2021, for me, wasn't much of an improvement on 2020. The concert scene here hasn't revived much.

Still working on my list. Bevis Frond will likely top my new release list. Have yet to break into the KISS Destroyer box set.

New releases, reissues, compilations (single and various artists), box sets, songs, EPs, cover song albums- what are your favorites that were released this year?

The new Saga remasters. All of them.

lucinda williams jukebox releases

jason isbell

crosby

prince

Man, I can't even remember if I bought a single new release in 2021. I know some artists chose to hold off on new releases until touring was feasible again.

I only bought a handful of new releases but my favorites would have to
Deep Purple - Turning To Crime
Gov’t Mule - Heavy Load Blues Deluxe

Reissues
Black Sabbath - Sabotage , Technical Ecstasy and Vol 4 box sets
Rolling Stones - Tattoo You Deluxe

Turns out, after checking my database, I bought 4 whole new releases this year.

Jerry Cantrell - Brighten
dUg Pinnick - Joy Bomb
Iron Maiden - Senjutsu
Tuesday the Sky - Blurred Horizon

Everything else was a reissue.

Why Wait! - Kate Taylor
For Free - David Crosby
Downhill From Everywhere - Jackson Browne
Starting Now - Toad The Wet Sprocket
30 - Adele
Star Crossed - Kacey Musgraves

Styx, Crash of the Crown
Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, Raise the Roof
The Stranglers, Dark Matters
David Crosby, For Free
Albert Bouchard, Imaginos II: Bombs Over Germany (minus zero and counting)
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Hunter and the Dog Star
Kacey Musgraves, Star-Crossed
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, I Told You So
Durand Jones & The Indications, Private Space
ABBA, Voyage

Lee Morgan: Complete Live at Lighthouse box
The Aristocrats: Freeze! Live in Europe 2020
Metallica Black box
Art Pepper: Promise Kept, Complete Artists House Recordings box
Steely Dan: Northeast Corridor Live
Allan Holdsworth: Leverkusen 2010
Charles Mingus: At Carnegie Hall 1974 complete
Mick Fleetwood: Celebrates Music of Peter Green
Harold Land: Westward Bound!
Focus: Singles, Deep Cuts, and BBC Live
Harvie S. Trio With Mike Stern And Alan Dawson: Going For It

New music
Let’s Get Happy Together - Maria Muldaur

50th Anniversary sets
200 Motels
All Things Must Pass
LA Woman

Other vault releases
Zappa Last Live US Show

Turned out to be a busy 2021:

UFO/ Strangers In The Night deluxe edition
Liquid Tension Experiment/ LTE3
TULL/ A (A La Mode) 40th Anniversary edition
TULL/ Benefit (50th Anniversary edition)
The Who/ The Who Sell Out deluxe box set
The Stones/ Goats Head Soup deluxe box set
The Aristocrats/ Freeze! Live In Europe
Cheap Trick. In Another World
Porcupine Tree/ Closure
Dream Theater/ A View From The Top
Coldplay/ Music Of The Spheres
WVH/ Mammoth
Steve Hackett/ Surrender Of Silence
Golden Earring/ Moontan remastered and expanded set
Transatlantic/ The Absolute Universe: Forevermore
Jon Anderson/ Olias Of Sunhillow expanded edition
Gentle Giant/ Free Hand 5.1 Steven Wilson edition
Renaissance/ Song For All Season remaster
King Crimson/ Elements Tour Box 2021
Loverboy/ remasters Get Lucky and Loverboy
SAGA/ remasters Worlds Apart and Silent Knight
The Beatles/ Let It Be box set
Depeche Mode/ 101 new Blu-Ray set
Allan Holdsworth/ Leverkusen 97
Allan Holdsworth/ Leverkusen 2010
Devin Townsend/ Devolution series #2- Galactic Quarantine
Octarine Sky/ Close To Nearby
Yes/ The Quest
Beledo/ Seriously Deep
Paul Gilbert/ TWAS
Alex Skolnick/ Florida Man Blues
Gabriel Agudo/ Nosferatu
Dave Kerzner/ New World Live In Miami
ANYWHEREDOOR/ Observables
Stick Men/ OWARI
PAKT/ PAKT
PAKT/ Live In Kenner Square
PAKT/ Live In Pawling NY
Gary Husband/ The Things I See- Interpretations Of The Music Of Allan Holdsworth.

I’m exhausted just writing them out. Definitely veer to the prog side of music.

Pete Yorn Sings The Classics was the runaway winner for me.

Also good:
Threesome Vol. 2 - The Lickerish Quartet
Soberish - Liz Phair
Voyage - ABBA
Future Past - Duran Duran
The Quest - Yes

Disappointing:
Dreamers Are Waiting - Crowded House
Catspaw - Matthew Sweet

More about re-releases and Vault releases...but a few original releases
Gov't Mule Heavy Load Blues
Hawkwind Somnia
James McMurtry The Horses and the Hounds
Lucinda Williams Lu Jukebox Vol 1 (TP) and Vol 3 (BD)
Matthew Sweet Catapaw
The Coral Coral Island

Grateful Dead: As always busy year - Dave's Picks Subscription, Listen to The River Box;
Frank Zappa: Zappa 88
Neil Young: Way Down In The Rust Bucket AND Carnegie Hall 1970
Tedeschi Trucks Band Featuring Trey Anastasio: Layla Revisited (Live At LOCKN')
Way Way Way too many Grapfruit and Doctor Bird label releases to list
Bob Dylan: 1970
Beatles: Let It Be Deluxe
Black Crowes: Shake Your Money Maker 30th Anniversary
David Crosby: If I could Only Remember My Name
Rory Gallagher: 50th Anniversary
UFO: Force It

I just did a quicky, looking at my collection list. I know I am getting really old, but I was surprised at how many of my choices were vault or remasters & that I could only find 5 newly recorded albums I really liked. At any rate:

New Releases
David Crosby - For Free
Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Imelda May - 11 Past The Hour
Liz Phair - Soberish
Lucinda Williams - You Are Cordially Invited (Stones Covers)

Remasters/Vault
Berlin - Love Life (Rubellan)
Berlin - Pleasure Victim (Rubellan)
CSNY Deja Vu Deluxe 24 bit
David Crosby If I Could Only Remember My Name 24 bit Expanded Remaster
David Bowie - Brilliant Live Adventures
David Bowie - Toy
Frank Zappa - 24 bit Remasters
Joan Armatrading - Debut 96/24 Download (NOT the inferior SACD)
Joni Mitchell - Archives Volume 2
King Crimson - Elements Tour Box
Loreena McKennitt - 24 bit download remaster series
Neil Young - Archives 2
Neil Young - Young Shakespeare
Pink Floyd - 24 bit Remaster Series
Porcupine Tree - Bandcamp Vault Releases

Pretty Short list this year:

The Aristocrats - Freeze! Live In Europe 2020
Smith / Kotzen - Smith / Kotzen

My problem is that, even with new music, I'm generally at least a year or two behind. Still, "Home Video" by Lucy Dacus was a relatively timely discovery for me. "The Awesome Album" by Mouse Rat has gotten quite a bit of play around here, although much of the music is probably a decade old.

Most of my 2021 CD purchases have resulting in multiple months of waiting for some pre-ordered boxed set to arrive in the mail. I've been eagerly anticipating the "Pot Luck With Elvis" sessions for at least two months, but it now looks to be a 2022 release for me.

My top 60 new releases

1 . The Bevis Frond ~ Little Eden
2 . Cool Ghouls ~ At George's Garage
3 . Femi Kuti and Made Kuti ~ Legacy+
4 . Ghalia Volt ~ One Woman Band
5 . Miranda Lambert/Jack Ingram/Jon Randall ~ The Marfa Tapes
6 . The August Teens ~ I'm Selfish And So Is My Cat
7 . The Coral ~ Coral Island
8 . The Airport 77s ~ Rotation
9 . Connie Smith ~ The Cry of the Heart
10 . Robert Plant & Alison Krauss ~ Raise The Roof
11 . Jenny Don't & The Spurs ~ Fire on the Ridge
12 . Sierra Ferrell ~ Long Time Coming
13 . Kiss The Tiger ~ Vicious Kid
14 . Ty Segall ~ Harmonizer
15 . Veronica Lewis ~ You Ain't Unlucky
16 . Fernando Perdomo ~ Starcaster
17 . The Moons ~ Pocket Melodies
18 . Tex Crick ~ Live In… New York City
19 . Fernando Perdomo/Vic Kingsley ~ Fake Smiles
20 . Guy Davis ~ Be Ready When You Call
21 . The Burner Band ~ Signs & Wonders
22 . Eleventh Dream Day ~ Since Grazed
23 . NRBQ ~ Dragnet
24 . Neil Young & Crazy Horse ~ Barn
25 . Robert Finley ~ Sharecropper's Son
26 . Jim Lauderdale ~ Hope
27 . Courtney Barnett ~ Things Take Time, Take Time
28 . David Crosby ~ For Free
29 . Steve Earle & the Dukes ~ J.T.
30 . The Forty Nineteens ~ New Roaring Twenties
31 . Billy F. Gibbons ~ Hardware
32 . St. Lenox ~ Ten Songs of Worship and Praise for our Tumultuous Times
33 . Ryan Adams ~ Big Colors
34 . Copeland, King, Cosma & Belew Gizmodrome ~ Live
35 . Jeremy Morris ~ My Shining Star
36 . Rhiannon Giddens ~ They're Calling Me Home
37 . Jeremy Morris ~ Distant Dream
38 . Natalie Bergman ~ Mercy
39 . Dwayne Dopsie and The Zydeco Hellraisers ~ Set Me Free
40 . Silver Synthetic ~ Silver Synthetic
41 . Billie Eilish ~ Happier Than Ever
42 . The Poppermost ~ Hits To Spare
43 . Adele ~ 30
44 . The Kryng ~ V
45 . Jackson Browne ~ Downhill From Everywhere
46 . David Olney & Anana Keys ~ Whispers and Sighs
47 . Tamar Aphek ~ All Bets are Off
48 . Lukas Nelson and Promise Of The Real ~ A Few Stars Apart
49 . The Flatlanders ~ Treasure of Love
50 . The Cruzados ~ She's Automatic!
51 . Jeremy Morris ~ The Road to Zion
52 . Gov't Mule ~ Heavy Load Blues (Deluxe Edition)
53 . Shelby Lynne ~ The Servant
54 . John R Miller ~ Depreciated
55 . John Hiatt ~ Leftover Feelings
56 . The Courettes ~ Here We Are
57 . Juliana Hatfield ~ Blood
58 . Lindsey Buckingham ~ Lindsey Buckingham
59 . Teenage Fanclub ~ Endless Arcade
60 . The Red Locusts ~ The Red Locusts

Favorite surf instrumental albums

1 . The Anglers ~ Music For Fishing
2 . The Breakers ~ Torch Light
3 . Man Or Astro-Man? ~ Space 1991
4 . Blackball Bandits ~ The Cursed Island
5 . The Guantanamos ~ Asylum Escape!
6 . V/A ~ An Evening with Vincent Price
7 . Terremotor ~ Veneno Da Cana
8 . Jason Janik ~ Air Waves
9 . The Creature Preachers ~ Unearthed
10 . The Swongos ~ Curious Tourist
11 . Los Reverbs ~ Surf the Waves of Music with
12 . Frankie & The Pool Boys ~ The Wet Season: 2008-2021
13 . De Gringos Y Gremmies ~ The Band from Laramie
14 . The Metalunas ~ Interstellar Surf Party
15 . The Surfaders ~ Shaken And Disturbed

Favorite artist comps/reissue/etc

Al Stewart ~ Year Of The Cat 45th Anniversary Edition
Billy Joe Shaver & Kinky Friedman ~ Live Down Under
Bob Dylan ~ Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985)
Brandy Clark ~ Your Life is a Record (Deluxe Edition)
Bruce Springsteen ~ The Live Series: Songs Under Cover Vol. 2
Bush Tetras ~ Rhythm and Paranoia: The Best of Bush Tetras
Chris Hill ~ Everything Is Everything
Connie Smith ~ Latest Shade Of Blue – The Columbia Recordings 1973 to 1976
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ~ Déjà Vu 50th Anniversary Edition
Edgar Jones ~ The Way It Is – 25 Years Of Solo Adventures
Elton John ‎ ~ Regimental Sgt. Zippo
Faust ~ 1971-1974
Frank Zappa ~ 200 Motels Soundtrack 50th Anniversary
Hypnosonics ~ Someone Stole My Shoes: Beyond The Q Division Sessions
Jethro Tull ~ Benefit The 50th Anniversary Enhanced Edition
John Mellancamp ~ The Good Samaritan Tour 2000
KISS ~ Destroyer 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe
Phillip Goodhand-Tait ~ Gone Are the Songs of Yesterday: Complete Recordings 1970-1973
Piero Umiliani ~ L'uomo Elettronico: Cosmic Electronic Environments from an Italian Synth Music Maestro (1972-1983)
PJ Harvey ~ Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
PJ Harvey ~ Uh Huh Her- Demos
Rogér Fakhr ~ Fine Anyway
The Supreme Jubilees ~ It'll All Be Over
The Times ~ My Picture Gallery: The Artpop Recordings
True West ~ Kaleidoscope of Shadows: The Story So Far

Favorite V/A Comps

Almost Famous Original Soundtrack 20th Anniversary Deluxe
An Eclectic Selection of Music from the Arab World, Part 2
Breakthrough: Underground Sounds of 1971
Cameroon Garage Funk
Choctaw Ridge - New Fables of The American South 1968-1973
Cuba: Music And Revolution (Culture Clash In Havana Cuba: Experiments In Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 1)
Good As Gold – Artefacts Of The Apple Era 1967 to 1975
Good Good Feeling: The Latin Soul Of Fania Records
Greg Belson's Divine Funk - Rare American Gospel Soul and Funk
Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal
Party For Joey A Sweet Relief Tribute To Joey Spampinato-
Rebel Rousers
Rock 'n' Roll Floozy 1: Good For Nothing Human
Stop The War - Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1965-1974
This Is Tehran
Two Synths A Guitar (And) A Drum Machine Vol. 1

Favorite songs

Bonnie "Prince" Billy ~ Good to My Girls
Corey Ledet ~ Pel Mio (Call Me)
Fernando Perdomo ~ Class of 98
Fernando Perdomo/Vic Kingsley ~ Howl At The Moon
Fernando Perdomo/Vic Kingsley ~ Stayin' Alive
French Girls ~ Summertime
Ghalia Volt ~ Reap What You Sew
Ghalia Volt ~ It Ain't Bad
Kiss The Tiger ~ I Miss You
Kiss The Tiger ~ You Are the One
Miranda Lambert/Jack Ingram/Jon Randall ~ Two Step Down to Texas
Mom ~ Suzie (Use Me)
Robert Finley ~ Country Child
Samantha Fish ~ Faster
St. Vincent ~ Down and Out Downtown
Teenage Fanclub ~ Back in the Day
The 69 Cats ~ (You're) The Kind of Girl I Need
The Airport 77s ~ Christine's Coming Over
The Airport 77s ~ Make It Happen
The Bevis Frond ~ They Will Return
The Bevis Frond ~ Cherry Gardens
The Bevis Frond ~ Do Without Me
The Bevis Frond ~ There's Always Love
The Bevis Frond ~ Pasted All Over
The Coral ~ Take Me Back To The Summertime
The Coral ~ Land Of The Lost
The Explorers Club ~ Summer Days, Summer Nights (Under Construction Mix)
The Moons ~ Don't Be Long
The Poppermost ~ Goodnight Georgia Peach
The Red Locusts ~ Glow Worm
The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band ~ Too Cool To Dance
The Vintage Caravan ~ Can't Get You Off My Mind

I have just discovered (and ordered) a 2021 remix/expanded 2cd of Big Big Train's Underfall Yard. I'm watching and downloading the HD remix video on YouTube right now. There's no way this rerelease can suck. BTW, lead singer and multi-instrumentalist David Longdon (who joined BBT about the time of this album) died of injuries in November of "an accident"/"a fall" at his home. Very vague. Big Big Train has canceled its upcoming tour to figure out its future. Another one lost to 2021.

Otherwise, I too seem to be in that 50th anniversary demographic: Grateful Dead Skull & Roses, Deja Vu, Rory Gallagher, Let It Be, etc. I hope we see more of those expanded sets in 2022 says this old man. If I could pick just one, it would be an expanded R.E.O. T.W.O., but that's just me. Or maybe Honky Chateau as a second choice.

Were you able to sneak in a lunch while jamming to all that?

Working remotely helps in a big way, jamming to CD after CD, like I couldn't do at the office. I do need to take lunch more often!

If I did that, I would end up anorexic.