These are all from 2002. Turn On The Bright Lights is my favorite from last year by far.
OSI: Office of Strategic Influence
Huge third for The White Stripes - Elephant.
And Guster - Keep It Together is incredible. I saw them on June 20, the last concert before the new album and it was great. And they’re coming back September 20. Woo!
Oh come on…It wasn’t THAT bad. Sure it was the weakest Turbonegro yet, but still, one mediocre record out of, what, 5? Thats not a bad track record. I expect better from them next time. My vote for the worst record of the year…The fucking White Stripes. Lame Led Zep outtakes disguised as faux garage rock does not a quality album make.
Jon
i’d vote for:
jayhawks - rainy day music
radiohead - hail
ben harper - diamonds on the inside
oh and how could i forget, for live albums:
Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won … simply killer!!!
Nobody said Me, First and the Gimme-Gimmes “Take a Break” its the shiznitch. C’mon, a punk band covering Lionel Ritchie, Boys II Men and R.Kelly? GOLD BABY SOLID GOLD!
NOFX “The War on Errorism” gets my vote. The SoCal punks give their most political album since “The Decline”. It came out in May or June and I still listen to it at least twice a week. The band laments the downfall of punk in “The Separation of Church and Skate” and pokes fun of their own age in “Mattersville”. It’s simply awesome, and I wish I could write a better review of it.
OAR “In Between Now and Then” is another really good album.
I also agree with the selection of “Elephant” by the White Stripes.
Yo La Tengo - Summer Sun.
The Faint - Danse Macabre Remixes
Go-Betweens - Bright Yellow Bright Orange
Camera Obscura - Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi
The Tyde - Twice
I second Rancid’s Indestructible. Apparently it was a very cathartic album for the band, as they went through a lot of rough times since their last album in 2000. The album title is a nod to how they weathered the storm by sticking together.
The new NOFX album War on Errorism is pretty good too, as is Me First and the Gimme Gimme’s Take a Break.
In other words, I second all the good punk albums that came out this year 
Norah Jones “Come Away With Me” came out in 2002, I think.
And I have to credit myself with never having even heard of a single band that Hüsker Düde mentions, aside from Malky, and maybe if his name is a reference to Husker Du, which is pretty probable. 
Jane’s Addiction – Strays
Athlete - Vehicles and Animals
British Sea Power - The Decline of British Sea Power
The Rapture - Echoes
And I’m sure that next month I will be able to add “The American Adventure” by the Electric Soft Parade to that list, if it is anything like as good as their debut. (Word is that it’s even better…)
I’m turning into an old man. It takes me a while to get hip to the scene these days. I didn’t get any of them until 2003 so that’s what year I’ll count 'em in, by gum! 
Norwegian press mostly ignored them during their golden days of the late nineties when they released their classic albums Ass Cobra and Apocalypse Dudes. They broke up just when they were about to make it big, because of the lead singers heroin addiction.
But around 2002 or so they came back from retirement and the media finally got clued in and hyped them up the heavens. Suddenly they were the greatest Norwegian band ever and off course now everybody had been a fan since day one.
Scandinavian Leather appeared to me to be just a quick attempt to cash in on their heritage and sell $125 denim jackets to their hordes of new fans. Not that I have anything against them making money, very few bands deserve it more than them. But this album was a disgrace, not a single good track. I mean they even released a song called ‘Fuck The World’ as the first single, a moronic song without a trace of irony and this band used to be the wittiest and cleverest of them all.
But to be fair, most of my friends disagree with me, so I’m probably wrong.
Apos that is indeed a reference to Husker Du. I wish I had written it without the stupid umlauts when I registered, it would’ve made vanity searches so much easier.
If it makes you feel any better mouthbreather I thought for the longest time that Turn On The Bright Lights came out in January this year, because that was when I bought it.
Chris Robinson - New Earth Mud
Soulive - Don’t know the title, but it is live
and seconds for:
Ween - Quebec
Ben Harper - Diamonds on the Inside
Hüsker Dü: are you pitchformedia.com?
Your list has some great stuff, btw.
So far this year I’ve liked:
The Postal Service - Give Up
Architecture In Helsinki - Fingers Crossed
Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
Blur - Think Tank
The White Stripes - Elephant
Cursive - The Ugly Organ
The Sleepy Jackson - Lovers
And from what I’ve heard so far, Dizzee Rascal’s album is fucking amazing. And of course the new Outkast and DCFC albums are going to be amazing. And there’s also a new Basement Jaxx coming. I think 2003 is going to end with a bang.
So far no mention of my favorite album of the year:
Burn, Piano Island, Burn by the Blood Brothers
Picks up where the late Refused left off, explosive jazz-punk that’s a mix of Giddy Motors, the Liars and J.R. Ewing times two. The first album in a long time that made me get off my butt and try to get tickets to see them two hours away. Alas, everyone else had the same idea. Reminds me of how I felt the first time I heard Naked City.
No, but that’s one of the places I get my music news from and that’s also where I first learned about Broken Social Scene and TV On The Radio. I haven’t listened to the new Cursive album yet, but my friend is raving about it.
I’m really looking forward to the new Outkast as well, along with new albums by The Shins, The Books and Mirah.
I have to disagree with the White Stripes and Rancid. Both of their new albums are low points in their careers, and neither band is good enough to have a low point be a great album. NOFX also does not belong on a list of 2003’s great albums. War on Errorism was pretty good, but pales in comparison to the better albums of the year.