The year 2012 was once again another great year in music and in some ways it reflected the prior year. While a few key major players were active creatively speaking, once again either the artist or the promoter decided not to respond to my requests for a review. Frankly, had they exercised this right they would have been hard pressed to break the Top Five as the material is so impressive that on any other given day the ranking could be very different with the exception of one.

The exception this year is the independent artist Jennifer Thomas who not only poured her blood sweat and tears into Illuminations creatively speaking, but was also willing to deliver her big production without any big label assistance. I reviewed Jennifer’s tour de force in the middle of the year and I loved it then and I love it now. As impressive as her competitors were, no one even came close to knocking her of her perch.

I would like to make honorable mention to Thomas Bergersen’s Illusions that was released in 2011 but not heard until 2012 which would make it ineligible for 2012. Nevertheless, I want to thank the artists that were willing to risk a critique and also spend part of their promotional budget by investing in a review. Thank you for that honor.