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Top 100 Albums of 2021

Well that year flew past, didn’t it? Despite the continuation of the pandemic, there was a massive influx of great releases this year. I typically am not fond of putting together year-end lists, but I do think it’s important to highlight some of my personal favorite records from the last 12 months, especially so I could shout out all of the releases that might not be popping up on similar lists and the albums that I loved but couldn’t get the time to write about.

Below you will find 100 of my favorite LPs of 2021, in no particular order, plus some of my favorite live albums, reissues/compilations and EPs/singles in individual sub-lists. What are your favorites this year? What did I leave out? Let me know in the comments below!

The Best Live Albums of 2021

  • Deep Fried Grandeur by Ryley Walker And Kikagaku Moyo (Husky Pants Records)
  • At Pioneer Works by Les Filles de Illighadad (Sahel Sounds)
  • A Love Supreme Live in Seattle, by John Coltrane (Impulse!)
  • Bear’s Sonic Journals: That Which Colors The Mind by Ali Akbar Khan (Owsley Stanley Foundation)
  • Buck Curran: WFMU ‘The Frow Show’ Live Session (Feat. Jodi Pedrali) (Obsolete Recordings)
  • FLY or DIE LIVE by Jaimie Branch (International Anthem)
  • The Golden Lag by Elkhorn (Bluehole Recordings)
  • Bear Sonic Journals: Johnny Cash at the Carousel Ballroom April 24, 1968 (Owsley Stanley Foundation)
  • Live at The Red Room (2019) by Mark Mulcahy (Mezzotint)
  • Live at The 5 Spot by Jack Silverman (Centripetal Force Records)
  • Rare Dreams: Solar Live 2​.​27​.​18 by Chris Forsyth and The Solar Motel Band (Algorithm Free)
  • Die Schute, Hamburg, DE – September 12, 2019 by DWLVS
  • Live 7​-​21​-​21 by Garcia Peoples
  • Bear’s Sonic Journals: Merry Go Round at The Carousel by Tim Buckley (Owsley Stanley Foundation)
  • Live Ateliers Claus by 75 Dollar Bill
  • Live in Stuttgart 1975 by Can (Spoon Records)
  • Samba in Seattle Live at the Penthouse (1966-1968) by Bola Sete (Tompkins Square Records)

The Best Reissues/Box Sets/Compilations of 2021

  • The Complete Life at the Lighthouse by Lee Morgan (Blue Note)
  • Long Shadows: 2003-2006, by Urdog (Rocket Recordings)
  • Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera, by Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera (Guerssen Records)
  • Infinity by Khan Jamal (Jazz Room Records)
  • Song of the Avatars: The Lost Master Tapes by Robbie Basho (Tompkins Square Records)
  • Edo Funk Explosion Vol​.​1 by VA (Analog Africa)
  • Willie Dunn by Willie Dunn (Light in The Attic Records)
  • Archives – Volume 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971), by Joni Mitchell (Rhino Records)
  • Elektronik Türküler, by Erkin Koray (Guerssen Records)
  • Kirtan: Turiya Sings by Alice Coltrane (Impulse!/UME)
  • The Time Has Come, by Anne Briggs (Earth Recordings)
  • Essiebons Special 1973 – 1984 // Ghana Music Power House by VA (Analog Africa)
  • Déjà Vu (50th Anniversary Box Set) by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (Atlantic Records)
  • Coyote Canyon, by Rick Deitrick (Tompkins Square Records)
  • Soundmagnificat by Fitz Gore & The Talismen (Sonorama Records)
  • Volume II, by Russell Potter (Tompkins Square Records)
  • Listen To The River: St. Louis ’71 ’72 ’73 by Grateful Dead (Grateful Dead Records/Rhino Records)
  • It’s So Easy (When You Know What You’re Doing​)​: A Tribute to Ted Lucas by VA (Perpetual Doom

The Best Singles/EPs/Split-Releases of 2021

  • Torii Gates by Jeffrey Silverstein (Arrowhawk Records)
  • The High Priestess and the Hierophant by Burd Ellen (Thread Recordings)
  • Blues Ambush by Blues Ambush
  • Modern Scene (Remix) by Ben Pirani & Ghost Funk Orchestra (Colemine Records)
  • Three Feral Pieces by Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Nathan Salsburg and Max Porter (No Quarter)
  • “Worldly”/”The City Is A Painting” by Nico Hedley and Field Guides (Whatever’s Clever)
  • Open Up The Watergate by One Eleven Heavy
  • Ütiwaah by Aaron Dooley
  • So Far Behind by Color Green (Org Music)
  • Heavy Lidders / Rhyton (split CS) by Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders and Rhyton (Pome Pome Tones)
  • Mendocino County by Osmium House
  • Step Down / La Fachada by The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble (Colemine Records)
  • Eau’d to a Fake Bookie Volume 4 by Wet Tuna
  • Four, by Old Smile

-KH

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Keith Hadad, the creator and manager of RCU, has been a contributing writer to Elmore Magazine and Thewaster.com and maintains a regular column, “Keith Hadad’s Choice,” in Blicker magazine. His writing has also appeared in the Smithsonian Folkways’ Guest Blog and the Optical Sounds Fanzine. Also, please check out the blog’s super-active Instagram account, @recordcratesunited for daily blurb-styled music reviews.

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