Another year is finishing up and @RockBodElec wouldn't be a proper music site if we didn't end the year with a "Best Of" list, so RtBE presents 2025's Favorite Albums Part 3: Top Five.
In the instance that RtBE has reviewed the album, either on this site or elsewhere, we will link to that review and just give a quick summation, click on the name/title and you can read our full opinion. RtBE worked with the Glide Team to give input on their Top 20, so you can expect some overlap if you already have seen that list.
Again the focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen all the way through. We know these are a dying breed, but it still is the way we consume music, no shuffle, AI music, Spotify, or playlists for us.
The number ten just works for this, so here is the second part of our top ten, numbers five through one. You can see the back end of our top ten and our list of Honorable Mentions that were just out of our top ten. Consider those 10-24, in no particular order.
Like all of our lists or 'best of', these are meant to start conversations, not end them...
Top Ten Favorite Albums of 2025:
On their breakout album Rat Saw God, the Asheville, North Carolina based band Wednesday mixed loud feedback with pedal steel creating a "country-gaze" style that was exciting. On their follow-up, Bleeds, they shift gears again, not abandoning their country side, but pushing it more into the background in favor of alt-rock, punk and hardcore. This band feels vibrant, alive and ready to try anything on the successfully weird record.
The third album from the Brooklyn based outfit Geese is an enchanting mix of freak out sounds with an underlining groove that holds Getting Killed together. The art-rock outfit push, pull, and warp things over eleven thought provoking, yet still danceable efforts on this breakout offering.
RtBE keeps live albums in their own separate area, but there is no denying how much we love this record. It was the album released in 2025 that we definitely played the most, so we had to give it props on our year end review. Iggy Pop delivers the hits, a few deeper cuts and a host of heavy metal meets jazz/soul numbers that rip and roar. While Iggy is great (more than great considering his age), the real stars are the backing band who twist the songs in new directions.
The group manages to convey the punk angst that drove Pop’s youth, the spacey zoned out feelings of his solo career and a new hybrid of soul horns and grinding metal that somehow works magically throughout this live capturing.
This is a great album that really feels like a classic Allen Toussaint produced soul/funk classic from the '60's. The recording sounds pristine, Thomas sings as glorious as ever, Galactic are tight yet funky and the modern protest lyrics hit home.
Here are a few tunes from RtBE's favorite album of 2025:
RtBE Top Ten Favorite Albums of 2025:
#10 Trombone Shorty & The New Breed Brass Band - Second Line Sunday
How did we do? Feel free to add your favorites in the comments.
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