Lee Ranaldo picks his favorite albums of the decade
 

cheers! I'll read this later.

^ There is a video too. I tend to like Lee's recommendations. They always seem to mean something to him (unlike Thurston's recommendations).

"You Are Free" is no "Moon Pix"...but that's still a damn fine choice.

Great interview. I think it's really interesting that for the guy who's often seen as like the "experimental" one in the Youth, in contrast with Thurston as like the "pop" one, his choices were all just really simple, beautiful albums of songs (whereas I get the impression that Thurston would quite possible choose a load of fucked up out there noise stuff)... Just makes me wish even more that Lee would release a stripped back solo record of songs, ala Trees Outside the Academy. I'm sure that would blow minds.

Loved the part that he got "Love and Theft" on 9/11.

great watch. thanks

^^isnt that a normal "desease" for journalists?

I like how he teases us choosing exclusively SINGERS-SONGWRITERS albums...

Thanks for the link! Very interesting!

no.

hahahaah and...
YES!!!

I don't wanna ruin the surprise... but SOMETIMES I WISH WE WERE AN EAGLE is totally on the NR 2009 Top Ten list.

i wouldn't think that is a surprise...it's a fucking great record.

'all thoughts are prey to some beast' is my favorite song of the year.

You are Free is a fine pick. I like how when the interviewer is listing some of the albums that are topping the polls and he mentions that some of the sonic albums are doing well, Lee seems genuinely surprised that they are placing. Lee seems like a really humble guy.

It gets better with every listen. Excellent album!

Good choices, You Are Free could be on my top 10 or so. But Modern Times is better than Love and Theft.

I've just downloaded Bill Callahan's album and it's really nice. I love My Friend song.

Out of those, I really like You Are Free and I sorta like Love and Theft (even if it is a retread of the much better Time Out of Mind.) Can't say I've ever been into anything Bill Callahan-related, though.

Thank you so much for posting this, Moshe - the video really made my week. l know, Lee's a "super Dylan freak" (his own confession on the I'm Not There DVD extras), but still, "Love and Theft" has meant so much to me for nine years now that it was a joyful jolt to hear him talk about it (not to mention it makes me feel less of a nerd for posting those deranged amounts of Dylan torrent links on this board's Dime thread). You Are Free is also a record I love deeply and the fact that he ranks it right up there with Blue and Songs of Love and Hate is FABULOUS! Now, the cherry on top of the cake is his response and body language when the interviewer (dude, you were Q&A'ing Lee Fucking Ranaldo - was it so hard to film this thing from the opposite angle? Shit, you didn't even need to place the camera elsewhere; just switch chairs with Lee, son!) mentions that Radiohead albums were topping the radio station's list at that moment: arms cross, leg goes up and on top of the other, and a resounding "Really...?" Perfect.

Whaaaa? It perplexes me when people say this! I know Time Out of Mind was the big 'comeback', but to me it feels very hollow and the production is lacking.. some of the songs are beautiful, but to me 'Love and Theft' is a masterpiece from start to finish, with all kinds of intricacies in the instrumentation that keep me listening over and over. If anything, I'd consider 'Modern Times' part 2 of 'Love and Theft', but I really see it as quite far beyond 'Time Out of Mind', in both style and sound...

i can't say i've ever found the two all that different aside from a production standpoint. perhaps "retread" was really poor wording. "love and theft" is an exceptional effort in dylan's catalog and much better than "modern times" and "together through life" (these two i'd be more keen to call "retreads"), but i feel he perfected the same rootsy/bloozy approach a lot better with "time out of mind."

Yeah, maybe I just can't see past the production. "Love and Theft" just sounds so full of life while "Time Out of Mind" sounds like I'm listening to it on an AM radio from the 50s (which isn't necessarily a bad thing!).

The live versions of 'Trying To Get To Heaven' and 'Cold Irons Bound' on the latest Bootleg Series are phenomenal though... but I digress...

Lee looks like the Fonze here

I've been waiting for that damn thing since 2006, when it was mentioned on The Wire that Lee's singer-songwriter album was in the works/coming soon and all it needed was a little push from Thurston to finally get done and released. LR, give us that record in 2010 or I will kick your ass!

The closest to a singer-songwriter Lee recording we have by now is that "Eric's Trip" demo, isn't it?

Both of which are amazing! Get it together Lee!

Day After Tomorrow... Independence Day...

Arg.

Do you think/hope that Lee's joking?

Kinda ruined my day.