The Best of Car Talk

This has been a phenomenal year for music. Veterans Neil Young and Crazy Horse released not one but two ambitious and ingenious albums. New artists such as Kishi Bashi and Alt-J appeared with exciting and unusual records. Plenty of other surprises popped up along the way: Cat Power returned from a six-year hiatus with the best album she's ever made...

This has been a phenomenal year for music. Veterans Neil Young and Crazy Horse released not one but two ambitious and ingenious albums. New artists such as Kishi Bashi and Alt-J appeared with exciting and unusual records. Plenty of other surprises popped up along the way: Cat Power returned from a six-year hiatus with the best album she's ever made...

With the year rapidly winding down, the NPR Music team has been haggling over which albums and songs to include on our various best-of lists. It turns out there was a lot of music released in 2012, and while we do our best to feature much of it on All Songs Considered, we're really able to share only the tiniest fraction of what's out there. So before it's too late, we thought we'd take a moment to pause and check out some of the albums we missed...

With the year rapidly winding down, the NPR Music team has been haggling over which albums and songs to include on our various best-of lists. It turns out there was a lot of music released in 2012, and while we do our best to feature much of it on All Songs Considered, we're really able to share only the tiniest fraction of what's out there. So before it's too late, we thought we'd take a moment to pause and check out some of the albums we missed...

With the year rapidly winding down, the NPR Music team has been haggling over which albums and songs to include on our various best-of lists. It turns out there was a lot of music released in 2012, and while we do our best to feature much of it on All Songs Considered, we're really able to share only the tiniest fraction of what's out there. So before it's too late, we thought we'd take a moment to pause and check out some of the albums we missed...

The halls of music history are littered with bands that should have made it big, but never did. Maybe they put out a couple of amazing records and you feel like you're the only person on the planet who appreciated them. Or maybe they're still trying, and you're holding out hope, along with the band, that that big break will finally come. We recently asked listeners to tell us their picks for bands that should be way bigger than they are and we were surprised by how many we didn't know...

The halls of music history are littered with bands that should have made it big, but never did. Maybe they put out a couple of amazing records and you feel like you're the only person on the planet who appreciated them. Or maybe they're still trying, and you're holding out hope, along with the band, that that big break will finally come. We recently asked listeners to tell us their picks for bands that should be way bigger than they are and we were surprised by how many we didn't know...

The halls of music history are littered with bands that should have made it big, but never did. Maybe they put out a couple of amazing records and you feel like you're the only person on the planet who appreciated them. Or maybe they're still trying, and you're holding out hope, along with the band, that that big break will finally come. We recently asked listeners to tell us their picks for bands that should be way bigger than they are and we were surprised by how many we didn't know...

Bob Boilen has had a ban on seeing arena rock shows for more than 30 years, but it may ending. He recently saw The Who at a mega-dome concert, performing one of Bob's favorite albums in its entirety. On this edition of All Songs Considered, hear a cut from that record and why Bob loves it so much. Also on the show: Hear a cut from the upcoming Local Natives record, Hummingbird, the band's much-anticipated sophomore followup to 2010's Gorilla Manor...

Bob Boilen has had a ban on seeing arena rock shows for more than 30 years, but it may ending. He recently saw The Who at a mega-dome concert, performing one of Bob's favorite albums in its entirety. On this edition of All Songs Considered, hear a cut from that record and why Bob loves it so much. Also on the show: Hear a cut from the upcoming Local Natives record, Hummingbird, the band's much-anticipated sophomore followup to 2010's Gorilla Manor...