Be on the lookout
for a new podcast coming this week featuring Rachael Davis exclusively playing
the banjo, meanwhile….
THE BEST OF 2022
IN THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JOHN BOMMARITO
Here is my annual look back at the year in music.
When I listen to an album my regular routine is to rate
every song on a 1-10 scale. Technically
there are half points, but I’ve never counted those in the calculations for
some reason. I guess I’ll have to go
back and listen to every album I own and start over. Anyway…I have broken them into separate
categories because a covers album is usually full of familiar songs as is a
Christmas album. Two artists reworked an album from a previous year (I’m
looking at you Anderson and Brandi). I wasn’t sure how to count those records,
but this time I decided to treat them as new pieces of art, not a covers album.
EP's are short, so I believe they shouldn’t be counted the same as an album on
a best of chart. I define an EP as a release containing 3-6 songs. Extended
Play- not a single, not an album.
How do I actually come up with the rating? I’m glad you asked. As I mentioned, I rate
each song on each album on a 10-point scale. Then I do the math. Therefore, if
an album has 11 songs, it has 110 possible points. Perhaps it gets 66 points. Its final score would be 6.0. It's usually a pretty good way to determine
what the best albums are. However, I've discovered a flaw in the system. If an album has two songs that are just
awesome, 10 on a 10 scale and then 8 songs that are mediocre, say a 5 out of 10,
that would give it a score that makes it appear as the full album is better
than it is. Until I come up with a
better system, this is how it will be. And of course, sometimes there is a tie
with albums having the same score. In my top 3 albums of 2022, four albums had
the exact same score. Therefore, there is not a 4, 5 or 6th best
album of the year. The tie takes up those spots. I’ve had plenty of ties before, but never 4
in the top 3. Similarly, there was a
tie in the top 5 Eps among several records.
If you’d like to watch/listen to a YouTube playlist of some
of the tracks from these albums, you can click here
There are two Matt’s in the top 10, and an Anderson and an
Andersen in the top 15. The top 15 also covers Celtic music, blues, pop, singer
songwriter, Americana and hard rock.
There’s an album in the top 10 I’ve only owned for a week, but I had
heard many of the songs as singles so they were instantly familiar and likeable. There’s album in the top 20 that is
essentially the B-sides/companion piece to another album that came out this year
that I personally thought was overall stronger than the main record. A weird
year.
This is probably the fewest number of new releases I’ve
reviewed in a calendar year in 2 decades, but that is indicative of a change in
my role on the radio and the access to “free” music. That also means I bought a
larger percentage of these records and that’s harder to do on a radio employee
salary, therefore fewer records reviewed. What’s that? You say your top albums of the
year aren’t on here? That’s because I haven’t heard them. I don’t stream music,
I own it. It doesn’t count if I don’t own
it.
Without further ado….
TOP ALBUMS OF 2022
1-KATIE PEDERSON-LIMITLESS
2-FOREST BLAKK-EVERY
LITTLE DETAIL
3-CHUCK BRODSKY-GRAVITY,
WINGS AND HEAVY THINGS
3-MAY ERLEWINE-TINY
BEAUTIFUL THINGS
3-WE BANJO 3-OPEN THE
ROAD
3-MATT NATHANSON-BOSTON
ACCENT
7-JAMES BAY-LEAP
(JAPANESE BONUS TRACK EDITION)
8-MATT ANDERSEN-HOUSE
TO HOUSE
9-BRANDI CARLILE-IN THE
CANYON HAZE (DELUXE EDITION)
10-OLLLAM-ELLLEGY
11-AMOS LEE-DREAMLAND
11-GLEN PHILLIPS-THERE
IS SO MUCH MORE HERE
13-STEPHEN KELLOGG-KEEP
IT UP, KID
13-STABBING WESTWARD-CHASING
GHOSTS
15-ANDERSON EAST-M.W.N.D./F.A.M.E.
16-JAMESTOWN
REVIVAL-YOUNG MAN
17-TEARS
FOR FEARS-THE TIPPING POINT (SUPER DELUXE EDITION VERSION)
18-LYLE
LOVETT-12TH OF JUNE
19-JETTY
RAE-TIME TRAVELER
19-STELLA!-TELLS
THE TRUTH
19-CHAIN
OF LAKES-SONGS THAT DIDN'T MAKE THE RECORD
22-NOAH
KAHAN-STICK SEASON
23-TJ
ZINDLE-NOW LET GO
24-LINEN
RAY-ON THE MEND
24-MAGGIE
ROGERS-SURRENDER
26-ASPEN
JACOBSEN-ARSONIST DAUGHTER
26-CHAIN
OF LAKES-CATCH
28-SHANNON
LEE-STARS
28-DEF
LEPPARD-DIAMOND STAR HALOS (DELUXE EDITION)
30-IMAGINE
DRAGONS-MERCURY ACTS 1 & 2 (TARGET EDITION)
30-TAYLOR
SWIFT-MIDNIGHTS (TARGET EDITION)
32-FLORENCE
+ THE MACHINE-DANCE FEVER (DELUXE EDITION)
33-VANCE
JOY-IN OUR OWN SWEET TIME
33-EMILE
SANDEE-LET'S SAY FOR INSTANCE (BARNES & NOBLE EDITION)
35-STEVE
TAYLOR THREE-TRAVEL LIGHT
36-ROUGH
AND TUMBLE-LOVE IS GROSS (BUT IT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU)
37-PETER
MULVEY & SISTA STRINGS-LOVE IS THE ONLY THING
38-CHASTITY
BROWN-SING TO THE WALLS
39-NOAH
GUTHRIE-BLUE WALL
40-EDDIE
VEDDER-EARTHLING
41-JANN
ARDEN-DESCENDANT
42-SARAH
SCHINGECK-THE ALBUM OF HOPE
42-MARY
SCHOLZ-BEGIN AGAIN
42-AMY
RAY-IT IF ALL GOES SOUTH
45-KEB'
MO'-GOOD TO BE
46-ROSCO
AND FOR COLLECTIVE-AMERICANA MOTEL
47-MARCUS
MUMFORD-(SELF TITLED) (AMAZON BONUS TRACK EDITION)
47-MIKE
WARD PSYCHOSONGS-PARTICLES TO PEARLS
49-PATTY
GRIFFIN-TAPE
49-COLIN
HAY-NOW AND THE EVERMORE
49-PASSENGER-BIRDS
THAT FLEW AND SHIPS THAT SAILED
49-LAURA
RAIN & THE CAESARS-RISE AGAIN
49-BONNIE
RAITT-JUST LIKE THAT…
49-KING
MARGO-WATERS RISE
55-MANDY
MOORE-IN REAL LIFE (TARGET EDITION)
56-LUMINEERS-BRIGHTSIDE
57-PROCLAIMERS-DENTURES
OUT
58-JACK
JOHNSON-MEET THE MOONLIGHT
58-COLLECTIVE
SOUL-VIBRATING
58-DEL
AMITRI-FATAL MISTAKES (OUTTAKES AND B-SIDES)
61-ROUGH
AND TUMBLE-EVERYTHING GOES VIRAL BUT MY BAND
62-JOHN
MELLENCAMP-STRICTLY A ONE-EYED JACK
62-KELLER
WILLIAMS-GRIT
62-PAUL
HEATON + JACQUI ABBOTT-N.K.-POP
65-TOM
CHAPLIN-MIDPOINT
66-TROMBONE
SHORTY-LIFTED
67-ANNIE
CAPPS-HOW CAN I SAY THIS?
68-JAMES
VINCENT MCMORROW-THE LESS I KNEW
69-HOWARD
JONES-DIALOGUE
1--MICHAEL BUBLE-HIGHER
(SPECIAL EDITION)
2--BROTHER BROTHERS-COVER
TO COVER
3--HEATHER NOVA-OTHER
SHORES
4--WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS-COVERS
VOL 1
5--MARY FAHL-CAN'T GET
IT OUT OF MY HEAD
6--VARIOUS-HERE
IT IS: A TRIBUTE TO LEONARD COHEN
7--AMOS
LEE-MY IDEAL - A TRIBUTE TO CHET BAKER SINGS
8--CURTIS
STIGERS-THIS LIFE
9--VARIOUS-SONGS
FOR NEIL VOLUME THREE
1-ACCIDENTALS-TIME OUT
SESSION #2
2-ROSIE THOMAS-LULLABIES
FOR PARENTS
3-LILLY MACPHEE-BETWEEN
THE LINES
4-WILDER WOODS-THE WORK
TAPES EP
5-JACOB MOON-UNDER A
SETTING SUN
5-FOREST BLAKK-MINUTES
5-DAVID FORD & ANNIE
DRESSNER-48 HOURS WITH DAVID FORD AND ANNIE DRESSNER
5-TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND-I
AM THE MOON III - THE FALL
9-LINDSAY
LOU-YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
10-SUSAN
WERNER-THE BIRDS OF FLORIDA
TOP LIVE
ALBUMS OF 2021
1-
HOWARD JONES-LIVE AT UNION CHAPEL
2-
ALAN DOYLE-HERE, TONIGHT
3-
PRINCE-PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION LIVE
4-
HEATHER MALONEY-NO SHORTCUTS (LIVE AT THE ACADEMY)
TOP
CHRISTMAS ALBUMS OF 2021
1--TYRONE
WELLS-HOLIDAY WISH COME TRUE
2--HEYWOOD
BANKS-NEW HOLIDAY STANDARDS
3--NORAH
JONES-I DREAM OF CHRISTMAS (DELUXE)
4--CHRIS
ISAAK-EVERYBODY KNOWS IT'S CHRISTMAS
5--LOREENA
MCKENNITT-UNDER A WINTER'S MOON - A CONCERT OF CAROLS AND TALES
6--LINDSEY
STIRLING-SNOW WALTZ (TARGET EDITION)
7--SWITCHFOOT-THIS
IS OUR CHRISTMAS ALBUM
8--DELTA
RAE-HOURS BEFORE MORNING
9--TORI
AMOS-CHRISTMASTIDE
The Best of 2022 in the world according to
John Bommarito. It’s not all acoustic
music, folks.
View or listen and subscribe to my channel
by going to:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbntNtWVbW3WT0u_YyQ7LyA/playlists?view_as=subscriber
Acoustic Alternatives December 31st, 2022
Artist-Song Title—Rating-Album Title
ANDERSON
EAST-MAYBE WE NEVER DIE (FEAT. FOY VANCE)-15-M.W.N.D./F.A.M.E.
STEPHEN
KELLOGG-TO THE ONES WHO NEED IT MOST-13-KEEP IT UP, KID
STABBING
WESTWARD-I AM NOTHING-13-CHASING GHOSTS
GLEN
PHILLIPS-I WAS A RIOT-11-THERE IS SO MUCH MORE HERE
AMOS
LEE-DREAM-11-DREAMLAND
OLLLAM-LLLOW
THE SUN-10-ELLLEGY
OLLLAM-AN
EXILLLE'S DREAM-10-ELLLEGY
OLLLAM-STREAM
OF SILLLVER-10-ELLLEGY
BRANDI
CARLILE-BROKEN HORSES (IN THE CANYON HAZE)-9-IN THE CANYON HAZE (DELUXE
EDITION)
BRANDI
CARLILE-YOU AND ME ON THE ROCK (IN THE CANYON HAZE)-9-IN THE CANYON HAZE
(DELUXE EDITION)
BRANDI
CARLILE-SPACE ODDITY-9-IN THE CANYON HAZE (DELUXE EDITION)
MATT
ANDERSEN-OTHER SIDE OF GOODBYE-8-HOUSE TO HOUSE
MATT
ANDERSEN-RAISE UP YOUR GLASS-8-HOUSE TO HOUSE
MATT
ANDERSEN-PEOPLE GET READY-8-HOUSE TO HOUSE
JAMES
BAY-ONE LIFE-7-LEAP
JAMES
BAY-GIVE ME THE REASON-7-LEAP
JAMES
BAY-WE USED TO SHINE-7-LEAP
MATT
NATHANSON-GERMAN CARS-3-BOSTON ACCENT
MATT
NATHANSON-FUTURES HERE-3-BOSTON ACCENT
MATT
NATHANSON-BEGINNERS-3-BOSTON ACCENT
MAY
ERLEWINE-EASY-3-TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS
MAY
ERLEWINE-CHANGING-3-TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS
MAY
ERLEWINE-COULD HAVE BEEN-3-TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS
WE
BANJO 3-HUMMINGBIRD-3-OPEN THE ROAD
WE
BANJO 3-LONG WAY DOWN-3-OPEN THE ROAD
WE
BANJO 3-GIFT OF LIFE-3-OPEN THE ROAD
CHUCK
BRODSKY-IT TAKES TWO WINGS-3-GRAVITY, WINGS AND HEAVY THINGS
CHUCK
BRODSKY-CUP OF COFFEE-3-GRAVITY, WINGS AND HEAVY THINGS
CHUCK
BRODSKY-HALF THE PEOPLE-3-GRAVITY, WINGS AND HEAVY THINGS
FOREST
BLAKK-I HOPE YOU KNOW-2-EVERY LITTLE DETAIL
FOREST
BLAKK-IF YOU LOVE HER-2-EVERY LITTLE DETAIL
FOREST
BLAKK-FALL INTO ME-2-EVERY LITTLE DETAIL
KATIE
PEDERSON-GUARD DOWN-1-LIMITLESS
KATIE
PEDERSON-LAKE LOUISE-1-LIMITLESS
KATIE
PEDERSON-ONE BEFORE THE ONE-1-LIMITLESS
