Like I mentioned last week, this is the time of year when you can’t throw a stick without hitting a best-of list. We’re going to join the fray with a selection of ten albums I liked from 2013. To avoid making any judgment calls, I put them in alphabetical order rather than rank them.
Blackfield, Blackfield IV
Carla Bley/Andy Sheppard/Steve Swallow, Trios
David Bowie, The Next Day
Bob Dylan, Another Self Portrait: 1969–71 (The Bootleg Series Vol. 10)
Henry Fool, Men Singing
Dave Holland, Prism
Charles Lloyd/Jason Moran, Hagar’s Song
Pat Metheny, Tap: John Zorn’s Book of Angels, Vol. 2
Various Artists, ECM—Selected Signs III–VIII
Steven Wilson, The Raven That Refused to Sing
Regular readers will wonder why no classical albums appear on this list. I have to admit I was surprised myself. But the ECM multi-volume set includes works by Shostakovich, Reich, Pärt, Kurtág, Mansurian, Bach, Haydn, Kancheli, Silvestrov, et al., so I think we’re good on that score.
My favorite of the bunch? Hard to say. It depends on my mood, really. Steven Wilson’s Raven probably got played the most, but Dylan’s is the album I’ll still be listening to in twenty years.
by Linda Witherup