Favorite Albums of 2020

#1

It’s that time of year again; here’s the albums that have stood out for me this year:

Albums

  1. Letter to You – Bruce Springsteen
  2. Circles Around the Sun – Circles Around the Sun
  3. Monovision – Ray LaMontagne
  4. Rough and Rowdy Ways – Bob Dylan
  5. CYR – Smashing Pumpkins
  6. Perdida – Stone Temple Pilots
  7. Sigma Oasis – Phish
  8. Homegrown – Neil Young
  9. Love is the King – Jeff Tweedy
  10. Folklore – Taylor Swift

Compilations/Remasters/Singles

  1. Wildflowers & All The Rest – Tom Petty
  2. Everything is Moving/Green Moon – Neal Casal
  3. The Best of Tommy Emmanuel – Tommy Emmanuel
  4. See Here, I Have Built You a Mansion – Josh Ritter
  5. Long Blue Light – Leif Vollebekk

Live Albums

  1. CATS LIVE Winter 2020 – Circles Around the Sun
  2. December – Page McConnell & Trey Anastasio
  3. Hell Yeah! Live 2017–2019 – Josh Ritter
#2

Albums

  1. Bob Dylan-Rough and Rowdy Ways
  2. Jason Isbell-Reunions
  3. Steve Earle-Ghosts of West Virginia
  4. Courtney Marie Andrews-Old Flowers
  5. Gillian Welch-The Boots No 2 Lost Songs
  6. Otis Gibbs-Hoosier National
  7. Kathleen Edwards-Total Freedom
  8. Lucinda Williams-Good Souls Better Angels
  9. Kim Richey-A Long Way Back
  10. Fiona Apple-Fetch the Bolt Cutters
#3

Waterfall II - My Morning Jacket
Love is the King- Jeff Tweedy
Song For Our Daughter - Laura Marling
Fetch the Bolt Cutters- Fiona Apple
Sundowner - Kevin Morby

#4

Old Flowers - Courtney Marie Andrews
Serpentine Prison - Matt Berninger
Dixie Blur - Jonathan Wilson
Grae - Moses Sumney
El Dorado - Marcus King

#5

Soft Blue Shimmer - Heaven Inches Away
Empty Country - Empty Country
Adrianne Lenker - Songs
Ichiko Aoba - Windswept Adan
The Avalanches - We Will Always Love You
Mac Miller - Circles
Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Gia Margaret - Mia Gargaret
Erlend Oye - Quarantine at El Ganzo
Wesley Schultz - Vignettes
Pure X - Pure X
Khruangbin - Mordechai
My Morning Jacket - The Waterfall II
John Moreland - LP5

There were a ton of great instrumental/ambient/electronic music albums this year - artists just getting it all out there:

Imaginary Softwoods - Annual Flowers in Color
Haruka Nakamura - Still Life
Fools - Fools’ Harp, Vol. 1
Pacific Coliseum - How’s Life?
Meitei - Komachi
Adrianne Lenker - Instrumentals
Four Tet - Sixteen Oceans
Caribou - Suddenly
John Carroll Kirby - My Garden
Library Tapes - Summer Songs
Alabaster de Plume - To Cry & Lee: Instrumentals, Vol. 1
Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders
The Soft Pink Truth - Shall We Go on Sinning So That Grace May Increase?
Leya - Flood Dream
Chihei Hatakeyama - Illusion Harbor
Chihei Hatakeyama - Void XX
Mute Duo - Lapse in Passage
Tycho - Simulcast

#6

I honestly don’t belong on this site:

Everything Everything - Re-animator
Doves - The Universal Want
Foals - Collected Works (actually spinning this tonight!)
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
Pearl Jam - Gigaton (it wasn’t great)

I appear to have tunnel vision, this is all I could come up with. I also might have to start listening to Dua Lips because her song “Levitating” is on a TV advert that’s on in between every other heartbeat, and I actually quite like it.

I will also have to seek out the new Tycho, like them, they’re good, hmmmmmm…

#7

same

#8

I did buy Punisher now that I think about it. I just didn’t like it that much. The ending is too damn dramatic for a 5 month old to listen to on the big speakers, so I have a hard time spinning it. I liked Stranger in the Alps a lot better, we listen to that one all the time.

#9

@pacificmap good call on Tycho! I can’t believe I blanked on that one – I did like it! Maybe because it’s kind of the non-vocal version of 2019’s Weather I categorized it in my head as 2019. In any case, I agree, very nice album!

I just remembered Tycho has a livestream today:

#10

I have sucked at listening to new music this year. A lot of my all time favorite singers put out albums this year that I have not listened to all the way through, including: Isbell, Jeff Tweedy, Ray LaMontagne, John Moreland, etc.

My very short list and what I listened to over and over and over:
My Morning Jacket - The Waterfall 2
War on Drugs - Live Drugs

#11

I think because everything else this year sucked, I looked for the comfort only old music can provide. :heart:️

#12

Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit - Reunions
Sadler Vaden - Anybody Out There?
Markus King - El Dorado
Lucinda Williams - Good Souls, Better Angels
My Morning Jacket - The Waterfall II
Sturgill Simpson - Cutting Grass
Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways
John Moreland - LP5
Nathaniel Rateliff - And It’s Still Alright
The War on Drugs - Live Drugs

#13

damn how did I forget Sadler Vaden?? I love that album!

#14

John Craigie–Asterisk the Universe
Our Man in the Field - Company of Strangers
Springsteen - Letter to You
Brent Cobb - Keep em on they toes
Kathleen Edwards - Total Freedom
Jason Isbell - Reunions
nathaneil rateliff - and it’s still alright
taylor swift - folklore and evermore
ruston kelly - shape and destroy

#15

I should have included that John Craigie on my list, I thought it was from last year.

#16

oh for sure.

i think it’s my fave of 2020

#17

I love it. Incidentally, my wife borrowed my car and it was in the changer. She came in and said who is that? I love it! It was a rare occurrence that my wife liked one of my CD’s.

We watched The Last Waltz the other night - she had never seen it. She kept saying “I didn’t know they did that song, I like that song.” several times and asked me if I have any of their albums… so I hooked her up.

I’m sure the surviving members would be thrilled to know they’ve made a new fan! Tonight I plan to treat her to my DVD of The Festival Express.

#18

i love the festival express!

#19

I love Panda Express!

#20

YUCK! never had it. looked at it once when my wife ordered it. that was a hard pass. she couldn’t finish it.