Charlie Doherty’s Top Music Releases of 2023 (Neil Young, Boygenius, Jesse Ahern, Rancid, and More)

My favorite releases of 2023 list is now complete and ready for viewing. While Taylor Swift dominated the pop world, it was an impressive year of releases elsewhere, especially for Neil Young (who had at least four in total), The National (two albums), Smashing Pumpkins (acts II and III of ATUM, a three-part rock opera), and many others. Without further ado, here is my Top 20, along with a further list of Honorable Mentions.

My Top 20 Releases of 2023

The National – Laugh Track

The Rolling Stones – Hackney Diamonds

Boygenius – The Record

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Weathervanes

Jesse Ahern – Rock and Roll Rebel

Rancid – Tomorrow Never Knows

Neil Young – Chrome Dreams

Nils Lofgren – Mountains

Bethany Cosentino (of Best Coast) – Natural Disaster

Baroness – Stone

Lana Del Rey – Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd

Heatmiser – The Music of Heatmiser (This was the late great Elliott Smith’s early ’90s rock group.)

Beach Fossils – Bunny

Jenny Lewis – Joy’All

Peter Gabriel – i/o (It’s his first LP of original material in over 20 years.)

Joni Mitchell – Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975)

Palehound – Eye on the Bat

My Morning Jacket – MMJ Live Vol. 3: Bonnaroo 2004

Foo Fighters – But Here We Are

PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Dying Year

Honorable Mentions

Explosions in the Sky – End

Smashing Pumpkins – ATUM: Act II and Act III (Act I was released in 2022.)

The Breeders – Last Splash (The 30^th Anniversary Original Analog Edition) has two unreleased tracks: “Go Man Go” (co-written with Frank Black of The Pixies in 1993) and a version of “Divine Hammer” called “Divine Mascis” with lead vocals by J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.

The National – First Two Pages of Frankenstein

Kurt Vile – Back to Moon Beach EP

Neil Young and the Santa Monica Flyers – Somewhere Under the Rainbow and The Ducks – High Flyin’

Bob Dylan – Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol. 17

See also my Top 25 Tunes of 2023 list.