Best of 2025 – the second half and top-5 for full year

In 2025, my music blogging has taken a backseat to my politically focused Substack blogging. But I continue to listen to a lot of music and have started more music posts than I have finished and published. I have been posting a best-of list since 2011. When I look back at the old lists, I am struck by a few thoughts:

• I am not embarrassed by what is on the list, despite the fact (next point)
• My taste is not particularly hip
• I have forgotten about half of these albums, but the other half have remained in my psyche, and I continue to listen to them

Earlier this year, I published a best of the first half of 2025, and you can find it here:

Best of 2025 – the first half

This post will focus on the second half of the year, and I will also rank my top-5 albums of 2025. First, the second half of 2025, in no particular order.

Brandi Carlile: Returning to Myself – After her last album, 2021’s In These Silent Days, Brandi has been busy doting on others (Joni Jams, Elton collaboration, producing Brandy Clark). Returning to Myself is literally that, returning to music for and about Brandi Carlile. Carlile worked on Returning to Myself with Andrew Watt (super-producer to ancient rock stars like the Stones and Ozzy), Aaron Dessner (The National and Americana-era Taylor Swift), and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver). Per Brandi, the Inspiration for the album came from Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball (a collaboration with Daniel Lanois). Returning to Myself is another solid addition to the Brandi catalog.

Taylor Swift: The Life of a Showgirl – Can you be a 66-year-old male and be a Swiftie (and not be creepy)? It turns out yes. I got totally sucked into this album release cycle. I am a sucker for any Taylor and Travis gossip, and I am disappointed if we don’t get a camera shot of Taylor at a Chiefs game. Sonically, the album is a return to the ear candy of 1989 and Red. Lyrically, it is mature in a slightly wine-drunk, soccer-mom sort of way. Pure trash, but I love it! In my review, I said:

“I love its upbeat and cheeky tone as an antidote to our dark times. Mega-success and love have not ruined Taylor Swift – she can still churn out the bops and bangers!”

Atmosphere: Jestures – Hip-hop is typically not my thing, but I have always had a soft spot for Atmosphere. A big part of that is that they are from Minneapolis, but the bigger thing is that I love Slug’s narratives and Ant’s retro soul and funk beats, which resonate with my senior citizen brain. Jestures is not mind-blowing or something new from the three-decade-old band; it is meeting an old friend you haven’t seen in years and picking up where you left off, as if it were yesterday when you last talked. See this link for the full review.

Jeff Tweedy: Twilight Override – I am a huge Wilco fan. I have enjoyed Jeff Tweedy’s side and solo projects, but none of them have rivaled a Wilco album, until now. Twilight Overdrive rivals the best of the Wilco catalog. In my review of the album, I said:

“The collection is generally more relaxed and mellow compared to a Wilco album. Not sloppy, just casual. It is not entirely acoustic, but acousticish (with some trademark Tweedy cacophony, too). It is how I imagine a song sounds before Wilco, the band, “Wilco’s it up.” You forget that, despite Tweedy’s prominence in Wilco (as lead vocalist, composer, lyricist, and frontman), Wilco is first and foremost a band. Twilight Override has a singer-songwriter vibe that differs from Wilco’s. I am reminded of John Lennon’s work after the Beatles – a whole other thing.“

I got to see the live show in support of the album recently in Minneapolis at the legendary First Avenue, and it was so good that I plan to see it again when it passes through Phoenix this winter.

Margo Price: Hard Headed Woman. After a detour through psychedelic rock, Margo is back to pure country. I loved the rock detour, but I am more than happy to have her back to twanging. With Hard Headed Woman, she has achieved Steven Hyden’s five-album test. The five-album test is an artist or group releasing five consecutive albums ranging from very good to flat-out excellent. Many artists have five good-to-excellent albums over their careers, but very few string five together consecutively. In my review, I said:

“As much as I enjoyed Margo’s rock and roll detour, I am happy to have her back in the arms of country – especially her East-Nashville take on the genre, which aligns with my alt-country/Americana taste.”

Margo released a deluxe edition of Hard Headed Woman with extra tracks on streaming services in December.

Goose: Chain Yer Dragon – Goose delighted me by surprise-releasing a second studio album in 2025! The 12 songs follow the April release of Everything Must Go. Both records were produced by D. James Goodwin, who was also behind the board for 2022’s Dripfield. The album doesn’t sound significantly different from Everything Must Go or Dripfield; however, it has a looser live vibe and explores the band’s jazz-rock fusion side. The band also plays around with a muscular arena rock sound on songs like “Factory Fiction.”

Goose: Live at Madison Square Garden – I have to say I like this even more than the two studio albums released in 2025. It is well-recorded, an excellent sampling of thier catalog, and has some great covers. My favorite cover is “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” originally performed by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, but made famous by Thelma Houston. A horn section joins the band on several tracks. The album clocks in at just over four hours. Playing at MSG was a landmark event for the band. This album was also produced by D. James Goodwin, and so it has a more professional sound than the typical Goose shows offered on Bandcamp.

Matt Berninger: Get Sunk. – This is a late entry. It came out in the spring, but I did not listen to it until early December. It showed up as a CD in my Record Store Day Black Friday grab bag from Stinkweeds Records (Phoenix). I am a fan of The National, so it did not take much persuasion to give it a spin. The album is fantastic. A little less busy and mellower than a The National album, but in the same ballpark. Sonically, it is gorgeous. Still absorbing the lyrics. But I have heard enough to give it a thumbs up. I will be spinning and streaming this more now that I am hooked.

Morgan Wade: The Party Is Over (recovered)– The backstory on this album is that a handful of the songs date back to before Wade signed her major-label deal and have been “recovered” on this album with all-new versions. I love Morgan’s contemporary take on country rock. I love it when a singer-songwriter can lead a rock band with a sound that is instantly recognizable and ambitious – like Tom Petty, Springsteen, Pete Townsend, Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), etc. I don’t mean to oversell Morgan, but she is swinging for the fences here. Session guitarist Clint Wells is Wade’s primary collaborator on this album and her last. Wells plays guitar and is the producer on both albums. Well’s must add some kind of magic as Obsessed and The Party Is Over (recovered) are giant steps forward in the Wade catalog.

Geese: Getting Killed – For the longest time, I was only aware of Geese because they were not Goose (one of my favorite bands). This album got so much critical hype that I had to check it out, and damn, it’s fantastic. Rock and roll is not dead!

St. Paul & The Broken Bones: Self-Titled (2025) – I am a long-time fan of St. Paul & The Broken Bones. I discovered them shortly after their 2014 debut, Half the City. I am not really into the retro-soul thing, but this band somehow works for me. The absurdity of a guy who looks like a disheveled bookkeeper delivering amazing soul-music vocals is a hook (Paul Janeway is an epic frontman). The band is excellent – a horn band with a sprinkle of weird (their past couple of albums got a little too odd, and this is a return to the basics). Their live shows are amazing.

Bruce Springsteen: Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition and the Deliver Me from Nowhere biopic document Springsteen’s existential crisis in the wake of the upward trajectory of consistently releasing commercially and critically successful albums, which led Bruce to deliberately adopt a non-commercial approach. The decision was so profound that it warranted a movie. The Nebraska album (original and reissue) and the film are for Springsteen obsessives only. Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition is a great collection, but, as music critic Steven Hyden has pointed out, it should have been a Nebraska/Born In The U.S.A. box set. Nebraska ’82 includes the legendary “Electric Nebraska,” which turns out to be a kind of dud – turns out Bruce knew exactly what he was doing by releasing what has become a lo-fi bedroom classic with the original Nebraska. As a fan, I found the movie and the expanded album a welcome addition to the Springsteen legend. See my full review here.

The Replacements: Let It Be (Deluxe) is another archival reissue in this year’s best-of list. Let It Be is arguably The Mats’ best album and one of the albums that helped invent ’80s indie rock. This is what I said in my review of the collection:

“There is not a bad cut on Let It Be, and several are Mats classics like ‘I Will Dare,‘ ‘Favorite Thing,‘ ‘Androgynous,‘ ‘Unsatisfied,‘ ‘Sixteen Blue,‘ and ‘Answering Machine.” On Let It Be the band perfectly captures the angst of late adolescence into young adulthood. If I had to recommend one Mats’ album for the uninitiated, it would be Let It Be.”

The Mats’ genius was the perfectly balanced stupid-and-smart, and Let It Be is exhibit number one. In addition to the original album, there is an LP of extras and a double LP of a live show. The live show is not sonically great, but the performance is so excellent that even my audiophile ears are willing to put up with the lo-fi production values.

The Necks: Disquiet The Necks are an Australian avant-garde jazz trio known for their extended instrumental improvisations (typically an hour per song). The trio is Chris Abrahams on piano and Hammond organ, Tony Buck on drums, percussion, and electric guitar, and Lloyd Swanton on bass guitar and double bass. Disquiet is a three-CD album (streamed as three volumes) comprising four songs, totaling just over three hours of music. The general vibe is ambient music that is intriguing enough for active listening – this is more than musical wallpaper, this is art.

Top-5:

Combining my first half and second half lists, these are my favorites (top-5) – in order of preference:

#1: Jeff Tweedy: Twilight Override – see above

#2 Margo Price: Hard Headed Woman – see above

#3: Goose: Live at Madison Square Garden – see above

#4 Larkin Poe: Bloom. Although the Lovell sisters have been doing their thing for two decades now, I have only recently become aware of them. This album is excellent blues rock. My wife and I had the opportunity to see the band live at First Avenue in Minneapolis this spring, and they put on a great show. It is a wonderful juxtaposition: suburban soccer moms playing cock rock.

#5 Craig Finn – Always Been A fantastic pairing of indie rock royalty: The Hold Steady’s frontman and singer-songwriter Craig Finn, produced by The War On Drugs’ frontman Adam Granduciel. The first time I heard this album, I was struck by the slickness in a good way. I saw a show on a tour supporting this album, and it made me love the songs even more.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Enjoy checking out the various year-end lists – I always make new discoveries from them.