In a year that saw the return of widespread protests around the world, the power and potential of grass-roots movements, such as Occupy Wall Street, more and more bad economic news and forecasts, the music industry seemed to bounce back with a bunch of solid releases, including new albums by Kanye West and Jay-Z, Adele, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and others, as 'indie' labels such as Sub Pop, Yep Roc, and ANTI-, emerged as the leaders of a new renaissance in the music biz. Meanwhile, reissues, by specialty labels like Legacy, were among the most exciting "new" music of 2011.
In a year that saw the return of widespread protests around the world, the power and potential of grass-roots movements, such as Occupy Wall Street, more and more bad economic news and forecasts, the music industry seemed to bounce back with a bunch of solid releases, including new albums by Kanye West and Jay-Z, Adele, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and others, as 'indie' labels such as Sub Pop, Yep Roc, and ANTI-, emerged as the leaders of a new renaissance in the music biz. Meanwhile, reissues, by specialty labels like Legacy, were among the most exciting "new" music of 2011.
Atlantic City Weekly runs an Album of the Week column on the Coasting page each week, and the editors have put together a list of the best 2011 albums of the bunch, as well as several re-issues, and albums we didn't get a chance to write about yet for a total of 50 albums that you may or may not have heard yet.
2011 Albums of the Year (in no particular order. Click on links to see album review; when you get to page, scroll down to the Album of the Week column). Rock on.
Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest
Sean Rowe - Magic
Black Keys - El Camino
Adele - 21
Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
The Roots - undun
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
Tom Waits - Bad as Me
Various Artists - Boardwalk Empire - Songs from the HBO Original Series, Vol. 1 (Stephen DeRosa, Kathy Brier, Leon Redbone, Vince Giordano,
Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch the Throne
Fleet Foxes - Hellplessness Blues
Panda Bear - Tomboy
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Booker T. Jones - The Road From Memphis
The Beach Boys - Smile Sessions Box Set
Gary Clark Jr. - The Bright Lights EP
Feist - Metals
Tinariwen - Tassili
Glasvegas - Euphoric/// Heartbreak\\\
Nick Lowe - The Old Magic
Paul Simon - So Beautufl or So What?
R.E.M. - Collapse into Now
Wye Oak - Civilian
NRBQ - Keep this Love Goin'
Fruit Bats - Tripper
War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
Beyoncé - 4
Washed Out - Within and Without
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
Joe Henry - Reverie
Greg Brown - Freak Flag
Johnny Sansone - The Lord Is Waiting and the Devil Is Too
J Masics - Several Shades of Why
VA - The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams (Bob Dylan, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow, Alan Jackson)
Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
VA- The Sound of Siam: Leftfield Luk Thung, Jazz & Molam in Thailand 1964-1975’
Gil-Scott Heron & Jamie xx - We're New Here
Rolling Stones - Some Girls (re-issue)
Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning, The Complete Chess Masters, 1951-1960
Etta James - The Dreamer
U2 - Achtung Baby (20th Anniversary re-issue)
Sam Cooke - Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964 (digital release)
Wall of Sound: The Very Best of Phil Spector 1961-1966 CD
Jimi Hendrix - Live at Winterland Box Set
Miles Davis - Live in Europe 1967: Bootleg Series, Vol. 1
Roy Orbison - The Monument Singles Collection
John Fahey - Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You - Fonotone Recordings (1958-1965)
VA - Opika Pende: Africa at 78 RPM
VA - *I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces - Music in Vernacular Photographs (1880-1955)
*Book plus CD
Plus, Smithville Renaissance Faire, 'Street Life' Benefit Concert and the Album of the Week (Iron & Wine)
Plus other outstanding releases of the year, including several extraordinary re-issues from the Fat Boys, Velvet Underground and the soundtrack to the documentary 'Searching for Sugar Man.'
In a perfect world, if the casinos had their way, the year would always end on a Friday or Saturday. It would never end on a Monday, as it does this year.
Plus, Resorts-Mohegan Sun Deal, John Hughes Film Fest at Dante Hall and the Album of the Week.
“We’re just pleased that people have responded to what we do,” Carney says. “It’s a lot different than when we started out.”
Greetings and salutations. As you are aware, next weekend the Geator, the Bubba Mac Blues Band, Pinky Kravitz, and the entire Longport Media group, WOND and WTKU and my man, Dave Coskey, will be heading down to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Fla., for South Jersey “Boardwalk Live” weekend. Also joining the Geator will be my pal Frankie Valli, who’s performing at the Hard Rock Live. We’ll dance starting at 5pm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, March 1, 2, and 3, and I know we’ll see lots of our Florida fans, like Carlos & Vicki, Judi & Jim, and Ed & Linda, down there — hope to see you, too. Before we get to your questions, one of our readers was able to answer a question posed by Joe Breitner in this column a couple months back. The name of the song, from...
Plus Drew Toonz, the Album of the Week, and Chanukah on Ice on Dec. 25
As we continue our countdown of “Best Lists” at Atlantic City Weekly, here are the 10 best interviews we had in 2011, in alphabetical order.
Here, in no particular order are 11 AC Weekly feature stories we are proud of from 2011.
Here is a list of what we think are the cream of the crop for 2011 — the Top 14 Drew Toonz comics of the year.
Plus Atlantic City Ballet set to celebrate 30 years; DrewToonz on 'Livin' de Life' and the Album of the Week.
“It was never meant to be a competition. It was only meant to be an extension of the first 'My Life' album, because there is no competition for the first 'My Life' album.”
We have pulled out some of the best music we raved about this year in our “Raves & Faves” section, plus, we’ve added a few albums we loved this year, but didn’t have the space or time to rave about. Check the videos at the bottom!
Plans were in the works to try to get Scott-Heron to perform in Atlantic City this summer, for one of the city=sponsored concerts at Gardner's Basin. I also suggested to the organizers of the Dave Matthews Band Caravan festival coming to Atlantic City June 24-26, to reach out to Gil to have him as one of the dozens of artists on the bill.
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Re-Do AC Music Benefit in Atlantic City for Sandy Victims
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Rap Legends Return to House of Blues
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Jimmy Hayes of the Persuasions: The Interview
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The Who to Play 'Quadrophenia' at Boardwalk Hall
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Clutch Keeps it Comin’ Independently
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Blue Blood on the Tracks
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Marky Ramone, Blitzkrieg and Beer
1. Reed Palmer said... on Dec 16, 2011 at 04:15PM
“great choices here, but what about Wilco? Radiohead?”
2. J South said... on Dec 19, 2011 at 03:31PM
“how about Alison Krauss? Her 2011 album w Union Station was phenomenal.”
3. heather 545 said... on Jan 14, 2012 at 08:51PM
“I love joe henry! Where's joseph arthur's Graduation Ceremony?”