Best Albums of 2014
Ranked by our critic's grades, best first.
PiñataGangster rap over dusty soul loops, and one of the great pairings of a rapper and a producer in any era.Read the review
1989The clean break: no guitars, no apologies, and a run of singles that nobody has bettered since.
2014 Forest Hills DriveNo guests, no singles, no help, and the best writing anyone has done about wanting to go home.
Cheek to CheekA jazz standards record with borrowed excellence in the writing and real chemistry in the singing.
Days Before RodeoThe tape where the world he keeps rebuilding gets drawn for the first time, cheap and complete.
Bury Me at Makeout CreekShe swaps the orchestra for a distorted guitar and immediately starts writing like herself.
The London SessionsThe late career swerve that worked: she flew to London, met the right writers, and sounded curious again.
Souled OutA pretty, weightless debut that mistakes calm for depth about half the time.
Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother MoonHalf an instrumental record, released with no warning, and more interesting than it is enjoyable.
HonestThe crossover attempt that misread the room, and the failure that made everything after it possible.