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Rufus Wainwright
Want One
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There's no pleasing this hardcore romantic, but his disappointment makes for great music. With vivid orchestration that milked opera for its drama, the singer's urban angst was married to the year's most lush and memorable tunes.
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OutKast
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
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Atlanta's artiest brothers trusted their eccentricities and went schizo over two discs, blending Big Boi's ferocious flow and surreal ghetto musik with Dre's pop-tastic celebration of s-e-x. Which disc is your favorite?
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Damien Rice
O
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A quiet album meant to be played loud. When you turned it up, anyone within earshot was sure to be spellbound. The Irish songwriter spiced his heartbreak with oddly rewarding elements, too, like arias and Gregorian chant.
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The Libertines
Up the Bracket [US Bonus Tracks]
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Combining boarding school glam and runaway wit, the precocious punks are as British as stiff upper lips and PBS miniseries. With the Clash's Mick Jones lending a seal of approval, only the heroin habits got in the way of greatness.
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50 Cent
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
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No rapper believes his own legend so resolutely, and Fiddy's is considerable: nine bullets and counting. The album, however, belongs to Dr. Dre, who sparks the laidback rhymes with spy movie dramatics and sleigh bells.
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Blur
Think Tank
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The Britpop boys reinvented their music this year. Drawing on African sojourns, London nights and pointed politics, Tank spliced Grandmaster Flash funk with dub melodicas and soul. Welcome to the global jukebox.
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The Rapture
Echoes
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Sure, they're weaned on Gang of Four, but their loyalty to da funk makes for the most convincing statement yet from New York's hyped dance-punk scene. And the ballads tread a fine line between sentiment and squaresville. Now that's rock 'n' roll.
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Anthony Hamilton
Comin' from Where I'm From
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Old school enough to call one track "Cornbread, Fish & Collard Greens," the neo-soul singer lined his addictive tunes with vibrant imagery. You can hear church in his voice, but as the supple beats swish by, there's plenty of bedroom on his mind.
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The Mars Volta
De-Loused in the Comatorium
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Two wild-haired refugees from At the Drive-In dared to take prog to the mainstream. That meant free jazz and an indecipherable "concept." But with Flea on bass, they also made the hardest rocking rock record of the year.
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Robert Randolph & The Family Band
Unclassified
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The shining star of the sacred steel movement turns jam band "it boy" by banking on the vehemence, optimism, and elation that are the bedrock of gospel music. Rambunctious boogie - ridiculously tight and plainly irresistible.
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The White Stripes
Elephant
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It's amazing how vivid a purposefully ratty sound can be. Our red & white rabble-rousers made their blues seem psychedelic in 2003, but best of all, they made it seem catchy, too.
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Lucinda Williams
World Without Tears
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Her candor is fed by her obsession, which in turn is fed by her smarts and her passion. So from pornographic episodes to constant fears, you learn quite a bit about how romance works for a perpetually poetic middle-ager.
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Fountains of Wayne
Welcome Interstate Managers
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Even cubicle workers and middle management dweebs need love, and in a meticulously crafted series of songs that resound with '60s and '70s motifs, the Jersey boys reveal the heart and soul of anyone surrounded by strip malls and suburbs.
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The New Pornographers
Electric Version
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They're a critic's band, but when the craft of the songwriting is this refined, there should be plenty of pop fans that are also ready to fall prey. It's all about architecture: these tunes are like Lego toys with each part fitting perfectly.
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R. Kelly
Chocolate Factory
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His rep as an upstanding citizen was exploded, no question. But his rep as a studio kingpin was solidified by this string of loverman tracks that were rich with cushy beats, suggestive imagery, and sexual tension. R&B royalty.
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![Up the Bracket [US Bonus Tracks]](http://vh1.mtvnimages.com/shared/media/images/amg_covers/75/drf700/f797/f79726adb3s.jpg)
