2025: The Year in Music

I’m nothing if consistent in my inconsistency. Looking back on past year-end listicles to see which format I wanted to use for this year’s roll of favorite albums, I realized that I hadn’t made such a list since 2021. I started my annual list back in 2015, with subsequent lists posted for 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020. Poor 2018—it was nothing personal. Apologies to 2022, 2023, and 2024, too, for my lack of spotlight on the many fine artists who put out great albums in those years. Chalk it up to life and its many competing obligations. Adulting sucks sometimes.

2025’s list of top albums has more than a few repeat visitors. My blogging habits may be inconsistent, but my taste apparently is. Five of this year’s entries are from female solo artists, two from male solo artists, and three from bands. Countries represented include the United States, England, and Iceland. For the first time (in such an illustrious history of doing this), bands comprise my top three picks of the year. Not surprising, many artists used their platforms to explore the collective cultural anxieties of our time and express political opinions—even those whose more obvious intent was to make us dance. It made for an interesting year, lyrically speaking.

This year, I reverted back to the older format of commentary/capsule reviews of each entry, including what I feel are the top three tracks on each album. To freshen up the proceedings, this year I included the month of release and a one-word adjective to describe each album, which proved more challenging than you’d think.

With ears carefully trained toward the sounds of 2026’s first great albums, here is my list of the top ten albums from 2025, in countdown order:

 

10 - Here For It All
Mariah Carey

Released: September 2025
One Adjective to Best Describe: Authentic

On her 16^th album—her first in seven years—the incomparable Carey largely stays in the lane she’s carved out for herself with this sophisticated collection of impeccably well-written R&B. And while the story here could be how slickly produced and cohesive the album sounds (which is does), the real discovery here is how honest Carey is with showing us the condition of her vocals, now a slightly more weathered instrument after decades of powerhouse notes, whisper-tones, and seamlessly creamy, luscious vocals. It’s a natural progression for any singer—and kudos to Carey for sharing a more realistic portraiture of where she is now as a singer. Instead of working around her limitations, she wisely leans into them, embracing the occasional hoarseness, flirting with alternate keys, and projecting more from her chest. Arguably, while her voice may not have the bombast that it did in her 90’s heydays, these vocal imperfections have added character and depth to her songs.  

Top Three Tracks:
“My Love”
“Here For It All”
“Confetti & Champagne”

9 - Better Broken
Sarah McLachlan

Released: September 2025
One Adjective to Best Describe: Resonant

McLachlan, the consummate tugger of heartstrings, returns after almost a decade with a beautifully crafted album that reminds us that she is also one of pop music’s foremost poets. Better Broken finds the three-time Grammy winner confronting global anxieties with a slightly weathered—but unwavering—voice that reflects the experiential insight of an imperfect fellow traveler, a survivor surveying the damage we both suffer and cause in our personal and shared lives. No one does easy listening and melodious ballads better than McLachlan—Better Broken reminds us of that.

Top Three Tracks:
“Better Broken”
“Only Human”
“Gravity”

8 - Flux
Alison Goldfrapp

Released: August 2025
One Adjective to Best Describe: Ethereal

The vocalist of English electronic music duo Goldfrapp steps forward with her second solo album, a synth-heavy pop effort that finds her awash in shimmery (largely) midtempo grooves. Thematically, much of Flux finds Goldfrapp looking up at the sky, contemplative and speculating. The musical result is a dreamlike collection of muted throbs and shape-shifting ambient elegance set against Goldfrapp’s ethereal vocals. Welcome to the musical comfort zone.

Top Three Tracks:
“UltraSky”
“Reverberotic”
“Play It (Shine Like a Nova Star)”

7 - Closer
Kim Wilde

Released: January 2025
One Adjective to Best Describe: Consistent

The venerable 80’s pop-rocker started off the year with a compulsively listenable collection of ten tracks that sounds simultaneously fresh and wistfully nostalgic. Fifteen albums in and Wilde sounds confident is both her voice and material she’s offering here—a mixture of pop, rock, ballads, and dancefloor bangers. The synth and new wave influences that marked the earlier hits that defined her—like “Kids in America” and “You Came” and “Another Step (Closer to You)”—are all present and accounted for. This album effortlessly bridges the span of years from Wilde’s beginnings to where she finds herself at the age of 64.

Top Three Tracks:
“Stones and Bones”
“Lighthouse”
“Love Is Love”

6 - Mayhem
Lady Gaga

Released: March 2025
One Adjective to Best Describe: Propulsive

Lady Gaga gives fans a big ‘ole wink with the oxymoronic title of her seventh studio album, which is decidedly less chaotic cacophony and more calculated euphonious symmetry. Mayhem finds Lady G committing to the sleek, propulsive dance beats and over-the-top excess that made her a star in the first place. Self-referentiality is a key ingredient on most the 14 tracks on display here. Mayhem is a deliciously overstuffed exercise in musical maximalism, with Gaga’s formidable vocals keeping pace (and volume) with the sonic walls of controlled anarchism on each track.

Top Three Tracks:
“LoveDrug”
“Disease”
“Vanish into You”

5 - Ten Crowns
Andy Bell

Released: May 2025
One Adjective to Best Describe: Contagious

The venerable Erasure frontman steps out on his own for the first time since 2010’s Non-Stop with this Dave Audé co-produced collection of infectious EDM and Eurodisco tracks. The energy is high, the mood buoyant, the lyrics sharp—biting even at times—on this third solo effort. Ten Crowns is a toe-tapping club-centric pop confection with a gospel ribbon threaded through the glitter-infused celebration of survival and queer resilience at the album’s heart. Bell, at 61, is in fine voice and delivers all the danceable drama here.

Top Three Tracks:
“Heart’s a Liar (with Debbie Harry)
“Lies So Deep” (featuring Sarah Potenza)
“Dawn of Heaven’s Gate”

4 - I Barely Know Her
Sombr

Released: August 2025
One Adjective to Best Describe: Virtuoso

Buoyed by this 20-year-old wunderkind’s rockstar confidence, I Barely Know Her is easily the best debut album of the year. The native New Yorker crafts an infectious, reverb-laden collection of ten songs about yearning that’s musically set against a lo-fi wall of dreamlike melodrama, built on lush harmonies, deep bassline grooves, and percussive stabs of 80’s synths. Sombr (real name Shane Boose) is the real deal, that rare talent whose future longevity is unmistakable the first time you experience his music.

Top Three Tracks:
“12 to 12”
“back to friend”
“canal street”

3 - Everybody Scream
Florence + The Machine

Released: August 2025
One Adjective to Best Describe: Theatrical

Florence Welch and her Machine returned with their sixth studio album, an enchanting 12-track sonic scream that cements their place as one of the most musically unique bands in rock history. Center stage—wisely and as always—is Welch’s exceptional vocal prowess, which is paired on this effort with feminist themes and lyrics that blend folklore and mysticism. The result is a captivating, theatrical experience with gothic undertones.

Top Three Tracks:
“Everybody Scream”
“The Old Religion”
“You Can Have It All”

2 - Let All That We Imagine Be the Light
Garbage

Released: May 2025
One Adjective to Best Describe: Bombastic

The venerable rock outfit returned with its eighth studio album following its superb No Gods No Masters set in 2021. This stellar collection of melody-driven grunge-pop finds frontwoman Shirley Manson and company searching for hope and resilience in turbulent times with their characteristic defiance intact. They’re a band that’s come into its own with few fucks to give. The result is a more introspective, relaxed effort that harkens back to its 1995 self-titled debut. Sonic adventurism that’s as raucous as it is fun.

Top Three Tracks:
“Chinese Fire Horse”
“R U Happy Now”
“Sisyphus”

1 - All is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade
Of Monsters and Men

Released: October 2025
One Adjective to Best Describe: Exquisite

The Icelandic indie-folk rock band made a welcome return this year with its first full-length offering since 2019’s Fever Dream. Opting for more introspective storytelling here, the album is interfused with thought-provoking, poetic metaphors and images drawn from the unspoken weight of the everyday. Musically, the band has fused its earlier signature sweeping choruses and layered harmonies with the subtle electronic texturing of synths and heavier percussion. The result is simply divine—easily one of the most gorgeous collections of songs I’ve ever heard.

Top Three Tracks:
“Television Love”
“The Actor”
“Fruit Bat”

 

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

The Life of a Showgirl
Taylor Swift

A Matter of Time
Laufey

Perimenopop
Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Duets Special
Chrissie Hynde

Period
Kesha

All Night Days
Rob Thomas

Once Upon a Time in California
Belinda Carlisle

Man’s Best Friend
Sabrina Carpenter

2021: The Year in Music

With the global pandemic that defined 2020 continuing on largely unabated in 2021 with surges and variants throwing monkey wrenches into the entertainment industry once again despite the availability of vaccines, music artists resumed a steadier release schedule than the year prior. Even as some artists resumed playing live dates while others postponed shows yet again over fears of rising infection rates, most resigned themselves to releasing their new music even if supporting it with a tour wasn’t a guaranteed source of income in 2021.

This was welcome news for music fans who lamented over slimmer pickings in 2020. Heck, 2021 even saw the long-awaited return of vocal juggernaut Adele with her first album of new material in six years. In last year’s recap, I noted that escapism was the prevailing theme—understandable considering the unprecedented circumstances we found ourselves in with lockdowns and mass casualties numbering in the hundreds of thousands. This year, artists found themselves more reflective—even those who surrounded themselves in uptempo beats—with songwriting taking center stage. Some musical veterans went back in time on their 2021 releases—from Shirley Manson and her Garbage bandmates who returned to the rebellious rage of earlier releases to Duran Duran who took a stroll down memory lane on their 15th album while managing to sound fresh and relevant. Some focused on the emotionality of stepping out of darkness and into the light, like Yebba on her exquisite debut and Adele on her cathartic fourth album. Yola and Valerie June each delivered gorgeous collections of folky Memphis soul songs about love and loss and the acceptance of bygones. Surprisingly, Billie Eilish found some bliss on her sophomore set, while—less surprisingly—Lana Del Rey picked up right where she left off on last year’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! and continued to musically chronicle the death of the American dream on her piercingly perceptive 7th studio album. Even when artists like Saint Motel and Laura Mvula expanded their music into gloriously bombastic walls of sound, it’s the lyrics that stood out over the beats.

In any event, this year’s annual Top 10 list again held steadfast to past trends and personal penchants: Heavily female artist skewed (7 out of 10, plus a female-fronted band) and at least one new discovery (Yebba). Less Brits than previous years, although I still managed to include four—Adele, Laura Mvula, Duran Duran, and Yola. Three bands make the list; no male solo singers managed the same this year.

All that said, down to the countdown. My favorite albums of 2021:

#10 THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK / Saint Motel

#9 DAWN / Yebba

#8 THE MOON AND STARS: PRESCRIPTIONS FOR DREAMERS / Valerie June

#7 HAPPIER THAN EVER / Billie Eilish

#6 CHEMTRAILS OVER THE COUNTRY CLUB / Lana Del Rey

#5 STAND FOR MYSELF / Yola

#4 FUTURE PAST / Duran Duran

#3 30 / Adele

#2 PINK NOISE / Laura Mvula

#1 NO GODS NO MASTERS / Garbage

Honorable Mentions: No formal ranking, but worthy of a listen or two.

·         Not Your Muse / Celeste

·         COLLAPSED IN SUNBEAMS / Arlo Parks

·         CALIFORNIAN SOIL / London Grammar

·         JOURNEY TO YOU / The Blow Monkeys

·         ONE WAY OUT / Melissa Etheridge

·         YOUNG HEART / Birdy

·         HI / Texas

·         WELCOME TO THE MADHOUSE / Tones and I

·         PRESSURE MACHINE / The Killers

·         THE BODY REMEMBERS / Debbie Gibson

·         BLUE BANISTERS / Lana Del Rey

·         HUNTER AND THE DOG STAR / Edie Brickell & New Bohemians

2020: The Year in Music

Thanks to the global pandemic that rocked everyone’s world this year, the first year of the new decade saw an unprecedented demand for at-home entertainment and solo leisure time pursuits. The written word probably fared the best, with people stuck at home and picking up a book for the first time in years. Movies and television were a catch-22; although the demand was there and people were willing to pay, there was limited new content because either production had been shut down or movie studios opted to delay or postpone theatrical releases versus release to VOD for fear of losing too much money. 

Music fell somewhere in between. With artists creating new music remotely pre-pandemic, production capability wasn’t an issue. What stopped some artists from releasing new product was the inability to promote new music with live shows. In today’s business model, it’s the touring that brings in the bigger bucks—not releasing $1.29 singles on iTunes. Although streaming was up (despite listeners spending far less time in the car or at the gym), the streaming of new releases wasn’t, with data showing that folks opted to stream older catalog titles, like musical comfort food. Artists grappled with the timing of new releases—from competing with the coronavirus for media time to promote their music to the fact that people were just overall distracted. Less people traveling to and from work lessened the importance of radio play, while the closure of schools severed that all-too-important word of mouth publicity pipeline among the under 18 set. So, like movies, the amount of new music put out in 2020 was markedly less than previous years. 

Still, there were some spectacularly good releases in 2020. If there was a theme in music during this pandemic-afflicted year, it was escapism. Artists created hopeful albums, filled with songs that were uplifting and uptempo. Lots of tunes to dance to—even if the dancing was relegated to living rooms. My own annual Top 10 list held true to past trends and personal patterns of predilection: Lots of Brits, heavily female artist skewed, and at least one new discovery. This year’s list sees the reappearance of artists you’ve seen grace my year-end favorites before, with two notable exceptions: Miley Cyrus and Love Fame Tragedy. Cyrus released a phenomenal collection with Plastic Hearts, an eclectic blend of pop-punk-country-glam-rock and homage to 80s-era New Wave that shouldn’t work as well as it does. Cyrus pays tribute to female rock icons with covers of Blondie’s Heart of Glass and The Cranberries’ Zombie, while bringing in rock royalty like Billy Idol, Joan Jett, and Stevie Nicks for duets and clever mashups. Cyrus made me a fan with this album.

Love Fame Tragedy is a collaborative solo project created by Matthew Murphy, the Wombats’ lead singer and lyricist. The album—Wherever I Go, I Want to Leave—is a glorious indie pop-rock masterpiece filled with Murphy’s wry, high-end songwriting on 17 tracks covering a range of musical styles from electro rock to ambient house, indie synth-pop, neo-funk, and even R&B.

Topping my list this year is one of my “newer” favorite artists—Jessie Ware. Once described by Rolling Stone as “the missing link between Adele and Sade,” Ware has made consistently good albums since her 2012 debut, Devotion. Her fourth—this year’s What’s Your Pleasure?—is a pure pop-dance tour de force, finding Ware more comfortable than even in her own musical skin. The album is ripe with every variation of dance music—from disco to hi-NRG and house and back again to disco-funk. It’s frothy and flirty and frivolous fun and just the kind of record we needed this year to remind us to dance like nobody’s watching. It easily lands at a firm #1 on my year-end list.

Speaking of, without further chitchat, here’s what you came for: 

#10 – HOTSPOT / Pet Shop Boys

#9 – CHROMATICA / Lady Gaga

#8 – DISCO / Kylie Minogue

#7 – LOVE GOES / Sam Smith

#6 – PLASTIC HEARTS / Miley Cyrus

#5 – INFINITE THINGS / Paloma Faith

#4 – IMPLODING THE MIRAGE / The Killers

#3 – WHEREVER I GO, I WANT TO LEAVE / Love Fame Tragedy 

#2 – FUTURE NOSTALGIA / Dua Lipa

#1 – WHAT’S YOUR PLEASURE? / Jessie Ware

Honorable Mentions: No formal ranking, but worthy of a listen or two. 

• I HAVE MY STANDARDS / Martha Davis
• THE NEON / Erasure
• FOLKLORE / Taylor Swift
• RAZZMATAZZ / I Don’t Know How But They Found Me (aka iDKHOW)
• HATE FOR SALE / Pretenders
• FUN CITY / Bright Light Bright Light
• SPELL MY NAME / Toni Braxton
• DREAMLAND / Glass Animals
• AFTER HOURS / The Weeknd
• CHIP CHROME & THE MONOTONES / The Neighbourhood
• THE RARITIES / Mariah Carey

Top Ten Albums of 2019

No, there was no new music this year from Adele. Or Alison Moyet. Or Jessie Ware—at least not beyond a pair of new singles. So perhaps 2020 will bring me that holy trinity of new albums.  

In the interim that was 2019, there were quite a few excellent new releases—only two by artists who have made a previous year-end list. Included in this year’s ranking are four albums from bands, two from male artists, and four from female artists—three of which are the artists’ debut albums.

I share these year-end lists because I love music—and I love sharing my favorite music picks in the hope that something here may pique your interest and you’ll end up with a new artist or two that you end up really digging.

Without further comment, my picks for this year’s ten best albums:  

10- FEVER DREAM / Of Monsters and Men

If you’ve yet to discover Icelandic indie folk/pop band Of Monsters and Men, make this one of your New Year’s resolutions. And FEVER DREAM—the band’s third album—is a great place to get acquainted. Trading the orchestral folk sound around which earlier efforts were largely centered, the five-piece band opts for a complex, at time disjointed, synthpop soundscape—complete with propulsive basslines, shapeshifting drumbeats, and unpredictable song structures anchored by the band’s patent lyrical poeticism.

Lead vocalist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and singer/guitarist Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson alternate vocal duties on some tracks and are paired together on others to great harmonious effect.  Overall, FEVER DREAM is a bold departure from the band, bringing it out of the musical realm of Mumford & Sons and into the edgier dominion occupied by Arcade Fire.

Standout tracks: “Alligator,” “Wars,” and “Soothsayer”

9- FINE LINE / Harry Styles

The former One Direction singer earned high praise on my 2017 year-end ranking, with his eponymous debut album coming in at #2. He returned just before the strike of midnight this year with FINE LINE, the much-anticipated follow-up to that well-received set.

Tapping into a new flock of rock influences here like David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, and even Pink Floyd, the album breathes musically a little more than the decidedly sparser, Beatles-esque classic rock stylings of his debut. Incorporating some more jaunty tempos and lean funk-pop grooves, FINE LINE is a solid sophomore set that confirms Styles won’t be a one-note artist with a reliable formula. He’s the kind of singer-songwriter who’s going to dabble and stretch musically until he’s satisfied—and even then such satisfaction’s not likely.

Standout tracks: “Watermelon Sugar,” “Adore You,” and “She”

8- TRANSCENDANCE / Berlin

Marking the band’s first album with all three original members—vocalist Terri Nunn and co-founders John Crawford (bass, synthesizer) and David Diamond (synthesizer, guitar)—since 1984’s LOVE LIFE, the original incarnation of Berlin returned in 2019 with TRANSCENDANCE. The 80s New Wave darlings, who scored both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song for “Take My Breath Away” from the juggernaut TOP GUN soundtrack, are in fine form on the ten synth-pop tracks here, proving that creative lightning can indeed strike more than once.

On this eighth studio album (over the span of 41 years), Berlin employs much of what worked on their earlier efforts, not straying too far from the synthesizer-laden electro-pop formula that earned them legions of fans back in their heyday. Nunn still coos sensually, an enduring vixen of the first video generation. And there’s even a bombastic trance re-tooling of one of their earliest hits, the radio-banned “Sex (I’m A…).”

True story: This longtime fan saw Berlin (first band I ever saw live in concert) open in ’84 for Thompson Twins on the latter’s INTO THE GAP world tour. Year’s later, when I interviewed Terri Nunn for AUTOGRAPH magazine and shared that factoid, she laughed and claimed to have stolen my musical cherry!

Standout tracks: “Lust,” “All for Love,” and the title track

7- IN THE END / The Cranberries

Would it sound cliché to say that The Cranberries have saved their best for last? The aptly-titled IN THE END indeed draws the curtain on the venerable Irish alt-rock outfit that rose to international fame in the 1990s and now takes its final bow following last year’s tragic drowning death of lead singer Dolores O’Riordan—inarguably the distinctive voice of The Cranberries.

Thematically, IN THE END resounds with finality, giving the album a funereal chill and added poignancy since there was no way for the band to know that this eighth album would also be its last. The effort is so polished that it’s almost impossible to tell that O’Riordan’s vocals were demo recordings, with her surviving bandmates later bringing the tracks to fruition with producer Stephen Street. My best advice is to resist the urge to dissect the lyrics and songs through the lens of O’Riordan’s untimely passing and let the tracks bring you back to the band’s heyday. That said, don’t fight against the tears that will inevitably form at the corners of your eyes during the album’s last track—and title track—when O’Riordan’s exquisite, singular voice laments, “All I know / Time is a valuable thing / Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings / Watch it count down to the end of the day / The clock ticks life away… / But in the end /
It doesn't even matter.”

Standout tracks: “Lost,” “Catch Me If You Can,” “Summer Song,” and the exquisite title track

6- WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? / Billie Eilish

Original and avant-garde, Billie Eilish’s debut album is a tasty, trippy treat for the ears. With a deceptive sparseness that ingratiates upon repeated listen, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? is a hyper-modern, musically complex album with a macabre, almost-sinister aesthetic that feels like the soundtrack for a post-apocalyptic new dystopia. Eilish wears her weirdness—and her heart—on her sleeve on the dozen tracks here, many of which defy genre classification. She—and brother Finneas, who shares writing and producing credits—have crafted a musical journey that’s the equivalent of going through a carnival funhouse on ‘shrooms. It’s freakishly fun, a little creepy at times, and layered with just enough distortion that will leave you teetering between daydream and night terror.

Eilish sings with a dreamy detachment, an occasional nuanced jazziness in her vocals evoking a modern-day Billie Holiday at times that at once contradicts and complements her impish tomboy persona. In the continuing era of manufactured, carefully sculpted recording artist-artifices, Billie Eilish is seemingly poised to burn the whole building to the ground with her freshness and authenticity.

Standout tracks: “Bury a Friend,” “My Strange Addiction,” and “Bad Guy”

5- NORMAN FUCKING ROCKWELL! / Lana Del Rey

On her sixth studio album in the nine years since her 2010 eponymous debut, Lana Del Rey sticks to her distinctive, winning formula—gravelly, slurred vocals, the glamour and melancholia of Hollywood noir, and cultural references to 1950s and 1960s Americana. With her patent vocal languor intact, NORMAN FUCKING ROCKWELL! finds the 34-year-old artist stepping into her own—presenting an authentic sense of self versus the carefully construed persona of past efforts.

The abstracted cinematic quality of her music remains but the lyrical pastiche of previous albums has been replaced with something darker, something closer to the truth. This is particularly relevant in an era where “alternate facts” and “fake news” are helping to rewrite American history. Del Rey takes aim at this cultural devolution—an aim that’s lyrically sharp and fine-pointed. From the album’s title itself—where even the name of the SATURDAY EVENING POST’s famed cover artist is interrupted by profane expletive—Del Rey endeavors to deconstruct the idealized Americana she’s spent nearly a decade crooning about and Rockwell immortalized through his iconic series of magazine covers. And she does so with beguilingly vicious songwriting chops. Complex and elegant, NORMAN FUCKING ROCKWELL! ushers in a new era in the Del Rey songbook.

Standout tracks: “Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman to Have,” “Doin’ Time,” and “The Greatest”

4- MINT / Alice Merton

This electrifyingly eclectic indie pop-rock collection from the nomadic German-born, Canadian-raised, English-based, singer-songwriter-pianist Merton was one of 2019’s earliest treats, dropping in January and preceded by single releases of four tracks from the album.

The fifteen infectious tracks on MINT (eleven on the album proper, four additional tracks on the album add-on MINT +4) are primarily dance-rock confections with an indie vibe, chockful of thumping bass lines and clapping backbeats, sing-along choruses and uplifting synths. Rising and falling between cool-calm-collected and pure rampage, Merton employs vocal pitch and the tempo of the music itself to both appease and agitate. Lyrically, the collection is one of positivity and youthful nomadism, striking a perfect balance between realism and idealism. Vocally, Merton may call to mind Florence Welch (of Florence + The Machine), especially on softer tracks like “Back to Berlin” and “Honeymoon Heartbreak.”

Standout tracks: “Learn to Live,” “No Roots,” “Funny Business,” and “Lash Out”

3- WALK THROUGH FIRE / Yola

Musical fusion is the gift that British singer-songwriter Yola brings to her dramatic country-soul debut, WALK THROUGH FIRE. With a lyrical bent that veers decidedly more Americana coupled with a retro country-western musicality—complete with fiddles and steel guitars, organs and glockenspiels—WALK THROUGH FIRE is a glorious genre-busting musical journey anchored by Yola’s powerful sonic palette that she instinctively knows when to harness and when to let loose and her poignant songwriting, which alternates between susceptibility to circumstance and chest-pounding emancipation from the past.

Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys uses his penchant for indulgence in a retro, pre-synthesizer vintage sound quality to great effect on WALK THROUGH FIRE and his robust production is nothing short of a glorious throwback to Nashville’s 60’s sound—that musical moment in time when country-western music went pop. One reason for this authenticity is Auerbach’s use of vintage session musicians like drummer Gene Chrisman and pianist Bobby Wood, both of The Memphis Boys—the original house band from American Sound Studio in Memphis, which was the musical point of origination for classic recordings like Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds,” Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” and Dusty Springfield’s DUSTY IN MEMPHIS album. One listen and you’ll swear you’ve emerged from a time capsule circa 1969.

Standout tracks: “Faraway Look,” “Lonely the Night,” and “Love Is Light.”

2- CAUSE & EFFECT / Keane

On their first studio album in seven years, British foursome Keane returned this year with their most accomplished and authentic album to date. Musically, all of Keane’s trademarks remain intact: Sunny, radio-friendly fare punctuated by irresistibly swelling choruses, emotive piano chords, and Tom Chaplin’s soaring voice. But lyrically, the band goes deeper—daresay, darker—on this fifth effort, with the real-life addiction of one band member and the failed marriage and subsequent depression of another winding subtly through the proceedings. The result is a newfound depth and vulnerability that make CAUSE & EFFECT a standout effort while adhering to the band’s winning formula of sophisticated British pop rock that harkens as far back to the 1980s with predecessors like Spandau Ballet and Johnny Hates Jazz.

Standout tracks: “Love Too Much,” “Stupid Things,” “Phases,” and “Chase the Night Away”

1- WESTERN STARS / Bruce Springsteen

Confession time: I’ve never owned a Bruce Springsteen album. Nope—never been a fan of The Boss or, more specifically, his music. While my high school classmates were popping cassettes of his 80’s juggernaut BORN IN THE USA into their boomboxes, I was jamming out to bands from the second wave of the British invasion like Duran Duran, Culture Club, and Eurythmics.

But that all changed this year with Springsteen’s release of WESTERN STARS, a gorgeous, achingly contemplative musical reflection on life told through the eyes of an artist who’s lived one. The down-and-out male narrators of the thirteen country-tinged folk pop tracks that comprise the lush orchestral landscape of WESTERN STARS all have a similar story to tell—tales of failure and missed opportunities, reflections on their life choices and the mental, physical, and spiritual tolls of those choices. A pervading sense of being older yet still restless, lost and still wandering, while life has somehow quickly passed by gives the album an elegiac nod to the shortening timeline that each of us—and Springsteen as well—face in the never-ending succession of sunrises and sunsets that mark off each elapsing day. It’s an album about looking back on shadows long cast and the quest to find our own relevancy in life. And while the broken raconteurs of WESTERN STARS may lament being past their prime, Springsteen’s 19^th studio album proves he’s anything but.

Just ask his newest fan.

Standout tracks: “There Goes My Miracle,” “Chasin’ Wild Horses,” “Tucson Train,” and “Sleepy Joe’s Café”



Not every album I enjoyed this year ranked within my Top Ten list but are nonetheless worthy of mention. Here are my Honorable Mentions of 2019 (in no particular order):

LOVE + FEAR / Marina

A BATH FULL OF ECSTASY / Hot Chip

THE MEDICINE SHOW / Melissa Etheridge

EVERYTHING LOST WILL NOT BE SAVED, PARTS 1 and 2 / Foals

DAYLIGHT / Grace Potter

CHAMPION / Bishop Briggs

BLUE EYED SOUL / Simply Red

COURAGE / Celine Dion

REMIND ME TOMORROW / Sharon Van Etten

CHEAP QUEEN / King Princess

ON THE LINE / Jenny Lewis

HOLLYWOOD’S BLEEDING / Post Malone

CUZ I LOVE YOU / Lizzo

CHIP TOOTH SMILE / Rob Thomas

Favorite 17 Albums of 2017

For this music connoisseur, 2017 was a banner year for the art form—with new discs dropping from longtime favorite artists and pleasant surprises in the form of newly-discovered ones. I'm so thankful for music and all it brings to my life...always there, always accompanying me like a loyal friend along life's journey. I'm also grateful that as rooted as I am to my past, my eclectic musical ear willingly bends to the present and I'm always open to discovering a new voice or two.

So, without further hesitation, here are my Favorite 17 Albums of 2017...with the two tracks from each album that were standouts for me. Hope you find something in my humble list that might pique your interest.

A Brighton Girl Makes Good in Manhattan

Alison Moyet recently brought her OTHER world tour to New York City—a glorious sold-out gig at Irving Plaza, the venerable rock music venue. The show boasted nearly two dozen songs from the acclaimed songstress’s long and varied music career, hitting almost all her albums (poor RAINDANCING!) but emphasizing, of course, her two most recent forays into sophisticated electronica—this year’s OTHER and 2013’s THE MINUTES.

Her tour started a few nights earlier in Washington DC and included an ambitious 24-song setlist that Moyet apologetically promised on social media to whittle down. The New York crowd missed out on “Is This Love?” from her aforementioned second solo record and “The English U”—my favorite from the brilliant new album. Taking her place onstage after her spoken-word “April 10th” played, Moyet—flanked by musical director and keyboardist John Garden (who, interestingly, co-wrote the score for TALES OF THE CITY: THE MUSICAL, based on the books of the same name by Armistead Maupin) and backing vocalist and synth player/programmer Sean McGhee —announced her arrival with OTHER’s opener, “I Germinate.” By the time she got to the chorus and belted “I’m here, I germinate…” the capacity crowd was hers—clay in her capable hands.

The concert was well-paced and her expansive (and expanding) catalog well-represented with newer material from OTHER and THE MINUTES seamlessly interspersed amongst electronic arrangements of older material, like “All Cried Out” and “Love Resurrection” (from ALF); “Wishing You Were Here” and “This House” (from HOODOO); “Getting Into Something” (from ESSEX); “Ski” (from HOMETIME); “The Man in the Wings” (from THE TURN); and no less than five Yazoo tracks—“Only You”, “Nobody’s Diary”, Bring Your Love Down (Didn’t I)“, “Don’t Go”, and “Situation.”

There were moments of delightful banter with the engaged, adoring crowd—most notably when a well-intentioned heckler (with an obvious death wish) shouted out the title to her first—and biggest—US hit, “Invisible.” Anyone who’s followed the singer’s career knows she doesn’t—and won’t—sing the tune, citing no more connection to the song’s lyrics or the “man-done-me-wrong” genre of songs that appealed to her younger self. And while the heckler was rebuked with the polite good humor that’s characteristic of the decidedly more refined British, no one else in the crowd mistook Moyet’s kindness in that moment as a weakness (even in the presence of beauty).

One of the most endearingly admirable qualities of Alison Moyet, the artist, is her sense of professional responsibility to the audience. She conveys genuine love and the utmost respect for her fans—and when something in her vocal or the accompanying sound is off, she’ll unceremoniously stop and start over. This perfectionism was in evidence during the Irving Plaza gig during three false starts, which she good-humoredly dismissed with an apologetic shrug and a do-over. Humor is her weapon and it’s disarmingly effective.

To pinpoint personal highlights would be akin to naming a favorite child; the entire concert was a highlight in and of itself. But, if pressed, I’d likely cite Moyet’s flawless performances of “Changeling” (from THE MINUTES) and “Beautiful Gun” and “Alive” (from OTHER) as such. But the evening’s best—and most unexpectedly poignant moment—came during the introductory remarks to her gorgeous musical nod to the LGBT community, “The Rarest Birds.” There is a moment during an anecdote she shares that left the audience gobsmacked—so much so that you can actually hear an audible gasp from the crowd. Rather than dilute the expressiveness of the moment, hear for yourself in video footage shot by another concertgoer:

Since she’s embarked upon a world tour to promote the new album, it seems only fitting to say a few words about that while you’re here and held captive by my words. Not to put too fine a point on it, OTHER is nothing short of an artistic masterpiece—musically, vocally, and lyrically. Like all good artists do, Moyet has grown in her musical craftsmanship with each successive album, and she proves herself to be brilliant poet and lyricist on this gorgeous ten-track collection. OTHER—her ninth studio album—is both an intimate and intricate musical experience, managing to capture myriad shades and tones germane to the human experience in a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of words and musical textures.

This is her second collaboration with producer Guy Sigsworth, who has produced for Björk, Alanis Morrissette, Madonna, and Britney Spears, among others. They first joined forces on 2013’s THE MINUTES, which became Moyet’s highest-charting album in the UK since 1987’s RAINDANCING, and—arguably—changed the game for her. Her partnership with Sigsworth has given her creative license to ascend higher as both a vocalist and a songwriter and bridges the gap between the electronic music diva of thirty-plus years ago and the self-assured middle-age artiste of today. Both albums have been creative investments between the two—with both paying handsome dividends.

OTHER finds Moyet set against a similarly sweeping, cinematic electronic landscape that made THE MINUTES such a delightful surprise, an actual return to roots cleverly masquerading as a seeming musical departure. The lyrics are awash in rich word tapestries of luxuriant linguistic textures and syntactical patterns. Even the gutsy inclusion of the spoken-word track “April 10th” works and will leave you hankering for an album of spoken-word poetry. The album is lean at just over 41 minutes of music spread over ten tracks, but it’s quality over quantity here with zero filler and each song relevant and integral to Moyet’s larger thematic framework of otherness.

Anyone who knows me also knows that Moyet is the musical equivalent of my Jamie Lee Curtis fandom and that I worship at the feet of her temple with equal fervor. In other words, I’m obsessed. No, not in that Kathy Bates-meets-Jimmy Caan kind of way—more in the realm of a deep desire to sit down with her for a proper chat over tea, maybe watch a few episodes of DOWNTON ABBEY together. At least that’s how it goes in my head. I’ve chronicled my adoration of her music and previous concert experiences elsewhere, so I’ll leave you with the links embedded herein should you get the itch to see what all the fuss is about.

The last time I crossed paths with the great Moyet, we were both decidedly larger girls; I have a lovely photo to prove it. In the ensuing years, as I lost 105 pounds a few years back, then regained some, and then re-lost just over fifty recently, so too did Moyet shed some serious heft. I’ve long dreamt of a photo do-over, and placing our former glorious selves alongside our smaller, more self-assured selves. Once again, my beloved Alf did not disappoint. Following the conclusion of the Irving Plaza show, while Moyet was being surprised with a visit from Modest Management head Richard Griffiths (who must have been pleased as fucking punch at the thunderous reception his client received that night), a few of us more persistent folk waited outside the stage door. After about an hour, a congenial gentleman named Tim came out and said that Alison would be along shortly, advising us that she was in voice-conservation mode and that she’d only sign one item per person (for those who brought memorabilia along).

I waited, ready with my iPhone open to the photo of us, circa 2008. When the moment came and she arrived to enthusiastic adoration from the twenty or so fans gathered, I patiently waited my turn as she was warmly greeted, signed the items placed in front of her, and cheerily posed for photos. Some artists who’ve achieved a similar level of celebrity phone this part in—they’re there, but they’re on autopilot. Not Moyet. She was engaged with each and every person who thrust himself in front of her, clearly recognizing and acknowledging longtime fans whom she’d obviously met on numerous occasions outside countless theater doors.

Then came my turn. I quickly told her that I wasn’t going to ask her to sign anything and that she didn’t have to speak; I’d happily do all the talking. I’m sure that bit came out like a rambled bit of rushed inarticulateness but Alison smiled warmly, not one to disprove my theory about the infinite superiority of British manners. As I continued to prattle on about how our weight loss journeys converged and how hers informed and inspired mine—at least in part—and I blabbered on about a photo, Moyet uttered the words that nearly stopped my heart: “You’re Vince, right?”

I literally fought back the tears. Alison-oh-my-God-Moyet, she of the incomparable voice and venerable talent known the world over, recognized me. She either has an exceptional memory (which she seems to negate on her own lovely tour-travel blog) or she pays attention when blubbering former fatty fans like me tweet twaddle at her. Either way, I was thrilled, touched beyond measure. She happily granted me the coveted photo retake and gave me one of the kindest, most genuine hugs I’ve ever gotten. As we embraced, I told her that I loved her, thanked her for an unforgettable show, and gushed about how brilliant the new album was. Then it was over, and this lovely, funny, self-deprecating woman was on to the next gushing fan, exhibiting the same graciousness and genuine appreciation.

And then it struck me, full-barrel in the chest, and I’m reminded of the liner notes from THE MINUTES:

“They were not years. They did not make us laugh always. We were not perpetually safe in love or thankful. Ours were not wads of hours tied up in a playful huddle. Never a summer eternal neither a winter we could skate upon. They were minutes. We have the minutes.”

Alison was right. Life really is all about the brilliant little minutes—not necessarily very dramatic or specific—suspended in years. 

Remembering Laura Branigan

Today, I am grateful for the life and career of the late Laura Branigan.

In the late 1970s, several years after attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, Branigan got her first break—touring Europe as a backing vocalist for Canadian singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen. Although she signed as a solo artist with Ahmet Ertegun, co-founder of Atlantic Records, in 1979, her first album—SILVER DREAMS—went unreleased despite the first single making a blip on the BILLBOARD dance chart. With music fans tiring of disco and the second British invasion not yet landing ashore in America, Branigan’s booming four-octave voice actually worked against her during those early days at Atlantic, with the label’s A&R folks scrambling to position her as a pop singer. When her nine-track debut album—uninspiringly titled BRANIGAN—was finally released in 1982, the singer’s elusive breakout success would finally come by way of a reworked cover of an Italian love song, “Gloria.” That song would eventually go on to be certified platinum and spend a then-record 36 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two and landing Branigan her first and only Grammy nomination as a solo artist. For better or for worse, “Gloria” would become the singer’s signature hit.

Subsequent releases proved the singer more than a one-hit wonder. As European synthpop took hold of the decade, more Top 40 hits came with “Solitaire”, “Self Control”, “Spanish Eddie”, and “Shattered Glass.” Unfortunately, Branigan’s career was marked by material that rarely rose to the caliber of her magnificent voice, with a few notable exceptions like “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” (penned by pre-fame Michael Bolton), “Cry Wolf” (which was later covered by Stevie Nicks), and her emotionally raw take on Jennifer Rush’s juggernaut ballad “The Power of Love” (predating Celine Dion’s worldwide smash).

Following the release of her final album, 1993’s OVER MY HEART, Branigan went on hiatus from the music industry to care for her ailing husband, Larry Kruteck, who would eventually die of colon cancer in 1996. Her career never recovered from either the heartbreak of losing her husband or the hiatus, during which grunge became the music du jour and poor management further derailed her career. She was contractually obligated to Atlantic to deliver two new tracks for the 13-track greatest hits compilation THE BEST OF BRANIGAN (1995), and she chose covers of former Lone Justice frontwoman Maria McKee’s “Show Me Heaven” (which had been an international smash from the DAYS OF THUNDER soundtrack) and a high-energy cover of Donna Summer’s disco nugget “Dim All the Lights.” Aided by a fun, drag queen-infused video, the latter would go on to become a moderate Billboard Top 40 Dance hit.

Her prospects for a comeback dimmed again in 2001 when a ten-foot fall from a ladder she was using to hang wisteria outside her lakeside home in Westchester County, New York, resulted in two broken femurs that necessitated rods and pins in both legs and months of intensive physical therapy. Branigan was again dipping her toe back into music with a few newly-recorded tracks—including a dance remake of ABBA’s “The Winner Takes It All” and a haunting cover of the late Eva Cassidy’s “I Know You By Heart”—when she died in her sleep at the Long Island home she shared with her Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother in August of 2004. She was only 52 at the time of her untimely passing, which was attributed to an undiagnosed ventricular brain aneurysm. Her ashes were scattered over the Long Island Sound.

Despite her modest catalog, Branigan has remained one of my all-time favorite female vocalists, largely based on my experiences seeing her perform live. She was truly an artist whose recordings did her extraordinary voice little justice. Between the years of 1984 and 2002, I had the great pleasure of seeing her sixteen times in concert, each time marveling at what a true vocal powerhouse she was. Adding to those musical experiences, I often had the tremendous thrill of meeting her after the show for autographs and photos.

Branigan also holds a special place in my heart for kickstarting my mid(ish)-life writing career. Following her tragic passing, I had the surreal experience of attending two estate auctions out in Westhampton Beach, both commissioned by her family. At the end of both auctions, I was fortunate to have acquired Branigan’s original marriage certificate, her personal wedding album and invitation, original proof sheets of unpublished photos of the singer, and never used photos from the shoot for her SELF CONTROL album cover, among other mementos. But even with these cherished pieces of the late singer, my heart was broken; this was the first celebrity to whom I had an attachment who had passed away. So, as many writers do, I channeled my grief into a tribute article that editor Steve Cyrkin was kind enough to buy and publish in his magazine, AUTOGRAPH COLLECTOR, a small, specialty-niche publication for enthusiasts of the titular hobby with a respectable national circulation. That led to a lengthy professional association with the magazine and a considerable collection of articles and interviews with celebrities like Meg Tilly, Terri Nunn of Berlin, Martha Davis of The Motels, BAYWATCH actor Michael Bergin, Johnathon Schaech, FALCON CREST’s Jamie Rose, and too many others to count. That gig gave me the confidence to pen my first novel, then edit my first anthology, and the rest—as they say—is history.

Today, on what would have been Branigan’s 65th birthday, I’m left with fond memories of a gracious woman who loved her fans and always took the time to tell them so, a modest musical legacy that only hinted at the talent beneath the glossy productions, and bittersweet thoughts of “what if…”. Most of all, I’m left with deep gratitude that Branigan chose to share her singular voice with the world and that her recordings will ensure that that voice will never be forgotten.

Top 10 Albums of 2016

As another year ends, it’s time for another best-of list. 2016 proved an interesting year from which to cull together a ranking of notable albums, with many of my perennial favorites not releasing new music this year. But despite an absence of darling divas like Alison Moyet, Jessie Ware, Annie Lennox, and Lisa Stansfield, and being too soon for new material from favorite fellas like Brandon Flowers, Rob Thomas, and Jimmy Somerville, delayed sophomore releases from promising newcomers from lists past like Sam Smith, and (sadly) the untimely death of still other longtime favorite, George Michael, my ears were graced this year by an eclectic collection of artists – some new, some returning, some charting comebacks – whose albums ran the gamut from pop and EDM to alternative and classic rock.

So, without further prelude, following is my list of top ten albums from the past year.   

#10 – Shura / Nothing’s Real

London singer/songwriter Shura debuted midyear with this polished set of EDM, heavily influenced by mid-to-late 1980s dance-pop. Her ambient synthpop soundscape impressively manages to feel simultaneously retro – calling to mind Madonna, Debbie Gibson, and Janet Jackson at various early career points – and fresh. What sets Nothing’s Real apart from the competition is its authenticity and a painstaking attention to detail. Shura never sets out to mimic the aesthetic of a past musical era – she’s creating quality pop songs with a keen appreciation for their influences while remaining mindful of their place within a modern context. Her uncomplicated lyrical genuineness is complimented by the deeply infectious hooks among the many glorious pop confections here, like the “Holiday”-esque “Indecision”, “Touch”, “Tongue Tied”, “What Happened to Us?”, and the disco-infused title track.

#9 – Pretenders / Alone

Chrissie Hynde, at 65, remains the unapologetic focal point of the classic rock outfit Pretenders and – on the band’s tenth studio album – it’s clear why. Her distinctive voice has become the connective tissue between the band’s ever-changing roster, the one consistent that makes you wonder how – as sole proprietress of the Pretenders franchise – she decides which musical output gets categorized as solo versus band effort. Crediting concerns aside, Alone is a worthy follow-up to Hynde’s 2014 solo album Stockholm. Alternating between gritty toughness and sentimental sweetness, the 12-track effort produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach never forgets that Chrissie Hynde is the Pretenders and plays to her iconoclastic rank among the male-dominated world of rock-and-roll as a fiercely independent woman. Her trademark slurry sultriness remains the vocal equivalent of a swagger, especially on tracks like “I Hate Myself”. Other quintessential Pretenders tracks represented here include: “Gotta Wait”, “Holy Commotion”, “Death Is Not Enough”, and “Never Be Together”.

#8 – St. Lucia / Matter

Easily the most unabashedly joyful album of the year, St. Lucia’s Matter wears its 80s-era new romanticism influences proudly. The Brooklyn-based pop outfit – fronted by South African singer and musician Jean-Philip Grobler – crafts an irresistibly danceable collection of swirling synthpop filled with a grandiose sense of sunniness in every propulsive keyboard loop. Musical hedonism for the soul. Standout tracks include: “Physical”, “The Winds of Change” and midtempo “Love Somebody”.

#7 – Birdy / Beautiful Lies

It’s hard to believe that Birdy (aka Jasmine Lucilla Elizabeth Jennifer van den Bogaerde) is already on her third album at the tender age of 20 or that it’s only been five years since the one-time music competition winner released a cover version of Bon Iver's song "Skinny Love" that first introduced the world to her extraordinary talent. On Beautiful Lies, the prodigious wunderkind presents her most accomplished and commercially-accessible effort to date, with a welcome evolution from acoustic covers to alternative pop. While the singer’s signature silky piano ballads are well represented here, it’s her stepping out on a handful of uptempo gems like the anthemic “Wild Horses”, “Lifted”, and the rousing “Keeping Your Head Up” that now put her in league with contemporaries like Lorde and Florence Welch. Gorgeous from start to finish. Standouts include: “Shadow”, “Take My Heart”, and the gorgeous “Silhouette”.

#6 – Grace / FMA (Forgive My Attitude)

This 20-year-old Aussie whose full name is Grace Sewell cements herself as a frontrunner in fill the musical void left by the late Amy Winehouse with this exceptional debut album. Like the UK’s Paloma Faith, Grace has a sultry, full-throttle voice that’s set against a polished set of neo-soul, pop, and R&B, which she also penned. You’ve likely already heard Grace, her superb reworking of the Lesley Gore classic “You Don’t Own Me” featured prominently in the trailer to the film The Suicide Squad. Other standouts include: “Church on Sunday” and the achingly sparse “How to Love Me”.

#5 – Rick Astley / 50

In one of the most surprising and unlikely comebacks of the year, Rick Astley returned to music with an album masterfully executed to showcase his formidable pipes and – as evidenced by the plethora of rousing, hands-in-the-air choruses and spiritual imagery aplenty – a newfound sense of optimism. His baritone is just as rich as it was back in his heyday as the ginger poster boy for the house of Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), with a seasoned rasp that now lends an emotional texture that was lacking in his earlier days of high-energy synthpop. And after years of being the butt of Internet jokes (rickrolling, anyone?), Astley has had the last laugh: 50 skyrocketed to the top of the UK music chart, earning him his first number-one album in 29 years. Among the many highlights of the album are “This Old House”, “I Like the Sun”, “Pray with Me”, and “Dance”.

#4 – Rebecca Ferguson / Superwoman

This one-time runner-up from the British edition of X Factor creates a deeply autobiographical collection of piano-driven ballads and mid-tempo R&B that showcases her stunningly soulful voice (Think: Macy Gray meets Amy Winehouse). On the British powerhouse’s fourth consecutive top ten studio album (in the UK), personal fortitude and hard-won female empowerment are on tap thematically, while the production is lush and sophisticated. Ferguson’s distinctive jazz-blues voice – put to such solid use on her album of Billie Holiday covers last year – is a raspy delight, capable of soaring effortlessly. The highlights here are lead single “Bones”, a cover of New Zealand artist Ginny Blackmore, the acoustic title track, and “Without a Woman”.

#3 – Selah Sue / Reason

Selah Sue (real name Sanne Putseys) is a Belgian singer-songwriter and music festival darling whose gravelly voice and real-deal musical sincerity have made her a known commodity in her native country, France, and Netherlands. If there is any justice, the twenty-seven-year-old will carve out a niche for herself outside those geographical borders with Reason, her long-awaited sophomore effort following 2011’s eponymous debut. There’s a chill urban sensibility to the collection that – when coupled with the singer’s powerhouse pipes and guttural delivery – hits the listener with an emotional depth that takes you off-guard. There’s an appealing fusion of soul, trip hop, reggae, and EDM to the album that somehow manages to establish cohesion despite its variant stylings. Standout tracks include “Fear Nothing”, “Alive”, “Right Where I Want You”, and “Alone”.

#2 – Robbie Williams / The Heavy Entertainment Show

There’s likely no modern pop star quite as entertaining or attention-deficit as the UK’s Robbie Williams. New album releases from the one-time boy band crooner and tabloid bad-boy are never predictable, and his latest (and 11^th studio album) The Heavy Entertainment Show is no exception. This brilliantly eclectic 16-track collection is easily the year’s best pop album, boasting a superbly-crafted grab bag of pure pop confections that are at once instantly accessible without losing any of Williams’ penchant for musical bombast and lyrical chutzpah, evidenced here on tracks like “Party Like a Russian” and the hysterically catchy “Motherfucker” – both of which return Williams to the cocky-crass ringmaster shtick of earlier efforts. The gem here is “David’s Song”, a gut-wrenching weeper co-written by Jewel and Kara DioGuardi, that’s a tribute to Williams’ long-time manager and mentor David Enthoven who died of cancer last August at age 72. Other highlights include: The Killers-penned “Mixed Signals”, “Love My Life”, “Time on Earth”, “Sensitive”, and “Pretty Woman”.  

#1 – Garbage / Strange Little Birds

The sixth studio album by this deservedly revered Scottish-American alternative rock outfit fronted by the wildly magnetic Shirley Manson boasts a superlative collection of atmospheric electro-rock – jagged and ferocious in spots, contemplative and minimalist in others. After twenty-two years, Garbage somehow recycles and reinvents its signature confluence of 90s-grunge and trip-hop electronica, permeating Strange Little Birds with a refreshing confidence and maturity. Lyrically, the band’s trademark gothic romanticism remains largely intact, with healthy doses of angst and misery layered within sonic walls of industrial textures and distorted guitar scratches. Highlights of Strange Little Birds include “Empty”, “Night Drive Loneliness”, “Sometimes”, and “So We Can Stay Alive”.

Interested in how 2016 stacked up against 2015? Check out last year's favorites here.