It's been three years since Machine Head released Unto the Locust, widely considered the mainstream metal album of 2011. That was no small feat: four years earlier it had been preceded by 2007's The Blackening, which is arguably regarded as their magnum opus. Bloodstone & Diamonds is the first MH offering without founding bassist Adam Duce; he has been replaced by former Sanctity guitarist Jared MacEachern. In keeping with the restless musical vision of MH, this set is wildly ambitious. Produced by frontman and guitarist Robb Flynn with Juan Urteaga, and mixed by Colin Richardson, it clocks in at over 70 minutes through 12 tracks. Bloodstone & Diamonds is, thankfully, bone-crunching in numerous places, but its depth and breadth are considerable, its dark, sometimes menacing vibe crosses the divergent paths of its predecessors, yet is in keeping with their signature sound. There are loads of thrash and killer hard rock, though not as much groove metal as some longtime fans might like. Opener "And Now We Die," with its layered soundscape intro and woven strings, clocks moves through phases that combine all three of these dynamics. First single "Killers and Kings," with its unrelenting crack and roar, has a hooky, chanted chorus and a walloping thrash riff that drive it. "Night of the Long Knives," a narrative about the Manson murders, is one of the ugliest tracks MH has ever cut. The twin leads, reverbed drums, and slamming bassline/guitar vamp are careening death metal. The gorgeous Tibetan-style monastic chant that introduces "Sail Into the Black" belies a simple modal melody with droning, fingerpicked, acoustic guitars, sparse pianos, and strings, for four minutes before the punishing big noise takes over for its final half. "Beneath the Silt," with its growled and clean lead vocals, is heavy on the groove, while "Gamer Over" is overdriven hard rock with an excellent vocal. Between them is the startling "In Comes the Flood," with a chamber string intro and a female backing chorale singing "America the Beautiful," with symphonic metal interludes and blasting drums. It eventually becomes a huge cinematic elegy. The set closes with the martial death metal anthem that is the raging "Take Me Through the Fire." Given its range, variety, and length, Bloodstone & Diamonds is a labyrinthine musical and atmospheric journey full of textural and dynamic twists and turns. At times it's even exhausting. That's hardly a bad thing. Given how closely woven these tracks are, the album requires attention -- and numerous listenings -- to fully appreciate what is on offer. Here Machine Head take one sonic attack and push toward and through the boundaries of another. This set is a major go; it extends the qualitative trajectory of The Blackening and Unto the Locust. © Thom Jurek /TiVo

Beginning with Swordfishtrombones, released in September 1983, Tom Waits' turn towards cabaret blues-rock (that had more to do with Bertolt Brecht than George Gerswhin) was brilliantly confirmed on Rain Dogs two years later. Marc Ribot, the genius behind this masterstroke, brought a unique, unregimented guitar sound to the Californian bluesman, finding a perfect osmosis with his wavering organ. Also on six-string, another big name was on hand for a few tracks: Keith Richards! With his crazy stories, improbable stopovers between New York and Singapore, UFO sounds, disfigured blues and drunken waltzes, Waits dares to do it all, and delivers some of his finest songs, such as Downtown Train and Jockey Full Of Bourbon. Behind the brilliant array of crazier instruments that give our modern-day Howlin' Wolf his unique identity, Rain Dogs offers some truly timeless songs.    © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Sitting atop the charts in 1975, Elton John and Bernie Taupin recalled their rise to power in Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, their first explicitly conceptual effort since Tumbleweed Connection. It's no coincidence that it's their best album since then, showcasing each at the peak of his power, as John crafts supple, elastic, versatile pop and Taupin's inscrutable wordplay is evocative, even moving. What's best about the record is that it works best of a piece -- although it entered the charts at number one, this only had one huge hit in "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," which sounds even better here, since it tidily fits into the musical and lyrical themes. And although the musical skill on display here is dazzling, as it bounces between country and hard rock within the same song, this is certainly a grower. The album needs time to reveal its treasures, but once it does, it rivals Tumbleweed in terms of sheer consistency and eclipses it in scope, capturing John and Taupin at a pinnacle. They collapsed in hubris and excess not long afterward -- Rock of the Westies, which followed just months later is as scattered as this is focused -- but this remains a testament to the strengths of their creative partnership.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

The trio of Enya, producer and sound engineer Nicky Ryan and lyricist Roma Ryan, have joined forces for Dark Sky Island, a new album inspired by the voyage to the Isle of Sark (off Normandy), a journey which represents a lifetime journey through history and emotion, and travels to the very heart of the oceans. Musically, Dark Sky Island is an incredibly eclectic collection of titles, naturally unified by a panoramic and masterful execution. Time does not yet seem to have taken its toll on Enya, who again and again manages refresh her pop and new age stylings, her haunting accents and wonderful lyricism. © CM / Qobuz

On her stellar sophomore set, Diamonds & Dancefloors, American pop hitmaker Ava Max bests her 2020 breakthrough debut with precision focus and a bounty of catchy hooks. Yet another instance where every track could be a lead single, the album is indebted to '80s synth-based dance-pop ("Million Dollar Baby," "Weapons") and early-'90s house anthems ("Ghost," "Diamonds & Dancefloors"), extending her pedigree as the next logical progression after forebears like Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa. With executive producer Cirkut back in tow, Diamonds & Dancefloors seamlessly evolves the playful pop heard on Heaven & Hell and hones the attack with an icy determination born from recent breakups. Hardened by heartbreak, Max takes her pain to the dancefloor, drying her tears through the power of pop. The energy never relents -- the skittering two-step of the Omar Fedi-assisted "In the Dark" is the closest thing to a "break" -- and it's pure, irresistible thrills from start to finish, buoyed by the power of Max's vocal range and passionate delivery. Beyond the official singles, other highlights include the dark synth creep of "Sleepwalker"; the disco-kissed earworm "Turn Off the Lights"; the electronic dance bliss of "Get Outta My Heart" (which samples Bernard Herrmann's Twisted Nerve score); and the pulsing neon-electro "Last Night on Earth." Deftly executed and ideal for repeat listens, Diamonds & Dancefloors makes it two-for-two for Max's catalog, delivering on the promise of her debut and pushing her even further toward the top of the early-2020s pop pantheon.© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo

Arriving ten years after the single-disc Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits (known as Rocket Man: Number Ones in North America) and 15 years after the double-disc Greatest Hits 1970-2002, Diamonds ups the game by offering two variations on Elton John's greatest hits: a double-CD version and a limited-edition triple-disc box set. Given John's canon is close to set, it should come as no surprise that Diamonds follows the same path as its predecessors -- indeed, the first ten songs on Diamonds are the same as those on Greatest Hits 1970-2002, with minor rejiggering; ultimately, there is a 26-song overlap -- but within its standard two-disc set, it finds a place for some important hits absent in prior comps. Notably, this has "Little Jeannie," "I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That," and his live duet with George Michael, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," all welcome additions, and as it extends into the present, it also finds space for John's artistic renaissance of the 21st century in the form of "Electricity," "Home Again," and "Looking Up." The third disc on the deluxe version deepens the story further by adding a bunch of hits that could've feasibly been included on the first two discs -- "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Pinball Wizard," "Mama Can't Buy You Love," "Part-Time Love," "Victim of Love," "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)," "Kiss the Bride," the superstar charity single "That's What Friends Are For" -- and also underscores his enduring stardom and cultural reach by including OK '90s U.K. hits with Kiki Dee, Pavarotti, and LeAnn Rimes, plus his 2012 U.S. dance hit with Pnau, "Good Morning to the Night" (conspicuous in their absence is any duet with Leon Russell). This last disc offers up plenty of hits but it also feels slightly messy because of the leap from "Kiss the Bride" to "Live Like Horses," but that only indicates how John would've been equally well served by a four-disc set. Instead, we get this excellent -- if incomplete -- collection that is equally satisfying in either its double-disc or triple-disc incarnation.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

As the '90s opened, Prince was in a weird place. Coming off the rollercoaster of Lovesexy's tepid commercial reception, the windfall success of the tossed-off Batman soundtrack, and the bombing of the deeply personal Graffiti Bridge movie and soundtrack album, Prince had a choice to make about his direction moving forward. Would he be a creative madman indulging his singular musical whims for a small but devoted fanbase? Or would he use his prodigious talents to align himself with the pop zeitgeist in order to become relevant again? Well, the man realized he had bills to pay, and work began on Graffiti Bridge's follow-up in late 1989, with Prince's eye firmly on the mainstream. Taking more than two years to complete, Diamonds and Pearls was, with the exception of Purple Rain, the album that Prince exerted the most time and effort on, relying completely on brand-new material (rather than pulling songs from the vault) and the integration of a brand-new band, the New Power Generation. That band is the secret weapon for the success of Diamonds and Pearls, harnessing two formidable forces of nature—vocalist Rosie Gaines and the rhythm section of Michael Bland and Sonny Thompson—that give this music a breadth, depth, and muscularity that had only been hinted at on previous Prince albums. Even on numbers like "Push" and "Daddy Pop" that have their eye on mainstream R&B audiences, Prince largely eschews the airless drum-machines-and-synths sound of his '80s recordings for a full-bodied, live-band sound that was somewhat at odds with the contemporaneous hits that were full of ... drum machines and synths. To be sure, hip-hop was a massive influence on the album—the first configuration of Diamonds and Pearls from late 1990 opened with "Something Funky (This House Comes)," which featured no Prince vocals, but, instead, raps by Tony M.  Its incorporation is often clumsy (see: "Jughead"), but occasionally charming (Prince's demur "you don't want me on the mic" bit on "Push"). Yet for all the nods to the charts, like the note-perfect balladry of the title track or the T. Rex-ripping "Cream," there was still quite a bit of "weird Prince" making its way through the grooves on Diamonds and Pearls, from the religio-rocking bombast of "Thunder" that updated "Let's Go Crazy" for the '90s and the album-closing rock opera "Live 4 Love," to the unhinged lasciviousness of "Gett Off." For this massively-expanded Super Deluxe Edition, one can get a look at just how hard Prince was working during this time, as the selection of outtakes and non-album tracks is extensive. Though most of the b-sides of the era were glorified remixes, some, like "Horny Pony" were part of the album project from its earliest phases (it's also included in a previously unheard alternate version). A couple of other tracks that made their way to various configurations of the album are here also—"Schoolyard," "Something Funky"—and it's easy to see why they didn't make the final cut. However, Prince's compositional powers were still in full flow, and, like during the Purple Rain period, many of the best non-album tracks he would write would end up finding their way to other artists; this set features several highlights, from three stellar synth-pop tracks written for Martika and the killer midtempo jam "Get Blue" (given to Louie Louie) to the bouncy, funky "The Voice" that found its way to Mavis Staples' second Paisley Park Records album. There are several other worthwhile outtakes, including "Darkside," which is the New Power Trio at their gnarliest, running through a gut-punching instrumental jam featuring Prince utterly slaying on his guitar while Bland and Thompson provide a "big time loud" backing. "Lauriann" sounds like a prime, early '80s outtake, while the playful "Glam Slam '91" is an embryonic version of "Gett Off" that has little to do with the Lovesexy track of the same name. There are quite a few outtakes that could have been best left in the vault: "Streetwalker" features Prince breathlessly intoning "work it baby" in a way that's just embarrassing; the explicitness of "Schoolyard" was cringey in the '90s and is downright problematic today; similarly, the fat jokes on "Work That Fat" have absolutely not aged well, but the song is still home to one of Prince's funkiest grooves. The inclusion of a barn-storming club show from 1992 more than makes up for any suboptimal outtakes, though, as the band and Prince are absolutely on fire throughout, serving as an excellent reminder that, while Prince may have been willing to give hip-hop the time of day, he was still able to deliver a live show at a level few performers could ever match. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

Joan Baez's landmark Diamonds & Rust found her at the peak of her singer/songwriter skills, seemingly capable of transitioning out of '60s protest mode into a more contemporary and commercially viable position. It was also around this time that she toured with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue, and according to Baez's memoirs, she wrote the songs for Gulf Winds during that tour. But Gulf Winds, her last A&M album, was a significant drop off and marked the beginning of what would be a steep commercial decline. Produced by David Kershenbaum, the album tries its best to bolster Baez with a timely '70s studio sound, but for the most part it misses the mark. The songs just aren't up to the task. "Sweeter for Me" sports a nice arppegiated piano by Baez and faintly harks to the melancholy brilliance of Diamonds & Rust, but, lyrically, most of the material is overwritten. The more stinging, faster-paced "O Brother!" is a more successful stab at a commercial sound, and Baez sings it with a bitter venom (you can't help but speculate that the song refers to Dylan himself). The standout track on an otherwise forgettable album, though, is surely the title track, "Gulf Winds," a ten-and-a-half-minute solo epic in the mold of her early work, just Joan and her acoustic guitar, brilliantly picked and sung, ironically demonstrating that, although Baez still had the talent, she couldn't capitalize on the success of Diamonds and Rust and the times were passing her by. © Jim Esch /TiVo

Judas Priest rebounded from the shaky Point of Entry with Screaming for Vengeance, arguably the strongest album of their early-'80s commercial period. Having moved a bit too far into simplistic hard rock, Vengeance found the band refocusing on heavy metal, and achieving a greater balance between commercialism and creativity. The results were catchy and accessible, yet harder-hitting, and without the awkwardly apparent calculation that informed the weakest moments of the album's two predecessors. Ultimately, Screaming for Vengeance hangs together better than even the undeniable landmark British Steel, both thematically and musically. There's less of a party-down feel here -- the remaining traces of boogie have been ironed out, and the lyrics return to the darkness and menace that gave the band its mystique. Sure, if you stop to read the lyrics, all the references to demons and devils and monsters can look a little gratuitous, but the music here is so strong that there simply aren't any seams showing. Even the occasional filler is more metallic this time around -- in place of trite teenage rebellion, listeners get the S&M-themed "Pain and Pleasure." In fact, "Pain and Pleasure" and "Fever" are the only two songs here that have never shown up on a band retrospective, which ought to tell you that Priest's songwriting here is perhaps the best it's ever been. The midtempo grooves that enlivened British Steel are here in full force on the band's signature tune, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" (their only American chart single), as well as "Bloodstone," "Devil's Child," and unfairly forgotten single "(Take These) Chains," all uniformly great. But there's a nearly equal emphasis on uptempo headbanging, thanks to the classic "The Hellion/Electric Eye," the terrific album track "Riding on the Wind," and the stupendously high-velocity title cut, which is the closest they ever came to thrash metal (at least in the '80s). Despite a one-album misstep in between, Screaming for Vengeance managed to capitalize on the commercial breakthrough of British Steel, becoming the first Priest album to be certified double platinum, and reaching the Top 20 in America and the U.K. alike. Along with British Steel, it ranks as one of the best and most important mainstream metal albums of the '80s.© Steve Huey /TiVo

This 25-track collection breathes new life into each of the Bond themes over the years. Recorded in 2019 at Abbey Road Studios, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra reimagine all 25 themes, including Billie Eilish's 2020's "No Time to Die"© Rich Wilson /TiVo

On their sophomore effort for ECM, the Marcin Wasilewski Trio (pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz, and drummer Michal Miskiewicz -- who are also Polish trumpet maestro Tomasz Stanko's rhythm section) reflect the true sign of their maturity as a group of seasoned jazz musicians and risk-takers. Their debut album, simply called Trio, merely reflected to American and Western European audiences the wealth of talent, vision, and discipline that Polish and Eastern Europe's audiences had known for over a decade. (The group recorded five previous albums in its native country between 1993 and 2004.) They came together in 1991 as teenagers: Wasilewski and Kurkiewicz were only 16 and had already been playing together for a year when they met up with Miskiewicz. In 1993 they began playing behind Stanko, and eventually became his recording group as well. They were first heard on his 2001 album The Soul of Things, as well as his subsequent ECM outings, Suspended Night and Lontano. But all of this is history and history only. It doesn't begin to tell of the magic and mystery found in this beautiful album. There are four Wasilewski compositions in this ten-cut set. They range from the lovely songlike opener, "The First Touch," with its romantic melody that suggests Bill Evans' late "Song for Evan" period, as well as elliptical European improvisers like Bobo Stenson. But it's that inherent sense of dimension and space that is in all the best Polish jazz that makes this is such a stellar tune. The utterly lyrical brush and cymbal work by Miskiewicz and present yet uncluttered bassline of Kurkiewicz allow the full range of Wasilewski's reach from melodic invention to gently ambiguous modal exploration to come to the fore. The group's reading of Ennio Morricone's "Cinema Paradiso" underscores the deep and inseparable relationship between Polish jazz and the cinema that has existed since the collaborations between director Roman Polanski and Stanko's first boss, pianist and composer Krzysztof Komeda. The sense of dynamic that the trio goes for on this piece is perhaps less forcefully pronounced than the composer's, but it is almost a reading of its other side, where the brooding aspects of the original give way to something fuller and more picaresque, while allowing its sense of nostalgia and memory free rein inside the narrative of the tune. This is followed by one of the set's true highlights, a killer jazz reading of Prince's "Diamonds and Pearls," led by a tough little three-note bass intro by Kurkiewicz; he proceeds to underscore every note in the melody with a fill. It's difficult to know for the first couple of minutes exactly what the trio is getting at here, but just before the extrapolation of the harmony and its inversion it becomes clear and it gains a more aurally recognizable quality. The tune is soulful and romantic, and contains all of the inherent lyricism that Prince employs in its chord structure, adding just a little of jazz's sense of adventure in the final third of the tune and wrapping it all together into something new. This is a worthy interpretation if there ever was one. Interestingly, the trio tackles some tunes by ECM standard-bearers as well. There are innovative, challenging, and very fresh-sounding versions of Gary Peacock's "Vignette," Carla Bley's "King Korn" (which retains all of its knotty humor and then adds some of its own), and Stanko's gorgeous and enduring "Balladyna"-- the title cut from his own ECM debut back in the 1970s. Three longer Wasilewski compositions -- "The Cat," the title track, and another crack at the relationship between Polish film and jazz in "The Young and the Cinema" -- dominate the second half of the record by giving the band a chance to really stretch and fly. All of these tunes, but particularly the last one, reveal the trio members' ability to swing effortlessly together no matter how complex the music gets as it moves from post-bop to angular impressionistic jazz. The final cut is a muted improvisation that is, if anything, all too brief. This is terrific second effort by a band that, despite the fact that its members have been together for 17 years, is only really coming into its own in the present moment.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

35 years later, this new re-edition finally corrects a terrible injustice. Despite its colossal success at the end of the 1970s, the powerful major distributing ELO in the United States vetoed the double-album project, forcing Jeff Lynne – who had become the band’s uncontested leader −, to change his strategy and tame his ambitions, settling for a reasonably long simple album. Professionals in the business had strong doubts over whether or not this veteran of the 70s could survive the 80s, a decade in which pop music lost all dignity. In other words, he who was one of the few to come close to the Beatles’ excellence and knew how to adapt, with more or less finesse, to the zeitgeist, particularly the disco wave, was in danger of becoming old fashioned… Still, his two previous albums, Discovery (1979) and the ambitious Time (1981) both topped the charts in many countries, as well as his original soundtrack for the disappointing film Xanadu.Listening to the 17 tracks of this revised and corrected version of Secret Messages, it becomes clear that Lynne’s updating work should have earned him more respect. Retaining its idiosyncratic components that allowed for rock’n’roll influences to harmoniously coexist with pronounced classical influences, ELO broadened their skill set while mastering the latest progress in technology. Tracks that had been scattered over singles, compilations, or the following album (Balance Of Power) have finally been re-integrated, with, as a bonus, a handful of previously unreleased songs that are well worth a listen. Only Beatles Forever is missing, the tribute Lynne still doesn’t deign to officially release, despite achieving his dream by producing the Liverpool band during their Anthology period, after collaborating with two of its members (George Harrison and Ringo Starr). © Jean-Pierre Sabouret/Qobuz

Prince spent the latter half of the '80s courting the pop audience, and by the time of Graffiti Bridge, he had lost much of his R&B fan base. As a response, he formed the New Power Generation and recorded Diamonds and Pearls, his first record to reconnect with the urban audience since 1999, as well as his first to acknowledge the hip-hop revolution. Although he still has a problem with rap -- "Jughead" is simply embarrassing -- he manages to skillfully reinvent himself as an urban soulman without sacrificing his musical innovation. The New Power Generation is a more skilled band than the Revolution, and they are able to make Prince's funk jazzier, particularly on "Willing and Able," the breezy "Strollin'" and "Walk Don't Walk." It's clear that these subtly textured songs are where his heart is at, but the songs designed to win back his audience -- the slamming dancefloor rallying cry "Gett Off," the sexy T. Rex groove "Cream," the extraordinary Philly soul of the neglected masterpiece "Money Don't Matter 2 Night," and the drippy mainstream ballad "Diamonds and Pearls" -- are all terrific pop singles. However, much of the rest of Diamonds and Pearls is comprised of middling funk and R&B that sounds less like inspired workouts than stylistic exercises. Even with such weak moments, Diamonds and Pearls is a fine record, even though it's only marginally better than Lovesexy and Graffiti Bridge.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo