Our popular music critics pick some of the standout albums and live performances of 2025.

Paul Robicheau

Patti Smith at the Orpheum. Photo: Paul Robicheau

Patti Smith, Orpheum Theatre (Nov. 11). “Jesus,” she fumbled with a laugh on the first word of “Gloria” to open with her 1975 debut Horses in full. But from there, at 78, the punk poet spat faith and fury in classic form, from the incandescent sprawl of “Birdland” and “Land” to later favorites “Dancing Barefoot” and rallying cry “People Have the Power.” In between, Smith took a break for her band, still featuring Lenny Kaye and Jay Dee Daugherty plus her son Jackson, to honor the late Tom Verlaine with three songs by his kindred New York group Television.

Geordie Greep, 3S Artspace, Portsmouth NH (Sept. 23). The UK singer/guitarist’s exit from mashup lords Black Midi only furthered the ambition driving his typically eclectic solo debut The New Sound. Greep took it to another level at this intimate alternative venue, in contrast to a sold-out February show at the Paradise, a joyously gonzo three-hour jag that evoked Return to Forever’s ’70s jazz fusion as much as his operatic lounge-lizard guise, fueled by Latin percussion and piano. A relentlessly intense jam on a rock riff resolved after 10 minutes, only to crank back up to a virtuoso churn weirdly akin to Yes’ Relayer. If you can catch this sextet live, don’t miss it.

Geese, Getting Killed (Partisan). Frontman Cameron Winter is prone to odd outbursts like “There’s a bomb in my car” and “I was in love, and now I’m in hell” on his Brooklyn rock band’s sublime breakthrough album. But these extremes fit the group’s woozy clatter, wrung with Winter’s swooning vocals, which offer shades of Radiohead or Rufus Wainwright when he isn’t falling over the edge.

David Byrne, Boch Center Wang Theatre (Oct. 3). Mixing songs from cheerful new album Who is the Sky? with his Talking Heads jewels, the art-pop pioneer took a wondrous step beyond his Broadway show American Utopia. He kept the mobile troupe of players, singers, and dancers while trimming the narration and upping the visuals with towering screens that boxed the ensemble in colorful imagery.

Wednesday. Photo: Graham Tolbert

Wednesday, Bleeds (Dead Oceans). The North Carolina rockers led by singer Karly Hartzman and guitarist ex MJ Lenderman let it bleed. Wrapped in the ragged glory of grunge, alt-country, and slowcore, Hartzman’s voice sweetly cracks and harshly howls in hard-detailed vignettes that dissect townies, turmoil, and tragedy.

Alabama Shakes/Budos Band, MGM Music Hall at Fenway (Sept. 14). The first tour in eight years by Brittany Howard’s famed outfit picked up where 2015’s Sound & Color left off, showcasing that whole record with other songs, including two new ones. But the singer wowed with soulful whispers as much as hearty roars, and psych-Afrobeat ensemble the Budos Band served as an inspired opener.

Water From Your Eyes, It’s a Beautiful Place (Matador). Soundscapes starkly shift from phantasmal electronica to crunching nu-metal – and even techno in “Playing Classics.” Yet many of the tunes prove to be both arresting and alluring, Rachel Brown’s detached vocals complementing co-founding guitarist Nate Amos’ grand palette.

Chuck Prophet and his Cumbia Shoes, City Winery (Jan. 28). The wry roots-rocker’s 2024 post-cancer album Wake the Dead, recorded with a Mexican cumbia combo, was made for the stage. And City Winery was hopping on this winter night where Prophet (with those players in his band) celebrated life in culture-crossing timbres.

Jeff Tweedy, Twilight Override (dBpm). Writer’s block isn’t an issue for the leader of Wilco, given this triple solo album whose 30 songs unspool one after the other in consistent quality and contrast. There’s a lot of melancholy, but textures and tempos vary, his guitars woven with a simpatico band that includes his two sons and the duo Finom. His best output since Wilco’s 2022 double album Cruel Country.

Hallelujah the Hills/Ho-Ag, Deep Cuts, Medford (Nov. 15). The area’s new best small rock club hosted some cool shows (Sunflower Bean, Minibeast, Ryan Davis). One pinnacle was an indie-rock double bill of the sweeping Hallelujah the Hills – celebrating its 20^th anniversary, performing its 2007 namesake tune as well as (speaking of long-form releases) a bit of its new 54-song opus Deck — and the fierce, arty Ho-Ag in its first public show since 2013. Two local aughts-era greats banded together.

Scott McLennan

The year in music felt very much like the year in everything else — plenty of attractive picks, little consensus, which perhaps reflects the fortunes of  releasing music into the digital ocean. So, from the perspective of someone born and raised in the album age, here are records that topped my list for 2025:

Rick Mitarotonda of Goose at MGM Music Hall at Fenway in 2024. Photo: Paul Robicheau

Goose —  Everything Must Go/ Chain Yer Dragon

The reigning champs of the jam-band scene released two great albums this year, the more produced and thematically cohesive Everything Must Go and the looser dump-out-the-song-box Chain Yer Dragon. Together, these records encompass the band’s playful and curious spirit, which moves with confidence through a sonic landscape that spans from artsy prog rock to straight up power-pop bliss.

The Third Mind —  Right Now!/ Live Mind

Dave Alvin’s wonderful excursion into ’60s psychedelia — with a group made up of musicians from alt-and -roots-rock bands who also have a great feel for playing in the moment — entered 2025 with a sprawling live album. He returned in the fall with the studio gem Right Now! Any band that can evoke a musical galaxy that embraces both Elizabeth Cotton’s “Shake Sugaree” and Pharoah Sanders’  “The Creator Has a Master Plan” is worth your time.

Suzanne Vega. Photo: Ebru Yildiz

Suzanne Vega –Flying With Angels

Suzanne Vega’s first album of new material in a decade dramatizes the struggle this gifted songwriter observes on both personal and global levels. Vega and her longtime collaborator Gerry Leonard have crafted a noir atmosphere that can be both punky and playful. The boldly independent Vega pays tribute to both Lucinda Williams, via a musical sketch, and to Bob Dylan, with an adaptation of his “I Want You.”

Little Feat – Strike Up the Band

Honestly, it felt like Little Feat was past its “sell by” date years ago. The 2019 death of guitarist Paul Barrere seemed to empty out the last drops of the band’s fuel. But the arrival of guitarist Scott Sharrard and drummer Tony Leone supplied some creative energy. Strike Up the Band is a great Feat album by any measure.  Since the death of Lowell George in 1979, remaining OG Feat members Billy Payne, Kenny Gradney, and Sam Clatyton have proven their skill at navigating loss and change, but on this disc they have added bursts of inspiration that have not been felt in a long time.

Lukas Nelson —  American Romance

Lukas Nelson resets his musical compass on American Romance, his first outing since the dissolution of his longtime band Promise of the Real. Nelson settles into a honeyed dustbowl sound as he ruminates on the challenges that inevitably emerge in the search for simple pleasures. As the album title makes clear, Nelson has his heart visibly stapled to his sleeve, and he delivers delivers his passion with an earnest, honest sound. Don’t feel bad for the rest of POTR, because those guys have resurfaced as Neil Young’s new band, the Chrome Hearts, and help make Young’s  49^th studio album, Talkin to the Trees, a worthy addition to a storied catalog.

Cass McCombs – Interior Live Oak

Cass McCombs is an indie troubadour who has been cranking out wonderful, dour, complex, accessible, challenging, and just downright good songs for more than 20 years. Interior Live Oak blurs reality and surreality, as McCombs maintains his chill demeanor across a broad spectrum of songs that shake your senses with a compendium of subtle touches. When he declares “You know I never lie in my songs,”  I’m not sure I believe him.

Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman

Margo Price delivers a pure shot of honky-tonk country on her latest. The record is all rough and tumble, boozy, and banged up, but don’t confuse this as a dumbed-down hootenanny following the more expansive sounding Strays.  Price plants a flag for traditional outlaw country with songs that are defiant (“Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down”), tender (“Love Me Like You Used to Do”), and clever (“Don’t Wake Me Up”). With guest appearances by Tyler Childers and Jesse Welles, Hard Headed Woman puts up a good fight against the schlock of pop country.

Madeline Edwards – FRUIT

Madeline Edwards was an up-and-comer in the Americana scene when tragedy struck; her brother and biggest fan took his own life. Edwards used songwriting as a way to process her grief. Her record label and management team wanted nothing to do with a record that dealt with such a heavy topic. So, she just went and made the record herself, and the resulting FRUIT brims with emotional honesty as it wrestles with complex feelings. Edwards was spectacular when she delivered these songs live when she opened the Outlaw Festival when it rolled into Mansfield. Challenged to mature as an artist, Edwards rose to the occasion.

Miltown – Tales of Never Letting Go

Miltown was destined for great things in the late ’90s, offering up a lean, powerful sound that tapped punk rock’s dark mood and heavy metal’s dissent spirit. The band sprung from Massachusetts’s fertile heavy-music scene at the time and drew the backing of a major record label that set up the band in the famed Long View Farm recording studio in North Brookfield, where Miltown made the juggernaut Tales of Never Letting Go. But, before the record came out, the band broke up, and the album never saw the light of day. Until now. Tom Bejgrowicz of Man Alive Records was determined to get the recording out into the public and he finally succeeded this year. The songs and performances stand up all these years later, leaving us to wonder what could have been.

Tedeschi Trucks Band and Leon Russell – Mad Dogs & Englishmen Revisited (Live at LOCKN’)

Another notable album to tumble out of the vaults in 2025 is Mad Dogs & Englishmen Revisited (Live at LOCKN’). The album captures the Tedeschi Trucks Band and Leon Russell (sort of) recreating  Joe Cocker’s monumental Mad Dogs & Englishmen live album with many of the musicians who took part in that raucous affair back in 1970. The recreation itself occurred in 2015; it was crafted as a celebration of Cocker. In a way, the one-off festival performance allowed Russell to make peace with some of the messier aspects that transpired during that spell when he led the powerful band assembled for Cocker’s highly anticipated U.S. tour.

Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Chris Robinson and Warren Haynes pay tribute to the widely influential album splendidly, performing the material with an electrifying glee. Original MD&EM band members Rita Coolidge, Claudia Lennear, Chris Stainton, Pamela Polland, Bobby Torres, Matthew Moore, Bobby Jones, and Daniel Moore gave this revival additional historic heft.

In the arena of live shows, milestone anniversaries shaped many great concerts.

Reggae legends Steel Pulse celebrated its 50^th anniversary with a dynamic concert at the Hampton Beach Casino. Its political broadsides were as relevant as ever. Also turning 50 this year —Horses, the landmark debut album from Patti Smith, whose performance of the entire record at the Orpheum Theater in Boston felt like a fresh spiritual revelation.

The Cowboy Junkies turned 40 in 2025 and delivered impressive career-spanning shows that, at times, dug into the group’s spooky-blues origins with effective revivals of Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil Blues” and John Lee Hooker’s “Forgive Me,” a couple of songs from the Junkies’ debut Whites Off Earth Now!

Electro-jam wizards The Disco Biscuits blitzed the Northeast this summer with a series of stellar concerts commemorating the band’s 30^th anniversary, complete with new songs and tunes from the group’s earliest days. Surprisingly, Disco Biscuits and its drummer of 20 years, Allen Aucoin, parted ways in October, making way for Marlon B. Lewis to take over the kit. Lewis has played with Lauryn Hill and John Legend; he was also part of the funk troupe Star Kitchen with Disco Biscuits bassist Marc Brownstein. The reconstituted Biscuits will be playing Dec. 29 at Sinclair in Cambridge (where they will perform as their instrumental alter ego Tractorbeam), Dec. 30 at Royale, and Dec. 31 at Roadrunner.

Nick Cave and Colin Greenwood at Boch Center – Wang Theatre in 2023. Photo: Paul Robicheaiu

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds opened a U.S. tour at the Agganis Arena on April 15 with a powerful show that wove classic tracks in between material selected from last year’s Wild God album. Cave swung between gracious frontman and possessed shaman in a galvanizing performance that pushed the Bad Seeds to reach high (and to reach back, as Cave played “Skeleton Tree” for the first time since 2017).

Drummer Jaimoe is the last living member of the original Allman Brothers Band. Now 81, Jaimoe was more than just a spiritual figurehead when The Brothers took over New York City’s Madison Square Garden on April 15 for the second of two concerts celebrating the legacy of the Allman Brothers Band. Latter-day Brothers Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Marc Quinones, and Oteil Burbridge, plus Chuck Leavell from ABB’s ’70s heyday, longtime ABB associated Reese Wynans, and newer recruits Joe Russo and Isaac Eady came together with Jaimoe for ripping takes on Allman Brothers gems and deep cuts. The evening was equal parts celebratory and revelatory – the kind of show that keeps fans coming back for more.