Stevie for the Best Album of 2014
 

Best Album of 2014 – 4th Annual Ultimate Classic Rock Awards
by Nick DeRiso January 6, 2015 4:38 PM

2014 Album of the Year

The 4th Annual Ultimate Classic Rock Awards begin once more with one of the most important categories — Album of the Year. For your consideration, we’ve selected 14 widely acclaimed, deeply discussed albums released in 2014.
They include reliable returns to form from AC/DC and Tom Petty, offbeat offerings from Robert Plant and Roger Daltrey, and loving looks back from Stevie Nicks and Pink Floyd. Your votes decide which will earn the completely fan-decided Album of the Year nod …



'Rock or Bust'
AC/DC


Things change -- and that seemed particularly so, at least for a time, with AC/DC. They lost a founding member, then (for while, anyway) a drummer. But what they didn't lose, as 'Rock or Bust' made so abundantly clear in 2014, was their mojo. AC/DC remains as resilient as they are fun.




wilko johnson roger daltrey
'Going Back Home'


Roger Daltrey has spent so much time belting out either rock anthems or rock operas that it's easy to forget the way he could get bone-deep into a good blues. An unlikely pairing with Wilko Johnson served as a powerful reminder.





'Sonic Highways'
Foo Fighters


Foo Fighters, classic rock lovers through and through, invited along a slew of big-name guests as they moved from great American city to great American city for a documentary of the same name. Included were Joe Walsh, Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick and long-time David Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti.





'Space Invader'
Ace Frehley


After a(nother) period of unrest with his ex-bandmates in Kiss, Ace Frehley got back to music -- and in a big way. 'Space Invader,' his first album since 2009, shot all the way in the Billboard Top 10 on the strength of a series of muscular new originals and a fun cover of 'The Joker.'





'Redeemer of Souls'
Judas Priest


No one can be faulted for having misgivings about a new album from Judas Priest. After all, they'd last released a concept album that was poorly received in some quarters, then lost a principal guitar voice. But 'Redeemer of Souls' lived up to its billing, becoming Judas Priest's first-ever Top 10 U.S. debut.




'24 Karat Gold'
Stevie Nicks


Stevie Nicks dusted off some of her best previously unreleased work for '24 Karat Gold,' illustrating that even her cast-offs can be revealed -- with a little post-production tweaking -- as gems worth treasuring. Nicks, sounding reborn, fashioned her most consistent solo effort in years.





'Shut Up & Jam'
Ted Nugent


Ted Nugent's musical legacy can get lost in the chatter surrounding his often-controversial political views. Nugent seemed to speak to that on his first album since 2007, humorously titled 'Shut Up & Jam.' He didn't exactly do that in time that followed, but it took nothing away from this return-to-form effort.





'Hypnotic Eye'
Tom Petty


For those who had longed for something similar to the Heartbreakers' first two albums, this was hypnotic, indeed. Tom Petty plugged in for a roaring return, after detouring into rootsier sounds, and fans responded -- making 'Hypnotic Eye' their first-ever Billboard charttopping release.





'The Endless River'
Pink Floyd


It took the return of Richard Wright, despite his untimely death, to reawaken Pink Floyd once more. Compiled from leftover 20-year-old sessions featuring the late keyboardist, 'The Endless River' was a throwback gift for fans of Pink Floyd's pre-'Dark Side of the Moon' penchant for extended instrumental forays.





'Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar'
Robert Plant


Robert Plant's initial studio collaboration with the Sensational Space Shifters resulted in the droning exoticism of 'Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar.' A multi-cultural excursion, it took elements of what he'd done in Led Zeppelin and raced out to a new frontier.





'Ride Out'
Bob Seger


Bob Seger's latest album arrived amid rumors that it might, in fact, be his last. If true, he's left us with a project that pushed hard against pre-conceived notions. 'Ride Out,' while still boasting a classic Seger anthem in 'Detroit Made,' also made room for cool country and Americana.





'World on Fire'
Slash


Slash perhaps could have pruned this one a bit, since his current collaboration with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators was actually one track longer than Guns N' Roses' magnum opus 'Use Your Illusion I.' Luckily, as on 'Wicked Stone,' Slash can still spin similar magic. At the same time, tracks like the Celtic-inflected 'Avalon' found him testing new musical boundaries.




'High Hopes'
Bruce Springsteen


Bruce Springsteen didn't set particularly high goals for 'High Hopes,' a hodge-podge of re-recordings, outtakes and covers -- but he found meaning in what remained, nevertheless. Of particular note is the long-awaited studio take on 'American Skin' and, of course, the chance to hear the late Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici once more.
Read Our Review of 'High Hopes'


Jack White - Lazaretto
'Lazaretto'
Jack White


There's an enduring charm about Jack White, despite the crazy outfits, the curio recording booth, the world’s-fastest-record stunts, the heartbreaking split with Meg. (No, actually, we’re not over that yet.) Part of it is that he's a stone-cold blues lover. There’s also fantastically mangled dance music, Stonesy country honk, something like prog, and countless other brilliantly unquantifiable things. You get all of that here.





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I swear if she loses to ACDC's comeback album.....:mad:

Since when are the Foo Fighters considered classic rock?! :confused:

Mainly because Dave Grohl was the drummer of Nirvana in the early nineties...
Foo fighters aren't bad and they've been around for a rough 20 years now but respect to the other artists in the list they're far less experienced. The same goes for Jack White and Slash.

I agree.Anything in the 1990's is not considered classic rock to me.

That was the decade I started losing interest in new pop/rock music.It has been going down hill since.

Dont get me wrong .There was some good bands and solo artists from the 1990's.

Stevie has stiff competition with others here.I hope she get to the top anyway.

In my mind Nirvana isn't classic rock, either. To me classic rock started in the late 1960s and ended in the mid 1980s (and I'm being generous with the end date).

In any event, I don't think Stevie has a serious chance against Tom Petty, Robert Plant, and Pink Floyd. Those guys all received widespread critical acclaim for their latest albums.

Come on and vote for Stevie. She is the only woman in the group and this album deserves some love! I think you can vote once an hour.

I think it's a matter of generations, you're older than some of this bands, and there's a huge generation gap between my definition of classic rock (for me it ended with the grunge movement in the early nineties and I'm born on 1991) and yours, but there's even a bigger gap from mine and that of the now teenagers and I'm not much older than them. Times are changed, everything is much faster, and for these kids that are discovering Rock now late 90's and early 2000's bands are classic.
It's the same argument that my parents had with their parents when classical and light music have been replaced by Rock music, but now music generations are alternating faster.

I'm much more preoccupied about the fact that now Rock isn't considered the music of young people anymore and it has been substituted by Rap for teens and young adults nowadays, I wonder if it means that Rock is truly dead...

By the way, realistically speaking, I'm aiming for Stevie to rank 5th.
Hypnotic eye deserves the first position, and at least not less than the top 3, but the Robert Plant album isn't so unbeatable like Pink Floyd instead, 24K gold doesn't have anything to envy to Lullaby and the ceaseless roar.

P.S. I love the improvements of the appearance of this site, now it's classier and doesn't make my eyes hurt at night!

24k has 75 percent on Metacritic
Hypnotic Eye has 77
And Robert Plants album has an 81 approval rating

My point is Petty and Plant aren't beating her by much critically and she has a lot of bias going against her.

I'm agree completely, but this is a poll, so the popularity of an artist counts much more than the actual quality of the album, proof is the fact that the first place for now it's taken by AC/DC that are good, but aren't the best on that list...

Come on people please vote. Right now Slash is winning.

I know, after rising til over 6% she fell down again at 3-4%, I hope she gains some votes from Ledgies because she really deserves to be in the Top 5.

Stevie just overcomed the 5% limit!

Vote people. Ted Nugent is beating Stevie.Geesh!