Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
If you’re a big fan of music, despite all the madness and darkness of the pandemic and social unrest of the past year, it is likely that a good amount of your favorite artists and bands were active in the recording studio or did live performances at home or at a socially distanced event. There was something for just about everyone. In fact, with all the music that came out in 2020, I probably listened to well over 100 new studio/live albums/EPs/compilations combined.
You will see numerous modern artists in my 2020 list (Phantogram, Grimes, Kehlani, Kvelertak, etc.). But I balance it out with (new) music from reliable sources of greatness, including: Bob Dylan, Bruce, Neil Young, Bob Mould, Pearl Jam, Nils Lofgren (whose incredible 2CD live album Weathered I had the thrill of a lifetime interviewing him about last August), and Tom Petty.
Titled Wildflowers & All the Rest, the (2020) Super Deluxe 5CD edition is a treasure and now one of my favorite box sets of all-time. With numerous rare, previously unreleased recordings and four separate handwritten sheets of lyrics, it feels less like a big purchase and more like an intimate gift from the Petty and Heartbreakers family. The care and detail with the liner notes, track details and packaging is as rich and informative as you can get.
Here now is my entire list of favorite releases from 2020. As per usual, I don’t rank the releases numerically, but the 10 or so closest to the top meant the most to me. Hope you enjoy the read.
Top 50 of 2020:
Tom Petty – Wildflowers & All the Rest (5CD Super Deluxe Edition)
Phantogram – Ceremony
Neil Young – Homegrown
Taylor Swift – Folklore and Evermore (the two best records she has made yet)
War on Drugs – Live Drugs
The Postal Service – Everything Will Change (live release)
Bruce Springsteen (with the E Street Band) – Letter to You
Hum – Inlet (First new album in over 20 years)
Chris Cornell – No One Sings Like You Anymore (holiday gift to fans featuring covers of his favorite songs)
Nils Lofgren – Weathered (2LP live release)
Deftones – Ohms (follows 2016’s Gore)
Prince – Sign O’ The Times (Super Deluxe Edition)
Chris Stapleton – Starting Over
Cream – Goodbye Tour – Live 1968
Miley Cyrus – Plastic Hearts
The Stooges – Live at Goose Lake: August 8, 1970 (final show of original lineup, including bassist Dave Alexander)
Bob Mould – Blue Hearts
Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Soccer Mommy – Color Theory
Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea
Margo Price – That’s How Rumors Get Started
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Sideways to New Italy
Run the Jewels – RTJ4
Kehlani – It Was Good Until It Wasn’t
Kurt Vile – Speed, Sound, Lonely KV EP
Rilo Kiley – Rilo Kiley reissue of 1999 demos (aka The Initial Friend EP) now called their debut album)
Lamb of God – Lamb of God
Bryan Porter Hinkley – We Live Through It EP
Grey Daze – Amends (honoring the late great Chester Bennington and his pre-Linkin Park ’90s band)
Gorillaz – Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez
Dion – Blues with Friends
Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Jerry Garcia Band – Garcia Live Volume 13 (2CD September 16, 1989 Poplar Creek Music Theatre show in Illinois with E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons)
The Lone Bellow – Half Moon Light
Lucinda Williams – Good Souls Better Angels
Drive-By Truckers – The Unraveling
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – Reunions
Hayley Williams (of Paramore) – Petals for Armor
Pearl Jam – Gigaton
…Trail of Dead – X: The Godless Void and Other Stories
Kvelertak – Splid
Grimes – Miss Anthropocene
Ozzy Osbourne – Ordinary Man
Mark Lanegan – Straight Songs of Sorrow
Destroyer – Have We Met
Real Estate – The Main Thing
The Psychedelic Furs – Made of Rain
Nothing – The Great Dismal
Honorable Mentions:
Best Coast – Always Tomorrow
Naeem – Startisha (Debut album by the rapper known as Spank Rock – it features two tracks co-written with Justin Vernon)
Travis – 10 Songs (with Susanna Hoffs guesting on one track)
Smashing Pumpkins – Cyr (the latest 2LP album from the Chicago alt-rock icons)
Public Enemy – What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down? (f/ George Clinton, Nas, Black Thought, Questlove, Ice-T, Mike D, Ad-Rock, and Run-DMC)
Jimmy Chamberlin Complex – Honor
