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Dec 29, 2017 By Mark Redfern

Our Top 100 Albums of 2017 list could have easily been a much longer one. 2017 was a strong enough year in music that when our writers voted on what should be our Top 100 there were lots of good and very good albums that didn’t quite make the list. To compile our Top 100 each of our writers was asked to submit a list of their 45 favorite albums of the year. Then their lists were all combined to make up our final master list. An album had to be picked by at least three different writers to make the list. Below are 42 albums that almost made the cut.

Some, such as the latest from critical darlings Arcade Fire and Beck, divided critics and fans, but enough of our writers still liked them to make the honorable mentions lists. Then there are Under the Radar favorites-such as Ariel Pink, The Dears, Everything Everything, Mew, and Real Estate-who in the past had little trouble making our Albums of the Year lists but this year struggled a bit more with albums that weren’t quite as well received by our critics as some of their previous work. And some albums-such as Childhood, Joe Goddard, Grooms, Lindstrøm, Little Cub, Trailer Trash Traceys, and Widowspeak-didn’t perhaps get the attention they deserved.

Any of these albums are worth considering while you wait for us to finally post our Top 100 Albums of 2017 any day now (we are just putting the finishing touches on it).

Top 100 Albums of 2017 - Honorable Mentions

Ryan Adams: Prisoner (PAX AM/Blue Note)
Arcade Fire: Everything Now (Columbia)
Ariel Pink: Dedicated to Bobby Jameson (Mexican Summer)
Beck: Colors (Capitol)
Childhood: Universal High (Marathon Artists)
Cigarettes After Sex: Cigarettes After Sex (Partisan)
Benjamin Clementine: I Tell a Fly (Capitol)
The Dears: Times Infinity Volume Two (Dangerbird)
Depeche Mode: Spirit (Columbia)
Dutch Uncles: Big Balloon (Memphis Industries)
Everything Everything: A Fever Dream (RCA)
Four Tet: New Energy (Text)
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: Who Built the Moon? (Sour Mash)
Joe Goddard: Electric Lines (Domino)
Gorillaz: Humanz (Warner Bros./Parlophone)
Grooms: Exit Index (Western Vinyl)
HAIM: Something to Tell You (Columbia)
Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton: Choir of the Mind (Last Gang)
Robyn Hitchcock: Robyn Hitchcock (Yep Roc)
Jay-Z: 4:44 (Roc Nation/UMG)
Jlin: Black Origami (Planet Mu)
Lindstrøm: It’s Alright Between Us As It Is (Smalltown Supersound)
Little Cub: Still Life (Domino)
London Grammar: Truth is a Beautiful Thing (Columbia/Metal & Dust)
METZ: Strange Peace (Sub Pop)
Mew: Visuals (Play It Again Sam)
Oneohtrix Point Never: Good Time Motion Picture Soundtrack (Warp)
Real Estate: In Mind (Domino)
Rostam: Half-Light (Nonesuch)
(Sandy) Alex G: Rocket (Domino)
Shout Out Louds: Ease My Mind (Merge)
Sparks: Hippopotamus (BMG)
Stars: There Is No Love in Fluorescent Light (Last Gang/eOne)
Susanne Sundfør: Music for People in Trouble (Bella Union)
Sylvan Esso: What Now (Loma Vista)
Ty Segall: Ty Segall (Drag City)
TORRES: Three Futures (4AD)
Trailer Trash Traceys: Althaea (Double Six)
UNKLE: The Road: Part 1 (Songs For the Def)
Widowspeak: Expect the Best (Captured Tracks)
Xiu Xiu: FORGET (Polyvinyl)
Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch: Blade Runner 2049 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Epic)

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