Best CDs of 2012

• Robert Beaumont’s pick

Lest We Forget Album of the Year: Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – Ultimate Hits: Rock And Roll Never Forgets (Capitol/EMI): Bob Seger was perfecting his brand of blue-collar American rock when along came Bruce Springsteen to seize his crown. This superb compilation reminds us Seger wrote damn good songs, notably the shimmering Hollywood Nights and the coruscating Still The Same.

Genius At Work Album of the Year: Bob Dylan – Tempest (Columbia): In the magnificent Tempest, Dylan delves into his back pages to make sense of these dark times and examine the vagaries of the human heart. The astonishing title track, a companion piece to Desolation Row, leads the way in Dylan’s most complete album since 1997’s Time Out Of Mind.

Equine Album Of The Year Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill (Reprise): A searing journey into the heart of the American dream, with Crazy Horse providing the thunderous backdrop. Young summons an urgency and literacy most of his contemporaries can only dream about. The epic 15-minute Ramada Inn is up there with Young’s greatest tracks.

Underrated Album of the Year: The Gaslight Anthem – Handwritten (Mercury): It has become fashionable to dismiss The Gaslight Anthem as a Springsteen tribute act. OK, they hail from New Jersey and sing about cars, factories and girls, but on superb songs like Mae, the band creates music which is triumphantly their own.

Old Dude Album of the Year Ian Hunter – When I’m President (Proper Records): Hunter, 73, harks back to those early Mott days and, while the intensity of the voice may be fading, his lyrics are as urgent and as relevant as ever. The title track is Hunter’s rousing personal manifesto, while Life, uplifting and inclusive, sees the grand old rocker at peace with himself.

• Charles Hutchinson’s favourite five

Comeback of the year: Dexys, One Day I’m Going To Soar (BMG) At 60, Kevin Rowland still seeks love, the meaning of life and his sense of identity. On the first Dexys record in 27 years, his song-writing is prickly and thrillingly candid. This bravura blast of tortured yet redemptive soul is the best confessional album since Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black.

Transfusion of the year: Richard Hawley, Standing At The Sky’s Edge (Parlophone) For his seventh solo album, Sheffield crooner Richard Hawley left the Fifties behind and headed for the darklands of psychedelia, his newly noisy guitar as angry as his feelings on the ConDemnation of the nation’s old values.

Surprise of the year: Kathryn Williams Presents The Pond (One Little Indian) Liverpool folk queen Kathryn Williams dived into Portishead/Lemon Jelly’s pond and came up with a sublime reinvention. Tape loops, rough-cut samples, Eastern vibes, dreamy beats, dark echoes and Sixties pop were all engaged in unexpected ways. Deeply lovely.

Christmas album of the season: Tracey Thorn, Tinsel And Lights (Strange Feeling Records): If you could choose one melancholic English voice to make a Christmas album, Thorn would be that voice – and it is not as frosty as you might expect, as indicated by Joy, one of two Thorn originals nestling alongside covers of Ron Sexmith, Joni Mitchell and Jack White.

Live album/DVD of the year: Led Zeppelin, Celebration Day (Swan Song/Atlantic): Well worth the five-year wait since LedZep reformed for their one-off reunion at London 02 Arena in December 2007. Superbly edited memento of first UK show since Knebworth 1979; but this was their swansong, and still no one comes close to supplanting them.

• Ian Sime’s pick

Delicate flower of the year: Sinead O’Connor, How About I Be Me (And You Be You) (Pias): After being back in the news for all the wrong reasons, O’Connor released this stupendous CD. Far from easy listening 4th & Vine, Reason With Me, Queen of Denmark and V.I.P. gave the younger generation of singers a master-class in craftmanship.

Pop star Olympian of the year: Emeli Sande, Our Version of Events (EMI) Sande was the only artist invited to perform at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics. Classy but ubiquous, Heaven, Next To Me, Read All About It and Beneath Your Beautiful are modern classics.

A sad farewell: Whitney Houston & Various Artists, Sparkle – Original Soundtrack (Sony): Whitney made her final public performance when she joined Kelly Price on stage in Hollywood for a performance of Jesus Loves Me in February, two days before her death. Her last recordings were His Eye Is On The Sparrow and Celebrate from the Sparkle Soundtrack. Even ravaged after years of abuse, her voice was still a wonderful and precious gift.

...and another: Donna Summer, Encore CD & DVD (Cargo) Summer will be posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April. A tad late, think many, including Brian Eno, who said of Donna’s I Feel Love: “I have heard the future. This is it. Look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next 15 years.” He was right.

A perennial favourite... and she’s touring again after 35 years: Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, This Christmas (Universal): This one caught us all off guard. After comedy farce A Few Best Men and it’s Hardcore Dance soundtrack, Olivia and Travolta’s seasonal charity CD restored Newton-John to familiar territory. The stellar guest list includes Barbra Streisand, Sir Cliff Richard, James Taylor, Kenny G, Chick Corea and Tony Bennett.

• Dan Bean’s hill of beans

The Good: Kimbra, Vows (Warner Bros) Jazzy, breathy Kiwi Kimbra echoes Goldfrapp and Kylie, with 80s synths and messages of independence, to prove she’s more than “the girl from that Gotye song”. Refreshing and unexpected.

The Bad: Animal Collective, Centipede Hz (Domino) Messy and deliberately challenging frantic psychedelia, filtered through a detuned radio. Probably aiming for inspired and unconventional, but easily switched off.

The Mad: The Muppets, Original Soundtrack (Walt Disney/EMI) Delightfully bonkers collection of the cheerful and the daft, from Oscar-winning Man Or Muppet to Oscar-winner Chris Cooper rapping about gold-plating his cat. It’s the Muppets, what’s not to love?

The Pretentious: Damon Albarn, Dr Dee (Parlophone) Blur frontman’s concept album about a multi-talented artist at the end of a Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Well put together, but pompous and dangerously close to Spinal Tap and The Archers.

The Honourable Mentions: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stage Whisper (Because Music) and Jack White, Blunderbuss (Third Man Records/XL Recordings) Stylish French beauty releases a great album (the live cover of Just Like A Woman is sublime), and the ex-White Stripe releases a gutsy yet restrained and assured solo debut. Top stuff.

• Paul Rhodes’s choices

Album of the Year, by Pure and Simple: Sweet Billy Pilgrim, Crown and Treaty (EMI). A record that reminds you why albums, not single track downloads will endure. Steeped in emotion, ambition, intent and a whiff of U2, this grand statement isn’t perfect, but it’ll do.

The 1922 Committee Award for Musical Innovation: Old Crow Medicine Show, Carry Me Back (Decca) Spotted busking by Doc Watson, this is conservative bluegrass of the highest order. Like their hot jazz counterparts, The Fat Babies, they lead the way in making the case for yesterday.

Most Happening Scene of 2012: Human Don’t Be Angry, Human Don’t Be Angry (Chemikal Underground) Awarded to the city of Glasgow, and a small, miserable group of artists that includes Malcolm Middleton and Aiden Moffat. Human Don’t Be Angry shouldn’t work, but this homage to Jan Hammer and eighties music is wonderful – and unexpectedly joyous.

Canadian Excellence Award (Sponsored by Hen’s Teeth): Great Lake Swimmers, Near Wild Everywhere (Nettwerk Productions) The year the Great Lake Swimmers came of age, outgrowing the folk labels and stepping into the big shoes shared by The Band.

Sulk through 2013 Category Winner: Claudia Brücken, The Lost Are Found (There, there records): Dragging the darker matter out of obscure covers, Brücken achieves the perfect mood for anyone wishing to pout away the New Year.

• Julian Cole’s CDs of the year

What a brilliant noise gong: Bellowhead, Broadside (Navigator): The exciting folk collective make a gloriously cacophonous big band racket on an album that stays just the right side of chaos, starting with a full-blown, all-blasting version of Byker Hill.

He’s still here, you know: Bill Fay, Life Is People (Dead Oceans): Remarkable comeback album after 40 years sees the English singer-songwriter return with an apocalyptic settling of accounts, an album of spirit and redemptive hope.

…and so is Bobby too Bobby Womack, The Bravest Man In The Universe (XL): What an unexpected pleasure: a sort of weird minimalist sci-fi take on soul, with Womack’s bruised grandeur, his ragged vocals raised from a deep and troubled well, set against pared-down instruments and assorted bleeps and plastic beats.

Bleak fun in Finn-land award: Craig Finn, Clear Heart Full Eyes (Full Time Hobby): The Hold Steady frontman goes solo and steps away from bar-room blues indie rock and chooses a country feel, with plaintive pedal-steel guitar adding another voice to the narrative songs, in which Finn tells stories bleak and beautiful, damaged and reaffirming.

Actually worth the fuss for once award: Alabama Shakes, Boys & Girls (Rough Trade): A flurry of hype preceded this release and for once it was on the button. Stripped down, basic rhythm and rock, with heartfelt vocals from Brittany Howard who hilariously sings that she didn’t expect to make it this far (Brittany is 22).

• Matt Clark’s choices

Album of the year: Public Image Ltd, This is PIL (PIL Official) The Definitive Alt Punk album. Lydon was accused of selling out by selling butter on the telly. But he revealed why when he used his cash to produce the album of the year. Still snarling but with curmudgeonly rather than youthful angst, the title should have been This is How it’s Done.

A retrospective of introspective: David Sylvian, A Victim of Stars 1982-2012 (Virgin) This album chronicles the A-Z of one of pop’s enigmas and it’s a fine reminder that a genre which then included likes of The Nolans could find room for a bedfellow of real genius.

Legendary Prog revisited: Ian Anderson, Thick as a Brick 2 (EMI) When Gerald Bostock’s naughty schoolboy anthem burst on the scene in 1972 it was revered. Anderson claimed it was a joke, but no one’s laughing now. This album finds Gerald in middle age and explores how his life might have turned out – and how Anderson’s did.

Mash goes techno: Linkin Park, Living Things (Warner Bros) Quite a surprise, this. Linkin Park’s brash Beastie Boys-alike past comes of age, while retaining the power of a Typhoon jet. Like on 2010’s A Thousand Suns, the band again shows there is more grey matter up there than we once gave them credit for.

Cool gets cooler: Yeasayer, Fragrant World (Mute) Yeasayer oozes style in the way Roxy did 40 years ago, but with the navel gazing misery of Radiohead. Yet for all its bleakness, this album is hauntingly beautiful. Yeasayer’s world is a fragrant place indeed.

• AS befitting Team GB’s unparalleled Olympic success, here are TONY KELLY’S five gold flings of 2012.

The Greg “where did that come from?” Rutherford award: Alt-J, An Awesome Wave (Infectious Records): Taut time changes, scorching innovation, question-posing lyrics all produced in a way few peers could touch. Not just a joyous trip, but soaring to new heights.

The Sir Bradley Wiggins ‘mod-father’ award: The Twang, 10:20 (Jump The Cut Records): There’s a Weller-esque verve to the Midlands group’s third album. Punchy, powerful and ardent – a towering tour de force and a tour de triumph.

The Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins ‘togetherness’ award David Byrne/St Vincent, Love This Giant (4AD): What an axis of creativity. Byrne is timeless, but celebrated a new lease of left-field life alongside new crew member Annie Clarke, aka St Vincent.

The Sir Chris ‘age-defying’ Hoy award: David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust…. (RCA): Four decades on from its release, Bowie’s most influential incarnation still pumps up the volume. Unforgettable tracks, still fridge-fresh, still daring and dashing.

The Victoria ‘return to form’ Pendleton award: Cast, Troubled Times (Cast Recordings): Some time away from the top, but revved back fuelled by the lungs and lyrics of John scouse-Power. Even in austerity, sound as a pound.

• Mark Stead’s choices

The who-says-retro-ain’t-what-it-used-to-be award: Black Keys – El Camino (Nonesuch) The Ohio outfit washed down their previously grubby rock, kept the riffs and added the catchiness. Would have been a modern classic if it hadn’t slacked off in the second half.

The if-all-else-fails-try-a-different-continent award: Mystery Jets – Radlands (Rough Trade) Swapping Twickenham for Texas, the Jets scooped up everything from gospel to disco to country to Americana and produced their best work yet. Abandoning their pop roots fired them rather than backfiring on them.

The unfortunately-there’s-more-where-this-came-from award: Green Day – Uno! (Reprise) Teenagers find making convincing albums about being teenagers tough, so Green Day – now pushing 40 – were always struggling. Which doesn’t excuse this cliché-ridden mess. Two more (Dos! and Tre! – clever) followed.

The we-really-need-to-discuss-your-time-management award: Bloc Party – Four (Frenchkiss Records) Fourth album, took four years to make, and inspiration struck for four minutes while making it. Bland, misdirected and with little to say. What have Bloc Party been doing for almost half a decade?

The cunningly titled album of the year award: Metric – Synthetica (Metric Music International) Sleek, cold, dramatic, precise and excited, from the widescreen pop of Breathing Underwater and Speed The Collapse to the rebooted glam of Youth Without Youth. One of those albums where a plan comes together.

• Martin Dreyer’s classical CDs of 2012

Chamber music. Schumann, Complete works for piano trio. Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Tanja Tetzlaff (cello), Leif Ove Andsnes (piano). If you like Schumann’s Piano Quartet and Quintet, you will burn to have these: sensitively lyrical, rhythmically flexible, intelligently shaped. EMI 094180-2. 2 discs.

Solo song. Songs of war. Simon Keenly side (baritone), Malcolm Martineau (piano). Don’t be put off by the title – 29 songs by Butterworth, Finzi, Ireland, Rorem, Vaughan Williams, Weill, among others, sometimes forceful, often tender, delivered in a warm but keen-edged baritone, with perceptive piano. English song at its best. Sony Classical 88697 94424-2.

Baroque. Bach, Four orchestral suites. Freiburg Baroque Orchestra / Gottfried von der Goltz. From other recordings by this terrific orchestra, expectations were high. They do not disappoint. Bach’s ‘overtures’ (his term) are wonderfully springy here, but not over hasty, with impeccable solo work, especially from flute and trumpets. Harmonia Mundi HMC90 2113/14. 2 discs.

Piano. Chopin / Liszt / Ravel. Benjamin Grosvenor. Impossible to omit the name on everyone’s lips. Still only 20, Grosvenor is already being compared to the keyboard greats. Musicality oozes from every bar, allied to phenomenal technique, notably in Chopin’s four scherzos. Climb on the bandwagon. Decca 478 3206DH

Orchestra. Beethoven, Symphonies 1-9. Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra / Riccardo Chailly. After this orchestra’s triumphant Beethoven cycle in London, these five discs virtually rediscover the excitement of what was new 200 years ago. Hard to imagine, but Chailly everywhere finds something new to say, with an orchestra of peerless pedigree. Decca 478 3492

• Ron Burnett’s jazz choices

The first four are by young musicians all on the local jazz scene and all are as good as anything you are likely to hear in the UK.

Kate Peters Septet (kate-peters.com) Not only the best voice around, but Kate has bagged the best young players for an exciting contemporary take on jazz standards, plus a couple of originals.

Ian Chalk Quartet (info@ianchalk.net) Like Kate’s band, Chalkie’s is resident at York’s Phoenix Inn and offers six originals by band members and five surprising jazz covers of tunes by Elvis Costello, Sting, and Joe Jackson. The oblique version of the Beatles Got To Get You Into My Life plays repeatedly on Jazz FM.

Paul Baxter Quartet (paulbaxtermusic.com) The energetic Mr Baxter has formed a new quartet to play his new compositions, all unfailingly impressive. The top-class band ventures into the free jazz “fire in the pet-shop” area sometimes, but this is a rewarding and accessible album.

New York Brass Band (newyorkbrassband.co.uk) James Lancaster has cunningly plundered the New Orleans marching band concept, a highly mobile acoustic band peddling high-energy enjoyment, covering jazz standards alongside pop tunes. You will catch this youthful seven/eight-piece band busking in York and Harrogate as well as playing college balls and jazz festivals.

Ivo Neame, Yatra (Edition Records) Multi-instrumentalist mainstay of many London bands steps into the leader’s limelight to direct a starry eight-piece, each track startlingly different in voicings by using varied instrumental pairings against exciting ensemble writing.

• Steve Carroll’s Pick of 2012

Record of 2012: Maximo Park, The National Health (V2) AS big a triumph as previous effort Quicken The Heart was a disappointment, Maximo Park revisited familiar themes of love and the breakdown of relationships –backed up by turbo-charged guitars. An excellent return to form.

Best Follow-Up: Maccabees, Given To The Wild (Fiction) DISCREET guitars and soft vocals backed by an almost orchestral sound, Given To The Wild continued the serene progress of the Maccabees following the success of Wall Of Arms. An earnest and heartfelt record.

The I’m Still Standing Award: Paul Weller, Sonik Kicks (Island) IF Bradley Wiggins hasn’t already made Paul Weller uber-cool again then Sonik Kicks, 30 years after A Town Called Malice was number one, propelled the Modfather back to the top of the charts. A record that returned to the roots of Wild Wood.

The Change The Record Award: The Enemy, Streets In The Sky (Cooking Vinyl) THE Enemy couldn’t quite stay away from commenting on terrace life, but Streets In The Sky struck an optimistic tone from the council estate misery the Coventry lads have previously peddled.

The Overindulged Award: Green Day, !dos! (Warner Bros) SO you’ve got too many songs. Filter them. Don’t take the Green Day route and plough out a series of albums stuffed mostly with filler. !dos!, the second of a seemingly unending production line, was a case in point.