I know, I know. List season is over. We’ve moved on to a new year. Ok, so I didn’t get it done in time for some hypothetical deadline. At least I got it done, right? One thing I have to say right up front is that these are not the best albums of the year. Alright, maybe some of them are the best albums of the year, but given how many albums are released these days, and despite the availability of Spotify and other streaming services, it’s nearly impossible to hear even a fraction of them. So these are my favorite albums of 2014, chosen from those that I heard. Speaking of Spotify, nearly all of these albums are available there for you (come on Lucinda, get on board). I suppose I could write about each album, but I’m a lazy man, it’s late already, and why do that when you can just listen to it for yourself? I’ve created a playlist with a song from (almost) every album to get you started.
These days a lot of writers race to be first. I’m glad I waited because December brought my favorite album of the year on very short notice. Black Messiah is D’Angelo’s first album in 14 years and it’s quite possibly worth a wait of even that duration. If Black Messiah was the latecomer, Rosanne Cash’s career-topping The River & The Thread was the early bird, released at about this time last year, and instantly finding a secure spot on my list. There was plenty of good music out there in between those two releases. Sometimes you had to dig to find it, and other times it just showed up in your iTunes library.
Here then are my favorite albums of 2014.
1. D’Angelo and the Vanguard – Black Messiah
2. Beck – Morning Phase
3. The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream
4. Billy Childs – Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro
5. Rosanne Cash – The River & The Thread
6. The Felice Brothers – Favorite Waitress
7. St. Vincent – St. Vincent
8. Scott Walker + Sunn O))) – Soused
9. Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams
10. Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone
11. Leonard Cohen – Popular Problems
12. Robin Gibb – 50 St. Catherine’s Drive
13. Bryan Ferry – Avonmore
14. Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens – Cold World
15. Matthew Ryan – Boxers
16. Cymbals Eat Guitars – LOSE
17. The Hold Steady – Teeth Dreams
18. Prince – Art Official Age
19. Ray LaMontagne – Supernova
20. Gedeon Luke & the People – Live Free & Love
21. TV On The Radio – Seeds
22. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – Hypnotic Eye
23. U2 – Songs of Innocence
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