Hi folks!
Since I have now completed my two countdown radio shows for the Top 50 albums of 2017—see the Big Takeover “Radio” button above to hear one song from each—here is my complete list of the 150 best albums, 70 best archive/retrospective/reissue releases, and 30 best stand-alone singles and EPs of this previous year. My best bets on another great year for music, old and new. (Never mind the cranks, here’s the good stuff as ever.) Hope this little list inspires you to find, or give a second look to, a few cool releases you might miss otherwise that you end up truly loving. Otherwise, lists are for time-wasting. Not my bag. But as I listened to all of these a great deal this year, perhaps you might like some of them, or will be glad to see them recognized if you are already enjoying them.
Cheers to you all and happy new year.
Jack Rabid’s Picks, 2017’s 150 Best Albums (new recordings)
1 Fake Laugh – Fake Laugh (Headcount U.K.)
2 Ride – Weather Diaries (Wichita)
3 Alvvays – Antisocialites (Polyvinyl)
4 T.S.O.L. – The Trigger Complex (Rise)
5 Guided By Voices – How Do You Spell Heaven (Rockathon) (+ August By Cake)
6 Michael Head & the Red Elastic Band – Adiós Señor Pussycat (Violette U.K.)
7 Secret Shine – There Is Only Now (Saint Marie)
8 Slowdive – Slowdive (Dead Oceans)
9 The Black Watch – The Gospel According to John (Eskimo)
10 Wire – Silver/Lead (Pink Flag)
11 TUNS – TUNS (Royal Mountain CAN)
12 Eyelids – Or (Jealous Butcher/Schizophonic)
13 GospelbeacH – Another Summer of Love (Alive Natural Sound)
14 Tobin Sprout – The Universe & Me (Burger)
15 Lake Ruth – Birds of America (Feral Child U.K.)
16 The Successful Failures – Ichor of Nettle (FDR)
17 Greg Graffin – Millport (Anti-)
18 Corin Ashley – Broken Biscuits (Murray Hill)
19 Mark Eitzel – Hey Mr. Ferryman (Merge)
20 New Pornographers – Whiteout Conditions (Collected Music/Concord)
21 The Shins – Heartworms (Aural Apothecary/Columbia/Sony)
22 Real Estate – In Mind (Domino)
23 Pugwash – Silverlake (Lojinx)
24 Sycamore Smith – Grosspapa (Sycamore Smith)
25 Various – Thank You Friends: Big Star’s Third Live… and More (Concord)
26 Agent Bla – Agent Bla (Kanine)
27 Triptides – Afterglow (Requiem Pour La Twister)
28 The Granite Shore – Suspended Second (Occultation U.K.)
29 Honeyrude – The Color Blue (Shifting Sounds)
30 American Darlings – Glow (American Darlings)
31 The Dayoffs – The Dayoffs (Emerald & Doreen GER)
32 Len Price 3 – Kentish Longtails (JLMR)
33 The Popguns – Sugar Kisses (Matinee)
34 Offa Rex – The Queen of Hearts (Nonesuch/WEA)
35 Honeychain – Crushed (Honeychain)
36 Airiel – Molten Young Lovers (Shelflife)
37 Pale Lights – The Stars Seemed Brighter (Calico Cat)
38 Christopher Paul Stelling – Itinerant Arias (Anti-)
39 Fazerdaze – Morningside (Flying Nun NZ)
40 Bye Bye Blackbirds – Take Out the Poison (Bye Bye Blackbirds)
41 Sera Cahoone – From Where I Started (Lady Muleskinner)
42 Holy Tunics – Butter Dish (GP Stripes)
43 Latvian Radio – Pick You Poison, Pick Your Blues (Belpid)
44 CH3 – Put ‘Em Up (TKO)
45 The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome (Polydor)
46 Miranda Lee Richards – Existential Beast (Invisible Hands U.K.)
47 Jason Loewenstein – Spooky Action (Joyful Noise)
48 Ella Atlas – The Road to Now (Ella Atlas)
49 *Ask – Discipline & Pressure (Ground Sound)
50 Jody Porter – Pacifier (Jody Porter)
51 The Wedding Present – George Best 30 (HHBTM)
52 Proper Ornaments – Foxhole (Slumberland)
53 Girl Ray – Earl Grey (Moshi Moshi)
54 Ray Davies – Americana (Legacy)
55 Black Swan Lane – Under My Fallen Sky (Wanderland)
56 Kristin Hersh – Wyatt At the Coyote Palace (Double 12”) (HHBTM)
57 Rogue Wave – Cover Me (Easy Sound)
58 The Side Eyes – So Sick (In The Red)
59 Fotoform – Fotoform (Fotoform)
60 Red Cities – Soft Target (Modern Peasant)
61 Willie Nelson – God’s Problem Child (Legacy/Sony)
62 Peter Perrett— How The West Was Won (Domino)
63 Maxïmo Park— Risk To Exist (Daylight/Cooking Vinyl)
64 Spectrums – Thanks For Your Kind Words (Moon Sounds)
65 The Clientele, The – Music For the Age Of Miracles (Merge)
66 Car Crash Sisters – Sundance Sea (Industrias WIO MEXICO)
67 Cloud Nothings – Life Without Sound (Carpark)
68 Robyn Hitchcock – Robyn Hitchcock (Yep Roc)
69 Tough Age – Shame (Mint CAN)
70 Jane Weaver – Modern Kosmology (Fire)
71 Rogue & Jaye – Pent Up (Tropicali)
72 Ty Segall – Ty Segall (Drag City)
73 The Dead Boys – Still Snotty: Young, Loud & Snotty At 40 (Plowboy)
74 13 Frightened Girls – Good Natured (Ozmosis U.K.)
75 Tift Merritt – Stich Of the World (Yep Roc)
76 Saltland – A Common Truth (Constellation CAN)
77 Salad Boys – This Is Glue (Trouble In Mind)
78 Bash & Pop – Anything Could Happen (Fat Possum)
79 Kane Strang – Two Hearts And No Brain (Dead Oceans)
80 The Royal Panics – The Royal Panics (30 Peak)
81 Bats, The – The Deep Set (Flying Nun NZ)
82 Russ Tolman – Compass & Map (Lost)
83 Arts & Leisure – Rescued Objects (Mystery Lawn)
84 New Sincerity Works – Wonder Lust (Butter)
85 Grandaddy – Last Place (30th Century)
86 Penthouse Sweets – In The House of the Penthouse Sweets (Penthouse Sweets)
87 The Erotics – 20 Years Of Nothing To Show For It—The Best Of (Cacophone)
88 Black Springs – When We Were Great (577661 DK)
89 The Feelies – In Between (Bar/None)
90 The Newsletters – The Newsletters (Buttercup AUS)
91 Delay Trees – Let Go (Soliti)
92 Whitehorse – Panther In the Dollhouse (Six Shooter CAN)
93 The Fur Coats – Gumballs In the Meritocracy (Johanns Face/Hovercraft)
94 David Barbe – 10 of Seas (Range Twin)
95 The Scenics – One Chord Live; The Scenics Live 2016 (The Scenics/Dreamtower CAN)
96 Distractions – Kindly Leave The Stage (Occultation U.K.)
97 Sleaford Mods – English Tapas (Beggars Group)
98 Wesley Stace – Wesley Stace’s John Wesley Harding (Yep Roc)
99 The Raveonettes – 2016 Atomized (Beat Dies)
100 Daniel Wylie – Scenery For Dreamers (You Are The Cosmos U.K.)
101 Dream Syndicate – How Did I Find Myself Here (Anti-)
102 Destroy Babylon – Shapeshifters (Destroy Babylon)
103 Cliff And Ivy – Spirit Room (House Of Extreme Darkness)
104 Jeremy Enigk – Ghosts (Lewis Hollow)
105 Proto Idiot – Leisure Opportunity (Slovenly)
106 Luna – A Sentimental Education (covers) (Double Feature)
107 Kelley Stoltz – Que Aura (Castle Face)
108 Martin Carr – New Shapes of Life (Tapete GER)
109 Chris Hillman – Bidin’ My Time (Rounder)
110 Matthew Sweet – Tomorrow Forever (Honeycomb Hideout)
111 Chad Vangaalen – Light Information (Sub Pop)
112 Hoops – Routines (Fat Possum)
113 The Stars Explode – Too Late to Save the World (The Stars Explode)
114 Lucille Furs – Lucille Furs (Lucille Furs)
115 Dead Leaf Echo – Beyond Desire (Moon Sounds)
116 Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The – The Echo of Pleasure (Painbow)
117 The Jesus And Mary Chain – Damage and Joy (ADA/Warner)
118 Grizzly Bear – Painted Ruins (RCA)
119 Various – Single KO Wire Revisited (tribute) (The Blog That Celebrates Itself)
120 Deafcult – Auras (Hobbledehoy AUS)
121 Doug Tuttle – Peace Potato (Trouble In Mind)
122 Pale Honey – Devotion (Bolero)
123 Nick Garrie – The Moon & the Village (Tapete GER)
124 The Douglas Fir – California Memory (Dark Years)
125 Count Vaseline – Tales From The Megaplex (Saustex)
126 Widowspeak – Expect The Best (Captured Tracks)
127 The Jet Age – At the End of the World (Sonic Boomerang)
128 Happyness – Write In (Moshi Moshi)
129 Edward Rogers – TV Generation (Zip)
130 Horsebeach – Beauty and Sadness (Alone Together)
131 Daniel Martin Moore – Turned Over to Dreams (Sofaburn/OK)
132 The Courtneys – The Courtneys II (Flying Nun NZ)
133 Black Books – Can’t Even (Shifting Sounds)
134 The Luxembourg Signal – Blue Field (Shelflife)
135 The Hangabouts -Kits & Cats and Saxon Wives (Futureman)
136 Known to Collapse — Transport Paradise (Green Chair Music Ltd. U.K.)
137 Juliana Hatfield – Pussycat (American Laundromat)
138 Stevenson Ranch Davidians – Amerikana (Picture In My Ear)
139 R. Stevie Moore & Jason Falkner – Make It Be (Bar/None)
140 Shirley Collins – Lodestar (Domino)
141 The Effects – Eyes to the Light (Dischord)
142 The Horrors – V (Wolftone/Caroline)
143 Ford Maddox Ford – This American Blues (Porterhouse)
144 The Banditos – Visionland (Bloodshot)
145 Hybrid – Gemini (Off Atlas)
146 Teenager – Entitled (Record Records)
147 Trip Wire – Cold Gas Giants (Custom Made)
148 Jane Telephonda – Boson Of Love (Mother West)
149 Daydream Machine – The Show Must Not Go On (Picture In My Ear)
150 Los Straitjackets – What’s So Funny About Peace, Love And Los Straitjackets (Nick Lowe Tribute) (Yep Roc)
Jack Rabid’s Picks, 2017’s 30 Best Singles and EPs
1 Secret Meadow – Same Old Fear EP (Jigsaw)
2 Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – The French Press EP (Sub Pop)
3 Billy Bragg – Bridges Not Walls (Cooking Vinyl)
4 Lush – Live At KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic mini-LP (Thoughtforms U.K.)
5 The Beremy Jets – Backup Friend EP (The Beremy Jets)
6 Feltworth – “Forget This Feeling” 7” (Feltworth CAN)
7 Weyes Blood – “A Certain Kind” 7” (Mexican Summer)
8 Persian Leaps – Bicycle Face EP (Land Ski)
9 Belle & Sebastian – How to Solve Our Human Problems EP 1 (Matador)
10 The Chills – “Rocket Science” (Fire)
11 Venn – Venn EP (Venn)
12 Joecephus & The George Jonestown Massacre – 5 Minutes To Live: A Tribute To Johnny Cash EP (Saustex)
13 Cut Worms – Alien Sunset EP (Jagjaguwar)
14 The Paranoid Style – Underworld USA EP (Bar/None)
15 Fawns Of Love – “Falling” (Fawns Of Love)
16 The National Honor Society – All Change EP (The National Honor Society)
17 Amber Arcades – Cannonball EP (Heavenly/PIAS)
18 Lisa Mychols – “Loving You Baby” (Lisa Mychols)
19 Redd Kross / The Side Eyes – Songs That Chargo Taught Us split 7” (In The Red)
20 Furious Seasons – “We All Belong” (Stonegarden)
21 Scream – “Politics Is Entertainment” (Southern Lord)
22 No Joy – Creep EP (Grey Market)
23 Dotsun Moon – My Apology EP (Dotsun Moon)
24 Alice Bag – “Reign Of Fear” (Don Giovanni)
25 Landing – Taeppe EP (Structure Vs. Chaos)
26 Cosmic Waves – Cosmic Waves EP (Cosmic Waves)
27 Last Remaining Pinnacle – “To Dream” (Custom Made)
28 Nonagon And Knife The Symphony – split 7” EP (Phratry)
29 Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon – “Hail Hail Rock ’N’ Roll (A Tribute To Chuck Berry)” (Wondercap)
30 David Bowie – No Plan EP (Columbia/Sony)
Jack Rabid’s Picks, 2017’s 70 Best Releases of Old Recordings and Reissues
1 Lost Tapes – We Thought it Was Okay at the Time (2013-2015) (Shelflife)
2 The Nils – The Nils reissue (Label Obscura CAN)
3 Buzzcocks – Times Up reissue (Domino)
4 Even Worse – We Suck!; The Lost Album 1981-1982 vinyl (Radiation ITALY) (*Full Disclosure: My Own Band!)
5. M.I.A. – Notes From the Underground/After the Fact reissues (Darla)
6 The Replacements – For Sale Live at Maxwell’s 1986 (Rhino)
7 Idaho – People Like Us Didn’t Stop (live/rehearsals) (Idaho)
8 The Zombies – Odessey & Oracle (50th Anniversary Edition) (Varèse Sarabande/UNI)
9 Paul Revere & The Raiders – The Spirit Of ’67 Deluxe Mono/Stereo Edition (Cherry Red U.K.)
10 Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties 50th Anniversary Edition (ABKCO)
11 Secret Shine – Singles 1992-1994 (Saint Marie)
12 Chris Bell – I Am The Cosmos/Looking Forward: The Roots of Big Star (Omnivore)
13 Look Blue Go Purple – Still Bewitched (Flying Nun NZ)
14 Muffs – Happy Birthday To Me Expanded Edition (Omnivore)
15 Lilys – In The Presence of Nothing reissue (Frontier)
16 Louis Armstrong – The Complete Decca Singles 1935-1946 (Verve/Ume/UMusic)
17 Jack Lee – Bigger Than Life (Alive Naturalsound)
18 West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – Part 1 and Vol 2 reissues (Jackpot)
19 All – Pummel reissue (Porterhouse)
20 Various – Action Time Vision; a Story of Independent UK Punk 1976-1979 box (Cherry Red U.K.)
21 The Move – Magnetic Waves of Sound: The Best Of (Cherry Red U.K.)
22 Ennio Morricone—Un Uomo Da Rispettare OST reissue (Superior Viaduct)
23 Pink Floyd – The Early Years 1967-1972 (Pink Floyd/Sony Legacy)
24 Exterminators – Product Of America (Slope)
25 The Creation – Action Painting Retrospective (Numero Group)
27 Sniveling Shits – I Can’t Come reissue (Damaged Goods U.K.)
28 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry – Albums And Singles 1982-1989 box (Cherry Red U.K.)
29 Elliott Smith Either/Or Expanded reissue (Kill Rock Stars)
30 Mad Parade—Real Horror Show (1982-83 Demos) 12” (Hostage)
31 Elvis Presley – A Boy From Tupelo: The Complete 1953-55 Recordings (RCA Legacy/Sony)
32 Theatre Of Hate – West World Deluxe Edition (Burning Rome/Cherry Red U.K.)
33 Art Bergmann – Remember Her Name reissue (Paper Bag Vintage CAN)
34 The Jigsaw Seen – For The Discriminating Completist reissue (Burger)
35 Carl Perkins – Best of the Sun Records Sessions (Sun)
36 Bob Dylan – The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert! (Columbia/Legacy/Bob Dylan Triplicate/Sony)
37 Jan & Dean – The Original Filet of Soul: Redux Live… (Omnivore)
38 Schwartz Fox Blues Crusade Feat. Mr. Stress – Sunday Morning Revival (Smog Veil)
39 Various – Magnificent: 62 Classics From The Cramps’ Insane Collection (Righteous/Cherry Red U.K.)
40 Rain Parade – Emergency Third Rail Power Trip and Explosions in the Glass Palace reissues (Real Gone)
41 Ducks Deluxe – Coast to Coast: The Anthology (Cherry Red U.K.)
42 Personality Crisis – Personality Crisis (Sounds Escaping CAN)
43 Mock Turtles – Turtle Soup Expanded (Cherry Red U.K.)
44 Buck Owens – Live From Austin TX (Austin City Limits) (New West)
45 John Lee Hooker – Whiskey & Wimmen: John Lee Hooker’s Finest (Veejay)
46 Motörhead – Under Cöver (covers) (Motörhead Music)
47 Van Morrison – The Authorized Bang Collection (Columbia Legacy/Sony)
48 Lee “Scratch“” Perry & Subatomic Sound System – Super Ape Returns to Conquer (MVD)
49 Bevis Frond – Triptych reissue (Fire)
50 Sad Lovers And Giants – Where The Light Shines Through 1981-2017 box (Cherry Red U.K.)
51 Big Star – The Best of Big Star (Stax)
52 Raspberries – Pop Art Live (2004 Reunion Concert) (Omnivore)
53 Alex Chilton – A Man Called Destruction reissue (Omnivore)
54 The Wedding Present – Marc Riley Sessions, Volume 2 (Hatch)
55 Link Wray – Link Wray reissue (Light In The Attic)
56 Various – Manchester: North of England box (Cherry Red U.K.)
57 Interpol – Our Love To Admire reissue (UMC)
58 Arthur Alexander – Arthur Alexander reissue (Omnivore)
59 Superchunk – Superchunk reissue (Merge)
60 Nirvana (U.K.) – Local Anesthetic/Songs Of Love & Praise (Esoteric/Cherry Red U.K.)
61 Nick Lowe – Nick The Knife/The Abominable Showman reissues (Yep Roc)
62 Kitchens of Distinction – Watch Our Planet Circle box (One Little Indian)
63 Can – The Singles (Mute/Spoon)
64 Larry Wallis – Death In The Guitarfternoon/The Sound Of Speed (Purple Pyramid/Cleopatra)
65 Evan Dando – Baby I’m Bored reissue (Fire)
66 Doctors of Madness – Perfect Past: The Complete (RPM/Cherry Red U.K.)
67 Alex Chilton – A Man Called Destruction reissue (Omnivore)
68 The Triffids – Treeless Plain & In the Pines reissues (PIAS)
69 Chrome – Box II 1983-1995 (Cleopatra)
70 Archie Bell & the Drells – Let’s Groove: the Story (Big Break/Cherry Red U.K.)
Note Here’s a DVD I Saw and enjoyed and a couple of books I read and liked, though to be honest, I didn’t see or read nearly as many good ones as are out there from basic lack of time! So this list is woefully incomplete. Just thought they merited a mention as a result:
Various – The Big T.N.T. Show DVD (Shout Factory)
J. Hunter Bennett – The Prodigal Rogerson: The Tragic, Hilarious, and Possibly Apocryphal Story of Circle Jerks Bassist Roger Rogerson in the Golden Age Of L.A. Punk, 1979-1996 (Microcosm Press)
Scott Crawford – Spoke: Images and Stories From the 1980s Washington, D.C. Punk Scene book (Akashic)
Steve Jones – Lonely Boy: Tales From a Sex Pistol book (Da Capo Press)
Richard Lloyd – Everything is Combustible book (Beech Hill)
