2014 is halfway done and for music fans, it’s been a great one so far. Over the last six months, we’ve spent countless hours listening to albums from a wide range of musicians that we’ve loved for years as well as just now discovering. Click through to see our picks for the 25 best albums of the year so far … and make sure you add these to your listening stacks if you already haven’t!
Michael Jackson, ‘Xscape’
Stand Out Tracks: “Love Never Felt So Good,” “Loving You,” “A Place With No Name (Original Version)”
Why It’s Great: If you’re going to listen to the “new” Michael Jackson posthumous album, do yourself a favor and make it the deluxe edition. A handful of the updated tracks are great but the best part of this release is getting the full, high-quality versions of the originals dug out of the Jackson vault. Many of these songs have existed on the web in rough or unfinished forms for years, so getting them in full is a treat for MJ fans. And most of the originals are better than their updated counterparts.
Fun Fact: Mat Maitland, who did the art direction and design for Xscape also did art direction and design for HAIM’s debut album Days Are Gone, Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence album, and Prince’s recent single “Fallinlove2nite” with Zooey Deschanel. -Mark Sundstrom
SOURCE: FUSE
