Albums of 2018, Honorable Mention: The Old White Guys

In his 1980 Pazz & Jop essay, Robert Christgau quoted a critic by the name of Jay Mitchell, who described Side Two of Stevie Wonder's "Hotter than July" as "The perfect example of an artist doing his job and doing it well; with fun and grace at that."  That comment has stuck with me over the years, and has grown increasingly appropriate, as so many of our bedrock artists have continued to record and tour well into their advanced ages.

Elvis Costello (now 64 years of age), Paul Simon (77), Richard Thompson (69) and John Hiatt (66) were all recording in 1980 (Costello even placed an album in the P&J Top 40 that year, with "Get Happy" finishing at 7th), and they all released albums in 2018.  It would be foolish to claim that any of their new records - Costello's "Look Now," recorded with The Imposters, Simon's "Into the Blue Light," Thompson's "13 Rivers," and Hiatt's "The Eclipse Sessions" - was as good as the best album from each artist.

But so what?  The fact that all are still sharing their work with the world is a blessing.  And make no bones about it, all of these albums are very good.  Costello comes as close to achieving a synthesis of his early "angry young man" approach and the panache of Burt Bacharach as he ever has.  Paul Simon has surely earned the right to revisit some old songs that he didn't feel he quite nailed on the first go around, and the results are consistently engaging.  Richard Thompson appears to have been energized by his series of "acoustic classic" albums, and John Hiatt...and this will sound goofy...just sounds comfortable in his own skin.

These four artists have all created works that stand with the best of our time.  Celebrate them and their work while you still can.

Albums of 2018, Honorable Mention: Christmas Albums

The only person I know who owns more Christmas albums than I do is my brother.  It's about all I listen to between Thanksgiving and Christmas - the compilations I've made over the years, the old classics (Roches, Andy Williams, Phil Spector, Harry Connick Jr.'s first holiday record, a handful of others), and whatever new gems find their way into existence.  Holiday albums must still be moneymakers, because there's always a new crop that blooms, usually just before Halloween.  

With all the various media outlets at one's disposal in this day and age, it's pretty easy to get a sense of whether a holiday album is worth buying (or perhaps even just one or two tracks, after separating the wheat from the chaff), which is important if you're only going to be listening for a month every year.

Without question, this year was one of the best for new (and almost entirely original) Christmas albums.  Only four would fit into the picture, but there were five that are good enough to be tabbed as an Honorable Mention for 2018.

* Socks, JD McPherson.  10 original tunes, and they're all winners.  The title tune is about every little kid's least favorite Christmas gift, but along the way McPherson demonstrates, in about as fun a manner imaginable, how much he loves the holiday season.  These are tunes you can dance to, should you so desire.  Highlights: "Hey, Skinny Santa!," "All the Gifts I Need," "Claus vs. Claus," "Every Single Christmas."

* Hey! Merry Christmas!, The Mavericks.  Their own website describes their sound as "beyond category," incorporating "Roy Orbison-style balladry, Tex-Mex and Rockabilly."  That'll do, and on their holiday effort, one couldn't be faulted for thinking that they're listening to a great but long lost record from the early to mid-1960s.  Except for "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," all originals, and also with a healthy dose of fun.  Highlights: "Santa Wants to Take You For a Ride," which is quite possibly the nastiest holiday song since Elvis scorched the chimney with "Santa Claus is Back in Town," the title track, and "One More Christmas."

* Love the Holidays, Old 97's.  Rhett Miller's band has been around forever; sometimes their albums are merely good, and sometimes they're incredible.  The best think about "Love the Holidays" is that if you didn't listen that closely to the lyrics, you'd think you were listening to a "normal" Old 97's album.  And I mean that as a compliment.  Highlights: the title track, "Gotta Love Being a Kid," which sounds a bit like a Christmas song filtered through an early Clash album, "Christmas is Coming," "Snow Angels."  If you want to hear the band's take on some traditional carols, be sure to buy the deluxe edition.

* Ingrid Michaelson's Songs of the Season.  Michaelson tried her hand at holiday tunes last year with an EP; that effort was clearly successful enough for her to take a dive into the deep end of the holiday pool.  This sounds more like a traditional pop star Christmas album than any of the others on the list; it includes old chestnuts like "White Christmas," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and "I'll Be Home for Christmas," but in versions that add to the canon, rather than simply repeating it.  There are a handful of originals, but the highlight may be her (slow) take on Mariah Carey's monster Christmas song, joined by Leslie Odom Jr.

Not pictured above but equally deserving of the honor is Rodney Crowell's "Christmas Everywhere," which I've seen described as an "anti-Christmas album," which I think was the author's way of noting that some of these songs are about as sad as you'll ever hear on a holiday album.  The clear highlight, and one that definitely falls into that category, is "Christmas in New York," which my friends can definitely look forward to hearing on next year's compilation.

All in all, a jolly time.  Thank you to all of the above artists for brightening the holiday season with these outstanding efforts.

Albums of 2018, Honorable Mention: Kacey Musgraves

My feelings about this album are mixed.  On the one hand, I'm very happy for Musgraves' success, and happy that she is breaking through the male-dominated wall of country music radio that has continued to feature inferior male artists and bands over female artists like Musgraves, Ashley Monroe, Miranda Lambert, Angaleena Presley, Ashley McBryde, Courtney Marie Smith, Amanda Shires, and others (and for the record, I do not include Eric Church, Chris Stapleton or Sturgill Simpson on that list of male artists).  I'm happy that she has done so well in the year-end polls at NPR and Pitchfork.  If there is a Pazz and Jop poll this year (and I don't know that there will be, considering that the Village Voice is no more) "Golden Hour" will no doubt finish very high.  And that's all great.

On the other hand, I'm not hearing a lot of what others are hearing on this album.  I thought that "Same Trailer, Different Park" was a terrific debut, and that "Pageant Material," although suffering slightly from sophomore slump syndrome, was a very solid follow-up.  I was really looking forward to what album #3 might bring.  Musgraves is carving out a path that is mixed equally with roots music and countrypolitan glamour - and from a financial standpoint, that strategy appears to be paying off in spades.  More power to her, and there's no doubting that on songs like "Oh What a World" and the magnificent "Slow Burn" the formula is completely successful.  But too often, to these ears the songs sound like pop pablum - not horrible, but also not justifying the kudos that have followed.

If every song on "Golden Hour" was as good as the two mentioned above, it would be a contender for my Album of the Year.  As it is, it's still worth an honorable mention.