End-of-year lists

No scholarly rationale offered here — I’m simply a compulsive end-of-year listmaker.  I’ve resisted the temptation to revise these lists with eligible recordings I’ve discovered since.  That wasn’t easy; there’s maybe a few other albums I’d include, and maybe a few here I’d delete, as my tastes have evolved.

Greatest reinventions in pop-music careers
A highly subjective answer to the question, which performers made the most unexpected left turns with their careers?
A whole lot of personal memories about people, places, and of course music.