What are your favorite albums of the year / of the last months?

[Wombat]

Can't tell, cause I've ripped from CD.

Thanks!
A prime example how to confuse a customer with HiBitrate stuff.
They sell the cd, 16/44.1 downloads, 24/44.1 downloads, 24/48 downloads and a Blu-Ray that i can not find any official specs but different specs at different sellers like HFPA (High Fidelity Pure Audio), 2.0 DTS, Dolby TrueHD, PCM Mixes, 24bit/96kHz.

I'll pass on this one for the moment until maybe the loudness-war database has enough info. Just buying the cheapest only to realize it is broken from additional compression against some other release is not for me.

[Pascal Hibon]

Interesting exercise...
Up until today, I've added 140 albums in 2014. Only 14 albums are actually dated of 2014. Most of the added albums are from 80’s and 90’s. Several 70’s too.

Here are my 5 most favorite 2014 albums (no particular order):

Angus & Julia Stone - Angus & Julia Stone
Christine And The Queens – Chaleur Humaine
Jill Barber – Fool’s Gold
Pink Floyd – The Endless River
Reena Riot – Stop Reverse

[RonM]

I've acquired a lot of music in 2014, much of it actually released this year. Not at home, so can't do my definitive list until later (such as it will be), but a couple stand out for me.

My favorite from the year is without a doubt Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn's self-titled album; duet banjos and Washburn's wonderfully idiosyncratic voice make for beautiful music. Not what you'd call traditional banjo music.

On the jazz front (although I'm not quite sure it fully qualifies as jazz), I really like Dr. John's Ske-Dat-De-Dat - The Spirit of Satch, a tribute to Louis Armstrong. I particularly like that he's brought in some elements of Hip Hop (on Mac The Knife). Enjoyable every inch.

More later.

[garym]

I've acquired a lot of music in 2014, much of it actually released this year. Not at home, so can't do my definitive list until later (such as it will be), but a couple stand out for me.

My favorite from the year is without a doubt Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn's self-titled album; duet banjos and Washburn's wonderfully idiosyncratic voice make for beautiful music. Not what you'd call traditional banjo music.

On the jazz front (although I'm not quite sure it fully qualifies as jazz), I really like Dr. John's Ske-Dat-De-Dat - The Spirit of Satch, a tribute to Louis Armstrong. I particularly like that he's brought in some elements of Hip Hop (on Mac The Knife). Enjoyable every inch.

More later.

I'm going to pick up the Fleck & Washburn album soon. I saw them at Symphony Space on the upper west side of NYC in November, 2014. What a fantastic show. Bela had a lot of family and friends there (he said he grew up around the corner and "Symphony Space" was a movie theater he often visited during his youth. It was really magical (and I say that having seen Bela Fleck in about every configuration possible).

[RonM]

I'm going to pick up the Fleck & Washburn album soon. I saw them at Symphony Space on the upper west side of NYC in November, 2014. What a fantastic show. Bela had a lot of family and friends there (he said he grew up around the corner and "Symphony Space" was a movie theater he often visited during his youth. It was really magical (and I say that having seen Bela Fleck in about every configuration possible).

You can buy it for download in flac, a bit pricey (more than a CD from Amazon), but instantaneous. 24/44.

http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/10...24bit_Download

R.

[d6jg]

Interesting exercise...
Up until today, I've added 140 albums in 2014. Only 14 albums are actually dated of 2014. Most of the added albums are from 80’s and 90’s. Several 70’s too.

Here are my 5 most favorite 2014 albums (no particular order):

Angus & Julia Stone - Angus & Julia Stone
Christine And The Queens – Chaleur Humaine
Jill Barber – Fool’s Gold
Pink Floyd – The Endless River
Reena Riot – Stop Reverse

Having been cross with myself at the small number of true 2014 albums I have bought this year I am now listening to Angus & Julia Stone and shall be buying a copy. It's really rather nice. Thanks

[RonM]

I've acquired a lot of music in 2014, much of it actually released this year. Not at home, so can't do my definitive list until later (such as it will be), but a couple stand out for me.

My favorite from the year is without a doubt Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn's self-titled album; duet banjos and Washburn's wonderfully idiosyncratic voice make for beautiful music. Not what you'd call traditional banjo music.

On the jazz front (although I'm not quite sure it fully qualifies as jazz), I really like Dr. John's Ske-Dat-De-Dat - The Spirit of Satch, a tribute to Louis Armstrong. I particularly like that he's brought in some elements of Hip Hop (on Mac The Knife). Enjoyable every inch.

More later.

It's later now. . .

Turns out that I have quite a bit of music tagged as 2014, and probably more from this year that didn't get tagged at all. Fact is, I do tend to get irrational late at night, and download tracks that I may never listen to. A significant proportion of my 2014 list falls in that category. That said, here are some of my faves from the year.

"Roots music" (including Americana, Folk, Country and assorted similar genres):

Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn (self titled, although in some markets called Modern Times) -- as noted above, this is to my ears simply outstanding, a wonderful recording, continuing to give me great pleasure each time I play it.

Jesse Winchester, A Reasonable Amount of Trouble -- the swan song from a dying folk icon, beautifully recorded, lyrically focussed on a life lived as it comes to a close. I really like it.

Richard Thompson, Acoustic Classics -- essentially his solo acoustic show, illustrating his peerless songwriting and guitar playing, and showing that geezers can still PLAY!

Lucinda Williams, Where the Spirit Meets the Bone -- best thing from her in years, really good.



Jazz:

Dr. John, Ske-Dat-De-Dat - The Spirit of Satch -- Great recording with samples of a variety of styles, including hip hop. Several duets with women, something that Mac Rebennack has always done well. Very nice recording, but may not actually fall into everyone's definition of jazz.

Medeski, Scofield Martin and Woods, Juice -- Pure instrumental jazz, replete with energy.

Bryan Ferry Orchestra, The Jazz Age -- Ferry tunes done up in 1920s style jazz. Like nothing else, great music to accompany a dinner party, intimate or otherwise. Not recognizably Roxy Music or Bryan Ferry, but jolly good fun.


Classical:

Ingrid Fliter, Chopin: Piano Concertos -- From Linn, the Scottish label. Fliter's touch is exquisitely light and dynamic, and her support from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra is outstanding. The recording quality is phenomenally good, and for those who want the ultimate in audiophile sound, you can get extremely high resolution versions from the Linn website.


Blues:

Molly Johnson, Because of Billie -- Canadian jazz singer Johnson covering the work of Billie Holiday. Very nicely done, using Johnson's characteristic style, without attempting to clone Lady Day

Eric Bibb, Blues People -- one of the great under-appreciated American Blues artists, now over 65 and still producing some of the greatest acoustic blues music around

Keb' Mo', BluesAmericana -- a higher-energy more electric style of Blues from a master.

Jim Byrnes, St. Louis Blues -- Jim Byrnes is an American, living in Canada, an actor and long-time musician who does some of the tastiest rootsy recordings going. On this occasion he is covering the St. Louis blues style, wonderfully supported and produced by Steve Dawson, master of all guitar styles.


Miscellaneous recordings, sometimes hard to classify, but all on my playlist:

First Aid Kit, Stay Gold -- more poppish than my usual likes, but very nice

Jolie Holland, Wine Dark Sea -- another idiosyncratically excellent production from Ms Holland, ex (long ago) of the Be Good Tanyas

Natalia Zukerman, Come Thief Come Fire -- daughter of famous classical violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman, Natalia inherits huge amounts of instrumental capability, playing many instruments. This recording starts out as acoustic folk (beautifully done) and morphs into more orchestral style pop, with dad and step-mom playing. Very nice indeed.

Kelsey McNulty, excuses for small details -- the lower case is the way she's written it. This is actually one of my favorite recordings of the year, but very hard to classify. Reminds me a bit of Robin Holcomb, in that there are some "composed" instrumental parts, inter-mixed with rootsy/folky songs. A bit of jazz thrown in.

Jenny Scheinman, The Littlest Prisoner -- jazz violinist Scheinman (has several of her own instrumental recordings, and tours and records with Bill Frisell) has produced a second more singer/songwriter album, the last one was several years ago. She has a lovely rich voice, and uses it well. Not as much of her own playing on this as I'd have liked, but in the summer swinging in the hammock was seldom off the playlist.

Steve Dawson, Rattlesnake Cage -- ace guitarist (and related instruments), a pure instrumental recording, thankfully. He's tried singing from time to time, not to good effect. This is a very nice illustration of the range of Dawson's talent on plucked and picked instruments. Perfect for long drives.

Colleen Rennison, See the Sky About to Rain -- another excellent recording from Steve Dawson's studio (he plays guitar on it), but quite different from the others on this list. High energy bluesy production, reminiscent in some ways of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, but more Canadian!


That's it, too much, but I have always sucked at editing.

[Philip Meyer]

>Tori Amos - Unrepentant Geraldines
This was better than I was expecting. I didn't like the previous few albums too much.

I would include:

Anathema - Distant Satellites
Perge - Green Dessert (like 70's Tangerine Dream)
Pink Floyd - The Endless River

[bernt]

Opeth: Pale Communion
http://open.spotify.com/album/0DLImjuzdrOBQKtYLlf3C5

Mustasch: Thank You for the Demon
http://open.spotify.com/album/4Fv9nJN20lVteJzJ9iSYVf

[bakker_be]

>I would include:

Anathema - Distant Satellites

Opeth: Pale Communion
http://open.spotify.com/album/0DLImjuzdrOBQKtYLlf3C5

Those are indeed very good 2014-vintage albums! Kinda forgot about them when making my list earlier ...