Front Burner 2020

My 20 Favorite Albums of 2020

What a year! I wish I could claim that it was only the worldwide COVID-19 viral pandemic that turned 2020 into a giant dumpster fire but, unfortunately, it was that and soooo much more. In earlier drafts of this post, I went off on various rants about it all, but you didn't come here for social or political commentary from me. You were there. You know what happened.

Thankfully, although this was a terrible year in so many ways, it was a pretty good year for music. I say thankfully because, the worse the times are, the more we need good music. As Bob Marley once said, 

"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain."

2020 has been filled with countless painful events and painful people. It's hard to fathom what we'd be feeling without our music and art as balms for our souls.

Established artists put out some great additions to their catalogs this year, while many newer artists really made their mark with strong debuts or sophomore efforts. Some albums were recorded partially or entirely in quarantine, collaborating with other musicians only by Zoom meetings and file sharing. The strangeness of the times was occasionally reflected in the music and lyrics, but just as often ignored or pushed aside for a more escapist take. Through it all, 20 recordings rose to the top for me and I'd like to share them with you. 

For various reasons I won't go into here, I'm avoiding reissues, compilations, live albums, and so on in my Top 10. Those ten slots are reserved strictly for new music recorded and originally released in 2020. Slots #11-20 are open to anything that was released this year.

Without further adieu, here are my 20 favorite albums of 2020, ranked from #20 to #1...

20 - David Gray • White Ladder 20th Anniversary box set

20 years ago, White Ladder was playing in the room when our daughter first came into this world. The full story there is one for another post. However, we had only ever owned the White Ladder CD, so when a box set was released with the album remastered for vinyl, a second LP with demos and outtakes, plus an extensive book with writings from David Gray, the lure was too great to resist. Although ranked at 20 coincide with the anniversary, this one could easily appear anywhere in this list.

(stock promotional photo)

19 - Fiona Apple • Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Sincere, angry, righteous, articulate, revealing and, at times, gloriously unpolished. Ever so uniquely Fiona Apple.

18 - Hayley Williams • Petals For Armor

Williams is? was? the lead singer of the band Paramore, although I knew very little of that band's music before hearing this textured and multi-faceted solo album. This feels like a very personal album yet ends up more relatable than not. It's making me wonder what I have missed by ignoring Paramore all these years.

17 - Waterboys • Good Luck, Seeker

This one doesn't quite measure up to last Year's Where the Action Is (my #3 album of 2019) but it's still really good. Perhaps surprisingly, the practically spoken-word songs are the real highlights here. Mike Scott is at his best when he unleashes his inner poet.

16 - Nadine Shah • Kitchen Sink

Nadine Shah first hit my radar with 2017's excellent Holiday Destination. This is the follow-up, her fourth album overall, and is impressively confident. Fans of PJ Harvey and Anna Calvi would love this. In fact, Shah's style has been compared to a blend of PJ Harvey and Nick Cave. It's sharp and dark but not at all depressing.

15 - Sturgill Simpson • Cuttin' Grass, Volumes 1 & 2

I know I'm sort of cheating here by not picking just one volume but they're both great! Simpson revisits his back catalog in authentic bluegrass and old-time style, and it works way better than that might sound on paper.

14 - Shopping • All or Nothing

Socially conscious, propulsive pop music. Recommended if you like the jerky, angular styles of bands like Gang of Four, Devo, and Talking Heads.

13 - Pylon • Pylon Box

Members of R.E.M. -- my favorite band from Athens, Georgia -- often credited the short-lived Pylon with being their favorite band from Athens. This set collects remastered versions of their two great albums plus singles, rarities, and live material. For a band that claimed to have never learned to play music, this is a fabulous collection of their unique brand of minimal post-punk. Pylon Box set is one of those, "everything you really need to know about..." kinds of releases.

12 - Ezra Furman • Sex Education soundtrack

An album of material written specifically for the TV series mixed with choice cuts from Furman's back catalog. It's a bit less raucous than last year's Twelve Nudes and less dramatic than Transangelic Exodus, which was my #8 album of 2018. It really hits a sweet spot for me, though. Honestly, this might be my favorite Ezra Furman album yet.

11 - David Bowie • I'm Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74)

Half way through his 1974 tour for Diamond Dogs, Bowie began recording music for what would become Young Americans. The visual theater of his original tour plans was replaced by a full-fledged soul / r&b revue as he became more enthusiastic about his new music and musical collaborators. Yet nothing from the second half of that tour has ever been officially released. (David Live and Cracked Actor both came from the first half of that tour.) This limited edition RSD release lets us hear this funky soul revue in all its glory. Recorded mostly in Detroit in late October 1974 and complete with gatefold cover art designed to replicate the original program for that portion of the tour.

Shots of my copy - front and back on top, inside the gatefold on bottom

Young Americans was also the first Bowie record I ever bought, back in the day, so his soul period has a very special place in my heart.

As mentioned at the onset... reissues, compilations, live albums, and so on were intentionally excluded from my Top 10. The following ten slots are reserved strictly for new music strictly recorded and released in 2020.

10 - Ozric Tentacles • Space for the Earth

The first new studio album in 5 years from this unique, psychedelic, all instrumental space-rock collective, inspired by the natural sights and sounds of coastal Scotland, as well as the notion that our pandemic lockdowns have finally provided the Earth space to breathe. I’ve been a fan of these guys since a good friend and musical compatriot turned me on to them in the early 90s. This is headphone music, and goes particularly well with cannabinoids.

9 - Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit • Reunions

This guy has been a consistently great songwriter for years now. A former member of Drive-By Truckers (who also released not just one but two really good albums this year) Isbell & The 400 Unit have, in my eyes, eclipsed that band in many ways. There are so many excellent songs here. It’s the kind of album where, just when you think you have a favorite song, another one plays and you change your mind again.

8 - Elizabeth Cook • Aftermath

20 years after her debut appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, and 18 years after her first album, most people I know have still never heard of her. I came on board in 2007 with her album Balls (as in, “Sometimes it takes balls to be a woman!”) and have been a fan since. Although considered a country artist, her albums are often full of other flavors from blues, soul, bluegrass, folk, and rock. Aftermath was produced by Butch Walker who, among other artists, has produced records for Weezer and Green Day. Full of delightful surprises, this one.

7 - Doves • The Universal Want

This is the first album since Doves put the band on a back burner in 2009 to pursue individual interests, but the hiatus didn’t seem to mess with their mojo in the slightest. A fair portion (all?) of this album appears to have been recorded since COVID-19 changed everyone’s way of life. Some of that reveals itself in lyrics that are alternately fearful, defiant, and hopeful. That aspect really spoke to me and made this one of my favorites of 2020.

6 - Idles • Ultra Mono

I knew nothing of this band until this release, but the aggressive feel of the music and lyrics that were equal parts furious and caring grabbed me right away. Lead singer Joe Talbot is actually more of a lead talker, coming across more like someone organizing a protest than trying to carry a tune. It’s the perfect fit for socially conscious music that lives somewhere between punk and metal. This shit gets my blood pumping and my hand reaching to turn up the volume every time I hear it.

5 - The Beths • Jump Rope Gazers

I spent a lot of time listening to The Beths’ debut, Future Me Hates Me in 2018. It didn’t make it into my Top 10 but it definitely put the New Zealand band firmly on my radar. A few edges have been polished and the pace has occasionally been slowed here and there, but it all seems to work perfectly on this album. The near-perfect pop/rock album among my choices in this list. 

 

4 - Negativland • The World Will Decide

The members of Negativland are culture jammers, audio pranksters, found-sound manipulators. I discovered them just after high school, listening to college radio shows with a focus on experimental music, almost 40 years ago now. Sometimes what they do is just very creative audio collage, but they are at their best when they are trying to make statements about modern culture. Their unique form of audio art has gotten them sued and dropped from record labels, but still they persist. The World Will Decide is the second of two interconnected albums (the first being True False from 2019) that focus on the many blurred lines of our current reality and the effects of the technologies that surround us on a daily basis. Experimental, thought-provoking, yet still very entertaining.

 

True False (2019) / The World Will Decide (2020)

3 - The Psychedelic Furs • Made of Rain

Their first album of new music in 29 years! The last time I saw The Furs live in Milwaukee on a split bill with James (summer 2019) they played us a new song. Not only did it sound great but it was an exciting hint that we might be hearing more in the near future. That song was “The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll” and ended up the first song on this new album. Even though it has been almost three decades since the last Furs album, they sound as fresh and energetic as ever!

2 - Halsey • Manic 

I’m proud to say that, as a father of a now-20-year-old daughter (see entry #20 above) I’ve turned her on to a lot of music over the years, and have hopefully helped shape her musical tastes. I’m also proud that she is now off at college pursuing a music career. How fitting, then, that this said same daughter is fully responsible for introducing ME to Halsey through some of the stuff she was putting on mixes that we would play while driving around. I was immediately blown away by Halsey’s voice, but quickly realized there was more variety and creativity to her music than I ever expected.

1 - John Moreland • LP5

A good friend turned me on to John Moreland with his 2017 album, Big Bad Luv. I liked it a lot, although it didn’t make it into my Top 17 that year. Very early in 2020, a couple songs were released ahead of a follow-up album. I loved them! Very detailed but laid back at the same time. More instrumentally lush than the earlier guitar troubadour stuff I had heard. At the end of January, we had the opportunity to see Moreland play live in a very intimate venue near us. Both my wife and I were blown away. That concert turned out to be the last show I ever saw before COVID-19 started shutting everything down in March. LP5 was released on February 7 and has been played constantly around our house and in our cars all year long. I offer this as my favorite album of 2020 without any hesitation. The kind of music you tend to like even more with each listen.

LP5 on deck

 

Enough words... Want to listen?

I've put together a Spotify playlist with sample tracks from each of these albums. Well, except for the live Bowie thing because that's nowhere to be found on Spotify as of this entry. If you're interested in hearing some of this music, check this out!

 

You like jazz?

Hey! I listen to jazz as well, at least enough to warrant a separate list. 

Check out my Top 10 jazz albums of 2020 here.

Looking for even more great music?

Since 2014, I have been contributing my Top 10 to Bret Helm's Life On This Planet blog. He and his partner Sarah do a fantastic job with it, supplementing their lists with those of numerous friends around the globe. Please click on the link below to take you over to this year's Best of 2020 blog post...

Life On This Planet - The Best of 2020