Remember December: My Top 25 Posts of 2022

Some weekend mornings I stare at an empty Pages document and wonder what to say about whatever it is I’ve chosen to spotlight. Straight reviews are relatively easy to write, though time-consuming, with a joke here, a sly aside there, and—as Diane observed a few weeks back—the word “wondrous” almost always in the mix. Other posts weave in aspects of my life past and present. (Music is neither made nor experienced in a vacuum, after all, but since my attempts at astral projection fail more often than not, my side of that equation will have to suffice.) Many of my “essential” deep dives also share relevant reactions from newspapers, as the first pass of history fascinates me. Whichever approach I take, however, by late morning or mid-afternoon, the page is filled and essay shared. All do well out of the gate, I should mention, but the ones that rack up the most hits should come as no surprise.

All of which leads to this: My top 25 posts of 2022. Most hail from the past two years, but a few date back to last decade. I’ve posted the “published” date after each.

1. First Impressions: Toast by Neil Young with Crazy Horse (7/9/22)
2. First Impressions: Summer Songs by Neil Young (12/27/22)
3. First Impressions: Noise and Flowers by Neil Young & Promise of the Real (8/6/22)
4. First Impressions: Entre eux Deux by Melody Gardot and Philippe Powell (5/21/22)
5. First Impressions: Citizen Kane Jr. Blues by Neil Young (5/7/2022)
6. Neil Young With Booker T & the MGs, 7/11/1993 – A “Timeline Concert” Review (1/8/22)
7. The Fogelberg Files: Nether Lands (6/19/21)
8. First Impressions: World Record by Neil Young & Crazy Horse (11/19/22)
9. First Impressions: Never Forget by My Love by Joss Stone (2/12/22)
10. Neil Young: The Best of the Unofficial Canon (9/27/15)
11. The Essentials: Just a Stone’s Throw Away by Valerie Carter (5/30/22)
12. The Fogelberg Files: The Innocent Age (8/8/21)
13. Today’s Top 5: Linda Ronstadt – Duets (2/12/17)
14. First Impressions: Linger Awhile by Samara Joy (9/18/22)
15. The Essentials: Jackson Browne’s Hold Out (3/28/20)
16. The Fogelberg Files: High Country Snows (10/10/21)
17. First Impressions: In the Canyon Haze by Brandi Carlile (10/2/22)
18. The Essentials: Hank Williams Jr.’s Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound (5/20/18)
19. About
20. The Fogelberg Files: Twin Sons of Different Mothers by Dan Fogelberg & Tim Weisberg (7/10/21)
21. Today’s Top 5: March 21, 1966 (via Newsweek) (12/17/16)
22. The Essentials: 10,000 Maniacs’ Our Time in Eden (6/24/17)
23. First Impressions: Brand New Day by Jessica Willis Fisher (4/16/22)
24. First Impressions: Ultraviolet Battle Hymns and True Confessions by the Dream Syndicate (6/11/22) 
25. Today’s Top 5: Linda Ronstadt Live (11/15/20)