AARP Hearing Center

The music industry tends to jam the summer with blockbuster tours, and the fall with superstar albums. But that doesn’t mean spring is the calendar’s dead zone. The year has already delivered a host of quality albums by musicians over 50. And the best of them defy expectations, explore fresh ground and unearth treasures.
Neil Young’s newest “lost” album revives 10 tracks recorded in 1977. Ringo Starr takes a second swing at country 55 years after releasing Beaucoups of Blues. Elton John, Bryan Ferry and Galactic are revitalized in bold collaborations. And The Waterboys turn a Dennis Hopper fixation into an engrossing concept album.
Here are AARP’s 12 favorite albums released so far in 2025.
Neil Young: Oceanside Countryside
This never-before-released 1977 album, the latest in Neil Young’s Analog Original Series, is a spellbinding 10-track diptych. Half of it (the “Oceanside” part) comprises haunting solo acoustic songs recorded in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Malibu, California, including a bleak, bare version of “Sail Away” and a mournful “Lost in Space.” The other half, the "Countryside" material, was recorded with a band mostly in Nashville, and ranges from such twangy, fiddle-kissed delights as “Dance, Dance, Dance” to the unnerving saga “The Old Homestead.” Many of the 10 cuts surfaced on later albums, but it’s a joy to hear Young, 79, bring them to life in such pure, unadorned form.

Craig Finn: Always Been
The Hold Steady singer Craig Finn, 53, collaborated with Adam Granduciel of The War on Drugs on his sixth solo album, an invigorating, shimmering musical novella. Finn moves away from flinty folk to a brighter, fanciful rock cocktail of beats, guitars and synthesizers. And instead of his familiar vignettes, we get “Clayton,” an epic narrative about a former reverend who has fallen from grace, battled demons and struggled for sobriety. He finds threads of hope but is no dreamer. On “Fletcher’s,” Finn settles for survival: “We’ll never win this war, but maybe we can wait it out.”

The Waterboys: Life, Death and Dennis Hopper
Long intrigued by the life and art of late actor Dennis Hopper, Waterboys singer/songwriter Mike Scott, 66, has channeled his hero worship into a 25-track concept album that is eclectic, irreverent and humorous while managing to canonize its subject. Scott chronologically traces Hopper’s life with charm and gusto through a broad range of genre mash-ups. And every guest turn is a keeper. Steve Earle, 70, embodies Hopper as a young man eager to escape on “Kansas.” Fiona Apple serves up “Letter from an Unknown Girlfriend,” a gripping piano ballad that grapples with domestic abuse. And 75-year-old Bruce Springsteen growls a spoken-word segment in the tense, propulsive “Ten Years Gone,” about Hopper’s lost decade after 1971’s flop The Last Movie.
You Might Also Like
AARP’s Favorite 2025 Books (So Far)
AARP’s books editor shares her top 10 reads
Favorite TV Shows of 2025 (So Far)
Our critics weigh in on their top 12 series
2025’s Movies for Grownups Favorites (So Far)
‘Sinners,’ ‘Nonnas’ and ‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’ are some of our top flick picks