12 BEST ALBUMS OF 2023
Year’s end is a time for making lists and checking them twice, whether it’s for gifts or resolutions.
Or the best (fill in the blank) of the past 12 months.
Music had a strong year during 2023, from streaming to fans streaming into concert venues (thank you Ms. Swift) to annually increasing sales of vinyl albums. And while some feel the album as a product has been undermined by digital music consumption, this year saw ample proof that the long-form continues to thrive as a creative expression in every genre and rewards those taking time to listen to more than one (or part of one) song at a time.
With that in mind, here are our dozen favorites from the year, with a few bonus selections, too …
• Zach Bryan, “Zach Bryan” (Belting Bronco/Warner): Four albums in Zach Bryan found a sweet spot, sounding more relaxed and confident in his straddle between conventional country and Americana rock. The songs, which Bryan co-produced with Eddie Spears, benefit from the sonic space he gives them, and Bryan’s collaborators — Kacey Musgraves, the Lumineers, Sierra Ferrell and the War and Treaty — allow Bryan to push his range out even further.
• Peter Gabriel, “i/o/” (Real World/EMI/ Republic): It had been 21 years since Gabriel’s last all-new album, “Up,” and this time he teased us by releasing a new song on every full moon throughout the year until the full “i/o’” came out on Dec. 1. It was well worth the wait, with 12 beautifully rendered and melodically enveloping tracks surveying nothing less than the totality of the human condition. It also came in two separate mixes — Bright and Dark sides — doubling the joyous impact.
• Ian Hunter, “Defiance Part 1” (Sun): The Rolling Stones weren’t the only octogenarian rockers making noise this year. Former Mott the Hoople frontman Hunter, now 84, sounded more like 24 on his first new album in seven years — grizzled but unbowed and helped by a huge guest list that included Ringo Starr, Todd Rundgren, members of Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Aerosmith, Stone Temple Pilots, Def Leppard, ZZ Top and Wilco, Billy Bob Thornton and some of the final recordings by the late Jeff Beck and Taylor Hawkins. We can’t wait for Part 2.
• Killer Mike, “Michael” (VLNS/Loma Vista): It had been 11 years since Michael Render’s last solo album, but he was hardly slacking (Run the Jewels, for one, kept him on point). This return was a welcome one, though, an emotional deep-dig that showed off soul, funk and gospel influences and featured Mike cutting it up with Andre 300, ElP, Young Thug, CeeLo Green, Jagged Edge, Ty Dolla $ign and many more.
• Bettye LaVette, “LaVette!” (Jay-Vee): We’ve lost a lot of musical queens in recent years, which means we should be appreciating the fact that Bettye LaVette is not only still with us but also making some of the best music of her 60-ish year career. All 11 songs on this Grammy-nominated set were written by the great Randall Bramblett but given an entire other life in LaVette’s hands, with help from Steve Winwood, John Mayer, Jon Batiste, Ray Parker Jr., Anthony Hamilton and, of course, producer (and Rolling Stones drummer) Steve Jordan.
• Metallica, “72 Seasons” (Blackened): When Metallica’s at its best, it’s hard to touch ’em, and the quartet’s guns were loaded for its first new material in seven years. The group reached back to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bag that it started outsourcing 40-odd years ago, filtering it through the experiences of the interim to craft a 77-minute opus that reminded us why The Mighty so often precedes the band’s name.
• The National, “First Two Pages of Frankenstein” (4AD): The Cincinnati-formed band took a break for members’ other projects — notably Aaron Dessner’s with Taylor Swift, who guests on “The Alcott” here — but made the wait worthwhile upon their return. Everything clicks on “Frankenstein,” its 11 songs filled with perfected nuances and textures, not to mention other drop-ins by Sufjan Stevens and Phoebe Bridgers. The National was in such good form that it even had enough material for a second release this year, “Laugh Track.”
• Nickel Creek, “Celebrants” (Thirty Tigers): Much happened, in the world and in the personal worlds of these three musicians, during the nine-year interim between albums. Older (all in their 40s), presumably wiser and of course more skilled, they have a lot to say and a lot to play (18 songs) on this Grammy-nominated set, with a pandemic-induced focus on the vagaries of human connection. It’s ecstatic in parts, contemplative in others, but their pickin’ is guaranteed to leave you grinnin’ throughout.
• Allison Russell, “The Returner” (Fantasy/Concord): Unlike the bloodletting of her 2021 debut, “Outside Child,” Canadian singer-songwriter Russell is lighter and happier here, although she makes it clear the journey to “Springtime” was arduous — and that other concerns remain. Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, Hozier, SistaStrings and Prince cohorts Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman help out, too, all serving to make a good thing even better.
• Chris Stapleton, “Higher” (Mercury Nashville): Stapleton has been so ubiquitous in country music, and beyond, that it’s a surprise this is only his fifth studio album. “Higher” lives up to its title, expanding Stapleton’s range as a songwriter, player and singer as well as a co-producer with his wife Morgane and Dave Cobb. “White Horse” and “South Dakota” stomp with authority, but it’s the soul-inflected ballads that really find Stapleton pushing forward here.
• Various Artists, “Tell Everybody! (21st Century Juke Joint Blues)” (Easy Eye Sound): Away from the Black Keys Dan Auerbach revels in finding under-celebrated talents and reviving careers with his own label. On this 12-song outing, he cranks up some juke joint exuberance with Easy Eye acts such as Robert Finley, Jimmy “Duck” Homes and Leo Bud Welch, the Detroit band Moonrisers and a track by the Black Keys. “Collinwood Fire,” meanwhile, features onetime James Gang guitarist Glenn Schwartz, backed by Joe Walsh and Auerbach’s Arcs.
• The War and Treaty, “Lover’s Game” (UMG Nashville): The married duo from Albion hit a new peak, creatively and commercially, with its third album. Though widely embraced by the country community that’s too narrow a classification for this set of soulful, heartfelt odes produced by Dave Cobb; Michael (Jr.) and Tanya Trotter cross and combine styles with silky smooth ease, and we defy you to find any pair of singers that sounds as intrinsically right together as they do now. That Best New Artist Grammy Award nomination is a bit late, but it’s nice that they’re catching up, too.
Ten More Worth Checking Out
• Black Pumas, “Chronicles of a Diamond” (ATO)
• Boygenius, “The Record” (Interscope)
• Claud, “Supermodels” (Saddest Factory/Dead Oceans)
• Rhiannon Giddens, “You’re the One” (Nonesuch)
• Nils Lofgren, “Mountains” (Cattle Track Road)
• Ashley McBryde, “The Devil I Know” (Warner Music Nashville)
• Janelle Monae, “The Age of Pleasure” (Bad Boy/Wondaland/Atlantic)
• Peso Pluma, “Genesis” (Double P)
• Jon Regen, “Satisfied Mind” (JRM)
• Olivia Rodrigo, “Guts” (Geffen)