Kamasi Washington - The Epic (2015)
This guy's presence on Kendrick Lamar's
To Pimp A Butterfly was the best thing about that album, and this solo outing is an amazing retrospective of sorts of 70's fusion and related styles. Will definitely be in my top tier for the year's end roundup.
The Alan Parsons Project - Gaudi (1987)
The thing that separates The Alan Parsons Project from so many other "classic" artists was Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson's insane level of professionalism from album to album regardless of the musicians involved or album concept: even their most commercial stuff has a classiness about it that's only rivaled by
Steely Dan. This particular outing was the last official album released under the APP moniker, but having spent some time with it I think its right up there with their best material (like
Eye In The Sky or
Tales Of Mystery & Imagination). And a there are a few cuts in particular, such as Too Late' and the
Dire Straits-ish 'Money Talks', that are pure radio gold for the late 80's. Very fun.
