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Nenad Georgievski's Best Releases of 2016

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There is a poem by a Russian poet Velimir Khlebnikov titled "When Horses Die" that I came across to by accident. It goes like "When horses die they breathe when grasses die, they wither, when suns die they go out, and when people die they sing songs." For many musicians, the year 2016 was final and their swan songs reflected their thoughts and emotions about the inevitable final curtain-call. The best records of the year 2016 reflected that issue on mortality or tragedy starting from singers David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen to Nick Cave to name but a few. A plethora of writers, directors and actors have left us this year reminding how fleeting life actually is. To me it was Bowie's Blackstar was the record that marked the year 2016. It was a hard year on every front and it yielded excellent new recordings, reissues, books, and videos. It also marked the dominance of vinyl record over digital releases. The Top 10 of everything is always a process of sifting through an avalanche of records and panning for gold. It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. Here is hoping that 2017 will be better.

Best Releases


David Bowie
Blackstar
(Sony Music)

Leonard Cohen
You Want it Darker
(Columbia Records)

Keith Jarrett
A Multitude of Angels
(ECM Records)

Vasil Hadzimanov
Alive
(Moonjune Records)

Teresa Salgueiro
O Horizonte
(Lemon)

Ben Monder
Amorphae
(ECM Records)

Mariza
Mundo
(Nonesuch)


Tigran Hamasyan
Atmospheres
(ECM)


The Rolling Stones
Blue and Lonesome
(Polydor Records)

Sting
57th and 9th
(A&M Records)
Top 10 Reissues


Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
(World Circuit)

Steve Reich
The ECM Recordings
(ECM)

Miles Davis
Miles Smiles
(Music on Vinyl)

Ali Farka Toure with Ry Cooder
Talking Timbuktu
(World Circuit)

Holger Czukay
Movies
(Groenland Record)

Ibrahim Ferrer
Buena Vista Social Club presents Ibrahim Ferrer
(World Circuit)

Spiro
Repeater
(Real World Records)

King Crimson
On (and Off) the Road
(Panegyric Recordings)

Kerouac and Allen
Jazz for the Beat Generation
(Rhino)

Jaco Pastorious
Jaco Pastorius
( Epic/Legacy)
Books


Jim Marshall
Jazz Festivall
(Reel Art Press)

Daniel Krämer
Bob Dylan: A Year and a Day
(Taschen)

Steve Schapiro
Bowie: Photographs by Steve Schapiro
(Powerhouse Books)

Alan Light
What Happened Miss Simone
(Atria)

Peter Hook
Substance: Inside New Order
(Reel Art Press)

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