2014: Half Good

Best Miles Davis-King Crimson Crossover

Levin Brothers – Levin Brothers

Drawing on a century’s worth of musical mastery between them, brothers Pete Levin (Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Freddie Hubbard) and Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Sting) got together to produce a swinging tribute to the classic nightclub jazz of their youth that single-handedly reignited my fondness for the genre.

Highlights: “Bassics,” “Brothers,” “Brookline Boyz”

Best Career-Spanning Retrospective

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble – The Complete Epic Recordings Collection

Twelve discs of the finest, toughest, hard-rockingest modern electric blues ever recorded, given the beautiful packaging it deserves. Few artists truly merit this sort of comprehensive career overview, but SRV is one.

Highlights: “Crossfire,” “Tightrope,” “Little Wing,” “The House Is Rockin’”

Persistence Pays Off (Again) Award

John Hiatt – Terms Of My Surrender

You can pretty much count on a John Hiatt album every year or so, and you can pretty much count on it being pretty good. But every so often something clicks and consistently good John Hiatt turns into “Goddamn, this guy is incredible” John Hiatt.

Highlights: “Nobody Knew His Name,” “Baby’s Gonna Kick,” “Nothin’ I Love,” “Terms Of My Surrender”

Best Electric Blues Album Since the Last Gary Clark Jr. Album

Gary Clark Jr. – Live

The freshly crowned king of the modern electric blues returns with a two-disc live set that will simply knock your socks off if you care at all about hearing classic blues, blues-rock and r&b sounds reimagined by a phenomenally gifted young composer and performer.

Highlights: “Travis County,” “Ain’t Messin ’Round,” “Third Stone From The Sun”

Best Prog Album That Isn’t

Elbow – The Take Off And Landing Of Everything

As opposed to last year, this was my year of not-prog as I went through jazz and blues and Americana and singer-songwriter binges while hardly finding anything of interest in the prog realm (it’s bound to be a sketchy year for prog when Big Big Train doesn’t put out a new album). The closest brush I had this year was my infatuation with the self-described “prog without the solos” of Elbow, whose magnificent disc The Take Off And Landing Of Everything simply oozed intelligence and restraint.

Highlights: “Charge,” “New York Morning,” “The Take Off And Landing Of Everything”

5. Robert Bruey – Carousel

A terrific album of singer-songwriter material, rich with insight and melody, featuring an assist on guitar from Jean-Paul Vest of Last Charge Of The Light Horse.

Highlights: “Fracture Of A Sign,” “Open Road,” “River Of Stars”

4. Spencer Day – Daybreak

I used to worry that someday Sinatra would be forgotten. But that cool sophistication, that smiling swagger, that superb musicality lives on in the finger-snapping tunes of young bucks like the swingin’ Spencer Day.

Highlights: “Missing Tonight,” “Naturally,” “Don’t Let Me In”

3. The Legal Matters – The Legal Matters

Sometimes music is a time machine; this album lands you in 1966, where you’re immediately enveloped in a heady cloud of Byrds-meet-the-Beatles jangly harmonies. A superbly crafted homage to the roots of power-pop by three guys who really get it.

Highlights: “Rite Of Spring,” “Stubborn,” “The Legend Of Walter Wright,” “We Were Enemies”

2. David Corley – Available Light

David Corley came out of nowhere at age 53 to deliver a debut album that sounds like Van Morrison and Bob Dylan trading tunes circa 1969. Craggy, deeply expressive and instantly memorable, Corley’s unique voice is put in service of a set of beautifully crafted songs that will capture your imagination.

Highlights: “Available Light,” “Beyond The Fences,” “Easy Mistake”

1. Indie Of The Year

Last Charge Of The Light Horse – Nine Kinds Of Happy

Longtime readers will notice a pattern here: any time Jean-Paul Vest and his band Last Charge Of The Light Horse issue a new album, there’s a good chance it’s going to end up on this list. That has nothing to do with habit and everything to do with quality. Nine Kinds Of Happy is some of Vest’s finest work yet, a concise eight-song cycle that encompasses driving rock, brooding, hypnotic numbers, and one of the prettiest love songs I’ve ever heard. That’s just how it goes when you’re in the hands of “a breathtakingly talented songwriter.”

Highlights: “This Is Where,” “All Of My Days,” “Spoken,” “Glaciers”