My year in music

What follows is my take on the year in music. Everything on the list, good and bad, was released this year and is something I added to my music collection. This is not an authoritative list and it only represents my taste. I’d be curious, though, to hear what others liked or didn’t like in 2014.

Songs of the year, in case you’re wondering: 1) Mark Ronson, “Uptown Funk”; 2) Temples, “Shelter Song”; 3) Sylvan Esso, “Coffee”; 4) Paolo Nutini, “Let Me Down Easy”; 5) Nick Waterhouse, “This is a Game.”
 First, my Top 25:

1. Spoon, They Want My Soul — album of the year. This album contains multitudes, with each listen giving me a new pleasure.
2. D’Angelo & the Vanguard, Black Messiah — long-awaited follow (14 years) is worth the wait, an album of political and personal statements, of sonic experimentation and rock-solid beats.
3. TV on the Radio, Seeds — easily one of the year’s top five.
4. Kat Edmundson, The Big Picture — I heard her on a podcast last month and now I can’t get her voice out of my head.
5. Tweedy, Sukierae — nice work from Jeff Tweedy, with his son on drums.
6. Temples, Sun Structures — love this ’60s throwback from a new band.
7. Lydia Loveless, Somewhere Else — rock, country, singer/songwriter? Who cares. The emotional and creative depth she displays is breathtaking.
8. First Aid Kit, Stay Gold — unexpected and totally fresh.
9. Kelis, Food — this record makes me hungry for more.
10. Mary J. Blige, The London Sessions — one of her best. Probably the no. 2 or 3 soul record of the year.
11. Neneh Cherry, Blank Project — another fabulous recording, continuing her late-career renaissance.
12. The Fresh & Onlys, House of Spirits — big sound, big ideas and a big pay-off.
13. Rosanne Cash, The River & the Thread — somehow, after 30-plus years of recording, and she makes her best album.
14. Lucinda Williams, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone — another in a long line of absolutely perfect records from Williams.
15. Imelda May, Tribal — a record that breathes fire (and includes a surprisingly sweet cover of Blondie’s “Dreaming”).
16. Angel Olsen, Burn Your Fire for No Witness — she packs a punch, lyrically and musically.
17. Aloe Blacc, Lift Your Spirit — the album title says it all. This is just a great soul record.
18. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Hypnotic Eye — his best in years.
19. Old 97s, Most Messed Up — flat out rocks.
20. Nick Waterhouse, Holly — maybe the most incendiary record of the year. Old-school rock&soul.
21. Jack White, Lazaretto — another great solo record, just missed making the top 20.
22. Nicole Atkins, Slow Phaser — a tremendous record.
23. Benjamin Booker, Benjamin Booker — R&B with a punk soul. Nearly made the top 20.
24. Dum Dum Girls, Too True — wonderful pastiche of ’60s and early ’80s, with an absolutely modern sensibility.
25. Black Lips, Underneath the Rainbow — punky, swampy stuff.

The rest, alphabetically:

• Ryan Adams, Ryan Adams — strong set of songs, though not his best.Joseph Arthur, Lou — a tribute to Lou Reed that reimagines the songs and gives them a different life.
• The Black Keys, Turn Blue — a good record, to be sure, but not one of their better ones. 
• The Both, The Both
• Anna Calvi, Strong Weather (EP) — her voice. I want her to sing a James Bond theme at some point.
• Leonard Cohen, Popular Problems — a return to form, to a degree.
• Rodney Crowell, Tarpaper Sky — Cash and Crowell, in a just world, would be nominated for Country Album of the year. That they won’t says more about the state of country radio than it does about their work.
• Will Dailey, $300 Man
• Steve Earle, Live in Nashville 1995
• Sylvan Esso, Sylvan Esso — a surprise to me, but the single “Coffee” made it a must-have.
• The Hold Steady, Teeth Dreams — good record, but not one that will win the band new fans.
• Jolie Holland, Wine Dark Sea
• Hospitality, Trouble
• Chrissie Hynde, Stockholm — sounds like The Pretenders (how could it not) in all the right ways.
• Mary Lambert, Heart on My Sleeve — she’s more than just the female voice on “Same Love.”
• Kindness, Otherness — a late edition. I just heard this the other day and love the feel.
• Le Butcherettes, Cry is for the Flies
• Jenny Lewis, The Voyager — a little more pop than in the past, but a good record.
• Pete Molinari, Theosophy
• Money, The Shadow of Heaven
• Willie Nile, If I Was a River
• Paolo Nutini, Caustic Love — I was cool to this at first, aside from the single, “Let Me Down Easy,” but this absolutely grew on me and made my short list of new soul records.
• Ought, More Than Any Other Day
• Parquet Courts, Content Nausea and Sunbathing Animal — two good indie efforts from the Brooklyn group, at a time when too many bands take way too long to finish even a single record.
• Chuck Prophet, Night Surfer — another in a long line of good records.
• R.E.M., Unplugged 1991/2001: The Complete Sessions
• The Roots, …and Then They Shoot Your Cousin — continued success from hip-hop legends.
• Rotary Downs, Traces
• Screaming Females, Live at the Hideout — local band (New Brunswick) makes good (music).
• Shakira, Shakira — she never disappoints.
• Bruce Springsteen, High Hopes — I am a bad judge of Springsteen records. I tend to love them, flaws and all. This is not his best, but I like it a lot (though it did make the Turkey Shoot on Sound Opinions).
• The Strypes, Snapshot — an absolute rip-off of ’60s garage rock and the British Invasion, which in this case is a good thing.
• Sharon Van Etten, Are We There — another good effort from the Jersey-born singer/songwriter.
• John Zorn, Psychomagia

The absolute disappointments:

• U2, Songs of Innocense — perhaps the year’s most disappointing record, it managed to be both shallow and pretentious simultaneously.
• Beck, Morning Phase — dark? Perhaps, but not nearly as deep as it pretends to be. In the end, it is just too flat — and makes the short list of year’s biggest disappointments.
• Gaslight Anthem, Get Hurt — this one is too much anthem and not nearly enough gas. On the short list for most disappointing record of the year.
• Prince & 3rdEyeGirl, PLECTRUMELECTUM — on the short list for the year’s biggest disappointment.
• Prince, Art Official Age — nice feel, but nothing earth shattering or groundbreaking.
• John Mellencamp, Plain Spoken — workmanlike, but nothign special.

A few others would have made the Absolute Disappointments list — Neil Young’s two records, Foxygen’s ...And Star Power,  Karen O — but I didn’t bother to buy them, which may be the lesson. I buy way too much music.

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