Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2012

Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2012

Original Source →

50.

July 10, 2012
Critic Score
80
44 reviews
On "Irresponsible Tune," leader Dave Longstreth harnesses the magic of bygone vocal groups like the Orioles and the Comedian Harmonists, singing about "a world crooked, f***ed up and wrong" and, briefly, makes it right.

49.

Amadou & Mariam - Folila
April 10, 2012
Critic Score
72
20 reviews
The result is cultural exchange with ears pricked high.

48.

June 18, 2012
Critic Score
70
28 reviews

Luckily, it’s also a good stand-alone record, a bong-prog take on the alt-rock grandeur of Gish and Siamese Dream.

46.

October 2, 2012
Critic Score
61
33 reviews
It’s bad news that makes for some fine spectacle.

45.

January 6, 2012
Critic Score
73
11 reviews

43.

February 21, 2012
Critic Score
55
17 reviews
In “We Are Young”, and 10 other rollickingly catchy songs, Ruess’ knack for the anthemic is matched by Gen-Y humor – emo self-deprecation that leavens the bombast.

42.

April 17, 2012
Critic Score
78
16 reviews

41.

September 11, 2012
Critic Score
70
12 reviews

40.

Escort - Escort
November 15, 2011
Critic Score
73
9 reviews

39.

July 24, 2012
Critic Score
74
32 reviews

38.

October 23, 2012
Critic Score
76
21 reviews

36.

June 12, 2012
Critic Score
78
34 reviews
He's at home testifying over coolly throbbing beats.

35.

September 18, 2012
Critic Score
79
38 reviews

With Shields, they still sound like Radiohead at a Buddhist retreat, but the songs are more muscular.

34.

April 10, 2012
Critic Score
72
31 reviews

33.

February 21, 2012
Critic Score
80
41 reviews
Grimes isn't spooky enough to be "ghostly," and not substantial enough to hold your attention.

32.

January 31, 2012
Critic Score
74
16 reviews

31.

October 22, 2012
Critic Score
74
21 reviews
It’s no surprise she manages to make her fourth album both her Joni Mitchell-influenced maturity binge and her Max Martin-abetted pop move – and have it seem not just inevitable but natural.

30.

May 29, 2012
Critic Score
72
8 reviews

28.

May 15, 2012
Critic Score
77
40 reviews

The melodies, guitar­scapes and thrift-shop organ swells make for exquisite comfort.

26.

January 30, 2012
Critic Score
81
26 reviews

He and his band take a light, spry approach to their groove-centered music, which is experimental but never dour.

25.

October 16, 2012
Critic Score
73
15 reviews
No one does booby-trapped boutique pop better.

23.

August 28, 2012
Critic Score
76
25 reviews
Daniel's sharp guitar and Boeckner's drone-y keyboard come together on jittery jags that gain urgency by feeling knocked out.

20.

May 15, 2012
Critic Score
83
28 reviews
Some of his punditry is pure Che T-shirt prattle, but even when he's arguing that there's no difference between Reagan and Obama, his Ice Cube-style bark tumbles down over harried, aggro beats from indie-eminence El-P and hits like a gut punch of revealed wisdom.

19.

September 18, 2012
Critic Score
65
28 reviews
Even when Band of Horses go for broke, the South Carolina-bred Bridwell exudes the laidback gravity of a down-to earth Southerner.

18.

July 17, 2012
Critic Score
78
28 reviews

17.

John Mayer - Born and Raised
May 22, 2012
Critic Score
67
11 reviews

16.

September 4, 2012
Critic Score
79
43 reviews

15.

April 3, 2012
Critic Score
83
27 reviews
Full of muscled, vintage R&B grooves, fevered soloing, psychedelic arrangements and oracular mumbo jumbo, it's the wildest record Rebennack has made in many years.

14.

May 15, 2012
Critic Score
64
33 reviews

13.

January 31, 2012
Critic Score
81
35 reviews

The lyrics on Old Ideas reach for the stark power of prayers, hymns and religious riddles.

12.

July 17, 2012
Critic Score
80
13 reviews

11.

September 25, 2012
Critic Score
58
37 reviews

9.

June 5, 2012
Critic Score
82
35 reviews
Japandroids sing about lost youth and sex and drinking atop hammer-of-the-geeks distortion swirls and holler-along refrains a gorilla could pump some paw to.

8.

Green Day - ¡Uno!
September 25, 2012
Critic Score
64
30 reviews
“Where the hell is the old gang at?” Armstrong sings to the void in “Rusty James.” Unlike most adult punks, though, he still has his original sidekicks, and their band in a new peak form.

6.

October 22, 2012
Critic Score
90
32 reviews

Lamar is an unlikely star: a storyteller, not a braggart or punch-line rapper, setting spiritual yearnings and moral dilemmas against a backdrop of gang violence and police brutality.

5.

June 19, 2012
Critic Score
87
33 reviews

Sometimes the songs drag ... But Apple's kooky energy pushes through the slow spots.

4.

September 10, 2012
Critic Score
84
33 reviews

It’s a thing to behold.

3.

April 24, 2012
Critic Score
82
41 reviews

Blunderbuss gets stranger and more fascinating the closer you listen.

2.

July 10, 2012
Critic Score
91
42 reviews

When Ocean reins himself in, tucking his words and melodies into tighter verse-chorus structures, the songs have startling force.

1.

March 5, 2012
Critic Score
78
37 reviews

Wrecking Ball is the most despairing, confrontational and musically turbulent album Bruce Springsteen has ever made.

Original Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-albums-of-2012-20121205
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