HONORABLE MENTIONS

Mary Gauthier
"Mercy Now" (Lost Highway)
She doesn't drink anymore, she sings -- remembering all too well what alcoholism was like ("I Drink," "Mercy Now").

"Nublu Orchestra Conducted by Butch Morris" (Nublu)
Improvised big-band tone poems grow tunes and timbres from funk to serialism ("Downstairs," "Sciubba Diving").

The Harlem Experiment
"The Harlem Experiment" (Ropeadope)
Jazz and salsa guys "Walking Through Harlem," as Olu Dara puts it, by way of its musical history, with hop-hop slams and James Brown funk for a climax ("Lil' Bit," "Think").

Various Artists
"The Rough Guide to Bellydance Café" (World Music Network)
Café or no café, that's bellydance in the higher sense, aka the musical ambience of the mysterious East (Ensemble Huseyin Turkmenler, "Soleyin Yildizlar Nerde"; Giasemi Iyasmini & Nikos Saragoudas, "Tsahpinoula Moy").

Various Artists
"Downtown 81" (Recall)
Jean Michel Basquiat's musical New York, which could be exciting even when it was too damn arty and could also be too damn arty (Kid Creole & the Coconuts and Coati Mundi, "K Pasa-Pop I"; Rammellzee vs. K-Rob, "Beat Bop"; Liquid Liquid, "Cavern"; DNA "Blonde Redhead").

Meneguar
"Strangers in Our House" (Troubleman Unlimited)
High anxiety in the fine old strained, dissonant, guitar-slashing manner ("Death on Display," "Paint You").

Shantel
"Disko Partizani" (Essay)
Reborn Berlin techno drone litens up his ancestors' horny dance music without cheapening its charm -- more than is appropriate, anyway ("Sota," "Disko Partizani").

Brother Reade
"Rap Music" (Record Collection)
Common-sense rhymes plus solid beats equals good guys who party ("Like Duh," "Life Ain't Easy for Ya'll").

Kàlmàn Balogh & The Gypsy Cimbalon Band
"Live in Germany" (Traditional Crossroads)
Gypsy jazz sans Django (a welcome change) verging on Gypsy jazz mit samba and Johnny Rivers cover (an unwelcome one) ("It's Party Time Mahala!" "Love Song and Dance").

Saul Williams
"The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust" (saulwilliams.com)
Slam poet Saul marches into battle with damned beatmaster Trent ("Tr(n)igger," "Convict Colony").

Alicia Keys
"As I Am" (J)
Nice girl holds out ("Teenage Love Affair," "Wreckless Love").

Taraf de Haïdouks
"Maskarada" (Crammed Discs)
Thirteen-eighths of Bartók -- Gypsies kiss the rings of their high-class friends before going back to where they once belonged ("De Cind Ma Aflat Multimea," "Romanian Folk Dances").

Mary Gauthier
"Between Daylight and Dark" (Lost Highway)
Intimate secrets of the down-and-out and hard of loving ("Thanksgiving," "Last of the Hobo Kings").

Various Artists
"Think Global: Bellydance" (World Music Network)
Long on Cairo strings and other tokens of a surprising, representative formalism (Hossam Ramzy, "Aziza"; Richard A. Hagopian & Omar Faruk Tekbilek, "Kadife").

Various Artists
"Seriously Good Music: Gypsy Beats" (Petrol)
Lite is all you're going to get from this label, but for once it's neither schlocky nor anonymous (Esma Redzepova, "Abre Ramce"; Dunkelbunt featuring Amsterdam Klezmer Band, ""La Revedere [Single Edit]").

Dionne Warwick
"My Favorite Time of the Year" (DMI/Rhino)
If new Christmas product you must have, these oldies definitely outshine newies from Darlene Love (eh) and Taylor Swift (ugh) ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Joy to the World").

CHOICE CUTS

Aretha Franklin
"Lean on Me,"
"Ain't But the One,"
"Rock Steady,"
"I Need a Strong Man (The To-To Song),"
"Suzanne"
("Rare & Unreleased Recordings From the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul" [Rhino/Atlantic])

Aretha Franklin
"Put You Up on Game,"
"Never Gonna Break My Faith"
("Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen" [Arista])

Flugente
"Reflections in Spain on the Subject of My 38th Birthday,"
"I'm Thinking About Going Home"
("Flugente" [Mootron])