Top 20 Albums of 2002
# 1 to 10		  
scott 4 album

1. Scott 4 and Magic Car - European Punks LP (Tiny Dog)
On previous releases, Scott 4 had dabbled in krautrock and americana, and their songs were being badly remixed in the vain search for a hit single. They never so much as hinted at the grandeur of this album. Then they set out on the road northwards across Europe, met up with Magic Car and discovered, as the sleeve notes put it, their very own punk Valhalla. Quite simply one of the most individual, beautiful and stirring albums to have graced our CD player all year.

  
james yorkston album 2. James Yorkston and The Athletes - Moving Up Country (Domino)
Of all the plaudits heaped onto this album it was, somewhat surprisingly, dance magazine Muzik that hit the nail on the head: "Has a power and beauty that's beyond time and fashion". This was folk but not as we know it, Celtic but not annoying, acoustic but not boring. And on the track 6.30 Is Just Way To Early Yorkston hit on a fundamental truth that we can all surely relate too. Beg, borrow or burn a copy now. 		 
brmc album
 3. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - BRMC (Virgin)
Although the Jesus and Mary Chain comparisons did have some validity (not least in terms of hair styles) this was a genuinely bold and deeply serious album, burning with anger at times, but also surprisingly tender - "wanna feel what I touch, wanna find what I lost, wanna be kind" (from standout track Awake). Streets ahead of their supposed garage-rock peers, and 12 months later it's still on the CD player - it really is that good.		  
the coral album 4. The Coral - The Coral (Deltasonic)
A brilliantly out-there debut from the best new British band of the year. These six lads from Merseyside seemed to have it all - bags of energy, raw talent, oceans of charisma, a collidescope of ideas and corking tunes - what more could you ask for? Although clearly influenced by Captain Beefheart and Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles, their time is definitely now.		  
beth gibbons album
 5. Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out of Season (Go! Beat)
More used to wrapping her tonsils around minimal beats and cinematic strings in Portishead, Beth Gibbons instead warbled mournfully as only she can over Paul Webb's mostly gentle acoustic guitars, piano and violin. You can almost begin to see why Mojo magazine declared this one of the greatest albums ever made. Time will tell, all we know is that it took just a few seconds of the quite beautiful opener Mysteries (opening line: "God knows how I adore life") to become hooked.

 
rogers sisters album

6. The Rogers Sisters - Purely Evil (Troubleman Unlimited)
Recorded over just 2 days in May, this raw, stripped down set of songs from Rogers sisters Jennifer and Laura (plus Miyuki Furtado on bass) formed the kind of record that you heard once and just had to buy. Nursery rhyme lyrics ("he wants to ride his bicycle / he wants to ride it all day long / he wants to ride it through this song"), childlike vocals, name-dropping the NME, and an overriding sense of mischief made this the essential DIY American punk-pop import of the year.

  
malcolm album 7. Malcolm Middleton - 5:14 Fluoxytine Seagull Alcohol John Nicotine (Chemikal Underground) While the demise of Arab Strap was definitely a bad thing, it meant that Malcolm Middleton had a go at singing - and what a voice he's been hiding all these years. While the lyrics were mainly sad and self-deprecating ("I'll never be good at anything / and my songs are shite") the music was anything but. In brilliant final track Devil and the Angel he is visited by an angel: "she said Malcie... you can amount to something / you can achieve anything / you can be good at something / and your songs are alright." Heartwarming stuff.
  
lee hazlewood album 8. Lee Hazlewood - For Every Solution There's A Problem (City Slang)
While another grizzly old American, Johnny Cash, took the plaudits for his The Man Comes Around album, Hazlewood quietly returned with his best material in decades. The title wasn't the only neat thing about this record; tracks like A Taste of You and Save a Place for Me were warm and gentle things, but on Strangers, Lovers, Friends Lee asked "friends, they still speak to each other / once a week, to each other / why do they bother?" A great songwriter who's still got it.

  
milky wimpshake album 9. Milky Wimpshake - Lovers Not Fighters (Fortuna Pop)
Homegrown lo-fi political (with a small p) indie loser pop of the finest order, Milky Wimpshake's material stood out from the numerous other lo-fi indie pop bands because of the honest, witty, observational lyrics: "It's amazing what you can miss / when you treat love like a game of chess" (from Scrabble), or "I've got white liberal guilt, I can't help it folks, that's the way I'm built" (White Liberal Guilt). Too good for the mainstream, songwriter Pete Dale will hopefully one day be rewarded in guitar-pop heaven.		  
the streets album



10. The Streets - Original Pirate Material (679 / Locked On)
There was no denying that this was an amazingly fresh album from a major new talent, even if it was loved more by the middle-class, middle-aged music critics than the kids on the streets that it was written for and about. While songs like Too Much Brandy and The Irony of it All felt clumsy to say the least, there were absolute gems too, not least the hilarious Don't Mug Yourself and the uplifting, nostalga-tinged Weak Become Heroes. Best album sleeve of the year too.

# 11 - 15, plus top compilation albums