Top 200 Albums of 2014 According to Johnny Cole of The Southland Music Line

The Extended List of 200 Albums:
(List designed on Dec. 31, 2014. Following list read information about the list. ALL albums have been listened to in their entirety.)
1. Sideshow Love – Will Kimbrough
2. Metamodern Sounds in Country Music – Sturgill Simpson
3. Kin – Larkin Poe
4. Stardust – Bronwynne Brent
5. St. Vincent – St. Vincent
6. R.E.M. – Unplugged: The Complete 1991 and 2001 Sessions – R.E.M.
7. The Songs of Big Bill Broonzy – Dave & Phil Alvin
8. Lost on the River – The New Basement Tapes
9. Stay Gold – First Aid Kit
10. High Hopes – Bruce Springsteen
11. Morning Phase – Beck
12. Small Town Heroes – Hurray For The Riff Raff
13. The River & The Thread – Rosanne Cash
14. Lost in the Dream by The War on Drugs
15. Are We There – Sharon Van Eatten
16. Lateness of Dancers -Hiss Golden Messenger
17. 24 Karat Gold: Songs from The Vault – Stevie Nicks
18. Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone – Lucinda Williams
19. Hypnotic Eye – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
20. Dark Night of the Soul – Jimbo Mathus & The Tri-State Coalition
21. Popular Problems – Leonard Cohen
22. Ty Segall – Manipulator
23. Ultraviolence – Lana Del Rey
24. Me/We – Roo & The Howl
25. Hard Working Americans – Hard Working Americans
26. Smoke Fairies – Smoke Fairies
27. Souveniers of a Misspent Youth – Otis Gibbs
28. Trigger Hippy – Trigger Hippy
29. Remedy – Old Crow Medicine Show
30. The Lights from the Chemical Plant – Robert Ellis
31. Singles – Future Islands
32. Tarpaper Sky – Rodney Crowell
33. Hold It On – Melvins
34. Ebb & Flow – Judith Owen
35. All or Nothin – Nikki Lane
36. Familiars – The Antlers
37. Swimmin’ Time – Shovels & Rope
38. Bad Self Portraits – Lake Street Drive
39. Town & Country – Cary Hudson
40. Songs – John Fullbright
41. A Dotted Line – Nickel Creek
42. Benji – Sun Kil Moon
43. Single Mothers – Townes Van Earle
44. Songs of Innocence – U2
45. 1989 – Taylor Swift
46. Art of Official Age – Prince
47. Voyager – Jenny Lewis
48. To Be Kind – Swans
49. Here and Nothing Else – Cloud Nothings
50. All My Friends: Celebrating The Songs and Voice of Gregg Allman – Gregg Allman/Various Artists
51. Platinum – Miranda Lambert
52. Strong Feelings – Doug Paisley
53. The Way I’m Living – Lee Ann Womack
54. Heal – Strand of Oaks
55. Lies & Wishes – Edward David Anderson
56. Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams
57. Turn Blue – The Black Keys
58. Terms of My Surrender – John Hiatt
59. The Hello Strangers – The Hello Strangers
60. Sukierae -Tweedy
61. Lazaretto – Jack White
62. Nothing Has Changed – David Bowie
63. Band of Brothers – Willie Nelson
64. Out Among the Stars – Johnny Cash
65. Upside Down Mountain – Conor Oberst
66. Supernova – Ray LaMontagne
67. Too True – Dum Dum Girls
68. Atlas – Real Estate
69. Plain Spoken – John Mellencamp
70. Everything Will Be Alright in the End – Weezer
71. Stockholm – Chrissie Hynde
72. Disgraceland – The Orwells
73. Promise of a Brand New Day – Ruthie Foster
74. Sonic Highways – Foo Fighters
75. The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete – Bob Dylan & The Band
76. Lullaby and …. The Ceaseless Roar – Robert Plant
77. Standing in the Breach – Jackson Browne
78. Do to the Beast – The Afghan Whigs
79. Endless River – Pink Floyd
80. Step Back – Johnny Winter
81. Utah – Jamestown Revival
82. Trouble No More Live at Town Hall – John Mellencamp
83. Tagged & Dirty – Devon Allman
84. English Oceans – Drive-By-Truckers
85. The Ceaseless Sight – Rich Robinson
86. Long in the Tooth – Billy Joe Shaver
87. Parker Milsap – Parker Milsap
88. Lies & Wishes – Edward David Anderson
89. 50 St. Catherine’s Drive – Robin Gibb
90. Half the City – St. Paul & The Broken Bones
91. Disco Dust – Kaboom
92. Lights Out -Ingrid Michaelson
93. Our Love – Caribou
94. Everlasting Arms – Luke Winslow-King
95. Scaredy Cat – Grace Askew
96. Salad Days – Mac DeMarco
97. Trouble & Love – Mary Gauthier
98. Jigsaw Heart – Eden Brent
99. Heartbloodsoul – Royal Southern Brotherhood
100. Sunday Morning Record – Band of Heathens
101. Burn Your Fire for No Witness – Angel Olsen
102. They Want My Soul – Spoon
103. Wine Dark Sea – Jolie Holland
104. Give My Love to London – Marianne Faithful
105. Going Down to The River -Doug Seegers
106. Ghost Stories – Coldplay
107. Croz – David Crosby
108. Atlas – Real Estate
109. Favorite Waitress – The Falice Brothers
110. Monuments to an Elegy – The Smashing Pumpkins
111. My Favourite Faded Fantasy – Damien Rice
112. Tough Love – Jessie Ware
113. Love and Hate – Joan Osbourne
114. The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale – Eric Clapton & Friends
115. heartsoulblood – Royal Southern Brotherhood
116. BLUESAmericana – Keb’ Mo
117. Pop Psychology – Neon Trees
118. American Middle Class – Angaleena Presley
119. A Reasonable Amount of Trouble – Jesse Winchester
120. Greetings from California – The Madden Brothers
121. Brill Bruisers – The New Pornographers
122. Rock & Roll Time – Jerry Lee Lewis
123. Melody Road – Neil Diamond
124. Most Messed Up – Old 97’s
125. Benjamin Booker – Benjamin Booker
126. Unrepentant Geraldines – Tori Amos
127. Sun Structures – Temples
128. Strange Desire – Bleachers
129. Gary Clark, Jr. Live – Gary Clark
130. Rooms With Walls and Windows – Julie Bryne
131. Alvvays – Alvvays
132. Eagulls – Eaguls
133. The Take Off and Landing of Everything – Elbow
134. Way Out Weather – Steve Gunn
135. Folk Singer, Vol. 1 – Willie Watson
136. Somewhere Else – Lydia Loveless
137. The Man Upstairs – Robyn Hitchcock
138. Soused – Scott Walker & O)))
139. It’s About Time – Todd Terje
140. Blue Smoke -Dolly Parton
141. Blind Water Finds Blind Water – Adam Faucett
142. Avenues – Lera Lynn
143. World on Fire – Slash
144. I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss – Sinead O’Connor
145. Goint to Hell – The Pretty Reckless
146. Big Music – Simple Minds
147. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes – Thom Yorke
148. LP1 – FKA Twigs
149. Royal Blood – Royal Blood
150. World Peace Is None of Your Business – Morrissey
151. Boxers – Matthew Ryan
152. Sunbathing Animal – Parquet Courts
153. Everyday Robots – Damon Albarn
154. The Outsiders – Eric Church
155. In the Lonely Hour – Sam Smith
156. Trouble – Hospitality
157. Bulletproof Picasso – Train
158. The Best Day – Thurston Moore
159. Natalie Merchent – Natalie Merchant
160. Somewhere Under Wonderland – Counting Crows
161. Stange Friend – The Phantam Band
162. War Paint – War Paint
163. You’re Dead – Flying Lotus
164. Range of Light – S. Carey
165. Alone for the First Time – Ryan Hemsworth
166. Hozier – Hozier
167. Going Back Home – Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey
168. Teenage Retirement – Chumped
169. Ride Out – Bob Seger
170. With a Little Help from My Friends – The Flaming Lips
171. Sucker – Charli XCX
172. This is All Yours – Alt-J
173. Playland – Johnny Marr
174. A Letter Home – Neil Young
175. Wig Out at Jagbags – Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
176. Nostalgia – Annie Lennox
177. High Noon – Arkells
178. Dizzy Heights – Neil Finn
179. Strut – Lenny Kravitz
180. Seeds – TV on the Radio
181. Never Hungover Again – Joyce Manor
182. Indie Candy – Pixies
183. Rockabilly Riot! All Original – Brian Setzer
184. No Bells on Sunday – Mark Lanegan Band
185. Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn
186. Passerby – Luluc
187. Teeth Dreams – The Hold Steady
188. Twelve Tales – A.J. Croce
189. Cheek to Cheek – Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga
190. Wild Onion – Twin Peaks
191. Futurology – Manic Street Preachers
192. Honeyblood – Honeyblood
193. Flesh & Blood – John Butler Trio
194. Lost in Alphaville – The Rentals
195. Shriek – Wye Oak
196. Everybody’s Down – Kate Tempest
197. Meteorites – Echo & The Bunnymen
198. They Promised You Mercy – Amelia Curran
199. Beyond the Blue – The Duhks
200. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett – Eels
~JGC  Dec. 31, 2014
* 200 seemed like a good stopping point, but some others could have easily been listed.

*As with most “best of” list(s), it’s easy to rank a list differently at any given time. One day you might have one placement at #14 and the next time at #26 – so much depends on the person’s mood or mindset at the time of making the list. Also when you make an extensive list as above, the majority of the rankings are easily interchangeable. The above list was done over a period a few weeks of listening and get reaquainted with different albums from throughout the year. All the above albums have been listened to in their entirety. Over the coming months and years several albums on this list could easily become more enjoyed and merit a higher ranking than given on the above list.

For Johnny Cole’s Extended List of Top Live Music Experiences:
Click Here!

2014: A Year in Music –
According to The Southland Music Line
CLICK HERE!

Best of 2014:
Top Albums | Top Live Music Experiences |
Top Music Venues of the South:
CLICK HERE!

2014: A Year in Music –
The Photos of Stephen Anderson
CLICK HERE!

2014: A Year in Music –
The Music-Inspired Art of Robby Amonett
CLICK HERE!

© The Southland Music Line. 2014. All rights reserved