The Best Albums of 2020

The Best Albums of 2020

I have compiled a best of 2020 so far list that includes fantastic new music from a wide range of genres. First, there’s pure Pop of Selena, Huey Lewis’ Rock ‘n Roll Pop, to the Blues Rock of Robert Cray, Jazz from Pat Metheny, with a little Country flavored Pop from Puss N Boots that is another creative outlet for Norah Jones. There are also outstanding Folk treasures from the Queen of Coffee Shop Folk Lisa Loeb. Mandy Moore delivers with her first album in over a decade, sharing her maturity in her long journey. You'll also find a very nice ambient piece worth checking out from Tycho and some Art Pop Electronic weirdness with Grimes.

2020 is off to a good start so far, where new music releases are concerned. This year started off with Selena Gomez’s “Rare” and many other new releases that have followed are better than you might think and well-deserving of the small investment you’d be making by purchasing these gems.

After searching high and low for some time now I've found some really good albums that are making my list. Among these are Leslie Mendelson's "If You Can't Say Anything Nice..." new album, and it is quite terrific with its best song being "All Come Together", and then there is a new album from Datura4 "West Coast Highway Cosmic" that sounds like good ol' '60s / '70s heavy rock with fantastic guitar riffs, I hope you search these little treasures out and give them a try.

Good albums are rare these days and as the year has progressed there have only been a few real gems that are worth a financial investment per se. More recently we do have some good stuff from the likes of Bob Dylan giving us Rough and Rowdy Ways, and then we get pure pop from Carley Rae Jepsen with Dedicated Side B, The Pretenders rock out with Hate For Sale, Deep Purple hits us with Whoosh, Bill Frisell’s Valentine is a jazzy little gem, Jenny O New Truth is a real stand-out effort. And let's not forget but a while back an interesting EP from Noah Cyrus came out called The End of Everything and it has a batch of good new tunes as well.

Keeping you up to date with some more great new releases, we have new music from the classical guitarist Xuefei Yang, new stuff from Bebel Gilberto, a-Rockin' good time with the Allman Betts band, and my new favorite album is from Hannah Georgas which is one I'm sure you'll love as well.

The year finishes off strong with great new rock albums from The Boss...Bruce Springsteen's new Letter To You, and maybe the year's best rock album from AC DC with Power-Up. Miley Cyrus surprises us all with a really great new rock album with some great collaborations, and all-round great new songs with her album Plastic Hearts. The last album worth checking out is Paul McCartney's new album McCartney III, it's full of some really great new songs. These last four albums I mention are all charting well and getting great reviews.

While everyone is now practicing social distancing, you can cheer yourself up with these new albums. 

Happy New Year to you, I hope 2021 will have as much new great music as this year has

• Lisa Loeb - A Simple Trick To Happiness
• Robert Cray / Robert Cray Band - That's What I Heard
• Smoke Fairies - Darkness Brings The Wonders Home
• Huey Lewis & The News - Weather
• Pat Metheny - From This Place
• Selena Gomez - Rare
• Soccer Mommy - Color Theory
• Puss N Boots - Sister
• Tycho - Simulcast
• Grimes - Miss Anthropocene
• Mandy Moore - Silver Landings
• Myrkur - Folkesange
• Gordon Lightfoot - Solo
• Leslie Mendelson - If you Can't say anything Nice
• DATURA4 - West Coast Highway Cosmic
• Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways
• Carley Rae Jepsen - Dedicated Side B
• The Pretenders - Hate For Sale
• Deep Purple - Whoosh
• Bill Frisell - Valentine
• Jenny O - New Truth
• Xuefei Yang - Sketches of China
• Bebel Gilberto - Agora
• The Allman Betts Band - Bless Your Heart
• Hannah Georgas - All That Emotion
• Eivør - Segl
• Bruce Springsteen - Letter To You
• AC DC - Power Up
• Miley Cyrus - Plastic Hearts
• Paul McCartney - McCartney III

This is the best of the best to have come out this year. Looking forward to 2021 with hopes of finding even better new music.