Fred Phillips’ Best of 2014 list for hard rock and metal albums includes Judas Priest, Down, Alestorm, Grand Magus, Anti-Mortem and others.

D’Angelo, Paul Rodgers, Roger Daltrey and Branford Marsalis are included on Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2014 list for blues, R&B and jazz records.

David Crosby, John Oates, Robert Plant, Lloyd Cole and Jackson Browne are among those on Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2014 list for rock and roots albums.

S. Victor Aaron picks the best of 2014’s fusion jazz, including Nels Cline Singers, Jaco Pastorius, Elizabeth Shepherd and others.

S. Victor Aaron picks the best of 2014’s avant-garde and experimental jazz, including Roscoe Mitchell, Jimmy Giuffre, Wadada Leo Smith and others.

S. Victor Aaron picks the best of 2014’s modern and mainstream jazz albums, including Keith Jarrett, Brian Blade, Fred Hersch and others.

S. Victor Aaron picks the best of 2014’s non-jazz albums, including Lucinda Williams, Me’Shell Ndegéocello, Drive-By Truckers and others.

Preston Frazier’s Best of 2014 in jazz and fusion, including the Breithaupt Brothers, Simon Phillips, Oz Noy, Bobby Broom and Miguel Zenon.

Kit O’Toole counts down the best Beatles-related releases of the past year, as we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Beatlemania.

Top reissues of 2014 include a double shot of Led Zeppelin, more Bob Dylan and the Band than you could imagine, and some long-lost CSNY.