Next month we'll hear from our editors and various other individuals regarding their favorite live music experiences of the past year (we wanted to wait until the various New Year's Eve shows took place). What follows is a twelve month overview of the music charts and book reviews that have appeared on the site....

Releases of the Year - based on our writers and editors' charts

(1) Widespread Panic- Til The Medicine Takes
(2) Phish- Siket Disc
(3) The Other Ones- The Strange Remain
(4) Leftover Salmon- The Nashville Sessions
(5) The Disco Biscuits- Uncivilized Area
(6) Widespread Panic- Light Fuse, Get Away
(7) Gov't Mule- Live With A Little Help From Our Friends
(8) Medeski Martin & Wood- Combustication
(9) Grateful Dead- So Many Roads
(10) Phish- Hampton Comes Alive
(11) Jazz Mandolin Project- Tour De Flux
(12) The Slip- From The Gecko
(13) String Cheese Incident- Round The Wheel
(14) moe.- Tin Cans and Car Tires
(15) Grateful Dead- Dick's Pick 14
(16) Trey Anastasio- One Man's Trash
(17) Deep Banana Blackout- Rowdy Duty
(18) Percy Hill- Colour In Bloom
(19) Day By The River, Jiggle The Handle, Vinyl- 3 Sets
(20) Bela Fleck- Tales From The Acoustic Planet volume II
(21) Keller Williams- Breathe
(22) moe- Fatboy
(23) John Scofield- A Go Go
(24) Phish- Story of the Ghost
(25) Galactic- Crazyhorse Mongoose
(26) On The Corner With Fuzz- B'Gock
(27) Sector 9- Interplanetary Escape Vehicle
(28) Joe Gallant's Illuminati- Terrapin
(29) John Popper- Zygote
(30) Jazz Is Dead- Laughing Water
(31) Living Daylights- 500 Pound Cat
(32) Bela Fleck & The Flecktones- Left of Cool
(33) Stanton Moore- All Kooked Out
(34) Bob Dylan- Live 66
(35) Foxtrot Zulu- Frozen In Time
(36) Ulu- Ulu
(37) Karl Denson's Tiny Universe- Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
(38) Zero- Nothing Lasts Forever
(39) Calobo- Live at the Crystal Ballroom
(40) The Recipe- Night of the Porch People
(41) Deep Banana Blackout- Live in the Thousand Islands
(42) DJ Logic- Project Logic
(43) viperHouse- Shed
(44) Ominous Seapods- Matinee Idols
(45) Blind Man's Sun- Of The Spheres
(46) Umphrey's McGee- Songs For Older Women
(47) Vinyl- Live At Sweetwater
(48) viperHouse- Lap Hen
(49) Big Wu- Tracking Buffalo Through The Bathtub
(50) Lake Trout- Volume For The Rest Of It

Songs of the Year - Based on our radio charts

(1) "Bear's Gone Fishing"- Widespread Panic
(2) "M.E.M.P.H.I.S"- The Disco Biscuits
(3) "A Pretty Perfect God Damned Day"- Foxtrot Zulu
(4) "Red Sky"- The Big Wu
(5) "Slave (Self-Promoted)"- Percy Hill
(6) "The Weight of Solomon"- The Slip
(7) "Breathe"- Keller Williams
(8) "Uncle Junior"- Soulive
(9) "Bump and Sway"- Deep Banana Blackout
(10) "Honey Melon"- The Slip
(11) "Plane Crash"- moe.
(12) "Walking Backwards"- Jiggle The Handle
(13) "Affected Specimen"- The Recipe
(14) "Happy Hour Hero"- moe.
(15) "Sprockets"- Blind Man's Sun
(16) "H.B. Walks To School"- Sector 9
(17) "Living Without Living"- Hipbone
(18) "Biscuits"- Schleigho
(19) "Surprise Valley"- Widespread Panic
(20) "Breaking Through"- Leftover Salmon
(21) "Beware of the Dog"- Dude of Life
(22) "Road to Armageddon"- David Nelson Band
(23) "Eyes of the World"- Jazz Is Dead
(24) "Chubb Sub"- Medeski Martin & Wood
(25) "Sing Your Own Song"- Wise Monkey Orchestra
(26) "I Knew You When"- Lake Trout
(27) "Braintree"- Ulu
(28) "Whiskey Pickle"- The Recipe
(29) "Wheel of Fortunato"- Schleigho
(30) "8 Words"- Zyrah's Orange

Books

No charts here, just a reminder of the books that came out this past year relating to the scene, most of which were reviewed in past issues of jambands.com. We intend to expand our book reviews in the months to come, so if you have suggestions, please let us know.

Blair Jackson- Garcia: An American Life- reviewed by Jesse Jarnow in this issue

Carol Brightman- Sweet Chaos: The Grateful Dead's American Adventure- reviewed by Guy Stevens in our January issue

John Dwork and Michael Getz- The Deadhead's Taping Compendium vol. 1- reviewed by Guy Stevens in our January issue

John Dwork and Michael Getz- The Deadhead's taping Compendium vol. 2- we haven't reviewed this one yet but it has been released

Richard Gehr and Phish- The Phish Book- While this book originally appeared in 98 in just came out in paperback

There you have it- go out and pick up one or more of the above releases and help support the community. Next month...our favorite live shows of the year