My Favorite Albums of 2012

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  In no particular order...    #1 Dr. Dog – Be The VoidGutbucket Pop. Lo-fi shimmer. All killer, no filler. Of the many stellar tracks, here’s a live version of a clear highlight, the infectious “Do The Trick”:
   


#2
ZZTop – La FuturaThe long-awaited collaboration with producer Rick Rubin. A return to form & former glories. Firing on all pistons.   
#3
Donald Fagen – Sunken Condos
Crystalline Jazz Rock for Steely Dan fans.
    #4
Between The Buried And Me – Parallax II
Progressive Metal at its finest.
    #5
Royal Thunder – CVI
Imagine Joan Jett singing for Black Sabbath…
Great howling vocals over ominous Metal groove sludge
with a few epic tracks that stretch beyond the 9-minute mark.
I love heavy rock that sounds like it’s straight outta 1974.
    #6
Bad Brains – Into The Future
D.C. Rasta Punk legends alive and well.    


#7
Bob Dylan - Tempest
He’s always brilliant. Very relieved to hear this strong effort, especiallyafter his last record which I thought was kind of a piece of crap.
    #8
Chris Smither – Hundred Dollar Valentine
Brilliant songwriter, great growly voice, and Delta Blues guitar chopsunparalleled.     #9
Felice Brothers – God Bless You Amigo
My favorite band, lead by one of this era’s best songwriters, singer-guitaristIan Felice.
Here they strip it back to acoustic hootenanny looseness and shine.
Includes my #1 favorite song of 2012 “The Mating Of The Doves”.
This was a download-only release, available here:
http://thefelicebrothers.myshopify.com/products/gbya
See my other writings about the Felice Brothers elsewhere on this blog:
http://loosewrecks.blogspot.com/2011/12/felice-brothers-road-crusade-for.html    

#10
Jon Cleary – Occapella
New Orleans funk tribute to the songs of Allen Toussaint My review of the album:http://loosewrecks.blogspot.com/2012/06/jon-cleary-occapella.html     
 
#s11 & 12
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill & Americana
Garage rock dinosaurs effortlessly crushing it as ever.
 Americanacan be heard in its entirety here:https://soundcloud.com/#neilyoungsoundcloud/sets/neil-young-crazy-horse/s-uhN6L Neilreleased his autobiography this year too!
I promise you won't regret it if you take the time to submerge yourself in this epic Neil Young & Crazy Horse studio jam session that stretches over 35 minutes: http://www.neilyoung.com/crazyhorsevideo.html     
 #13
Van Halen – A Different Kind Of Truth
Their first studio album with David Lee Roth in 28 years explodes with as muchhumor and fire as anything from the band’s “classic” era. A much better albumthan many thought they were capable of. Some tracks date as far back as theband’s early days playing small clubs and poolside parties in the 70s.Criminally overlooked and underrated all year long, including being snubbed bythe Grammys.
 


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 Worthy ofmention:    
 Phish– Live at Riverbend Cincinnati, OH June 22, 2012 (live concert downloadrelease)
Phish – Live at Long Beach Arena Long Beach, CA August 15, 2012 (live concertdownload release)
     
FrankZappa – numerous archival releases finally being made available via CD &download


 


IggyPop – Apres’Iggy gave away free download of his new LP of French ballads, cover songs & Jazz standards whenhis label refused to release it.