Top 22 Albums of 2022: Ranking YOUR Favorites Part 1 (Vinyl Community)

[@tendraftsdeep]

I got that Afghan Whigs album, autographed . Vinyl. Keep on rockin Rob!!!

[@Lukronius]

Merry Christmas to you and yours, Robert!!

[@RobertFithen]

Thanks!! You too

[@marcoesquandolez4737]

Thanks! Best to you in 2023! Thanks for all the great vids!

[@RobertFithen]

Thanks! You too

[@primeanalogrecords]

Wheelhouse refers to the captains area, where he steers a ship!

[@georgespencer3973]

Flashback, regarding having to change a band name- there was a band called Friends of Dean Martin. Dean Martin’s people got mad so they changed it to Friends of Dean Martinez.

[@stephenrostkoski837]

Interesting list. I have and enjoy the Spiritualized album and I like Orville Peck. King Stingray sounds interesting. My top album for 2022 is John Mellencamp's Strictly a One-Eyed Jack and I've never even been a particularly big fan of his.

[@davidtaylor6663]

Robert. Greg Dulli was never in a coma. He put out albums in the 2000’s and early 2010’s with The Twilight Singers, all epic records…my favorite band ever. The Afghan Whigs have put out 3 albums since 2014. Their live show is some of the best ever

[@RobertFithen]

I am going by what Rollingstone.com , vice.com, and other sites have stated about Greg Dulli's coma. From Wikipedia: During the live dates for 1965, Dulli got in an altercation with a stagehand following an Austin, Texas concert date and suffered a head injury that left him in a coma. Two months after Dulli's recovery, however, the group returned to the road.

[@davidtaylor6663]

@@RobertFithen I know he got into a fight in Texas during a show. Maybe I remember it wrong. I just know he is prolific in writing and recording. Some of the best recorded music, cover songs and live music I have know in my 53 years. :) love your channel Sir!!!

[@RobertFithen]

@@davidtaylor6663 Thanks! The coma thing could just be internet exaggeration and then it just gets repeated.

[@goleson100]

Right, I was at that show in Austin and was shocked to read of the incident in the following day’s paper. As i recall Greg was ok enough to continue on to the next date of the tour. 🤕

[@80085word69]

Saw King Gizzard live in October, amazing band. I don’t know how they do it. Black Midi opened for them, the album they released this year is near the top for me.

[@RobertFithen]

Black Midi is higher on the list and in part 2.

[@BottleneckMoses]

Another amazing Aussie band.

[@ryanrenner949]

Hey Mr. Fithen! Thanks for responding to my first ever comment in the VC. I just wanted to give you a few more shoutouts for your work. I absolutely love your vids on the best singles of ‘69 and ‘77. I’ve watched them both about 4 times each. Your ‘65 hits was very clever and cool. I was hoping you’d do another. You and I were born the same year, I’m 3 months older. An ‘82 or ‘83 would be great. I first started buying records in ‘82 and we got mtv that year. I had 3 older brothers with great taste so grew up with good music. I’d love to see and hear your take on the early 80’s mtv era. Thanks for the great material. Rock On!

[@RobertFithen]

Thanks!! I was actually thinking of doing a video like that for 1983 because that was the year I started listening to current pop music instead of music from the past.

[@erics8757]

Love your stuff!! Thanks for another one :)

[@ryanrenner949]

Hey Mr. Fithen! Ryan here from beautiful Boulder, Colorado. In the past two months I’ve watched the last year of your channel. I love your breakdowns of the music scene. I worked in a record store for several years in the 90’s and dj’d many a wedding, party and bar in my day. Your 1994 unboxing video was great. You showed a Foreskin 500 poster. They were a Denver band. I played in a band called The Letches with a member of that band. We were more of a performance art band, they were pounding drum machine rock. Keep it real and I look forward to shooting the shit with you. Your stuff with Cosmic Brian was great. Rock On!

[@RobertFithen]

Thanks!! Yeah, I had no idea about Foreskin 500. I will try to keep the quality entertainment coming.

[@bilhamcobbly2957]

Had to subscribe today! Love the content.You my guy, are truly hilarious.

[@nitedreamer23]

I recently drove from Chicago to Denver. The only good song I heard on commercial radio the entire trip was by Steve Lacey. Such is the sad state of terrestrial radio these days (they still REALLY love hair metal in the middle of the country, apparently).

[@fishrider62]

The Orville Peck album intrigued me when you mentioned it was country. So I go watch a couple video's, never heard of him or heard him before. Can I give you a crazy theory? His voice, the structure and sound of the songs remind me of Ghost! Hmmmmm! lol

[@RobertFithen]

Same kind of thing with the hidden personality.

[@brunohebert1351]

You should try to get some KGLW stuff on vinyl. Avoid the fancy pressings that goes for scalper prices (ridiculous) especially as they keep re-issuing some of the records that sold out. But the quality of their pressings is top notch. I went down the rabbit hole this year trying to complete my collection of their records, (only to be bummed out when they announced those 3 albums releases in October) and out of the 23 (yes I know) or so records I got, I had to exchange only one (and that was me being picky). They come very clean too, just a brush clean and you're good to go. I got 3 live albums before realizing those are bootlegs. You can get all the tracks from the KGLW website for free. They put the tracks out there free to use and only ask people/labels that release them on physical media to send them some copies. But yes, that's still more than 30 official albums/eps to get which is a lot I got lucky as a lot of them went on sale on Amazon this summer and I had quite a bit of gift card money so it made it easier to get. I have Omnium Gatherum but haven't listened to it yet. But Made In Timeland was very interesting. Not the usual KGLW sound (like very electro) and the fun part is that it's pressed at 45rpm but sounds good too at 33rpm. There are no indication of the speed on the record so I would not be surprised if they did it on purpose.

[@doctorwhom420]

Dang I missed the call. I probably had a couple different ones for ya. Hope you have a great new year !

[@SeanKagalis]

Hi Robert. I'm glad you included the Afghan Whigs record. I agree that it starts strong and drops off a bit at the end, but I think it's strongest in the middle with songs 4-7. Great idea for a video as well. I bet a lot of people are finding new music to check out because of other people's recommendations as opposed to cookies tracking our activity and telling us to check out the album we just bought the week prior. :D Happy New Year!!

[@RobertFithen]

I'm thinking of making another 2022 video based on what people are showing in their year-end videos. I'm discovering more great albums because of those.

[@basementfortyfive]

As always a good video. Thank you.

[@mstrofunloking7736]

The Smile album is tremendous, half the songs didn’t leave an impact at first but after a few listens everything clicked and I would consider it to be on par with most of Radiohead’s discography 👌

[@calvinwazoo]

Your question about what is a wheelhouse got me curious, so I looked it up. It's the cabin-like structure on a boat where the person at the wheel is sheltered from the elements. That King Stingray sounds cool. I really like KG&LW and have a few records, but lord mighty, can you imagine being a completist with them?

[@RobertFithen]

I just can't start with King Gizzard because I know it would get out of control.

[@TiberiusWallace]

On Sammy Hagar - you can prefer DLR but Hagar can currently sing, DLR apparently can't.

[@joaomedina1]

Don't know any of this. Except Wet Leg, it's great. I got Led Zeppelin IV from Santa this year. Apparently it has a side B.

[@lucalone]

Yeah, that Smile album is really great, too .

[@PrankZabba]

I didnt quite get what that Wet Leg album was all about. I remember it sure didnt live up to all the hype that seemed to be all about. Didnt even know Spiritualized had a new album. Thats cool. Which reminds me. I got some bootleg fanedit of Floating synced to 2001 somewhere. Same with Saxon. WTF! Thats cool. Obviously im oblivious to whatever is new this year. Im gonna have to check that out. Afghan Wigs. Guess im so out of touch with new albums. Sammy Hagar. Damn! His autobiography was pretty good. For shows that long he better play some of those old soundtrack songs in concert. King Jizzard albums go out of print before they seem to be made. Its out of hand. But i did hear Infest The Rats Nest and nearly shat myself. Best metal album ive heard in like ever. But then that country soundtrack album. What the hells up with that? They put Guided By Voices to shame with how many releases they put out. Wasnt this double album part of a triple album set? But yeah. They are out of hand with content.

[@RobertFithen]

I was really surprised by how good the Saxon album was. Spiritualized has a different sound than they did on Floating.

[@mordantfilms]

Sorry I missed the opportunity to list my favorites from this year. No biggie, I don't think I took the time to hear more than a handful of albums from 2022. One album I really liked a lot was Tremblers and Goggles by Rank from Guided By Voices. Crystal Nuns Cathedral was also pretty damn great. I've actually never heard you discuss GBV, Robert. I'm sure they have something in their massive catalog that you dig.

[@RobertFithen]

I talked about them in my Australian videos.

[@KOSMICKEN09]

Yes both of the GBV albums that came out this year made my top 15- lol and they have another album out in a few weeks..

[@davidtaylor6663]

Great video

[@RobertFithen]

Thanks!!

[@floydstoner2962]

Sorry...unrelated to the video, but did I spy in your bookshelf "The Worst Rock N' Roll Records Of All Time"? The Bon Jovi entry is priceless.

[@RobertFithen]

Yes you did. I think I remember something about a cliche machine or something like that. lol

[@YnotNomis]

This was awesome for the Sammy Hagar retrospective alone and another stab at Pet Sounds! LOL!!!!

[@RobertFithen]

I couldn't resist. lol

[@patrick2420]

Isn't a wheelhouse a little shed like structure that keeps machinery protected from weather?

[@RobertFithen]

Yes, I found out it's where the ship's wheel is.

[@turbomustang84]

Failure - Wild Type Droid is the last truly great album I've purchased but nothing in 2022 caught my interest

[@Davidicus-m8c]

i'm behind,i didn't know Sammy Hagar did a new album this year,awesome. i need to find some Sammy Hagar albums, i do have his band "Chickenfoot" on vinyl.

[@KOSMICKEN09]

It's a great album - Jason Bonham's drumming on it is amazing 🤩 too ..

[@Davidicus-m8c]

@@KOSMICKEN09 that's right i forgot Jason Bonham was with his band!

[@KOSMICKEN09]

I was the one who chose it As My favorite album go figure 😆

[@markgriffiths8786]

I was hoping to see Al Martino in the mix!

[@Bootradr]

I was checking out about 80% of the albums you mentioned if I didn't already have or know them. A few peaked my interest. 1. I wasn't as impressed with this Sammy Hagar release when it came out. I got it, and in fact I was going to return it to Amazon, but they told me to just keep it and they gave me my money back. So I have it. I guess I was expecting a lot more than I thought it had. I'm not saying it was bad. It just wasn't what I was hoping it would be. But since I have it, I guess I need to start listening to it again. I love Sammy Hagar and he's great! I just didn't think the album had a great sound or production when compared to other albums. 2. I haven't bought a Saxon album in decades. But checking that one out, streaming it, it did have some interest in it's sound I thought. And these guys were rocking out. So that might be one that I decide to get. 3. Weyes Blood, a band or artist I've never heard of, also was kind of surprising and something I think I might try. I didn't listen to any songs completely on this or the Saxon albums but sampling them as I was streaming them, this was one that I think I would like to try. Thanks to whoever recommended those and thanks for the part 1 video Robert.. Brian in Fort Worth 🎶

[@RobertFithen]

I agree on the sound quality of the Sammy Hagar album. It's sounds "boxy". Nice that Amazon basically gave it to you for free.

[@Jamko1970]

Check out The Blue Stones 2022 LP “Pretty Monster “

[@albundy666]

Holy crap. A Buddy Revell reference. I thought I was the only one who saw, let alone remembered, 3 O’Clock High.

[@RobertFithen]

A classic!

[@TommysVinylnaut]

Interesting to hear your opinions on these records. Nothing for me, but entertaining video.

[@RobertFithen]

Maybe something in part 2.

[@TommysVinylnaut]

@@RobertFithen Lets see...

[@ldesaes]

2 albums that I'd like to recommend, for those who enjoy classic rock: 1) Children of the Sün - Roots 2) The Riven - Peace and Conflict Both bands are Swedish

[@RobertFithen]

Thanks! I will check them out.

[@greenalishi222]

Love Lite Roast by Sammy. It is one of his best. Great record. All his early solo stuff is so cool and less known. Only Wet Leg off the list. Wet Leg are fun rock. 99 Luftbaloons but now. For me, 2022 1) The Cult - Under The Midnight Sun 2) Sami Yaffa - The Innermost Journey To Your Outermost Mind. 3) OFF! - Free LSD 4) Tribute to John Anderson - Something Borrowed Something New 5) Wet Leg 6) both Jack Whites 7) Boris - W and Heavy Rocks The Sami Yaffa is killer. Not a bad song. Interesting listen. Pure rock. Worth a listen

[@RobertFithen]

Only two of those were on the Instagram comments and they're both in the countdown (one is in part 2). I will definitely be checking out the new Cult at some point.

[@greenalishi222]

@@RobertFithen great. Sami Yaffa was in Hanoi Rocks. Surprising and easy record. Just strong rock n roll. Great vids by you. Looking forward to part 2

[@RobertFithen]

@@greenalishi222 I will check that one out too

[@jackde1965]

You're always entertaining Robert. Great video. It's obvious that you put the time in. I follow you on IG and somehow missed the question... I must have been feeling anti social that day. Lol. I enjoy your IG too. I would have picked Palomino by First Aid Kit or maybe Expert In A Dying Field by The Beths. I'm too late anyway so it's ok if I pick two. 😁 Have a great day and an awesome new year.

[@RobertFithen]

Thanks!! Then be sure to catch part 2...

[@albundy666]

I was going to mention Expert in a Dying Field as well, but I figured I'd wait until part 2 to see if Robert selected it. Then again, it may not be in his wheelhouse.

[@jackde1965]

@@albundy666 what is a wheelhouse??? Lol

[@RobertFithen]

@@albundy666 No one commented that it was their favorite.

[@devildart]

Well, looks like I missed out on this because I don’t go on instagram. Sucks for me. Anyway, none of those albums really intrigued me. I like Saxon, but not enough to go out and buy their 300th album. Same with Sammy. I like your idea of bringing attention to new music. Especially since the recent trend has been to milk the vault of older artists. Here is a list of new music that I bought this year. Color Haze - Sacred Clutch -Sunrise on Slaughter beach The Church of the Cosmic Skull - There is No Time Wo Fat -The Singularity My Sleeping Karma-Atma. Cheers.

[@RobertFithen]

One of those albums is in part 2.

[@devildart]

@@RobertFithen I assume Clutch. Mostly because the others are pretty obscure. Looking forward to part 2. Cheers.

[@TiberiusWallace]

I said on the instagram post mine were Impera Ghost, Ziet Rammstein and Swift Midnights but I love Sea Power Everything Was Forever

[@RobertFithen]

I only listened to people's top choice. Spoiler alert: Ghost is in part 2.

[@TiberiusWallace]

@@RobertFithen See I knew you had Ghost because you had it out in the Halloween episode! It's a weird record, it goes from Doom metal in places to Desmond Child-esque hair metal.

[@cultvult]

I’m sure it’s too late to add Elvis Costello’s The boy named If. Hopefully it’s on there. Great album!

[@RobertFithen]

No one mentioned that one, but I'll check it out.

[@CBCDs]

I think Will House is the place where they read your will. If you didn’t inherit something you’d say “not in my will house.”

[@RobertFithen]

I thought it was wheel house.

[@CBCDs]

@@RobertFithen ya I think you’re right

[@ConcertBuddie]

Nice list. I’m so bad at new music now it’s downright pathetic. 10 years ago, different story.

[@RobertFithen]

I am too, that's why I had the idea to select from other people's favorites. I have a resolution for 2023 to listen to a lot more new releases.

[@michaelslowack903]

Sorry for not getting my entries in on time!

[@RobertFithen]

Always next year.

[@isomdurm]

very nice video

[@RobertFithen]

Thanks!!

[@CBCDs]

Darn….. I gotta get on instagram more often. I hope somebody chose my faves

[@happyhippythevinylguy]

Great video my friend

[@RobertFithen]

Thanks!!

[@lucalone]

2022 was again a year with many bad and or overhyped music albums, like the last 25 years in general... But my Nr. 1 of this year would be Cheat Codes by Danger Mouse. And the best archival release was LIve at the Royal Albert Hall by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Bad thing in 2022 was the increasing and almost insane prices of vinyl records. I won't pay such prices anymore in 2023. It is getting ridiculous.

[@RobertFithen]

I agree about the price increases. I streamed a lot of these and then bought some of my favorites which will be in part 2.

[@ridingwithrolla6548]

The wheel house is the shelter the captain steers the ship.

[@chaunceyphillips64]

I have taken a second mortgage in order buy all King Gizzard albums.

[@RobertFithen]

That's why I haven't bought any. I know that once I start, I won't stop.

[@scottmcneely1927]

There weren't 10 albums in 2022 I liked. There were maybe three and two of them were technically released in 2021.

[@hellionrebellionrocknrolla744]

Wow! Was not expecting Saxon on this list. Definitely not from you. When it comes to these classic metal bands, Saxon hasn't let up. Is it Ozzy's "Patient #9"? No. Buuuuuuuuuut . . . If you like classic NWOBHM, Saxon is still great. I have always loved the Sammy Montrose record but you're right; I have never seen Sammy worship until I moved to this town. Oh! This is where people don't drive 55! Check out my King Gizzard vid and cheers mate!

[@RobertFithen]

Thanks! I will.

[@chestrendy]

This doesn't really have anything to do with the vid. But whats your opinion on Duophonic records.?

[@RobertFithen]

I don't like them at all. Would rather have real stereo or mono.

[@mosespray4510]

I always liked "Van Hagar" the best, and I have no connections to the St Louis area. Shubeebadoodlysqueedyloobityshimminyboobitybop never did it for me.

[@brette.5863]

“Kid A is just ‘ok’”???? Incorrect sir

[@davidoswell3079]

Suede=swede or swayd???

[@RobertFithen]

Swayed.

[@greghawkins229]

Buy anything Sammy Hagar

[@JonPickles]

Did you say London Sweed? It’s Suede pronounced swade 😅

[@RobertFithen]

I said swayed.

[@JonPickles]

@@RobertFithen 😄

[@vinylrichie007]

Steve Lacy may make my top ten. The Smile is on a lot of people's top ten list. Nothing as hot as a hot woman picking up dog shit. I'm going to work Pet Sounds into my number one pick. If I remember.

[@RobertFithen]

Yes, please!

[@crazyprayingmantis5596]

My favourites we're all the artificially limited overpriced reissues.

[@RobertFithen]

Another reason I didn't include re-issues.

[@crazyprayingmantis5596]

@@RobertFithen Unfortunately the "vinyl resurgence" has completely ruined the hobby for me. It's become a giant cash grab and I think the Mofi debacle summed that up, a company selling artificially limited records and deliberately lying for profit.

[@jwaller132]

Sammy Hagar is the coolest rock star ever! THAT'S RIGHT! I JUST SAID THAT ! 😆

[@RobertFithen]

He's a great guy in person, too.

[@michaelmorris7552]

Stone roses, just simple

[@RobertFithen]

I will check it out.

[@RekkidTalk]

I think I forgot to respond to your Instagram post, which is OK because I'm pretty sure my pick isn't in your wheelhouse. 🎡🏡

[@RobertFithen]

At least now I know what a wheelhouse is.