It was easy to find jazz records that deserved a year-end salute; maybe ‘too’ easy. The heavy lifting came from figuring out which stood above the rest for this Best of 2017 list.

“Anna (Go to Him)” impacted the Beatles’ songwriting, and Arthur Alexander’s heartfelt vocal style influenced John Lennon’s intensely personal performances.

I saw body surfing up close at this Motorhead show, almost became an unwilling member in a mosh pit, and escaped unscathed. Who could ask for more?

Even in my jazz-centric world, I can come upon enough standout non-jazz records to put together a decent-sized Best of 2017 list.

Projekt Gemineye’s ‘A Brand New Day’ is a great continuation of 2017’s ‘An Ordinary Day,’ with a more guitar-centered progressive hard-rock core.

‘Err Guitar’ by Elliott Sharp, Mary Halvorson and Marc Ribot is three masters of the outside guitar pushing each other to go even further out, making this a notably delirious entry in the catalogs of all three.

While ‘Telekon’ went on to inspire many new wave synth-pop artists during the ’80s, Gary Numan’s time in the spotlight wouldn’t last long.

We loved the sexy, hard-as-nails Denise LaSalle for creating a series of titanic grooves, and also because we were never certain that she couldn’t have kicked our ass.

Stephen Stills finds the fountain of youth by going back to one of his original muses, Judy Collins, who co-headlines on ‘Everybody Knows.’

It was, honestly, a pretty lousy year for music. This list of Best Metal, Country and Hard Rock of 2017 highlights five exceptions, and some key honorable mentions.