It’s been a good year for music! So good it demanded a slightly different format this time around. You can read my original reviews of my 40 or so favorites from 2025 at the article links that precede each listicle. Listings include the types of release as laid out below, with Top Favorite listings in bold italics (as well as pictured above)!

• New Releases:
  • New Albums
  • Live Albums (audio and video)
  • Christmas Albums
• Back Catalog:
  • Reissues
  • Box Sets (minimum of 3 CDs)
  • Discoveries (unheard until 2025)
  • Rediscoveries (heard before, forgotten, loved again in 2025)
• New Music Books

Clean-Up on Aisle 24 (January)

• Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs, Virgins, Vagabonds and Misfits – discovery from 2024
• Wilco, Hot Sun Cool Shroud – discovery from 2024

Gotta Lotta Live If You Want It (February)

• Steve Hackett, Metamorpheus – reissue from 2024
• Soft Machine, Drop – reissue from 2024
• Soft Machine, Floating World Live – reissue from 2024

Box Set Report, Q1 (March)

• Sonic Elements, IT: A 50th Anniversary Celebration of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis – new album
• Wilco, A Ghost Is Born Deluxe Edition – box set
• Yes, Close to the Edge Super Deluxe Edition – box set

Phil Keaggy: The Progarchy Interview (April)

• Phil Keaggy & Sunday’s Child – rediscovery from 1988 – Top Favorite Rediscovery!
• Phil Keaggy & Malcolm Guite, Strings & Sonnets – discovery from 2024

Lightning Round Reviews (April)

• Black Country New Road, Forever Howlong – new album
• Andy Summers & Robert Fripp, The Complete Recordings 1981-1984 – box set
• Imminent Sonic Destruction, Floodgate – new album
• Sons of Ra, Standard Deviation – new album

May Quick Takes

• Haken, Liveforms – live album & video
• Ian Leslie, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs – Top Favorite New Music Book!

June Quick Takes

• Louise Patricia Crane, Netherworld – discovery from 2024
• Markus Reuter with Fabio Trentini and Asaf Sirkis, Truce ❤ – new album

Summer’s End

• Dave Bainbridge,
  • On the Edge (Of What Could Be) – Top Favorite New Album! (tie with Brad Mehldau below)
  • Veil of Gossamer – discovery from 2004
  • Celestial Fire – discovery from 2014
  • Celestial Fire Live in the UK – live album; discovery from 2017
• Bioscope, Gento – new album
• Discipline, Breadcrumbs – new album

Q4 Quick Takes

• David Gilmour,
  • The Luck and Strange Tour – live album
  • Live at the Circus Maximus – live video – Top Favorite Live Album! (tie with Snarky Puppy below)
• Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here 50 – multiple formats – Top Favorite Reissue!
• Ring Van Möbius, Firebrand – new album
• Kate Rusby, Christmas Is Merry – live album – Top Favorite Christmas Album!
• Sigur Ros, Takk – remastered reissue
• The Zombies, Odessey and Oracle (Mono Remaster) – reissue

Classical & Jazz

• Brad Mehldau, Ride into the Sun – Top Favorite New Album! (tie with Dave Bainbridge above)
  • Elliott Smith
    • Either/Or – discovery from 1997
    • XO – discovery from 1998 – Top Favorite Discovery!
• Snarky Puppy
  • Sylva (with Metropole Orkest) – remastered reissued live album
  • We Like It Here – remastered reissue
  • Somni (with Metropole Orkest) – Top Favorite Live Album! (tie with David Gilmour above; audio & video)
• Tenebrae, A Prayer for Deliverance – live album
• Tortoise, Touch – new album

And Shockingly Unreviewed Until Now:

• BEAT, Neon Heat Disease/Strange Spaghetti – live album. Read my concert review from 2024 here.
• Nick Drake, The Making of Five Leaves Left – Top Favorite Box Set! An utter original who died far too young, Drake’s wistful, sturdy, thoroughly unique British folk-rock gradually rose from turn-of-the-1970s obscurity to be embraced by aficionados worldwide. While his three albums (and another disc of studio leftovers) speak for themselves, this lovely box traces his progress over two formative years, from impromptu dorm-room recordings through a breathtaking audition and simpatico sessions (especially those with double bass magician Danny Thompson and master orchestrator Robert Kirby) to the uncluttered, spacious beauty of his debut. If Drake needs any advocacy beyond the sheer communicative power of his songs, here’s all the evidence you need; and as a bonus, long-time fans will find treasures they may not have known they were missing.

— Rick Krueger