Another Best Of 2025 List

If you still want more lists – here’s my very own Year-End-Best-Of-2025 list.
I’m no fan of ratings of any kind – and it changes every day of course – so each category has a winner (•••) and everything is sorted alphabetically. The winner isn’t necessarily »The Best«, but certainly the most played here. 

||||||||||||| DON‘T BLAME IT ON THE SUNSCREEN, DON‘T BLAME IT ON THE LUCKY TUNES |||||||||||||
Sometimes people remember what it is that they‘re good at,
and they do just that, without pretending to change the world.

Alice Cooper • The Revenge Of Alice Cooper
Half Man Half Bisquit • All Asimov And No Fresh Air
Van Morrison • Remembering Now
Panzerballet • Übercode Oeuvre
Robert Plant With Suzy Dian • Saving Grace
The The • Odyssey
Tortoise • Touch
Paul Weller • Finding El Dorado •••

||||||||||||| I‘M ALWAYS WAITING AT THIS CORNER, WAITING FOR ADMIRERS PASSING BY |||||||||||||
There‘s a time to look good, and there‘s a time to listen, and when it comes to Indonesian twang, voodoo grooves from the Balkan or afrobeat with a Mariachi band, you know where your priorities are.

Africa Express • Bahidora
Amadou & Mariam • L‘amour à la folie
Mulatu Astatke • Mulatu Plays Mulatu
The Balkan Voodoo Orchestra • Soon In Your Village
Juana Molina • Doga •••
Nusantara Beat
Nora Mint Seymali • Yenbett
Tunng • Love You All Over Again

||||||||||||| ALL WE EVER WANTED WAS TO INVADE YOUR SPACE, NEVER EVER STOPPING |||||||||||||
Like running up and down in some Roger Dean – created landscape that is obviously floating through the Milky Way. Sometimes it‘s better to dream while the music is playing.

Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub • The Porcelain Files
Brian Eno & Beattie Wolfe • Luminol • Liminal • Lateral
Hawkwind • There Is No Space For Us
Hedvig Mollestad Trio • Bees In The Bonnett
O.R.K. • Firehose Of Falsehoods
Stereolab • Instant Holograms On Metal Film
Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan • Public Works And Utilities
Steven Wilson • The Overview •••

||||||||||||| EVERY MORNING I FEEL THE PLEASURE SUPREME, LIKE A DEEP BEAUTIFUL LIGHT |||||||||||||
Bluegrass hipsters skank the old traditionals as doperiders surf into space on ringin‘ guitars, accompanied by a Mandolin Orchestra. This is where banjos go when they die.

Alison Brown & Steve Martin • Safe, Sensible & Sane
Alison Krauss & Union Station • Arcadia
The Orb • Buddhist Hipsters
Adrian Sherwood • The Collapse Of Everything
Ringo Starr • Look Up
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives • Space Junk •••
The Utopia Strong • Doperider
Jean-Claude Vannier & Son Orchestre de Mandolines

||||||||||||| LYING BY THE FERRIS WHEEL, DREAMING BACKWARDS WITH THE RUNWAY BOYS |||||||||||||
Or you could call it Sunday morning music. A time when you’re not in a hurry and 15-minute tracks get their due attention – even when nothing much happens in the first ten minutes. If You like Rain Tree Crow you will find plenty to enjoy among these albums.

Melanie Dalibert & David Sylvian • Vermillion Hours
Durant Edwin Maitland • The Baldock Transmission
Jasmine Hamdam • I Remember I Forgot
Held By Trees • Hinterland
Steve Jansen • The Space Between
Anoushka Shankar • Chapter III – We Return To Light •••
Tian Qiyi feat. Jah Wobble • Songs For Workers
Rick Wakeman • Melancholia

||||||||||||| SOUNDS OF JUNK & TASTE / C O M P I L A T I O N S |||||||||||||
Like advice from an uncle, a bus driver, or any other person you can trust, these compilations send you into familiar or undicovered directions, Always offering surprising connections and digging up plenty of nuggets by the way. Best listening pleasure was Uncut‘s collection of Paul Weller rarities and deep cuts – 40 minutes of acoustic Instrumentals, psych grooves, chamber folk and ace pop.

A Man Of Wealth And Taste – The Brian Jones Compendium (Mojo CD)
A Tribute To The King Of Zydeco (CD) •••
The Complete Unknowns – The Best Of Greenwich Village 1950-1965 (Mojo CD)
Electric Junk – Deutsche Rock, Psych And Kosmische 1970-1978 (4-CD)
Feed Your Head – The Second Course (Mojo CD)
Sounds Of The New West Vol. 7 (Uncut CD)
Paul Weller – Movin‘ On (Uncut CD)
When Will They Ever Learn? A Study Of US Folk Music 1963-1969 (4-CD)

||||||||||||| SOUNDS OF HARMONY & BOLD HAIR / A L B U M B O X S E T S |||||||||||||
It was of course grumpy old Phillip Boa who did the unmentionable – not only did he remix/rework one of his most famous albums (produced by Tony Visconti, no less), he also changed the tracklisting. All with help from longtime producer Eroc, so it all sounds magnificent – and it comes with tons of outtakes, B-sides and a complete concert in East Berlin.

Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub • Hair (Reworked & Remastered) (4-CD • 10“) •••
Jack Bruce • Harmony Row (2- CD • 2-BluRay)
The Dream Syndicate • Medicine Show (4-CD)
Genesis • The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (4-CD • BluRay)
Jimi Hendrix • Axis Bold As Love (4-CD)
Porcupine Tree • Deadwing (3-CD • BluRay)
Talking Heads • More Songs About Buildings And Food (3-CD)
Frank Zappa • One Size Fits All (4-CD • BluRay)

||||||||||||| SOUNDS OF RIOTS, GHOSTS & POWER / A R C H I V E B O X S E T S |||||||||||||
Although the Frankie box is mistitled (it didn‘t do justice to the grandeur of the album with half of the artwork and the sleeve notes missing), it still provides a perfect picture of their first year of singles – who would have thought that a 60 minute disc of »Relax« mixes would be so much fun? Which can’t be said of John & Yoko‘s »wimmin« box (as it‘s called in our household); hours and hours of dreary Dad rock that even a Zappa cameo can’t rescue – but it‘s fascinating to explore the contents and look (and listen) closely at their New York era. Advice: play the nine discs in reverse order!

Frankie Goes To Hollywood • Welcome To The Pleasuredome (7-CD • BluRay) •••
John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band • Power To The People (9-CD • 3-BluRay)
Joe Meek • A Curious Mind (3-CD)
Nashville All Stars • The Garden Party: After The Riot At Newport (Book • CD)
Buck Owens & His Buckaroos • Adios, Farewell, Goodbye, Good Luck, So Long: On Stage 1964-1974 (3-CD)
Small Faces • The Autumn Stone (3-CD)
Bruce Springsteen • Nebraska 82 (4-CD • BluRay)
Wilco • A Ghost Is Born (9-CD)

||||||||||||| SOUNDS OF FOOLS, PARTS & THE PAST / E R A B O X S E T S |||||||||||||
This Is what a big fat box set is supposed to be – multiple discs that you can explore, dip into now and again, and plenty of opportunities to create your own alternative albums and playlists (e.g. the »Fool‘s Mate/Nadir« double album or the »Solo Acoustic Tull«). And as for the Bowie box – no, I don‘t think the design is »cheap«; it‘s perfectly appropriate (would you prefer to have one of those brightly coloured AI graphics with embossed logos and glimmer effects??). Best of the era boxes in my opinion.

David Bowie • I Can‘t Give Everything Away 2002-2016 (13-CD) •••
Bob Dylan • The Bootleg Series Vol. 18 • Through The Open Window 1956-1963 (8-CD)
Godley & Creme • Parts Of The Process: The Complete Godley & Creme (11-CD)
Peter Hammill • The Charisma & Virgin Recordings 1971-1986 (18-CD • 2-BluRay)
Horslips • At The BBC (4- CD • DVD)
Jethro Tull • Still Living In The Past (5-CD • BluRay)
The Scaffold • A Box Of Scaffold (5-CD)
Spandau Ballet • Everything Is Now Vol. 1: 1978-1982 (6-CD • BluRay • 2-LP)

6