Favorite Archival Releases | AllMusic 2020 in Review

Emperor of Easy: Lost Columbia Masters 1962-72

A stellar compilation of rare and unreleased tracks culled from the popular crooner's Columbia vault.

The Delta Sweete [Deluxe Edition]

The singer/songwriter designed her second album as a quasi-autobiographical portrait of the American South that's in turn beguiling and spooky.

Great American Saturday Night

A big, bawdy, rowdy party album recorded in 1978 but not released until 2020.

Sympathy for the Devil: Live at the Royal Albert Hall, 1974

A theatrical and rocking 1974 live concert featuring the Roxy Music singer playing songs off his first two solo albums.

Instrumental Relics

Excellent collection of highlights from visionary producer Clams Casino's early output.

Goodbye Tour [Live, 1968]

A handsome box featuring four full concerts from Cream's valedictory farewell tour from 1968.

MODE

Massive career retrospective box set that collects all 14 albums and 4 discs of B-sides and rarities.

Hotrod Hotel

A lovingly curated and presented collection of the combo's late-'80s singles and demos is jangle pop perfection.

Jewel Box

An exhaustive, handsome box that offers a wealth of Elton John rarities, including non-LP B-sides and unreleased pre-fame recordings.

Elvis Costello & the Attractions / Elvis Costello

Armed Forces

One of Elvis Costello's early masterpieces, highlighted by "Oliver's Army" and "Accidents Will Happen," and expanded here with bonus tracks.

From Elvis in Nashville

A deep dive into Elvis Presley's June 1970 sessions in Nashville, a period which constitutes his last great studio recordings.

The RCA Albums 1977-1985

All eight of the singer's RCA Victor LPs, plus well-chosen bonus tracks, lovingly packaged together for the first time.

Fleetwood Mac: 1969-1974

A tidy box containing every album Fleetwood Mac released between 1969 and 1974, featuring bonus tracks and an unreleased live album from 1974.

Origins

Essential collection of Foul Play's first three releases, documenting U.K. dance music's evolution from breakbeat hardcore into jungle.

A Bout de Heavenly [The Singles]

Long overdue collection of the indie pop band's singles that range from giddy, girl group-influenced twee pop to powerfully punchy Brit-pop.

Green

The late Japanese ambient music pioneer's fourth album rings with a new clarity on this lovely reissue.

Return to Never (Home Recordings 1979-1986, Vol. 2)

The second volume of the project's earliest recordings provides another fascinating glimpse into Warren Defever's musical roots.

Sing the Snow Away: The Chunklet Years

A bracing collection of off-kilter, lo-fi and proud of it tracks released by the Philly band between 2015 and 2018.

Dream Songs: The Essential Joe Hisaishi

An abundant greatest-hits collection from the man behind the music of Studio Ghibli and much more.

Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967)

A box set containing five discs of unreleased and compelling tapes from Joni Mitchell's years as a folk singer in the mid-1960s.

Little Does She Know: The Complete Recordings

A four-disc box containing everything the power-poppy pub rockers ever recorded.

Linda Thompson / Richard Thompson / Richard & Linda Thompson

Hard Luck Stories 1972-1982

Superb eight-disc summation of the ten-year collaboration between two giants of the U.K. folk-rock community.

Music From Patch Cord Productions

The first peek into the pioneering electronic artist's archive of rarities is a trove of delightful, spooky, quaint, and futuristic moments.

Homegrown

A lost album from 1975 that's alternately emotionally raw, intimate, and funny.

Power, Corruption & Lies [Definitive]

The band's second album is confident and assured synth pop that makes full use of their technological skills, sparkling songwriting, and deft playing.

The Comforts of Madness [30th Anniversary Re:Masters]

The 4AD dream-pop band's Top 40 U.K. debut, remastered and expanded for its 30th anniversary with strong demos and a pre-LP John Peel session.

To Bring You My Love: The Demos

The raw early versions of Harvey's lavishly produced 1995 classic make for fascinating listening.

Sign 'O' the Times [Super Deluxe]

Sprawling, eclectic, and messy, Prince's second double album swashbuckles from bare-bones electro-funk and smooth soul to pseudo-psychedelic pop and crunching hard rock in thrilling, satisfying fashion.

Pylon

Pylon Box

Outstanding anthology that documents the original run of one of the best and most influential bands on the Athens, Georgia scene.

Rashied Ali / Frank Lowe

Duo Exchange: Complete Sessions

This vinyl only set contains the complete, historic 1972 sax/drums duo sessions for the first time.

Robbie Basho

Song of the Avatars: The Lost Master Tapes

This five-disc box contains 54 tracks of wholly unreleased material from the guitarist's private, long-hidden, 100-reel-plus archive.

Sister Sledge

Thinking of You: The Atco/Cotillion/Atlantic Recordings 1973-1985

At last, a thorough and thoughtful anthology of the Philly R&B vocal group who had much more to offer than their Chic collaborations.

Supergrass

The Strange Ones: 1994-2008 [Box Set]

A gargantuan set featuring nearly everything the brilliant Brit-pop band ever recorded, including seven discs of rarities.

The Everly Brothers

Down in the Bottom: The Country Rock Sessions 1966 - 1968

The Everlys' road to their 1968 country-rock masterpiece Roots is examined in detail on this splendid set.

The Replacements

Pleased to Meet Me [Deluxe]

A stomping collection of blistering performances and one of the 'Mats' best, expanded here with loads of demos and alternate takes.

Thin Lizzy

Rock Legends [2020]

Multiple discs of recently unearthed demos, radio sessions, and rarities, as well as a 1981 concert and single mixes of the legendary group's greatest hits.

Tom Petty

Wildflowers & All the Rest

Tom Petty's warm, stripped-down 1994 classic gets an expanded reissue with unreleased songs, demos, and live recordings.

Valium Aggelein

Black Moon

This long-overdue reissue of the entire recorded output of the Duster side project is late-'90s slowcore and space rock at its best.

Various Artists

Surrender to the Rhythm: The London Pub Rock Scene of the Seventies

This rarities-packed triple-disc collection emphasizes the raucous side of pub rock.

Various Artists

Still in My Arms: Compiled by Bayu and Moopie

A glance backward at the softer, more wistful side of Y2K-era IDM, uncovering deep cuts from labels like Toytronic and Expanding Records.

Various Artists

1978: The Year the UK Turned Day-Glo

Excellent three-disc set chronicling the year British punk began splitting off in new directions and grew from a fad into a movement.

Various Artists

Martin Green Presents Super Sonics: 40 Junkshop Britpop Greats

A collection of one-hit wonders and never-weres from the glory days of Cool Britannia.

Various Artists

Bubblerock Is Here to Stay! The British Pop Explosion 1970-73

A heaping basket of tuneful bubblegum nuggetry from Britain's early-'70s pop market.

Various Artists

Crawling Up a Hill: A Journey Through the British Blues Boom 1966-71

This 56-track, three-disc, annotated anthology is arguably the very first comprehensive overview of the British blues scene.

Various Artists

Living on the Hill: A Danish Underground Trip 1967-1974

An exciting deep dive into Denmark's surprisingly fertile prog and psych-rock scenes of late 1960s and early '70s.

Various Artists

NWOBHM Thunder: New Wave of British Heavy Metal 1978-1986

Cherry Red pulls another three discs' worth of lovingly curated, mostly obscure New Wave of British Heavy Metal gems from the forge.

Various Artists

Sumer Is Icumen In: The Pagan Sound of British & Irish Folk 1966-1975

A fascinating celebration of British folk-rock's eerier, more spiritual side during its late-'60s and early-'70s heyday.

Various Artists

Strum & Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987

A stunning exploration of the chiming pop bands who released singles in the wake of R.E.M., collected and presented with scholarly care by Captured Tracks.

The Allmusic 2020

Year In Review