This was the year I started buying new music again, as you can see. With just a couple of exceptions, my year-in-review list is made up of CDs released in 2000. In alphabetical order:

Hanson, This Time Around
(2000)

Sure, everyone’s gonna laugh at me, but what the heck. I think this is a great album. The Hanson boys released This Time Around in May, and although it didn’t do as well as Middle of Nowhere (their major-label debut), it’s actually a much stronger album. They really sound like a band, and they seem to be exercising a lot more control over their music. They wrote all the songs here, people, and the songs are pretty damn good. Some of them are sweet, some of them are sexy. And they play their own instruments and they sing their hearts out. What more could you want?

My favorite songs on this album are the ones that seem to speak with the voice of a teenage boy. Luckily, most of the songs on the CD fall into that category. I wonder why. My favorites:

• “You Never Know” – oh, yeah.

• “If Only” – this song says summer to me.

• “Runaway Run” – pure, joyful pop at its best.

• “Can’t Stop” – just plain sexy.

• “Sure About It” – love the beat, love the hook, love the lyrics.

You know, it’s just a greatest hits record, but I love this one. Never mind that I own all the albums that the songs came from. I guess my real interest in this CD is seeing what songs Amy and Emily picked from their own catalog, and how much they overlap with the ones I would have picked, as a fan. Mostly they match up pretty well, and every one of them is a favorite. But it’s still fun to wonder about how they picked the songs they did, and to read their liner notes on each of the songs. One thing I love about this CD is that they arranged the songs in the order of the original albums, and even kept them in the order that they were in on the albums. Somehow that seems to work very well on this CD.

This is a gorgeous album. It’s my favorite Mark Knoppfler since Dire Straits circa “Romeo and Juliet.” The songs are amazing, Mark Knoppfler's singing is understated but very confident, and the CD features duets with two of my old-time favorites: James Taylor and Van Morrison.

But most importantly, Knoppfler's guitar is like the soundtrack to my favorite dreams. As always.

Invincible Summer sounds like a record made by a woman in love. There are no two ways around it. I have never heard kd lang sounding so good. The songs are very personal, and she sounds like she is on top of life in every way.

It makes me so happy to listen to it.

C'mon, if you tell me you're surprised this is here, I'm not gonna believe you!

Sound Loaded is a good album. It's fun and over-the-top and it makes you want to dance! And it should be good -- not only is Ricky a great performer and a pop god, but he has the support of the best pop songwriters, musicians, and producers that money can buy. Plus, the boy "has a special escalator straight to the joy factory," as Robi Rosa has said. That comes through loud and clear on this CD.

I love several of the songs on this one:

• "Loaded" -- This song has it all: swing drums, surf guitar, dance beats, Dixieland horns, and lines like "Move like a thing / Swing like a thong / And do your jiggy mama til the break of dawn." My favorite song on the CD.

• "She Bangs" -- Just a great pop song. Once again, Ricky's having a little problem with the ladies: "I'll let her rough me up til she knocks me out..."

• "Amor" -- Kind of a rip-off of Santana's "Smooth" but with a certain je ne sais quoi that only Ricky can add. Also a really funky-sounding backup singer, I guess that would be Cheito Quiñonez. Very cool.

• "Are You In It for Love?" -- A great song about being a mega-superstar and the effect that can have on your love life. I think this is a perfect song for Ricky.

Okay, I love more of the songs on this album than just these, but instead of listing more I wanted to show what I mean when I say Ricky has a little problem with the ladies. Here, in no particular order, are several lyrics from this album:

• Talk to me, tell me your name
  You blow me off like it's all the same

• Look at her now
  She wants to take the wheel
  She says, "You dirty dog"

• Are you in it for love? Are you in it for money?
  If I lost everything would you be there in the morning?
  Are you in it for kicks, private jets and Armani?
  And when the ride's over, will you even bother to call me?

• She looks like a flower
  But she stings like a bee
  Like every girl in history

• I'm going down your winding road
  Around those killer curves
  That work my nerves
  You're dangerous
  Slippery and dangerous
  You've got a camera down your shirt
  You've got a slit in your skirt
  For your dirty work tonight . . .

• I'm just a link in your daisy chain

• She holds your heart in her hand
  She'll make you a man
  But she'll play you however she wants . . .

Of course, in a lot of these songs there's nothing saying he has to be singing to a woman . . . but I bet the upcoming videos will clear up any ambiguity on that score.

Play is so popular, I bet all the real techno and electronica fans feel like the guy has sold out (if they didn't already feel like that years ago). But I don't much care about that. It's a great CD, and accessible even to those who did not cut their teeth on house music and raves.

On Play, Moby bases a lot of the tracks on blues and gospel. Most of the tracks on this CD have been picked up for commercials or movie soundtracks, so this music is likely to sound very familiar to you even if you haven't intentionally listened to Moby before.

Oh, and his nickname is Moby because his great-great granduncle was Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick. How creepy is that?

This is Paul Simon's first studio album since Rhythm of the Saints, 1990. Ten years is a long time to wait, but this CD is worth it.

I've been listening to Paul Simon all my life (literally). He has traveled a lot of ground for a guy with only about 8 solo albums to his name. He's done that whole singer/songwriter thing with the guitar, the artistic stuff, and the world music gig.  Now he's putting it all together to create something new, but at the same time very familiar. I love this album. One of my absolute favorites of this year.

This year I fell for the Stone Temple Pilots. I love this band more than reason should allow. They're a great rock band, headed by a junkie lead singer (now in recovery, I hope for good), and they're sexier than just about anyone else out there.

STP specializes in hard rock for the people, writing radio-friendly songs with killer riffs, great melodies, and catchy hooks. They've been scorned by critics for years, but the truth is they're great musicians and their music is very appealing to audiences. Another thing that makes them stand out from the rest of the pack: Scott Weiland, the lead singer, has a sense of glam that is sorely lacking in most of today's rock music. He is simply amazing.

My favorite album is Purple, their second one. But I actually love them all.

A great album, with roots that reach much farther back than Achtung Baby. When you listen to this CD for the first time, you may wonder if you're hearing some lost tracks from The Joshua Tree (1987). That U2 guitar is back, baby, and it's a welcome return. But on a second listen, you'll also notice the thumping bass of "Discotheque" (from Pop, 1997) and the sexy swing of "Lemon" (from Zooropa, 1993). It's like they spent the 1990s deep in experimentation, and came out on the other end with the best of what they discovered. The songs are a beautiful amalgamation of the best of the old and the new.

The themes are classic U2 themes: love, life, the state of the world. Bono is in fine vocal form, growling and soaring through the songs, even if he does make self-deprecating jokes like "I can't sing but I've got soul." And the lyrics aren't the only self-referential aspect of the album. You can almost hear The Edge paying tribute to his own guitar style of 15 years ago. It's a great return.

I love almost every song on this album. Some of my favorites: "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," "In a Little While," "Walk On," "Elevation." The only two songs on the CD I skip are "Wild Honey" and "Peace on Earth." They may grow on me, though.

U2 is back. And I, for one, am so happy I could just cry.

I loved Bringing Down the Horse, the previous Wallflowers album (1996). I really like Jakob Dylan's voice and lyrics. I think this CD is even better. This is rock the way I like it best: honest, straightforward, and lean, but with some muscle behind it.

As a songwriter and singer, Jakob Dylan seems to have gained confidence in the last 4 years. These guys are great musicians and the songs on this album are memorable and well-crafted. Plus, Jakob's a hottie. Even if he is married and a father of three.