Favorite Albums of the Year - 2023 - Top 25

 

Favorite Albums of the Year - 2023 - Top 25

Well, here we are at the end of another year, and time to take a look back at my favorite new music from throughout the year. Overall, it was a very good year, lots of new, interesting bands, and lots of really good albums, although relatively few real standout masterpiece/near-masterpiece albums. But in looking over other published lists of 'best' albums from various on-line sources, I find that I live in an almost completely different musical world from these lists, as I do not know or am not interested in 95% of the artists and albums I see listed, and almost none of the artists or albums I listen to are listed at all. There are so many sources and outlets for music these days, and with streaming and Bandcamp and the lot, artists no longer need major record labels to be heard or make an impact, and each little niche or style has there own support communities, connected through the internet, creating their own little worlds of music. I know that I am in a relatively obscure corner of the music world, listening primarily to progressive rock, but it is a particularly active and robust corner, with lots of great music being made. Anyway, be forewarned that the bulk of the albums I have in my list are in the realm of progressive rock, with just a few more mainstream artists. Anyway, these are my picks for the top 25 albums of 2023, being my favorites of the year. But there were many more worthwhile albums this year, so I will also be adding a lengthy list of honorable mention albums in a separate post. Some of these I previously reviewed earlier in the year, but, unfortunately, I was not able to post reviews for anything that came out from about mid-August on, and there were quite a lot of great releases this fall, so those will be new here. Again, these are just my favorites, my own opinion of the best music I heard. Certainly you will have your own selections for what was the best.

But before I get to the actual list, I need to highlight a few great holdover albums that either came out too late to be included in my 2022, or that I just did not know about until 2023. I've previously included reviews of these, but they deserve a special mention, because, if they would have come out this year, they would definitely have been included in the top 25. And these are:

Verbal Delirium - Conundrum (2022)

Unique prog band from Greece, combining many disparate elements including pop, rock, jazz, soul, musical theater, and metal into a unique musical experience. Their mix of musical styles are constantly merging in interesting and enigmatic ways throughout, while still maintaining strong melodies and emotions. Very inventive, creative, and refreshing approach.
Collage - Over and Out (2022)
Polish Prog band that plays in a style similar to Marillion. Lush, majestic sound, provocative themes, emotive vocals, great melodic lines, and exhilarating instrumental passages with soaring guitar and swirling keyboards

Rocking Horse Music Club - Circus of Wire Dolls (2022)
Absolutely fantastic album from this music collective based out of the Rocking Horse Studio in New Hampshire (USA). A Sprawling double concept album/prog rock opera featuring a variety of musical styles. The music tells the story of a man who has created a miniature circus of figurines made of wire, string, and cloth. As he nears the end of his life, he imagines the dolls each telling their own stories, with human thoughts and emotions, which actually reflect aspects of his own life. It features many guest vocalists playing different parts, and although on the surface it is a story about a miniature circus, it is really about a man looking back on his life, his work, the people, his successes, his failures, his regrets. And the different voices provides the opportunity  for many different musical styles. Overall, the songs are touching and beautiful, with great melodies, themes, and recurring motifs. Of particular note is the impeccable production, arrangements, and attention to detail, always with the seemingly best combination of instrumentation and musical flourishes that are just right for each song, whether that might be strings, horns, clarinet, or whatever, and always most tastefully done. A masterful album that deserves more attention. Would have been near the very top of my rankings in 2022 or 2023.

My Top 25 of 2023:

25. Big Big Train - Ingenious Devices 

Beautiful reworkings of four masterful long BBT songs from previous albums. Not new songs, but still so good had to include it here
24. Riverside -ID.Entity
8th album from Polish Prog Metal band that features melodic songs, soaring vocals, and majestic themes
23. Downes Braide Association - Celestial Songs
Geoff Downes, Rick Braide, Dave Bainbridge - Wonderful symphonic progressive pop songs
22. Dream the Electric Sleep - American Mystic
5th album from US progressive rock trio featuring wall of guitar sound and melodic rock with a hard rock edge

21. Southern Empire - Another World

Aussie symphonic and melodic prog featuring a diversity of sounds and styles, grand melodies
20. Yes - Mirror to the Sky
Strong return to form album from legendary prog band, best in many years
19. Earthside - Let the Truth Speak
Adventurous, cinematic Prog. Bold, dramatic, intriguing, a wild ride and a unique musical experience
18. Chronicles of Father Robin - Songs and Tales of Airoea, Books 1 and 2
Members of Norewegian prog bands Wobbler, Tusmorke, and Jordsjo join together to create an epic prog creation 

17. Agusa - Prima Materia

Jazzy, improvisational, instrumental prog from Swedish band featuring lush organ, scorching guitar, and airy flute

 16. Overhead - Telepathic Minds
Massive magnum opus double album of heavy Prog from veteran Finnish band. Great variety, with epic guitar, flute, keyboards
15. Pattern-Seeking Animals - Spooky Action at a Distance
Following up their great 2022 album (Only Passing Through) with a bit different sound. Not quite as consistently great as previous album (a couple weaker tracks), but still a wonderful melodic prog album

14. Great Wide Nothing - Hymns for Hungry Spirits, Part II  US prog trio follow-up to 2020's vol.1 features impressive melodic prog with elements of 70's, 80's, and modern prog

13. We Came From Space - Overlords 

Keyboardist Bill Hubauer's (Neal Morse Band) side project features 70's and 80's classic rock and power pop influences mixed with progressive attitude and a fun, loose approach
12. Ben Folds - What Matters Most
Ben's first album in eight years delivers bright, catchy melodies, and insightful, engaging, moving depictions of modern life, with both humor and poignancy
11. Comedy of Errors - Threnody for a Dead Queen
Scottish prog band with follow-up to 2022's wonderful The Time Machine with this gentle, mostly instrumental, enveloping soundscape of an album. ambient recurrent sounds and themes slowly develop and build into richly textured musical events.  (Reviewed Here)

10. K'Mono - Mind Out of Mind 

2nd album from Minneapolis-based prog trio takes their inspiration from the classic 70's prog masters, such as Yes and Genesis, but add a whole lot more into their sound, featuring elements of space-rock, psychedelia, and funk, as well as more modern touches, giving them a fresh and lively sound. Diverse, unique album that is both somewhat familiar and unlike anything else you've heard before. A great find and a band to watch going forward. (Reviewed here)

9.  Nickel Creek - Celebrants

American contemporary bluegrass band, known for their blending of traditional bluegrass with more modern aspects of indie and folk rock,. goes somewhat progressive in this latest release, with more complex song structures, edgier arrangements, and jazzy influences to move into more even interesting territory. The album has a cohesiveness to it and some thematic elements running through it, such as the strategic use of dissonance in some songs and arrangements. There is still enough traditional bluegrass spirit and style to remain somewhat familiar, but just goes into some different directions. A wonderful album that should appeal to music lovers well beyond the traditional folk and bluegrass audience. (Reviewed Here)

8.  I am the Manic Whale - Bumper Book of Mystery Stories

Michael Whiteman's musical project presents this concept album based on an old compilation storybook of mystery and adventure stories written for teens and pre-teens. Thus the album features 8 story songs. This is a fun album of melodic progressive rock, reminiscent of bands such as Spock's Beard and Big Big Train. Highlights include Dream Fortune, a lovely pop song with a great melody and harmony vocals, and a nice warm feeling; and Secret Passages, a Goonies-style kids adventure story with great melodic themes and instrumental passages. But the centerpiece of the album is the 14-minute Nautilus, based on the old Jules Verne story of Capt Nemo and featuring numerous styles and majestic themes and extended instrumental sections, culminating in dueling solos between keyboards and guitar. Overall, an immensely entertaining hour of music, featuring great melodies and harmony vocals, and extended virtuoso instrumental passages. (Reviewed Here)

7.  Kite Parade - Retro

2nd album from this progressive pop-rock band lead by Andy Foster, following last year's impressive debut The Way Home. The album kicks off with a couple of slickly produced energetic pop-rock ditties, but the album really steps it up with the third track, Wonderful, which is just that, a charming and beautiful ballad that steadily gains momentum to reach a soaring and majestic finish, and that sets the tone for the rest of the album. Wonderful vocals, majestic themes and delightful riffs continue throughout, leading up to the crowning achievement of the album, the closing 14-1/2 minute epic, Merry-Go-Round. culminating in a soaring and satisfying conclusion.  Slick rock production and memorable songs highlight this pleasing, energetic melodic prog album. (Reviewed Here)

6.  The Guess Who - Plein D'Amour

The surprise of the year, as this stnningly great album of catchy power pop and melodic rock tracks just gets better and better with more listens. No, this is not the Burton Cummings-led band from the 70's, this is a totally different band with a totally different sound, albeit with one original member, drummer Garry Peterson. For years, Garry's version of the band has been basically a Guess Who tribute act, but in this latest incarnation of the band with exciting new blood, they have been trying to establish themselves as a viable original rock band, with a new sound and original songs. With Derek Sharp as lead vocalist and primary songwriter, and help from veterans of bands such as Whitesnake and Slaughter, this band has put together a well-crafted set of great melodies, great vocals and harmonies, and catchy, engaging arrangements for one of the best melodic rock albums of the year. Their sound and style is more in line with power pop bands like Badfinger or Cheap Trick, and especially the 90's power pop of Jellyfish (a couple tracks sound almost like they could be lost Jellyfish songs). But other styles are included as well, such as the Crosby stills & Nash harmony vocal style of Headlines and the arena rock anthem of Plein D'Amour, as well as songs filled with sweet pop melodies and vocals, crunchy guitars, and rockin' riffs. An absolute delight. (Reviewed Here)

5. This Winter Machine - The Clockwork Man

Al Winter and This Winter Machine return for their 4th album with this ambitious and masterful concept album showing great imagination and musical skill. Featuring a compelling narrative mixing sci-fi, steam punk, comics, and commentary on modern society, and dealing with human cloning and a repressive society, the album moves from song to song telling the story, but also providing a wonderful tapestry of melodic prog, from gentle ballads, beautiful melodies and vocals to more rockin' prog instrumental flourishes, culminating in the dramatic closing mini-epic Falling through a Hole in the Sky. Overall, a fantastic album of melodic progressive rock, beautiful, powerful, emotional.
 

4.  Advent Horizon - A Cell to Call Home
This is the 3rd album from this US Prog band, but the first I've heard from them, and I was blown away by it. Wonderful melodies and hooks, great vocals, with solid production and interesting, engaging arrangements. Great balance between lighter and heavier aspects, as they showed a gentle touch on the ballads and softer sections, but also hard-driving rock and crunchy riffs in the heavier sections, while still maintaining a strong melodic sense throughout. A delight from start to finish, with highlights throughout, culminating with the mini-epic title track.  
 

3.  Motorpsycho - Yay!

A surprising, mostly acoustic album of pop and indie folk-rock songs from this chameleon-like band known for their wide-ranging styles and sounds, and it is fantastic from tart to finish. Great melodies, arrangements, and stylish flourishes throughout. And although most songs start out acoustic, many of them build to reveal more lush and symphonic arrangements by the end. From vocal ballads to bouncy acoustic ditties to dreamy rich-textured pop and beyond, it sparkles and shines. But the highlight of the album (and song of the year for me) is the magnificent Hotel Daedulus, the one song that gets the full Prog treatment, a melding of mellotron-drenched orchestration of film soundtrack bombast coupled with a beautiful laid-back 60's-styled pop melody, highlighted by a soaring, scorching guitar solo. A delightful album and real surprise, and such a breath of fresh air amidst all the heaviness around. (Reviewed Here)

2.  Moon Safari - Himlabaken, Vol. 2
This long-awaited 5th album from Swedish progressive pop-rock band Moon Safari comes ten long years since their last album, Himlabaken vol. 1 (2013), but it is just as wonderful as their previous albums, and in some ways even better. Known for their multi-part vocal harmonies, bright effervescent songs and melodies, and complex rhythms and time signatures, they deliver soaring, joyous album, with a definite nod toward bright 80's pop on several songs. The album keeps getting as it goes along (some of the early tracks cling a bit too much to that 80's pop sound), with the obvious highlight being the 20+ min epic track Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse, a magnificent multi-section stunner that has everything you could ever want in a Prog Epic and more (one of the great epic tracks, and probably the best song of the band's career). But there's much more here (70 minutes of brilliance), with the band even showing a bit heavier side in a few songs, as well as virtuoso musicianship, amidst the vocal sweetness. A most welcome release, sure to be enjoyed and played over and over. it's great to have some new Moon Safari back to enrich our lives. 

1.  Peter Gabriel - i/o

Here's another long-gestating album that arrived this year. After more than 20 years since the last studio album of new material, the long-awaited 10th solo album from legendary vocalist Peter Gabriel finally materialized this year and with a new song released on each full moon throughout the year, the album was slowly pieced together, with the full album finally released earlier this month. And Wow, was it ever worth the wait! An absolutely brilliant album from start to finish, 12 great songs, so moving and powerful, with such depth and sophistication, and showing a nice variety of styles. The songs and production are exceptional throughout, from the emotive and contemplative lyrics to the lush meticulously and intricately crafted soundscapes and instrumentation that are so fascinating and compelling on repeated listens, and just work so well. Also, with the two different mixes presented (bright side and dark side), there are so many little nuances and subtleties to explore and enjoy in each song. A masterclass in music construction and production, and such a rewarding emotional journey, from somber contemplation to outright joy. And Gabriel's vocals are superb, like he has not lost anything at all over the years. He delivers both with the more bouncy, upbeat songs like Road to Joy, Olive Tree, Panopticom, and the title track, and on the slower, more personal, contemplative songs, as well as those in between. I quite expected to prefer the more upbeat songs, but it is actually the more somber, contemplative songs that have become my favorites (Playing For Time, So Much, Love Can Heal), as they just are so thoughtful, beautiful, and emotional. But then, all the songs are great, there are no weak tracks. A glorious album. I do believe that this is his masterpiece, and quite possibly his very best (which is saying a lot as he has multiple standout albums in his catalog. This, for me, was without question, the best album of the year (with nothing else even coming close - the only album I awarded a full 5 stars to).

Those are my selections for the best of 2023. What were your favorite albums of 2023?

Coming next: More really good albums from 2023, and other end of year stuff.