It's that time of year! As usual, I will post the accompanying essay soon.
Top Compilations of the Half-Year:
In December 2021 for the inaugural introduction of the compilation list (there wasn't one in 2020), I excitedly speculated that--with all the important pre-1960s artists I had on my agenda--we might see a compilation list that bested the studio list in the next year. That didn't occur and it didn't occur in 2023 either, but it will in 2024. For the first time ever, my studio album list takes the back burner. It's not necessarily because of all the big names below--if you had asked me to look at this list in 2021 when I made that prediction, I would only recognize the names of Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Patsy Cline, and Peter, Paul and Mary. However, this list is exploding with talent and strong recommendations. It's easily one of the best lists I've ever assembled for these half-yearly or even yearly recaps.
4. Various Artists: American Epic: The Collection (2017)
25. Kitty Wells: God's Honky Tonk Angel: The First Queen of Country Music (2000)
Top 10 Studio/Live Albums of the Half-Year:
Usually this list is much longer than ten albums but studio albums are not what I have been focusing on this year. Ultimately, I had to break with a few traditions to even get ten albums I was satisfied with. Because His Best utilizes much of the music on Howlin' Wolf's first two albums and is my preferred choice for consuming his music, that would usually exclude his first two albums from the studio list. However, I ultimately included them. Also, John Fahey nearly had five entries but I finally landed upon a list that only included three. Hopefully, the second half of the year yields enough good studio albums that I can present a list without the Howlin' Wolf redundancies and with more artist diversity.
1. John Fahey: Of Rivers and Religion (1972)
2. B.B. King: Live at the Regal (1965)
3. John Fahey: The Legend of Blind Joe Death (1996)
4. Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Gospel Train (1956)
5. Howlin' Wolf: Howlin' Wolf (1962)
6. John Fahey: The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death (1965)
7. Donovan: Fairytale (1965)
8. Howlin' Wolf: Moanin' at Midnight (1959)
9. Pete Seeger: American Industrial Ballads (1956)
10. Donovan: What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid (1965)
Statistics for the Half-Year:
I thought that I had listened to about as many albums in this half-year as I had in the last half-year but I'm already about 40 albums behind. Two culprits are Anthology of American Folk Music and American Epic: The Collection, both of which are over 6 albums worth of music. Another culprit is that grades have been extra ordinary, leaving me no choice but to revisit many of these albums over and over again.
Total albums: 101
Number of artists: 59
The grades:
A+ 2 (1.98%)
A: 13 (12.87%)
A-: 16 (15.84%)
B+: 10 (9.90%)
B: 19 (18.81%)
B-: 21 (20.79%)
C+: 10 (9.90%)
C+: 10 (9.90%)
C: 8 (7.92%)
C-: 0 (0%)
D+: 1 (0.99%)
Not yet graded: 1 (0.99%)
Not yet graded: 1 (0.99%)
Album types:
Compilations: 53 (52.48%)
Live: 4 (3.96%)
Studio: 44 (43.56%)
The decades:
Because of the high volume of compilations (which are often released 50 years after they were recorded), the breakdown of decades would be misleading if simply presented as usual. Almost all the studio albums were released in the 50s and 60s, a meager four were released in the 70s, and none released since. Compilations covered music recorded from 1920s-1960s and were often released in the 1990s and 2000s.
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