I gave substantial attention to more albums this year than in any previous year — nearly one hundred records. And I heard so many impressive things that I almost gave up on the annual ritual of making a Favorite Recordings list — a ritual I began when I was 13 years old.
But I don’t want to break the tradition, so I’ve picked 25 favorites, but I want to mention 35 runners-up that I enjoyed all the way through several times. These are all albums I admire, continue to play, and highly recommend for their striking expressions of beauty, energy, creativity, and conscience.
Oh, one more thing…
I’m grateful to the Looking Closer Specialists. Their generosity keeps this site alive and enables me to immerse myself in music so that I can make these recommendations. In my next post — the Top 25 — I’ll write more about what I’ve been hearing as I listen closer.
Because these legends are showing
the kids how it’s done…
Egypt Station
Paul McCartney
American Utopia
David Byrne
She Remembers Everything
Roseanne Cash
The Tree of Forgiveness
John Prine
WARM
Jeff Tweedy
Because… ROCK AND ROLL!
Wide Awake!
Parquet Courts
Songs of Praise
Shame
For the glory of guitars…
13 Rivers
Richard Thompson
Ty Segall
Freedom’s Goblin
Music IS
Bill Frisell
These are the master keys
(and, I might add, excellent music for writers)…
Music for Installations
Brian Eno
All Melody
Nils Frahm
Persona
Rival Consoles
Because these dynamic duos were made for each other…
Ruins
First Aid Kit
I’m All Ears
Let’s Eat Grandma
Healing Tide
The War and Treaty
For their deeply personal poetry
and striking solo voices…
Abysskiss
Adrianne Lenker
Cusp
Alela Diane
In a Poem Unlimited
U.S. Girls
Because they’ve been around for decades,
answering their own particular muse,
and this is one of their finest records…
All That Reckoning
Cowboy Junkies
For pure pop-rock pleasure…
Almost
The Ophelias
Future Me Hates Me
The Beths
These EPs are as good as most full albums…
Weed Garden EP
Iron and Wine
boygenius EP
boygenius
Because these bands and artists are
working their way to the top of the class…
Cocoa Sugar
Young Fathers
Be the Cowboy
Mitski
Golden Hour
Kacey Musgraves
Wide Awake
Rayland Baxter
Because these recordings were brilliant soundtracks,
but they also stand strong on their own…
Phantom Thread
Johnny Greenwood
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Various Artists
Black Panther
The Album — Various
Because it’s just so wacky and weird…
Superorganism
Superorganism
Because the roots of this music are so wildly widespread…
Con Todo El Mundo
Khruangbin
Because it was the blockbuster breakthrough
that best represented this moment in time…
(and because I miss Prince)…