Project Mountain Peaks is an experiment meant to explore the world of modern music for the last half a century or so. Taking its name from an album entitled The Mountain, the project imagines range of modern music as a vast mountain expanse. What are the peaks? What albums are the very summit of musical achievement? What albums are the very goal that we climb for, to see the most spectacular of views? What music moves us to tears, or brings the greatest joys? And what does that view render but a broadened horizon? So, the goals for me are twofold: to share what I believe to be the peaks of music from each year; and to learn from y’all what peaks lay in the horizon that I have not yet explored.

Each year (one year a week) will consist of the following sections:

Or So…: This is for really good albums that don’t quite make the top list either because of some anomaly (live, compilation, etc.) or because a year is particularly stacked. This part may sometimes be empty.

Top Ten: The main focus of each post, the top ten from that year across all the genres that I explored. Admittedly, the 70’s will be prog rock and hard rock heavy, the 80’s heavy metal and thrash, and so on. I’ll need help filling in the other genres (jazz, folk, pop, etc) if there are indeed albums good enough to break the mold. There will be a brief write-up for each highlighting why I (or you) think its great and worthy of a spot.

Song(s) of the Year: A few songs selected from that year that are of particular excellence.

Worthy Listening: Any other albums from that year that are worth your time if you like the artist or genre in question.

Bound for the Bin: Particularly bad albums from artists that we would otherwise expect quality output from.

My hope is that in reading or simply perusing each week, you might find one or two albums to enjoy that maybe you didn’t know before. I hope to find the same with your suggestions. The project began with my top albums from last year (2023) and will now begin in 1969 and work its way back to 2024 over the course of a year. Happy listening!