Oh God, Not Another Ten Best of 2023 List!

Actually, no.

And for a variety of reasons, beginning with the fact that I spent the first few months of last year literally recovering from a coma. BTW, I'm thinking of writing a memoir of that period, and -- in an homage to George ("Jew-ish") Santos -- calling it Dead-ish.

Thank you, I'm here all week.

In any event, I didn't pay as much attention to pop music in 2023 as I might have otherwise, so in this case my best-of list is marked down to a Top Eight. They're all pretty great, though, and if I left out any album you think was an inarguable masterpiece that will echo down the corridors of time and beyond infinity, I plead asshole.

Anyway, here are my choices. I should add I'll be the first to admit that the list may be a tad moldy fig, as they used to say in jazz circles. I mean I'm an old guy -- who gives a fuck what pop music I like? Hell, I'm half deaf. 😎

That said, I'd be remiss if I didn't also add that my carefully considered opinion is that most current commercially successful pop music -- loosely defined as the stuff purveyed by the acts that get booked on Saturday Night Live -- sucks hippo root. I mean -- Sam fucking Smith? Really?

Also, this recent quote from The New Yorker's Amanda Petrusich, who's half a century younger than me(!), hits the proverbial nail on the head as far as I'm concerned.

"Listening to Morgan Wallen, the most popular artist of 2023 by a number of metrics, mostly made me feel as though I was on eternal hold with my insurance company."

Heh.

Okay, and now, with the best first, here are the digital products which most brightened my year.

1. The Lemon Twigs -- Everything Harmony

Yeah, their dad is an old friend and bandmate, and I'm prejudiced, but the album is a stunner from stem to stern (and in the genre that forms the raison d'etre for this here blog, no less!) so gimme a break.

2. Trans-Canada Highwaymen -- Explosive Hits Vol. 1

I'm not a big fan of supergroups, but these Canuck veterans' retrospective look at the pop/rock of their youth just slays me. BTW, I had forgotten that the above was written by Randy Bachman, not Burton Cummings.

3. Juliana Hatfield -- Sings ELO

The former Blake Babies and Lemonheads chanteuse/alt-rock cover girl meets Jeff Lynne, with wonderful results.

4. Micky Dolenz -- Dolenz Sings R.E.M.

Okay, it's an EP, not an album. But every track is sheer pop perfection, and more than lives up to its sources. Not bad for a geezer.

5. Gerry Devine -- In My Own Good Time

I was gonna disqualify this because I played on some of it, but fuck that shit, this is a great album. Hell, it deserves inclusion here for the cover art alone.

6. Bill Lloyd -- Look Into It

I've been a fan of this guy since before he was power pop (i.e., a big 80s country star) but this latest effort is about as genre-defining as it gets. Just terrific.

7. The Tearaways -- And For Our Next Trick

The best (for want of a better word), er, traditional rock 'n' roll band in the world currently working? Could be, could be. Have I mentioned Clem Burke is the drummer?

8. HONORABLE HISTORICAL MENTION

The Replacements -- Tim: Let It Bleed Editiion

Yeah, yeah, '80s purists don't like it, because -- I dunno. I mean, by any objective standard, this new version, overseen by the great Ed Stasium, is an improvement on the original, so obviously, '80s purists can blow me.

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?