Music & More

Photo courtesy of Brian Auger Welcome, greetings, and thank you for stopping here to read my choices for the best music of 2020. You don't need another article about how weird a year we all had. I will say, however, that for the working musician it was mostly tough going. Those who earn their living on the road were reduced to the occasional live stream. That said, the psychology of the situation resulted in as many, if not more, album releases than your typical year.  This list is purely based on my preferences. There is no algorithm or other gatekeeper and the result is unlike any other such list that you may see, read, or hear from any other source.  So, welcome to my unique take on 2020.  I hope this time next year finds you happy, healthy, safe and vaccinated. I wish you peace for 2021. Album of the Year:  Brian Auger  – Introspection Brian Auger's epic career as a musician, composer, singer, producer, keyboard master, and band leader has now stretched into...

Photo courtesy of the artist  As strange as 2020 was for the music business, that didn't seem to carry over to the holiday releases. Oh, there are probably exceptions to that, but by and large Christmas albums came out sounding pretty much like what we might expect.  In the description below, I will once again not harp on songs that aren't really Christmas songs like Joni Mitchell's "River," Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," and the like. I do really love those songs in their normal non-holiday context. I'm even starting to get used to hearing "My Favorite Things" as a Christmas song. It's easy to say that this year because two of those songs are absent from this year's crop, and the version of "River" that's on the Karla Bonoff album is so good that I am compelled to love it in spite of its inclusion.  The 2020 holidays are already weird in the sense that we will not be with most of our family and friends due to the c...