Up The Concrete
Top Music 2007 - by FrankCap
Boys and Girls in America - The Hold Steady
New Magnetic Wonder - Apples In Stereo
Writer's Block - Peter, Bjorn & John
Cassadaga - Bright Eyes
Sky Blue Sky - Wilco
Easy Tiger - Ryan Adams
West - Lucinda Williams
In Rainbows - Radiohead
Once - Original Movie Soundtrack
Magic - Springsteen
Life In Cartoon Motion - Mika
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon
Wincing The Night Away - The Shins
Under The Blacklight - Rilo Kiley
Reunion Tour - The Weakerthans
The Search - Son Volt
At My Age - Nick Lowe
It's A Bit Complicated - Art Brut
Top 25 Albums All Time - by FrankCap
Abbey Road - The Beatles
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
Let It Bleed - Rolling Stones
The Last Waltz - The Band
Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan
Pet Sounds - Beach Boys
Who's Next - The Who
Frampton Comes Alive - Peter Frampton
Reggatta de' Blanc - The Police
Something/Anything - Todd Rundgren
Tim - The Replacements
Back To Basics - Billy Bragg
Hatful Of Hollow - The Smiths
London Calling - The Clash
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road - Lucinda Williams
The Dirty South - Drive By Truckers
Gold - Ryan Adams
Seconds of Pleasure - Rockpile
Reckoning - REM
Vs. - Pearl Jam
Nevermind - Nirvana
My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello
Doolittle - The Pixies
Never Mind The Bollocks - The Sex Pistols
Kerosene Hat - Cracker/Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman
Top 10 Alltime Films - by FrankCap
2001: A Space Odyssey
Citizen Kane/Magnificent Ambersons
The Godfather I & II
Raging Bull/Taxi Driver
Nashville
Star Wars: Episode IV & V
Jaws/Close Encounters
North By Northwest/Vertigo
Wizard of Oz
Annie Hall
THE ALL TIME BEST 15 TV SHOWS - by FrankCap
(in no particular order)
1 The X-Files: This had it all: sci-fi/horror/comedy/romance/drama/fantasy. Great writing/directing. Iconic heroes and villains and so much mystery. Show runner, Chris Carter took paranoid conspiracy to the next level and made cultural icons out of Mulder & Scully. He also shepherded a writer's room that would produce great art on their own, like Vince Gilligan.
2 LOST: This show took the water cooler talk, combined it with the internet, hidden Easter eggs and a whole lot of Mc Guffins. One of the best pilots ever filmed. JJ Abrams kick started this engine and let Carleton Cuse & Damon Lindelof drive it to the finish line. I think season 4 proved it’s worth. The braintrust kept it from becoming a one trick pony by throwing us into the future with flash forwards and giving us all new mysteries. Many felt the semi-religious nature of the finale didn't pay off enough of the mysterious they had set up. I felt very satisfied, worn out, exhilarated and thankful. Never before, and probably never again, will I feel as much anticipation to get to the next episode.
3 Twin Peaks: This was the problem with Twin Peaks. Lynch played out the mystery too long without delivering the answers. X-Files suffered somewhat similar fate. But in two seasons, David Lynch redefined what could be put on in primetime and paved the way for every quirky, offbeat show to follow, all the while scaring the pants off us and delivering humor as black as Dale Cooper’s coffee.
4 M*A*S*H: Equaling or even topping the Robert Altman film is no short feat, but Larry Gelbart’s marathon masterpiece on war and the human condition gave us the best of humor and the worst of wartime horror. Alan Alda became a national icon
5 Mary Tyler Moore: Such a smart show from James L. Brooks and one of the pioneers of the single, empowered working woman. Surrounded by great tv characters: Sue Ann Nivens, Ted Baxter, Lou Grant, Rhoda Morgenstern & Murray Slaughter – Mary Tyler Moore grounds the show as Mary Richards (our every woman) who we know is “gonna make it after all”.
6 Star Trek: Boldly went where no man – or show had gone before. Not just to distant planets, but to new territory with racial boundaries and great sci-fi writers, who caged their allegories of the sixties within big headed aliens and lava creatures. A trio of Kirk-Bones-McCoy at its heart, Trek matched these out of this world stories with the humanity of its three leads (even thought one was a Vulcan).
7 Twilight Zone: Like Trek, Rod Serling was the master at sneaking a political or moral lesson down your throat in the guise of the creepiest surprising endings this side of O Henry. Serling spread the wealth among hundreds of great writers and actors, all the while shepherding this talent pool with his unique intros and outs from each week’s episode.
8 Seinfeld: The show about nothing. Groundbreaking in bringing the tv sitcom into the modern era. Much like Lenny Bruce made stand up about daily life (instead of one liners), Seinfeld made the sitcom about the little mundane things of life, not forced “situations”. Combining Jerry’s standup routines, with the brilliance of Larry David produced this bizarre comedy gold, topped off with a foursome of fascinatingly self involved New Yorkers.
9 All In The Family: Norman Lear’s masterpiece. This show early on, broke every taboo of tv and culture. In a time when America was it’s most unsure and divisive, this show never shied away from any topic. Making bigoted, old fashioned conservative, Archie Bunker loveable proved the acting chops of Carrol O”Connor and the skill of Lear’s ability to bring out the Archie in all of us, even when we could see how wrong he was.
10 I Love Lucy: The architect of TV sitcoms. Lucille Ball solidified her legacy as the queen of comedy with the many adventures of Lucy Ricardo. Smarts, looks and hysterically funny, Lucy was never afraid to make herself look bad. Desi Arnez doesn’t get enough credit for creating the multi-camera set ups and much of the business smarts of the DesiLu empire.
11 Sopranos: Maybe the greatest testament to this HBO drama is that, watching it, you never think you’re looking at actors. It all seems like you’re spying on home movies of a dysfunctional mob family. Every actor lives and breathes his role, and is as entwined in it as their own skin. David Chase’s vision and the words of the superb writing staff always flow naturally from the performers mouths
12. As so it was with David Simon's The Wire. Simon built an intricate inner city world, populated with chameleon - like character actors, who lived and breathed every line of his dialogue. Each season a perfect micro series of it's own, but all woven together in an amazingly gritty tapestry.
13. Breaking Bad. Vince Gilligan took what he learned on the X-Files and cultivated the amazing world of a high school chem teacher, diagnosed with terminal cancer, and turning to a life of cooking crystal meth for $for his family. As great as the story and writing are, this show would not be what it is without Bryan Cranston as Walter White. Cranston takes you through every emotion possible, all while making you believe this could really happen to someone.
14. Simpsons: Pound for pound, probably the funniest show over the longest period of time. Always fresh and always relevant, Homer is the Archie Bunker of this generation.
15. The Leftovers: LOST co-show runner, Damon Lindelof, course corrected a season 1 problem by creating two of the best seasons of television ever made. The depth and poignancy of his writing, melded to the amazing cast, including Justin Theroux and Carrie Coon, left a devastating resonance on the viewers.