The Albums I Actually Listened To Last Year

It may seem like I listen to nothing but new music, but I've got some old favorites as well. Here is some of my aural comfort food.

Hey there! It’s great to see you again.

I’m stoked to get the newsletter rolling again for its fourth year, and I have a quick programming note.

Last year, I pushed Check This Out! to three newsletters a week, and as great as that is for engagement, it isn’t realistic with how my life has changed since 2020. So, this year, I am returning to the two-day-a-week format, and you’ll see me in your inbox on Tuesdays and Fridays. I’m condensing the format a bit, and Tuesdays will be a mix of new music reviews and a jumble of whatever I want to discuss, much like the former Friday format. My weekly playlists will now replace those posts since everyone seemed to enjoy those so much, and it’s a different way for me to share great music besides Substack. I miss the days of new album releases falling on Fridays, so hopefully, this is a way to get you fresh tunes for your weekends!

I hoped to have a new music review for you today, but the release calendar is still slow. Otherwise, we have our first critically overrated album of 2024 (for inquiring minds, it’s SPRINTS’ much-hyped debut. I may not think there is an original idea on that record, but if you’re digging it, let me know why in the comments).

Instead, I’m going with a list stewing in my brain during the past few weeks. More often than not, I try to focus on new music here, as that is the entire idea behind the newsletter. But even with the hours upon hours of new albums I listen to each week, at the end of the day, I’m often like everyone else and want some good ol’ aural comfort food.

So, here is a handful of records that didn’t come out in 2023 but still dominated my listening time. All of these albums are from my cassette tape and compact disc collection. I listen to just as many albums on vinyl, but I want to throw out some stuff that you can find easily and cheaply for those who love physical media, compared to hunting down overpriced original pressings and lackluster reissues. Tossing my annoying indie cred out the window, these are all well-known artists, but with some different albums you may not immediately think of when they first come to mind.

I also want to hear from you: what were some albums you listened to last year that weren’t released in 2023? Let me know in the comments!

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Brian Wilson - Brian Wilson

I may have mostly spared you from my Beach Boys obsession last year (except roasting the supremely shitty Summer in Paradise), but truth be told, Apple Music still says they were my most listened-to artists the previous year by a lot.

After searching for years for a physical version of Brian Wilson’s 1988 long-simmering self-titled debut, I finally grabbed it on cassette, and it’s rarely moved far from my tape deck. Is it a perfect record? Hell no. For someone who was such a pop music-producing pioneer, Wilson leans on four other producers on this album. It’s a team effort in leaning into the worst production practices of the late 80s (ELO’s Jeff Lynn co-wrote and co-produced “Let It Shine,” which is the only song on here that doesn’t sound dated, even if Wilson supposedly doesn’t like it at all). But considering Wilson was still in his second stint with abusive therapist and known leech Eugene Landy and primarily out of practice, the great ideas are still here. “Love and Mercy” is the obvious standout, and there are so many other fun numbers like “Walkin’ the Line,” the gorgeous “Melt Away,” and “Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight.” If you’re a SMiLE-era fan who loves Wilson’s interconnected movements, then the eight-minute Western-themed “Rio Grande” is a must hear.

I also read the updated version of David Leaf’s Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, and The California Myth last year. Suppose any of this is of remote interest to you. In that case, I highly recommend it, as Leaf writes from the perspective of being a friend and business partner of Wilson, especially starting with this solo record.

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Paul McCartney - Flowers in the Dirt

I may have also listened to Tug of War a ton last year, but Flowers in the Dirt is more overlooked in Paul McCartney’s catalog, and that’s a shame because it’s a pretty enjoyable record. Though it has its dated moments, it’s also interesting that this album came out a year after Brian Wilson and includes even more production credits, but sounds much less dated and slightly more cohesive. Also, like Brian Wilson, Flowers in the Dirt was a “kick in the ass” album for McCartney to get back to putting effort into his songwriting, which included working with Elvis Costello on this album. Everything here is pretty strong, and it’s easy to spot Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour’s solo on “We Got Married,” but the UK cassette version I have includes “Ou Est Le Soleil,” a song that is otherwise a b-side and weird US single. It’s the one that continues to bring me back with its hypnotic repetition and finds McCartney often where I enjoy his solo work the most: completely catchy and kinda grating.

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Madonna - Ray of Light

In 1998, my bottomless CD wallet was mainly full of Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Beck, Deftones, and (Madonna’s former tour mates) Beastie Boys. As a smelly middle-school teenage boy, I would never admit my love for Madonna’s Ray of Light. But between the iconic title song music video being on MTV fifteen times a day and Madge teaming up with electronic producer William Orbit at a time when I was getting into The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk, Ray of Light was one usually saved for the Discman and headphones.

It had been over a decade since I last listened to this perfect album when I mentioned the comparisons to Caroline Polechek’s star-making record early last year. Not hard to find, I quickly grabbed Ray of Light for two bucks, and really, it may be the album I listened to the most last year, new or old. After about the tenth backyard spin in a few weeks, I gave my wife the “let me know when you’re sick of this record, and I’ll turn it off” nod, but she’s been into it every time as well. If you haven’t listened to it in decades or think Madonna isn’t for you, I highly encourage giving it a spin. Madonna and Orbit crafted the perfect electronic pop album, and the thing still sounds cutting edge, even twenty-five years later.

Also, Madonna was cool enough to have Deftones on her record label. Take that, all of you 1998 little nu-metal shits!

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Bruce Hornsby - Scenes From the Southside

I’m glad The Bear brought Bruce Hornsby back into the cultural spotlight by opening the second season with “The Show Goes On,” one of the many jaw-dropping moments from 1988’s Scenes from the Southside. It’s not the first time the song has been used in film and television - that honor belongs to a sappy montage from Backdraft - but it’s the best way to re-introduce The Bear after everything that happened in its first season. Scenes from the Southside as a whole might be a notch under Hornsby’s first album with The Range, The Way It Is (“The Old Playground” and “Defenders of the Flag” are both awful late 80s toss-offs), but most of the songwriting is damn good, with some incredible highs, particularly the opening five songs including “Look Out Any Window” and old radio staple “The Valley Road.” The also great following album, A Night on the Town, would be the last with The Range, and I’m finally middle-aged enough to love Harbor Lights, which features Phil Collins and Jerry Garcia, after thinking it was so corny in my parent’s CD collection back in the day.

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Peter Gabriel - Us

Peter Gabriel’s well-worth-the-wait comeback album i/o may have arrived a bit too late to make my year end list, but Gabriel is one that I never stop listening to. When we discuss his career, it’s usually about early-era Genesis, his early solo records (Car, Scratch, Melt, and Security are all perfection), or his true commercial arrival with So in 1986. 1992’s Us is the one I turned to the most this year, though, as I think it takes everything you love about So and does it even better. The singles may not have been as big, although “Steam” was inescapable, and I’d rather listen to that over “Sledgehammer” any day. Still, this is an enveloping, well-executed, and lush art rock album that rewards anyone who continues to give it time.

Almost better is the tour film Peter Gabriel: Secret World Live, which followed the album's release. Anyone familiar with Gabriel should expect no less that it is full of great sets, costumes, innovative camera work, and a killer career-spanning setlist in addition to the fantastic versions of the songs from Us. There’s even some excellent bar trivia here, with Gabriel looking elsewhere for a female vocalist after Sinead O’Connor performed on the Us record. Still, her behavior at the time may have proved too erratic to join the tour. Instead, we get a young Paula Cole, whose career took off after this run of shows. You can watch the whole thing for free on Pluto TV, which I highly recommend dropping everything and doing that now!

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Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of…

Something must be said about listening to an album in its era-appropriate format. Sure, 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of..., the landmark debut record alternative hip-hop pioneers Arrested Development, may have dropped in 1992, a particular time when almost every release was available on vinyl, CDs, and tape. Still, even after owning the CD version of 3 Years in the past, nothing hits better than early hip-hop on cassette tape. This is another one that I hadn’t revisited in many moons until I grabbed the tape early last year. Though a tad overly long (which can be said for endless nineties releases), 3 Years stands the test of time and is one of the outstanding debut records of all time, regardless of genre. Speech’s whip-smart lyrics and signature flow are unbeatable, while Headliner rolls through a killer crate of samples like Sly & The Family Stone, Prince, James Brown, and Kurtis Blow, which would be financially unviable to clear these days.

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