Blair's Top 10 Albums 2025

Every year I pull together the ten albums that stayed with me in the year they were released. This year, though, there’s a slight twist. With the history of recorded music at your fingertips I stumbled across a couple of albums I’d missed entirely: Rudy the Fifth by Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band and The Past Is Still Alive by Hurray for the Riff Raff. The former, a 1972 gem I grabbed on a whim from the bargain bin at my local record store, while the latter somehow slipped past me when it was released in 2024. A purchase of a reasonable turntable influenced how I listened to much of the music this year and I reached my own milestone by having my own album Sunday River pressed .

What hasn’t changed is that this isn’t a ranked list (let's face it how can you put music into some kind of competition). These are simply the albums that mattered to me in 2025.

Vinyl provided much of the listening this year

Critical Thinking – Manic Street Preachers

The Manics delivered one of their sharpest late-career records with Critical Thinking. Mentioned in an earlier blog post here , this is an album that balances their trademark political bite with a renewed melodic confidence. James Dean Bradfield sounds completely revitalised, the guitar parts are both intricate and aggresive, and Nicky Wire’s lyrics,equal parts poetry, and warning, land with real emotional weight. As always Sean Moore’s military style drumming, feels especially propulsive here. More than thirty years in, they’re still moving forward while carrying their history with pride. These guys are now in their fifties and as Pete Townshend once said about a band in their middle age (The Stones circa late 80's) "Don't grow old boys it wouldn't suit you"

Remembering Now – Van Morrison

In the “WTF” category of 2025 sits Remembering Now - an album that finds an 80-year-old Van Morrison somehow channelling the spirit and soulfulness of his ’90s output. Opener “Road to Joy” rekindles the emotional punch it had in the Kenneth Branagh film Belfast, while “Haven’t Lost My Sense of Wonder” finds Van in unexpectedly buoyant form, nodding back to one of his great ’80s albums. The production is immaculate all tasteful keys, restrained guitars, the occasional alto sax flourish from the man himself and Van’s vocals remain authoritative and deeply expressive. While it doesn’t quite reach the mystical heights of his best ’70s and (criminally underrated) ’80s work, Remembering Now is a magnificent late-career statement that proves he remains in a class of his own. Shame about the cover art, though , easily one of the year’s worst!

Somewhere North of Nashville – Bruce Springsteen

Amid the full-blown Bruce barrage this year-I stopped counting after ten albums (Tracks II, the Nebraska expanded edition, plus the unearthed Born to Run outtake “Lonely Night in the Park”), a book (Tonight in Jungleland), the closing stretch of a world tour, and the biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere- the standout Springsteen moment for me was Somewhere North of Nashville, drawn from Tracks II.

For reasons known only to the Boss and his inner circle, this record never surfaced in the mid-’90s, when the focus instead fell on the stark, Nebraska-leaning The Ghost of Tom Joad. What we get here is something entirely different: the humour, looseness, and open-road spirit of The River, with saxophones and searing electric leads replaced by Marty Rifkin’s sublime lap steel. It reshapes our understanding of what Springsteen was doing at the time and stands out as one of the true gems in a box set that somehow contains seven albums. Exhilarating stuff.

The Past Is Still Alive – Hurray for the Riff Raff

Yes, I’m a year late on this one-only alerted to its existence via the always-excellent Sound Opinions, hosted by veteran Chicago music journalists Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis. Better late than never. Lead vocalist Alynda Segarra continues to carve out one of the most distinctive voices in modern Americana, and The Past Is Still Alive blends folk, rock, and storytelling with political urgency and personal reflection.

The songs feel like dispatches from the margins-restless, compassionate, and defiantly hopeful. Opener “Alibi” is a standout: an infectious guitar hook set against a yearning vocal that immediately conjures widescreen images, a mood sustained beautifully on the following track “Buffalo.” It’s an album that unfolds with quiet confidence and leaves a lasting impression. I’ll definitely be paying close attention to whatever comes next.

Moisturiser – Wet Leg

Never let it be said there’s no place for humour in popular music. Wet Leg sidestep the awkward second-album syndrome with Moisturiser, a superb record that’s playful, absurd, clever and absolutely packed with hooks. Leaning harder than the debut into post-punk grooves and slightly weirder edges, the album keeps the wink-and-smirk humour of core duo Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers firmly intact.

Now fully established as a band, the low-end punch of the recording leaps out and never lets go, giving the songs real physical presence. Sharp, danceable, and bursting with personality, Moisturiser is a reminder that indie rock can still be mischievous, irreverent, and joyfully odd.

Sunday River– Blair Morgan

I spent so much of the year living with this record that the least I could do was include it,especially after the run of launch gigs throughout November. Sunday River is my attempt to channel the spirit of the songwriters who’ve shaped me over the years-Paul Kelly, Peter Case, Bruce Cockburn all the while grounding the songs in recurring themes of people and place.

There are songs inspired by people who loom large in my world ; John Prine and Warren Zevon, my old friend Blair Allchurch, and my grandfather Len Morgan and by landscapes that, despite the cover image, are largely rooted in Te Waipounamu, New Zealand’s South Island. It was a pleasure to work with so many talented musicians in Ōtautahi, and an honour to release the album and hear how people connected with it. Fingers crossed it proves to be a slow burn into 2026

Rudy the Fifth – Rick Nelson

The scene is Penny Lane, the iconic record store in suburban Ōtautahi, New Zealand. I’m flicking through the $5 sale bin when I spot this album by Rick (formerly Ricky) Nelson, billed with the Stone Canyon Band. A quick scan of the credits confirms my hunch: this is ex-Eagle Randy Meisner in an LA country-rock band before country rock was even a term and before the Eagles were a thing.

Nelson, of course, was a former child actor and teen idol from the 1950s who scored rockabilly hits with none other than James Burton on guitar. Here, though, he’s clearly chasing something deeper. With lap steel in the lineup, covers of two Bob Dylan songs (including a fantastic arrangement of "Just Like A Woman" that I might steal) and the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women” complete with Nelson delivering a terrific piano part,this album reveals an artist quietly reinventing himself. Add in some genuinely strong originals (including "The Last Time Around"), Rudy the Fifth becomes an unexpected, deeply rewarding find and my surprise favourite of the year.

Sad & Beautiful World – Mavis Staples

Sad & Beautiful World is yet another testament to Mavis Staples’ enduring power. Now aged a mere 86, her voice -rich, wise, and unshakeably soulful—anchors songs of love, justice, grief, and perseverance with remarkable authority. The production by Brad Cook (Bon Iver among others) is warm and uncluttered, giving her performances the space they deserve.

Cook’s song selections are inspired: “Chicago” by Tom Waits, “Anthem” by Leonard Cohen, and the title track written by the late Mark Linkous aka Sparklehorse , all feel perfectly suited to Staples’ voice and worldview. As with We’ll Never Turn Back, produced by Ry Cooder in 2007, Mavis doesn’t just sing these songs she inhabits them. With clear threads back to the 1960s, the legacy of The Staple Singers, and lifelong creative connections that include Bob Dylan, the album is filled with poignant moments. Everything you need to know is there in the title.

Hope We Have Fun – Mt. Joy

The single “Lucy” was my entry point into Hope We Have Fun, the fourth album from this Los Angeles five-piece. Championed by the ever-reliable WERS (Boston’s Uncommon Radio), “Lucy” opens with a simple acoustic strum, subtle percussion, and light electronic touches, gradually revealing itself as a lament for someone whose star briefly burned bright before fading. It’s a song I played repeatedly this year.

Elsewhere, the band lean confidently into big choruses, but there’s also a tender core to these songs, underpinned by an earnestness that never feels forced - something reflected in the causes they support beyond the music. Opener “More More More” sets the tone: a simple I–IV progression that nods to the Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want, beginning as a simmer of backwards guitar and tinkering piano before erupting around the two-and-a-half-minute mark. The looseness recalls the spirit of Wilco’s Being There (an apt comparison) with quiet moments and raucous bursts coexisting throughout the album. Warm, generous, and endlessly replayable.

(And if you’re in Auckland in February, they’re playing Laneway.)

Glory – Perfume Genius

It’s been five years since the last Perfume Genius album, yet Mike Hadreas sounds as if he’s never been away. On Glory, edgy electronica sits comfortably alongside acoustic guitars and piano, shaped once again by longtime collaborator Blake Mills. Hadreas’ high, fragile tenor remains the emotional centre-vulnerable, confrontational, and utterly compelling.

The production is rich with detail. Legendary drummer Jim Keltner brings percussion that is both sympathetic and quietly inventive, while a genuine “believe it or not” moment arrives with a duet from Lyttelton’s own Aldous Harding on “No Front Teeth.” Elsewhere, “Me & Angel”,built around a John Lennon–style piano figure, feels like a subconscious reworking of Jim Croce’s I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song, transformed here into something far more tortured and emotionally raw. It’s an intensely personal album, and the cumulative effect is quietly devastating in the best possible way.

And that’s the list

As always, music remains a constant companion shaping the year, soundtracking the highs and lows, and offering endless discovery. Here’s to another year of great songs, deep listening, and albums that find you at the right moment.

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