Your 3 Favorite Albums Releases of 2016

[Melvin]

No doubt hard to choose but which 3 albums would top your list? Any genre.

 

Mine are as follows (in no particular order):

 

 

 

 

I didn't love Blues and Ballads at first but it sure grew on me quickly. Country for Old Men was the biggest surprise (not my usual cup of tea). I really expected to be bored with Norah's latest .. nope, it's fantastic.

[markebrauer]

(editing post to properly include images)

I generally find Mozart piano sonatas boring, but Fazil Say makes them come alive.Fazil Say - Mozart - Complete Piano Sonatas

AllMusic tells me this Pete Alderton is a 2017 release, but I have it so...Pete Alderton - Something Smooth

 

Love that Reference Recordings sound.

Fiona Boyes - Professin The Blues

[wwaldmanfan]

I am so lowbrow around here, it's embarrasing. I can't even spell Shostakovich (I did though, didn't I?).

And, I don't buy that much new stuff, I'm still wading through the 1,600 albums in my library now. Here's three I did buy, that I am enjoying.

 

The Elevated Edition, remixed and remastered by Steven Wilson.

Genius in a polka-dot dress.

[wanta911]

I'll continue that lowbrow theme:

 

 

Yello - Toy (24/48 Qobuz download)

A return to form after a disappointing run.

 

Vanessa Fernandez - When The Levee breaks (SACD)

Being a Led Zep fan I found the first listen a bit strange but I'm liking this now and play it a lot. Really nicely recorded.

 

Elysian Fields - Ghosts Of No (24/88.2 Qobuz download)

Their best so far (IMHO), particularly from an SQ perspective.

 

And an honourable mention as I suck at keeping to the rules:

 

Jack White - Acoustic Recordings (24/96 download)

 

The common theme here is good dynamic mastering, I haven't included any hotly mastered car stereo fodder

[Melvin]

Lowbrow is the new black.

[Axiom05]

I limited my selection only to records released in 2016, much too difficult if I just look at 2016 purchases. All selections are classical:

 

Wonderful recording of Bach's Sonatas & Partitas for solo violin. This is what a violin is supposed to sound like.

 

 

Dvorak's Cello Concertos by Steven Isserlis. Fantastic performance of the B Minor Concerto.

 

 

And more Dvorak: Violin Concerto & Suk's Fantasy. It was a great year for Dvorak recordings.

 

[Melvin]

@Axiom05 .. my intent and hope was just that, favorite 3 released in 2016. I think this could be a great thread to discover some new-ish music in every genre.

 

Thanks for sharing y'all. Hope more folks will add their favorites.

[ericuco]

If you want to purchase the Pete Alderton album (Something Smooth) noted above, it is difficult to find, at least in the USA.

 

However, you can e-mail Pete directly from the webpage below and arrange to purchase for 20 euros via PayPal. I had e-mailed Pete and got an almost instant reply from Pete himself (well it was signed Pete) and concluded the transaction in short order.

 

pete-alderton.com - Shop

 

His Cover My Blues album is excellent in both the music and SQ.

[kumakuma]

My top three for 2016

 

Bill Evans - Some Other Time (The Lost Session From The Black Forest)

 

 

Macy Gray - Stripped

 

 

Madeleine Peyroux - Secular Hymns