Jump to content

Your Top Albums of 2020


chevelle

Recommended Posts

Now that the year is all said and done, what were everyone's favorite releases of 2020? I personally listened to more new releases than I ever have before, partly thanks to lockdown and partly thanks to Kingdom Leaks (which as of tonight is no more). Here's my top 15:

15. Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic OPN
14. Beabadoobee - Fake It Flowers
13. IDLES - Ultra Mono
12. Hum - Inlet
11. The Fall of Troy - Mukiltearth
10. Loathe - I Let It In and It Took Everything
9. Touche Amore - Lament
8. End - Splinters from an Ever-changing Face
7. Mac Miller - Circles
6. Protest the Hero - Palimpsest
5. Cloudkicker - Solitude
4. The Weeknd - After Hours
3. Bring Me the Horizon - Post Human
2. Greg Puciato - Child Soldier: Creator of God
1. Run the Jewels - RTJ4

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/1/2021 at 8:45 AM, DieselDaisy said:

Besides archival releases, I just bought the new Dylan and AC/DC. The former is a near masterpiece. The latter is so-so (I prefer Black Ice/Rock or Bust).

I'm with you on the Dylan album, except for the "near". 

My lists for 2020: 

Regular albums: 

8. Joe Bonamassa - Royal Tea
7. Pokey LaFarge - Rock Bottom Rhapsody
6. Paul McCartney - McCartney III
5. AC/DC - PWR/UP
4. Gregory Porter - All Rise
3. Pearl Jam - Gigaton 
2. Bruce Springsteen - Letter To You
1. Bob Dylan - Rough And Rowdy Ways

Archive / Live / Single: 

8. Queen + Adam Lambert - Live Around The World
7. Bombino - Live In Amsterdam
6. The Teskey Brothers - Live At The Forum
5. Tom Petty - Wildflowers And All The Rest
4. Rolling Stones - Steel Wheels Live
3. Metallica - S&M 2
2. Rolling Stones - Living In A Ghost Town (Single) 
1. Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets - Live At The Roundhouse

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, username said:

I'm with you on the Dylan album, except for the "near". 

My lists for 2020: 

Regular albums: 

8. Joe Bonamassa - Royal Tea
7. Pokey LaFarge - Rock Bottom Rhapsody
6. Paul McCartney - McCartney III
5. AC/DC - PWR/UP
4. Gregory Porter - All Rise
3. Pearl Jam - Gigaton 
2. Bruce Springsteen - Letter To You
1. Bob Dylan - Rough And Rowdy Ways

Archive / Live / Single: 

8. Queen + Adam Lambert - Live Around The World
7. Bombino - Live In Amsterdam
6. The Teskey Brothers - Live At The Forum
5. Tom Petty - Wildflowers And All The Rest
4. Rolling Stones - Steel Wheels Live
3. Metallica - S&M 2
2. Rolling Stones - Living In A Ghost Town (Single) 
1. Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets - Live At The Roundhouse

Yes. Ditch the ''near''. I think I said elsewhere that it is about the only positive I can think of coming from the year 2020. 

Neil Young's Homegrown for archival. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't dive into a lot of new music in 2020, but I did discover "new" music to me.

 

Actually new in 2020:

  • Ozzy Osbroune - Ordinary Man [The title track is my favourite track by him... including Sabbath]
  • Halestorm - Vicious Stripped and ReImagined
  • AC/DC - Power Up
  • Deep Purple - Whoosh!
  • Sons Of Apollo - MMXX

Purchased but unlistened

  • Blue Oyster Cult - The Symbol Remains 
  • Bon Jovi - Bon Jovi: 2020

 

Discovered in 2020

  1. Yes - Close To The Edge
  2. Yes - Relayer
  3. Yes - Going For The One
  4. Nightwish - Once
  5. Dream Theater - Black Clouds And Silver Linings
  6. Black Sabbath - Headless Cross
  7. Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II
  8. Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events
  9. Iced Earth - Alive In Athens
  10. Crimson Glory - Transcendence

I really only discovered all of these bands barring Black Sabbath in the tail end of 2019 and afterwards. Of them Crimson Glory was the one I was most familliar with having heard their debut a few times. Phenomenal bands some of which I'm still looking into. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I only listened to a few albums that came out in 2020, but I listened to many new albums to me (one new album a day for the whole year). Of the ones this year

1. Sons of Apollo- MMXX I loved every track on this album and was just as good as the first record, with Wither To Black being one of the best songs with a nice tribute to Rush and Neil Peart.

2. Alestorm- Curse of the Crystal Coconut This album was by a band that my friends and I just listened to for fun, and it’s stupid but somehow still amazing. It’s one of the biggest laughs I’ve had while listening to music while still being kick ass.

The rest were good, but not ones I’d listen to regular like the new Ozzy, Deep Purple, and Kansas albums.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn’t pick up many studio albums released in 2020, but loads of new live albums/reissues released last year. 
 

New albums picked up last year:

1. Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo

2. British Lion - The Burning

3. AC/DC - Power Up

4. Tower Of Power - Step Up

I really, really loved all of these albums and it’s hard for me to rank them. Mr. Bungle takes the prime spot because it is, undoubtedly, the best thrash metal album of the last decade in my mind. Early Bungle is a sound that was so well suited to have Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo join the band.

 

Live albums picked up from last year:

1. Stray Cats - Rocked This Town: From LA To London

2. Queen + Adam Lambert - Live Around The World

3. The Rolling Stones - Steel Wheels Live

4. Metallica - S&M 2

5. Iron Maiden - Nights Of The Dead: Live In Mexico City

The Stray Cats live album was really the most pleasing to me - they’re a band that hasn’t really released hardly any live material over the course of their career, and they still sound SO good after 40 years. It pains me to say Maiden was the worst live album I picked up last year, but everything about it reeks of mediocrity - bizarre choice of gigs to release as Bruce had had a cold in Mexico City, the album was mixed by the band’s FOH engineer and sounds rough, and they couldn’t even give a straight narrative of if the release was planned in advance or sprung up because of COVID. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Strokes - The New Abnormal made it into my top 5 of favorite albums of all time. Phenomenal record

It was some feeling hearing PWR/UP for the first time, especially the Shot in the Dark single. Brian Johnson sounding phenomenal, I got covered in goosebumps when I heard the first 10 seconds of Realize, that scream; haunting.

Future Islands' As Long as You Are was also a welcomed release. A few great numbers on there from a band that I probably enjoy most outside of Guns that are still active. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...