The Best Album of 2014 . . .

. . . goes to Magical Dirt by Radio Moscow. Surprisingly, the band is from central Iowa (the lead vocalist from the #2 band, The Hold Steady, is from Minneapolis. Hmmmm . . . ) and produced by the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. It sounds like 1971 and that's just fine with me. If we can get 2015 to sound like 1972, that'll be fine too . . .

Side 1, Track 1



To recap the Top Ten . . .

2. Teeth Dreams - The Hold Steady
3. Transgender Dysphoria Blues - Against Me!
4. Wig Out at Jagbags - Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks
5. Brownout Presents Brown Sabbath - Brownout
6. Acoustic Classics - Richard Thompson
7. The Best Day - Thurston Moore
8. Cool Planet - Guided By Voices
9. Supernova - Ray LaMontagne
10. Lateness of Dancers - Hiss Golden Messenger

And the Best of the Rest . . .

(including two famous sons, an Indigo Girl, a former Cindy-Lou Who from good 'ole St. Lou, a Swedish country duo and at least two dead guys)

36 Cents - The Lowest Pair
Angus & Julia Stone - Angus & Julia Stone
Atlas - Real Estate
Bluesamericana - Keb' Mo'
Casualties of Cool - Casualties of Cool
Caustic Love - Paolo Nutini
The Endless River - Pink Floyd
English Oceans - Drive-by Truckers
Follow the Music - Alice Gerrard
Fuego - Phish
Give the People What They Want - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
Going to Hell - The Pretty Reckless
Goodnight Tender - Amy Ray
Milking the Stars - Monster Magnet
Out Among the Stars - Johnny Cash
Puppet Strings - Fuel
Simplicity - Tesla
Stay Gold - First Aid Kit
Sun Structures - Temples
Tarpaper Sky - Rodney Crowell
Tell 'Em I'm Gone - Yusef (Cat Stevens)
The Turn - Live
Twelve Tales - A.J. Croce
Tyranny - Julian Casablancas & The Voidz
Ultraviolence - Lana Del Ray
Undefeated - Bobby Bare, Jr.
Warpaint - Warpaint

You can find most of them here on my Spotify playlist:

This is not a top sales list. This is not a critic's list. This is a fan's list. Some of you share some of my tastes. Go explore. If an album's not to your liking, just click over to the next one.



Leave me a comment and let me know what your #1 was.

The Best Albums of 2014 - Part 3

Alright!

We're in the home stretch now. To see Numbers 10 - 8 click here; Numbers 7 -5 here;

And number 4 . . .

4. Wig Out at Jagbags - Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

Pure Power Pop from the former leader of Pavement, this album was the first of the year to make it to the candidates' list and still managed to clock in at number 4 at year's end. Influences abound on this album while still being original as all get out. I hear a wee bit of Rundgren in the opening track:

3. Transgender Dysphoria Blues - Against Me!

There's a lot to make you uncomfortable about this album starting with the cover (below) and continuing on with the searingly personal lyrics from singer & guitarist Laura Jean Grace (nee Thomas James Gabel). That note should give you some idea of where the songs are coming from even if you didn't know what the 'gender dysphoria' in the title was.

What makes this album work is some of the most blistering punk music I've heard in ages and the universal feeling of frustration and resignation Grace manages to convey on behalf of those not feeling her specific 'Blues'.

2. Teeth Dreams - The Hold Steady

I am so glad there are still bands out there making Rock sound this good. 

The origin legend has it that Craig Finn and Tad Kubler, both of Lifter Puller were watching The Last Waltz when Finn asked, "Dude, why aren't there any bands like this anymore?"

That was a pretty ambitious, if archaic, goal for a band to set for themselves in 2003 - akin to asking why no one makes silver chalices like Paul Revere anymore in this age of the red Solo cup. 

I'll let you decide how they're doing.

And, of course, my Album of the Year - 2014 tomorrow!

The Best Albums of 2014 - Part 2

To see what came in at #8 - 10 or just to see what makes an album 'Best', check out Part 1 here.

You back? Great! On with the show . . .

7. The Best Day - Thurston Moore

Hot Damn! Another Sonic Youth album! What? Just Thurston Moore? Same diff. Both he and Hiss Golden Messenger get extra points for dogs on the covers. Damn, I'm easy. 

Moore has perfected the art of the hypnotic riff - hanging on to tension just a little too long to be comfortable until he hooks you into shifting from wondering when the riff will resolve to hoping it never does. Check out the end of 'Forevermore'.

6. Acoustic Classics - Richard Thompson

This one just squeaked by the 'No Best of' rule. There's no original material here. Live acoustic versions of these classics abound - but these are all new recordings of Thompson's best known solo material - and man it's good.

As luck would have it, no cuts for this have survived on YouTube, so I'll give you the closest thing.

Rounding out today's choices . . .

5. Brownout Presents Brown Sabbath - Brownout

Your favorite Black Sabbath tunes with congas & horns - a Latin Funk tribute to Ozzy & gang. Not as silly as Dread Zeppelin (who, by the way, will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of their album Un-Led-Ed in 2015. Let the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame lobbying begin), but not as reverential as, say, The Other Side of Abbey Road. This is probably the funnest album of the list, at home in your headphones and at a pool party.

Tomorrow? You guessed it - #4-2

The Best Albums of 2014 - Part 1

And by 'Best' I mean 'the one's I like the most'. No attempt at identifying trend-setting, genre-establishing leaders in field of recorded music. Not even the most popular of 2014. No, these are just the ones I liked to hear over & over this year.

And, as April Wine put it, I Like To Rock, so yeah, you're going to see a lot of straight ahead Rock. But I like Alt-Country/No Depression/Americana (whatever it's called these days) and I like good Power Pop and fierce Punk so this list is all over the place.

Why albums? Because I'm a child of the '70s and the album is my natural unit of musical measure. Besides, if you focus on singles, you get Werewolves of London and miss Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner.

I clocked at least the first track of A LOT of albums but may have missed some. (Tip: If it's a hip-hop album that starts with a pseudo-classical track called "Intro", it's going to be crap. Another Tip: I could have cut out all the words between 'album' and 'it's' in the previous sentence and still been accurate). Also, most of these were on Spotify; I'm not going to go out and buy the new Taylor Swift on a flyer for the sake of completeness. Finally, 2014 is a lie. If you are fool enough to release something in the last two weeks of the year, tough. (Except for you Parliament. You've earned a post-cutoff look.)

No Greatest Hits, no 'remasters'. Two albums on the top ten skirted these rules closely, one a 'tribute' album.

Without further ado . . .

10. Lateness of Dancers - Hiss Golden Messenger

A North Carolina duet, Hiss Golden Messenger's fifth studio album is nothing fancy, just very listenable songcraft hearkening back to days when songs were meant to be listened to, not choreographed over. 

9. Supernova - Ray LaMontagne

Produced by the same man as our #1 album of the year (hint, hint), Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, this album drips psychedelica. This cut sounds like Ray had been hanging out at Justin Hayward's house all summer listening to Arnold Layne on the 45.

8. Cool Planet - Guided By Voices

Another throwback to trippy 60s British psychedelic pop. What can I say? This is one of two GBV releases this year. The other, Motivational Jumpsuit, - not so much.

Tomorrow #7 - 5