When I was stuck at home in 2020, I had a remarkable ability to listen to one mediocre album after another. The difference in my grade breakdowns between in the first half of 2020 and this half-year is quite impressive. An incredible 53 albums got C+'s in the first half of 2020 compared to a mere 23 in the first half of 2021. I blame Neil Young's later career for the difference. Once I headed to college, finding time to listen to several mediocre albums a day was impossible. So I stopping listening to so many artists' entire discographies. As a result, despite listening to fewer albums after I headed to college, albums that I listened to in that time period had a great showing in 2020 album list.
In 2021, I was even better at quitting discographies when there seemed like nothing to look forward to--I quit the Burrito Brothers once Gram Parsons left, quit Eric Clapton after his commercially successful Slowhand was a drag, quit the Kinks after Ray Davies became a shell of his 60s genius, and quit the Byrds not long after Roger McGuinn became the sole remainder of the original lineup. I seldom finish discographies these days--I believe Paul Simon was the only large discography I started and finished in 2021. Besides explaining the reason behind the difference in grade breakdowns, I say all of this to make an important point. By cutting out all that fat, I'm getting to great albums at a faster rate and I think the list of 25 albums accompanying this reflection is absolutely exceptional. All them are at least A-'s, 9/10s, four and half stars, whatever. There's hardly a mediocre track on whole list.
Being the only A+ of the year so far, The Flying Burrito Brothers' The Gilded Palace of Sin was the only album with definite rank when I drafted the list. I still love everything about that record. It's an incredible clash of talent. Studio-pro "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow offers the best pedal steel performance on an album probably in history and Chris Hillman brings his experience as a Roger McGuinn’s right hand man to team up with Gram Parsons to write some of the best country rock songs of all time. In fact, I credit Hillman with turning Parsons into a prolific songwriter for the only time in his tragically short life. Also, his harmonies with Parsons are killer--better than the Everly Brothers, whose singing they take influence from, in my humble opinion. As for Gram, all he had to do is lay out the template for the American Cosmic Music that he's been hearing in his head for years.
So other than the number one spot, everything else was up for grabs and there were a number of albums that took full advantage--both David Bowie's Station to Station and Scary Monsters jumped up a few spots, Bonnie Raitt's Give It Up overtook the legendary Layla just the night before I posted the list, and though I didn't want Paul Simon to take both the two and three spots, Graceland was simply too good to have it any other way. Both Paul Simon and Graceland are so close in quality that I'm worried if I give one an A+, the other one will have to get an A+ as well. I'll let more time go by before I make such decisions.
I'm also happy with the diversity of the list. There are sixteen different artists, none of whom were on the 2020 year-end list, and, with the help of my dive into the blues starting in January, a diverse range of genres. While an artist was allowed three records on the list at most, only two artists met that maximum--the Byrds and David Bowie--along with two technicalities: Paul Simon (two solo records, one Simon & Garfunkel) and Gram Parsons (one solo record, one with the Byrds, and one with the Flying Burrito Brothers).
The most enjoyable part of 2021 so far has been delving into blues artists like Charley Patton and Blind Willie Johnson. When I made my list of most anticipated albums for 2021--most of which I've gotten to by the way--I didn't know a thing about the blues so this excursion has been both pleasant and surprising. One of the most enjoyable things about going through the blues is hearing the original songs that artists like Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan have covered. The number of acoustic blues artists I have yet to listen to has started to thin out so I'll soon be moving to the generation of blues guitarists who picked up electric guitars--Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, B.B. King, etc. Check out the Early Blues Albums/Artists page to see all the artists I've already gotten to.
I'll also be tackling more 60s and 70s artists in the second half of the year and if that happens to thin out quick enough, I'll move on to punk rock, which I've been wanting to start for over a year.
