Not necessarily in strict order, some of my 2002 favorites are:
Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - basically one of the best from one of my favorite bands. 2CD set, with one CD individual songs, and the other a "theme" set. Always good sonics on these CDs too.
Los Lobos - Good Morning Aztlan - no need to devolve into a political discussion about the title. Long term band that has never been better, IMO. Varied, energetic.
Peter Gabriel - Up - probably rated somewhat higher because it was a 10 year hiatus, but good sonics and lots of good material.
Steve Earle - Jerusalem
Queens of the Stone Age - Song For The Deaf - not for everybody or every occassion, but really great when you're in the mood for hard rock.
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - put me in the "love it" group.
Joe Satriani - Strange Beautiful Music.
Al DiMeola - Flesh on Flesh - just fantastic, even in the context of a guy who's put out many fantastic CDs.
Several good remasters / compilations put out this year too - Jesus and Mary Chain, The The, Traffic - Low Spark and High-Heeled Boys, 22 Stones remasters, all the old Peter Gabriel CDs remastered.
Lots of good stuff. Several mentioned in this thread that I still want to check out. My poor checkbook.
Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - basically one of the best from one of my favorite bands. 2CD set, with one CD individual songs, and the other a "theme" set. Always good sonics on these CDs too.
Los Lobos - Good Morning Aztlan - no need to devolve into a political discussion about the title. Long term band that has never been better, IMO. Varied, energetic.
Peter Gabriel - Up - probably rated somewhat higher because it was a 10 year hiatus, but good sonics and lots of good material.
Steve Earle - Jerusalem
Queens of the Stone Age - Song For The Deaf - not for everybody or every occassion, but really great when you're in the mood for hard rock.
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - put me in the "love it" group.
Joe Satriani - Strange Beautiful Music.
Al DiMeola - Flesh on Flesh - just fantastic, even in the context of a guy who's put out many fantastic CDs.
Several good remasters / compilations put out this year too - Jesus and Mary Chain, The The, Traffic - Low Spark and High-Heeled Boys, 22 Stones remasters, all the old Peter Gabriel CDs remastered.
Lots of good stuff. Several mentioned in this thread that I still want to check out. My poor checkbook.