SPIN's 40 Best Albums of 2004

SPIN's 40 Best Albums of 2004

Original Source →

39.

Ghostface - The Pretty Toney Album
April 20, 2004
Critic Score
80
11 reviews
A bruisingly great collection of demented 1988-style boom-bap.

38.

Wilco - A Ghost Is Born
June 22, 2004
Critic Score
77
19 reviews

35.

Air - Talkie Walkie
January 27, 2004
Critic Score
77
19 reviews

Talkie Walkie's detachment is still, well, pretty -- virgins might commit suicide to it, but most likely they'll just swoon.

33.

Comets On Fire - Blue Cathedral
July 27, 2004
Critic Score
79
11 reviews

32.

The Faint - Wet from Birth
September 14, 2004
Critic Score
69
12 reviews

30.

The Libertines - The Libertines
August 31, 2004
Critic Score
72
22 reviews
A dark, tense record, but one still crackling with life.

27.

Tom Waits - Real Gone
October 5, 2004
Critic Score
70
20 reviews
Totally grimy.

26.

Eminem - Encore
November 12, 2004
Critic Score
64
18 reviews

It includes some of the most thoughtful music of Eminem’s career, and some of the butt-stupidest, and while there’s a lot to like about both, the album feels transitional and muddled, the work of an artist cleaning out his closet while mulling over his next move.

23.

Snow Patrol - Final Straw
August 4, 2003
Critic Score
69
11 reviews

22.

Le Tigre - This Island
October 19, 2004
Critic Score
66
16 reviews
The bleaty rhythms and abrasive guitars start to pile up willy-nilly, and some of the more techno sections sound like kids going bazonkers in a toy store.

21.

Jimmy Eat World - Futures
October 19, 2004
Critic Score
66
16 reviews

19.

Björk - Medúlla
August 31, 2004
Critic Score
80
20 reviews

On Medulla, her voice is in constant motion, in sync with the beat, rather than battling it, whether she's running uphill (the orgasmic gasps of "Pleasure Is All Mine") or just bobbing weightlessly ("Vokuro").

18.

Prince - Musicology
March 29, 2004
Critic Score
67
17 reviews

16.

The Killers - Hot Fuss
June 15, 2004
Critic Score
67
18 reviews
While "Mr. Brightside" and "Somebody Told Me" evinced Brandon Flowers' gift for pop, the radiance of "All These Things That I've Done" suggested goals higher than sales.

15.

Courtney Love - America's Sweetheart
February 10, 2004
Critic Score
58
15 reviews

14.

Various Artists - DFA Compilation, Vol. 2
November 2, 2004
Critic Score
90
3 reviews

11.

Dizzee Rascal - Showtime
September 14, 2004
Critic Score
82
19 reviews

At its core, Showtime is a classic sophomore album in the hip-hop sense: puffy with bluster, brimming with indignation.

10.

Brian Wilson - SMiLE
September 28, 2004
Critic Score
92
19 reviews

9.

Interpol - Antics
September 28, 2004
Critic Score
77
19 reviews

The album feels confident and spacious where Bright Lights felt claustrophobic.

8.

Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
April 27, 2004
Critic Score
88
21 reviews

The toughest record ever made by a former mainstream country artist ... If all the songs don't rival her finest work, the arrangements pull them up.

6.

Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill
October 19, 2004
Critic Score
84
22 reviews
Smith's intentions cry out from the album's every discordant corner--he clearly wanted to test himself, to unhinge parts of his sound.

5.

Danger Mouse - The Grey Album
February 3, 2004
Critic Score
88
9 reviews
While the novelty factor alone makes it worth the download time, it works as a cohesive album long after the initial shock wears off.

4.

Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
April 6, 2004
Critic Score
79
15 reviews
Half expansive, burnished radio-rock, half swampy Delta hoodoo-hollerin' that reeks of Brock's Southern sojourn.

2.

Green Day - American Idiot
September 21, 2004
Critic Score
77
21 reviews

1.

Kanye West - The College Dropout
February 10, 2004
Critic Score
81
16 reviews

Most producers who approach the mic do so at their peril, but on Dropout, West turns out to be a full-service hip-hop artiste.

Original Source: http://www.spin.com/2014/02/40-best-albums-2004/
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