I’m trying something a bit different this year. Rather than an alphabet soup offering my take on the year just passed, I’ll be rolling out several short lists — starting today with the five biggest disappointments of 2015.
I want to be clear up front: These are not necessarily albums I disliked. They are albums that under-performed when compared to earlier work by these artists. In that way, they stand as disappointments.
One other caveat: I only included records that I bought — so that leaves a lot of music on the floor.
The list:
1. Neil Young, The Monsanto Years. I love Neil’s music, but this one is a real dog — in a long line of recent dogs. Musically, The Monsanto Years rocks. It is Crazy Horse muscular and full of distortion. But the lyrics are pedantic and unimaginative, overtly political without being poetic or inspiring.
2. Adele, 25. The most apt way to describe what may have been the most-hyped record of the year is meh. See my review here.
3. Father John Misty, I Love You, Honeybear. I liked this on first listen, but found that it faded and couldn’t withstand repeated hearings, going from intriguing to pedestrian quickly.
4. Best Coast, California Nights. I like this album, but it feels flat when compared to the band’s much more creative earlier work.
5. Kacey Musgraves, Pageant Material. Another album I liked on my first few passes, it ends up sounding like too much contemporary country — which is unfortunate, given the excellence of her debut.
Hank Kalet 
Totally agree about ADELE 25. A couple of decent songs, but most meh. Nowhere near as good as the debut album. Perhaps she's written all the good songs that are in her. If I were her manager (ha-ha), for album 3, I'd urge her to go out and commission songs from the tunesmiths she most admires & also think about some dynamite covers. At this point she can sing whatever she pleases.
I enjoy both Adele and Kacey. But to each his own!