Sound Grammar: The 25 Best Albums of 2018

Here’s my list of the 25 best albums of 2018, four of them are welcome eruptions from the past that really do make America Sound Great Again…

1. Both Directions at Once: the Lost Album by John Coltrane (Verve)

2. Rifles and Rosary Beads by Mary Gautier (In the Black)

3. Whatever It Takes by James Hunter Six (Daptone)

4. Piano and a Microphone, 1983 by Prince (Warner Bros.)

5. The Window by Cecile McLoren Salvant (Mack Ave.)

6. Good Thing by Leon Bridges (Columbia)

7. Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe (Bad Boy)

8. Modern Lore by Julian Lage (Mack Ave.)

9. Encore by Anderson East (Elektra)

10. The Final Tour: Bootleg, Vol. 6 by Miles Davis and John Coltrane (Sony)

11. Silent Voices by Brooklyn Youth Chorus (New Amsterdam)

12. Emanon by Wayne Shorter (Blue Note)

13. Your Queen is a Reptile by Sons of Kemet (Impulse!)

14. Songs of the Plains by Colter Wall (Young Mary Records)

15. Heaven and Earth by Kamasi Washington (Young Turks)

16. America’s Child by Shemekia Copeland (Alligator)

17. Lala Belu by Hailu Mergia (Awesome Tapes From Africa)

18. Things Have Changed by Bettye LaVette (Verve)

19. Remain in Light by Angelique Kidjo (Kravenworks)

20. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett (Mom + Pop)

21. All in My Mind by Dr. Lonnie Smith (Blue Note)

22. There’s a Riot Goin’ On by Yo La Tengo (Matador)

23. Jazz in Detroit/Strat Concert Gallery/ 46 Seldon by Charles Mingus (BBE)

24. NowThen by Rich Krueger (RockinK Music)

25. David Vest by David Vest (Cordova Bay Records)

Jeffrey St. Clair is editor of CounterPunch. His most recent book is An Orgy of Thieves: Neoliberalism and Its Discontents (with Alexander Cockburn). He can be reached at: sitka@comcast.net or on Twitter @JeffreyStClair3