Russell Gragg's Favorite Records Of 2002

2002 might've been a banner year for music (though I'll reserve judgement 'til I read the lists from my esteemed fellow Chuggers), but it wasn't necessarily a banner year for me. Tumultous problems with work and home kept me from following the highs and lows of what's been happening in the music industry.
It's probably telling that several records that will inevitably hit a lot of yr lists are only just coming across my desk now (so this is Interpol?).
I will say that this has been one of the more rock-oriented lists since I started compiling my annual top 10's or 20's. Maybe it's nostalgia. More likely a re-discovery of the unbridled majesty of the air guitar art form.

1. Solomon Burke, Don't Give Up On Me (Fat Possum/Epitaph)
2. Neko Case, Blacklisted (Mint/Bloodshot)
3. Radiogram, All The Way Home (Endearing)
4. William Parker, Raining On The Moon (Thirsty Ear)
5. Elvis Costello, When I Was Cruel (Island)
6. Oneida, Each One Teach One (Jagjaguwar)
7. Hot Hot Heat, Make Up The Breakdown (Sub Pop)
8. Dismemberment Plan, Change (DeSoto)
9. Lambchop, Is A Woman (Merge)
10. Talib Kweli, Quality (Rawkus/Universal)
11. Greg MacPherson Band, Good Times Coming Back Again (G7 Welcoming Committee)
12. Mekons, Oooh! (Quarterstick)
13. Wire, Read & Burn 1&2 (Pink Flag)
14. And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Source Tags & Codes (Interscope)
15. Tom Waits, Alice (Anti/Epitaph)
16. RJD2, Deadringer (Definitive Jux)
17. Liars, They Threw Us All In A Trench... (Mute)
18. Spoon, Turn On The Bright Lights (Merge)
19. Soft Boys, Nextdoorland (Matador)
20. Pere Ubu, St. Arkansas (spinART)