Year-end lists are a way to uncover hidden gems, not simply to validate tastes. I'm sure many lists you've looked at didn't have that one favorite you hold near and dear. This episode of All Songs is about our hidden gems, the ones that, in the give-and-take of making a representative staff list, got left off. In the case of the NPR Music team, we each had at least one record we want you to know about that you won't find on our Top 50 Albums list or our Top 100 Songs list.

So, Robin Hilton and I gathered with Alt. Latino host Felix Contreras, our hip-hop and R&B lovers Sidney Madden and Rodney Carmichael, classical music geek Tom Huizenga and pop-and-rock fans Lyndsey McKenna and Marissa Lorusso, to set the record straight. And with outrage in our hearts (and bit of tongue in our cheeks) we play the eight other songs we really want you to hear. -- Bob Boilen

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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