The Best Albums of 2008
This page last updated on January 27, 2011.
John Metzger's Top Albums of 2008
1) Radiohead - In Rainbows
2) Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8
3) B.B. King - One Kind Favor
4) Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers
5) Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
6) Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
7) John Mellencamp - Life, Death, Love and Freedom
8) Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis - Two Men with the Blues
9) Aimee Mann - @#%&! Smilers
10) Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet - Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet
11) Elvis Costello - Momofuku
12) R.E.M. - Accelerate
13) James Hunter - The Hard Way
14) James McMurtry - Just Us Kids
15) Railroad Earth - Amen Corner
16) Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark
17) Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things
18) A.A. Bondy - American Hearts
19) Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Revisited
20) Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher
21) Kaiser Chiefs - Off with Their Heads
22) Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - Rattlin' Bones
23) Ringo Starr - Liverpool 8
24) Steve Winwood - Nine Lives
25) James Taylor - Covers
For more information, please also see John Metzger's Annotated List
Douglas Heselgrave's Top Albums of 2008
1) Various Artists - Miles from India: A Celebration of the Music of Miles Davis
2) Various Artists - Sound of the World Presents: Beyond the Horizon
3) Patti Smith / Kevin Shields - The Coral Sea
4) Various Artists - Umalali: The Garifuna Women's Project
5) Ferron - Boulder
6) Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8
7) Veda Hille - This Riot Life
8) Issa Bagayogo - Mali Koura
9) The Gyuto Monks - Tibetan Chants for World Peace
10) Michael Franti & Spearhead - All Rebel Rockers
11) Sidestepper - The Buena Vibra Sound System
12) Seckou Keita Quintet - The Silimbo Passage
13) Woody Guthrie - Live Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949
14) Bombay Dub Orchestra - Three Cities
15) Cheb i Sabbah - Devotion
16) Yusa - Haiku
17) Grateful Dead - Road Trips, Vol. 1, No. 4: From Egypt with Love
18) Neil Young - Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968
19) Various Artists - In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2
20) Grateful Dead - Road Trips Vol. 1, No. 2: October '77
21) Van Morrison - Keep It Simple
For more information, please also see Douglas Heselgrave's Annotated List
Best Boxed Sets (3 or More CDs/DVDs)
The Beach Boys - U.S. Singles Collection: The Capitol Years (1962-1965)
Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison: Legacy Edition
Nina Simone - To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story
Best Reissues
1) Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River: 40th Anniversary Edition
2) Carole King - Tapestry: Legacy Edition
3) Otis Redding - Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul
4) Michael Jackson - Thriller: 25th Anniversary Edition
5) Willie Nelson - Stardust: Legacy Edition
6) Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust: Legacy Edition
7) Billy Joel - The Stranger: 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition
8) Keepnews Collection - Sonny Rollins - Freedom Suite /
Nat Adderley - Work Song /
Wes Montgomery - The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
9) Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue: Legacy Edition
Best Live Albums / DVDs
1) Grateful Dead - Road Trips Vol. 1, No. 2: October '77
2) Chick Corea & Gary Burton - The New Crystal Silence
3) Neil Young - Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968
4) Grateful Dead - Road Trips, Vol. 1, No. 3: Summer '71
5) The Clash - Live at Shea Stadium
6) U2 - Live: "Under a Blood Red Sky"
7) Grateful Dead - Road Trips, Vol. 1, No. 4: From Egypt with Love
8) The Who - At Kilburn: 1977
9) Albert Collins - Live at Montreux: 1992
10) Simon & Garfunkel - Live 1969
Best Holiday Outings / Reissues / Compilations
Alison Brown with Joe Craven - Evergreen
Harry Connick, Jr. - What a Night! A Christmas Album
Yo-Yo Ma & Friends - Songs of Joy & Peace
Best Documentaries / Films
Kurt Cobain - Kurt Cobain: About a Son
Notable Enhanced Audio Releases
With the advent of DVD-Audio, SACD, and DualDisc technology, music
making — both past and present — has taken on a whole new dimension.
Classic efforts are being re-mixed and newer outings are being recorded
from an entirely different perspective. These are some of the most notable
reissues and releases of 2008.
Graham Nash - Songs for Beginners
Music for Children
1) Justin Roberts - Pop Fly
2) Various Artists - Putumayo Kids Presents: African Dreamland
Books
Robert Hicks - A Guitar and a Pen: Stories by Country Music's Greatest Songwriters
Suze Rotolo - A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties
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