2001 in music: P!nk and Diana Krall are the big winners

It has been a long time since I've listened to M!ssundaztood by P!nk (sure, I'll go along with the stylizations; after all, I went years typing out variations of O{+> for Prince) and, while I still enjoyed parts of the record immensely, it didn't feel quite as groundbreaking as I remember. Obviously, part of that is that I'm not listening to it in 2001, so I guess I'm really saying that parts haven't aged that well. Also, it's probably safe to say that it was more groundbreaking for P!nk and not as an album on the whole. 

My favourite hit remains the same, which is Don't Let Me Get Me, and the best non-singles are probably the back-to-back Respect and 18-Wheeler. After that, the album starts to feel a bit long. I never really dug the duet with Steven Tyler, and Dear Diary is just an odd song that has her spend part of the time explaining how a diary works and then the rest of the time doing the opposite of that.

Then again, don't listen to me: it was the top album of 2001 for a reason.

I've never, to my recollection, listened to this whole album by Diana Krall which would win the Juno for Best Album. It's a prototypical throwback and a lovely set of songs (Cry Me a River and The Night We Called It a Day are my standouts), but I can't help but wonder if the Juno award came as a result of its uniqueness in a field including Sum 41, Our Lady Peace, and Nickelback up for the award. Even Nelly Furtado's debut, also up for Best Album, was positively headbanging compared to Krall's gentle collection.

Or, maybe it's just a great album! I'm actually slightly alarmed by how both of my reviews in this post are a bit sardonic. That had better not be because I'm at the halfway point of the project and getting to be a cranky old man.