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THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND STARTS HERE... with FAVES 2021. I occasionally hear from folks who want to know what music -- from among all of the posts I do here -- I recommend. To some degree, I recommend all of it, unless I expressly write otherwise (e.g., it's not my thing, but it might be yours). With the holiday shopping season upon us, I have tried to make a list of reasonable size. It's an unordered list. I may have overlooked some things that I really dig. And note these are my faves; I'm not purporting to list the "Best" albums of the year. And unfortunately, for me 2021 in music echoed the year itself as a bit of a disappointment, as the delta variant took away the promise of a Hot Vaxx Summer for so many. Moreover, my year turned into quite the whirlwind as Summer drew to a close, so I'll be doing this list in vintage full-on Christgau blurb style. Let's get to it. 
Obviously, I'm going to dig the super-deluxe version of THE REPLACEMENTS' debut LP, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, which sadly isn't on Spotify. But it's even sadder that we've reached the point where Sorry Ma, gets the super-deluxe treatment and still beats a lot of new releases. Eventually, there will be a super-deluxe version of Stink, and yes, I will be there for it. Similarly, while I'm less of a fan of NEIL YOUNG, his recent archival releases have been strong, most notably Way Down in the Rust Bucket, which features Crazy Horse circa 1990. TOM JONES claims to be Surrounded by Time on this covers album, but you know that someday we will wish we had more time with him. Among albums of new material, my actual fave this year has to be LORD HURON's Long Lost,with that Fleet Foxes-by-way-of-The Byrds sound dipped in Phil Spector's echo chamber that anyone who knows me knows I dig hard. But for those more upbeat moment's there's POM POD SQUAD's Death of a Cheerleader, which crams 14 songs into just over 30 minutes, including a cover of "Crimson and Clover," for all of which I am the target demo. Almost as good is Comfort to Me from AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS, a sophomore album with no slump, just young, loud and snotty vintage-sounding punk from Down Under. A couple of notches more chill was the latest from COURTNEY BARNETT's Things Take Time, Take Time, which still features sharp lyrics and vocals reminiscent of Liz Phair, but easing laconically a few degrees toward Lou Reed. While I'm still near the subject of sophomore non-slumps, NATION OF LANGUAGE returned with A Way Forward, which finds the band sounding a little less OMD and occasionally a little early New Order. THE WAR ON DRUGS continues to prove classic rock need not be old on I Don't Live Here Anymore. It wouldn't be one of my Faves lists with out some retro-R & B albums, and the one everyone's listening to right now is the Bruno Mars/Anderson Paak side joint, An Evening with SILK SONIC, which is winking hard but utlimately kidding on the square with its soulful grooves (it certainly doesn't hurt to have Bootsy Collins and Thundercat guesting). Less heard, but as rewarding is Introducing... AARON FRAZER, which was co-written with the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. Sort of adjacent to those would be ST. VINCENT's Daddy's Home, which filters Annie Clark's signature guitar stylings through 70's glam and R & B. And Clark is someone whose work I started liking and more recently found myself only respecting, so it would be condescending to call this a return to form beyond my personal tastes, but there it is. LANA DEL REY released two strong albums this year, Chemtrails Over the Country Club and Blue Bannisters, even as backlash against her became more fashionable. I dunno that I like either as much as NFR, but maybe in the fullness of time. LOW is a band that tended to fall into my respected box, but I found Hey What to be quite arresting once I got past the opening track. THE HOLD STEADY's Open Door Policy didn't seem to get the attention it deserved, may because the concert scene was still pretty moribund, or maybe because the album is pretty low-key compared to their median album. I tend to feel the same way about TEENAGE FANCLUB's Endless Arcade, perhaps surprisingly strong given that Gerald Love left the band. Home Video from LUCY DACUS and Little Oblivions from JULIEN BAKER found ther way into regular rotation and have me a littly hyped for a new album from boygenius (their group with Phoebe Bridgers) that should be coming soon. Speaking of should-be supergroups, did you know that THE FLATLANDERS -- Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock -- put out Treasure of Love, their first LP in 12 years? Because if you like Americana, you should. Anyway, that's a fairly representative sample. 
A CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING has been relegated to AppleTV+, as the IP gods decreed. WKRP: "Turkeys Away," in its entirety. And here's the turkey giveaway by itself. There's a WKRP purist backstory for this episode as well. THANKSGIVING: George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation (1789). It was controversial at the time. A BUNNY crashes the gate. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, with a cat, and a pupper.
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