2020 Keepers

 

What felt like ages was only a few months ago. A friend and I were trying to score Pearl Jam tickets for their short 2020 tour, and struck out everywhere. What felt like a loss ended up fine when the tour was cancelled. The pandemic claimed Pearl Jam’s tour and live music across country. My last show was Robyn Hitchcock at Lulu’s Downstairs on March 12, which he notes was being held on the edge of the apocalypse. I expected live music sooner, but who knows when live music will come again. 

As for new music, there was still plenty to sift through.  A lot of artists pumped out albums, not all were necessary. Maybe a lousy year deserves a short list. I left off Fetch the Bolt Cutters – it originally made the list, but I’m not sure how often I might revisit that stunning collection. Besides, it’s already atop everyone else’s list. That record does not need my help. 

Keepers

Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud
Katie Crutchfield grows with every release and this early 2020 number shows the Alabama native stretching out once again. Her songwriting and arrangements grow with every release.

Weather Station, “Robber”
Her new album will wait till 2021, but Tamara Lindeman’s lone song for 2020 is a winner, more lush than her previous music. She was an ACL Festival discovery for me in 2018, and this song runs deep with the unease of the year. It’s more orchestral than her earlier efforts, and points to a possible breakthrough in that what comes next. 

Nine Inch Nails, Ghosts V and Ghosts VI
You might have spent excessive time alone this year. Trent Reznor has you covered with these two free volumes of his ambient music series. Seriously, music this good could only be given away in 2020. It might soundtrack your alone-time, but at least it counts as a good soundtrack, especially on a long drive. They’ve already soundtracked my trips through central Wyoming and across southeastern Colorado to the Texas Panhandle. 

Fleet Foxes, Shore
Here lies a perfect autumn album, one I can slot in right behind Fives Leaves Left. After The Crack-up, the Fleet Foxes difficult album that does get better with time but remains opaque, Shore is a tuneful delight. It’s an evolution that Robin Pecknold probably needed The Crack-up to realize Shore, but it’s in line with the best moments of their early records. Going-to-the-Sun Road is the song about one of my favorite places in the world that I didn’t realize I needed. Next time I’m there, I plan to ride along with this record. 

Pearl Jam, “Quick Escape”
Gigaton is sprawling and uneven, but once you pick through the tunes, there’s a Pearl Jam mood for almost everyone. This track sounded the most like vintage PJ to me, an incisive guitar intro, a soaring chorus that slips into haunting piano chords at one point. I don’t consider Gigaton a keeper, but I keep coming back to Quick Escape. 

Destroyer, Have We Met
Dan Bejar didn’t make the last New Pornographers record and it showed. His somewhat skewed pop sensibilities rise to the occasion on a synth-heavy backdrop. It’s a good way to pass the time between Colorado Springs and Castle Rock. 

Thunder Cat, It is What it is
Definitely not an album title I expected to endorse, the bass virtuoso has continued to grow with his own offbeat brand of songwriting. If you cut a Thundercat album on vinyl, roughed up the sleeve and dropped it into the used rack at a record store, it might sound like some lost 1970s gem. As it is, be glad we have him while we do. He writes fantastic songs that run two minutes or less like Funny Things and Overseas. 

Reissues, Rereleases and whatnot 

Neil Young, Homegrown
How many times have heralded bands and musicians had a heavily touted “lost record” that lets down everyone? This is not that record. Young only pulled a few tracks from Homegrown for Decade, and most of it remained unheard this year, when the record he deemed as too personal in the 1970s fit just right in 2020. 

Morricone Segreto
A collection of the late composer’s lesser-known works, including some unreleased music, this compilation veers sharply away from the spaghetti western music that American listeners know best. The instrumentation is odder but totally fits Il Maestro’s ethos. 

Tom Petty, Wildflowers and All the Rest
I never owned the original Wildflowers, so I jumped at the chance to own the full warts-and-all collection Tom Petty submitted to his record label. So having the full collection …. well, it isn’t perfect, but I don’t find the original Wildflowers to be perfect either. A few of the new songs are worth knowing, especially Confusion Wheel and Harry Green, the latter a folk song about a high school acquaintance of Petty’s who died tragically and had an air of mystery around him. 

Best crate finds
There were not many in 2020. Gaps in the collection grow slim. In this year, it was hard to tell who might have dug through the records before you. But a few gems came my way. I also finally landed a copy of Blue by Joni Mitchell, a record I had never seen in the wild and that needs no introduction.

The Great Escape, Original Soundtrack
My dad owns this record, the score from his favorite movie. Seeing it in the racks at the Leech Pit made it impossible for me to skip. Elmer Bernstein’s score is an all-time classic, moving from drum-heavy military-sounding themes to the lovely, soft elements of Blythe’s Theme. 

Husker Du, Zen Arcade and Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Apparently 2020 was the year to trade in Husker Du albums to tempt me. In trips to different stores I ended up with their breakout double album and their final double album. The album rips by, one of those rare double albums that does not feel bloated, even with the 12-minute sound collage Recurring Dreams occupying the fourth side. Something I Learned Today is a classic opener, and songs are rarely as blunt as the acoustic Never Talking to You Again.

Much less renown but a personal favorite, Warehouse was their final record, a double record that leaves nothing on the shelf, with Mould and Hart in top form, matching each other song for song. If I had to pick, Hart’s She Floated Away might be my favorite song on the sprawling set. The competition between the two songwriters pushed the band to greater heights. While it does not have the flow of Zen Arcade, there’s not much filler on the 20-song album. The band’s fan were not big on the better produced album and its poppier sound, but Husker Du always had a pop sensibility buried under the fuzz. One month after they dropped this disjointed epic, the band was done. Both albums are virtual templates for what loud popular music would sounds like in the 1990s, and listening on vinyl confirms that Husker Du were ahead of their time.