Elijah is Bono’s son. Sian is The Edge’s daughter. They hold hands on the cover of these Songs Of Experience. Two “children” to evoke the world of 2017 and above all the legacy their parents intend to leave them…Recorded over three years with the help of an XL casting of producers such as Jacknife Lee, Ryan Tedder, Steve Lillywhite, Andy Barlow and Jolyon Thomas, this fourteenth studio album had to be the loud hailer of a world that is running less and less smoothly. Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump’s presidency and the migrant crisis are a good fuel for the writing of Bono, who’s still an expert in revolts. U2’s leader has the merit of being rather gifted in this area. Except that here, his starting point is something else. He says he’s been influenced by a conversation with his compatriot, the poet Brendan Kennelly, who would have advised him to write as if he was dead! Therefore, Bono imagined these songs as letters sent to his relatives, family, friends, and fans but also to himself. As for sound, we unsurprisingly find the spectacular 80s guitars from The Edge, whose hand has entered the rock history of the end of the 20th century. With a touch of modernity (the Auto-Tune on Love Is All We Have Left and Kendrick Lamar’s voice on Get Out Of Your Own Way) and a true quality in the band’s fundamentals, Songs Of Experience possesses enough arguments to keep the early fans of the Irish quartet excited and charm the others. © CM/Qobuz

Just at the moment Mott the Hoople were calling it a day, David Bowie swooped in and convinced them to stick around. Bowie spearheaded an image makeover, urging them to glam themselves up. He gave them a surefire hit with "All the Young Dudes," had them cover his idol's "Sweet Jane," and produced All the Young Dudes, the album that was designed to make them stars. Lo and behold, it did, which is as much a testament to Bowie's popularity as it is to his studio skill. Not to discount his assistance, since his production results in one of the most satisfying glam records and the title track is one of the all-time great rock songs, but the album wouldn't have worked if Mott hadn't already found its voice on Brain Capers. True, Dudes isn't nearly as wild as its predecessor, but the band's swagger is unmistakable underneath the flair and Ian Hunter remains on a songwriting roll, with "Momma's Little Jewel," "Sucker," and "One of the Boys" standing among his best. Take a close look at the credits, though -- these were all co-written by his bandmates, and the other highlight, "Ready for Love/After Lights," is penned entirely by Mick Ralphs, who would later revive the first section with Bad Company. The entire band was on a roll here, turning out great performances and writing with vigor. They may not be as sexy as either Bowie or Bolan, but they make up for it with knowing humor, huge riffs, and terrific tunes, dressed up with style by Ziggy himself. No wonder it's not just a great Mott record -- it's one of the defining glam platters.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Stripping away much of the excess that cluttered Punch the Clock and Goodbye Cruel World, Elvis Costello returned to his folk-rock and pub rock roots with King of America, creating one of his most affecting and personal records. Costello literally took on the album as a return to roots, billing himself by his given name Declan MacManus and replacing the Attractions with a bunch of L.A. session men (although his old band appears on one cut), who give the album a rootsy but sleek veneer that sounds remarkably charged after the polished affectations of his Langer/Winstanley productions. And not only does the music sound alive, but so do his songs, arguably his best overall set since Trust. Working inside the limits of country, folk, and blues, Costello writes literate, introspective tales of loss, heartbreak, and America that are surprisingly moving -- he rarely got better than "Brilliant Mistake," "Glitter Gulch," "American Without Tears," "Big Light," and "Indoor Fireworks." What separates King of America from the underrated Almost Blue is that Costello's country now sounds lived-in and worn, bringing a new emotional depth to the music, and that helps make it one of his masterpieces.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

All the Little Lights, the third long-player from Mike Rosenberg, better known as the founder, vocalist, songwriter, and driving force behind English folk-rock outfit Passenger, continues in the vein of 2010's Flight of the Crow, offering up another evocative collection of heartfelt, largely acoustic, indie folk gems that invoke names like Coldplay, Van Morrison, Villagers, Mumford & Sons, and even Neil Young. Recorded once again in Australia, All the Little Lights represents an evolution in both Rosenberg's songwriting and his overall sound, maintaining the emotional intimacy of his previous outings while introducing a bigger and bolder production style.© TiVo

"I shouldn't be here because I should be dead" sings Bono on "Lights of Home," the second track on Songs of Experience, the long-delayed sequel to 2014's Songs of Innocence. It's not merely a turn of phrase. Two months after U2 unleashed Songs of Innocence on the world, Bono injured himself in a bicycle accident so severe he suspected he may never play guitar again. He recovered, but his misfortune derailed plans for the band to wrap up Songs of Experience swiftly, so U2 decided to take their time. A version of the record neared completion in 2016, but that year's twin elections of Brexit and Trump spurred U2 to revise the album, as they decided they couldn't release a record that didn't address such cataclysmic political events. Retro-conning the existing Songs of Experience material to suit the political climate wasn't the easiest task and the album often shows its seams, particularly when Bono decides to tackle the crisis head-on: the line "Democracy is flat on its back, Jack" arrives with a thud on "The Blackout," but it's nothing compared to "American Soul," an ode to real America where the singer and the band engage in a battle of hams. "American Soul" also features a line -- and no more -- by Kendrick Lamar, the rapper who is on the vanguard of popular music in 2017 (no less of an authority than David Bowie cited Lamar as an influence on his final album, Blackstar), but Kendrick gets buried in the mix in a fashion that's sadly indicative of the tentative nature of Songs of Experience. Bono may wrestle with big themes in his lyrics but his ambitions are reined in by a production that seems afraid of alienating any constituent. Typical to many modern records, Songs of Experience is the result of too many cooks: Jacknife Lee and Ryan Tedder claim the main production credits, with Andy Barlow, Jolyon Thomas, and old friend Steve Lillywhite responsible for additional production, whatever that may be. With all these hands, it's not much of a surprise that Songs of Experience feels diffuse, its modernist moments -- like Bono embracing pitch-shifted vocals -- counterbalancing feints toward U2's arena rock past. It all feels so familiar, it takes a moment to realize that the echoes of the Edge are muted, that the rhythms are sometimes constrained by tight sequencing, that the glossy surface can sometimes recall Ellie Goulding, or how when the tempo slows, it feels like U2's greatest aspiration is to be as graceful as Coldplay. All this adds up to an album that feels vaguely desperate. Say what you will about the muddled Pop: at least it had an ethos. Here, U2 feel trapped between their history and the pull of the year, and they wind up seeming diminished. For the first time, they seem smaller than life. © Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

All the Little Lights, the third long-player from Mike Rosenberg, better known as the founder, vocalist, songwriter, and driving force behind English folk-rock outfit Passenger, continues in the vein of 2010's Flight of the Crow, offering up another evocative collection of heartfelt, largely acoustic, indie folk gems that invoke names like Coldplay, Van Morrison, Villagers, Mumford & Sons, and even Neil Young. Recorded once again in Australia, All the Little Lights represents an evolution in both Rosenberg's songwriting and his overall sound, maintaining the emotional intimacy of his previous outings while introducing a bigger and bolder production style.© TiVo

As much as jazz musicians love to do it, the Christmas album exercise can quickly turn stale. Especially when you opt for a repertoire essentially composed of hits like Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Oh Christmas Tree, Il est né le divin enfant, Petit Papa Noël, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow, Silent Night and Jingle Bells. But here, Ibrahim Maalouf has managed to create an impeccable record that gives his trumpet an even better showcase than usual. The starting point of the project is a set of very personal values. "It's an album of 25 great Christmas standards and 3 new songs that I wrote to celebrate both my son's very first Christmas and my grandmother Odette's very last one last year. My memories of Christmas are full of wonderful moments and I wanted to record the album in a way that would capture the magic of those moments.“For this classical, touching effort, Maalouf brought in three friends: guitarist François Delporte, pianist Frank Woeste and choir director Sofi Jeannin, who has selected eight singers with angelic voices. The whole group met in two different recording locations: Armand Amar's Babel studios in Montreuil, where Ibrahim Maalouf worked on his first albums, and the Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre church, the oldest church in Paris, a few metres from Notre-Dame, where his father was sacristan in the 1960s; it was also where the trumpeter got engaged and married...Bolstered by all these strong symbols, First Noël moves forward with simplicity and humility, emphasising the melodies above all, without any kind of Hollywood arrangements. "After having recorded so many albums, I felt that the time had come to set down my version of these great Christmas classics, giving them a less childish, more musical dimension, and a more spiritual aspect as well: but at the same time preserving their necessary and subtle fragility as music for children, and as great classics known and sung worldwide.” The end result is a soothing, dreamlike, fraternal and universal journey. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

In 1970, the very young aspiring songwriter John Hiatt moved to Nashville with a dream of launching a career there. His heart must have quickened as he walked past the RCA studios building, where all the giants of country music did their recordings. Fifty years on, and Hiatt is quite at home there now. It was in Studio B, a real historical monument of American music, that he recorded Leftover Feelings, which was his 25th album, give or take. The recording sessions were relaxed affairs, just like a jam at home, with a group of Americana-minded friends, led by steel-guitar player Jerry Douglas. There were no drums: just guitars, violin and a double bass marking time. This record is fully acoustic, unlike the long black Cadillac of the opening number, which is electric (the car, that is, not the song). Long Black Electric Cadillac kicks off another journey into the world of Americana, that timeless American sound where every song is like a tree, a stone or a ray of sunlight in a Western national park. So, yes, this is just one more Americana record: but no two are ever the same, because the devil is in the detail and in the personality of the artist. Hiatt's voice, which resembles that of a southern Dylan; his songs, which are like scrawlings on a roadmap (Mississippi Phone Booth, I’m In Ashville…); and his taste for writing characters: bundled together all proves that he richly deserves his reputation as a grand old songwriter. Two years after the release of a big retrospective box set of his recordings for New West, this latest album shows that John Hiatt isn't ready for retirement just yet. © Stéphane Deschamps/Qobuz

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