Friday's Playlist: The Best of 2021

Happy New Year!

As much as I hate seeing time slip away so quickly, I must admit I'm pretty glad to see 2021 coming to an end. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking I didn't care much for that year. Don't get me wrong, it was no 2020. Don't get me started on that one. But if I had been in a coma for most of 2021 it would have been no big loss for me. Still, there were a few things that didn't totally suck about the year that's about to end. Some of that was the music.

Last year's NYE's playlist was a morbid reminder of the musicians we had lost in 2020. This year's playlist will be a little more positive: it's a little overview of some of the good stuff that was released. Primarily rock stuff, but also some blues, some jazz and some soul music.

After a long ambient track which serves as an intro of sorts, the playlist starts with Steve Earle's tribute to his departed son Justin Townes Earle then proceeds to go back in time with a few songs that were recorded decades ago but unreleased until this year. Some of the artists like Prince, Tom Petty or George Harrison are now dead and unfortunately we won't get to hear much more new music from them, so let's appreciate what we get.

The playlist then takes a few twists and turns through genres and sub-genres. Metal, Prog-Rock, Jazz, Pop-Rock, Country, Folk, Blues,  and even a little Hip-Hop... Depite the sometimes abrupt sylistic changes, it flows quite nicely. But, be warned: it's extremely long. Eleven hours. That's right, I said ELEVEN HOURS! So break it up in little installments if you must.

There's lots of good stuff in there: classic artists, up and coming bands, future legends and old have-beens. Check them out and then go on Apple Music and check out the whole albums. Of course there was a lot more music released this year. This is merely an overview. What were some of your favorites from 2021?

Due to its staggering amount of tracks, the playlist cannot be fully played in the embedded player below so head over to Apple Music to check it out. Click HERE if you need to subscribe to Apple Music.

Enjoy, comment and share!

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