AC Experts: Top Albums of 2014

Posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2014

CMills Top Albums1

(Ottawa, December 18, 2014) Music Industry Arts program Coordinator Colin Mills offers up his top album picks from 2014.

5) Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence

I find myself listening to albums like this when I’m marking assignments, but then having to turn it off because I find myself enthralled in the music! The production is excellent and being able to listen to something mellow but deep like this is refreshing. The recording is never too busy and there’s lots of air bringing out the songs.

4) Ronnie James Dio – This is Your Life

This compilation of 15 different artists ranging from Tenacious D, to Metallica to Hailstorm covering songs from the late singer who died of stomach cancer in 2010. The compilation was put together by Wendy Dio (Ronnie’s widow) to raise money for Dio’s Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund. This album brought back memories of me with hair down to my waist banging my head in my bedroom when I was a teenager. It has some great production by my friend Jay Ruston.

3) Mastadon – Once More ‘Round the Sun

This album rules. I never really understood Mastadon until this release. I had seen them live, owned their “The Hunter” album but never got into them. When I first heard the first single off of this 2014 release, ‘High Road’, I was hooked.

2) D’Angelo – Black Messiah

Until 3 days ago, I had forgotten about D’Angelo. A friend of mine mentioned he released a new album this week, so I checked it out and it’s been the soundtrack of my life this week. If you’d like a great mix of early Prince with some jazz, R&B, soul and some great guitar playing check this out!

1) Rival Sons – Great Western Valkyrie

Nothing beats some dirty bluesy rock that’s not as pretentious as the Black Keys. When I first heard “Pressure and Time” from Rival Sons a few years ago, the grooves, guitar riffs and smoking’ vocals grabbed my attention. This release didn’t let me down!

Honourable Mention: Taylor Swift – 1989

To be honest, I haven’t listened to this album…but it was an important release in 2014. The decision to hold out releasing this on Spotify and pulling all of her previous recordings from the streaming service brought a loud voice to the discussion for fair royalty rates for artists in the current age of digital music consumption.


Comments

Comments are closed.