When Pink Floyd bassist-turned-solo artist Roger Waters announced plans to re-imagine the band's iconic Dark Side Of The Moon, puzzled looks rightly ensued.  He even said to Variety, "We all thought I was mad but the more we considered it, the more we thought 'isn't that the whole point?'" Waters, who wrote much of Dark Side and is no stranger to controversy, has offered that Redux's relation to the original is, "Not to supersede it or to replace it, but to remember it, and as an adjunct to it, and to progress the work of the original concept of the original record and all those original songs."  Opener "Speak to Me" now features spoken text that is actually the lyrics from "Free Four," which appears on Pink Floyd's 1972 album Obscured By Clouds: "The memories of a man in his old age, are the deeds of a man in his prime/ You shuffle in the gloom of the sick room and talk to yourself as you die/ For life is a short, warm moment and death is a long, cold rest." "On The Run" is prefaced with "Today, I awoke from a dream/ It was a revelation, almost Patmosian, whatever that means/ But that's evidently another story/ It began with some standard bullshit fight with evil/ In this case, an apparently all-powerful hooded and cloaked figure," which was something Waters wrote down after waking up from a dream in July, 2021.  A number of talented musicians join Waters, among them: Gus Seyffert on bass, guitar, backing vocals; Joey Waronker on drums; Jonathan Wilson on guitars and synth.  In the case of the original single "Money," once an indictment of capitalism, Waters slows the pace, adds cello accents and a menacing piano part, and switches into a whispery Tom Waits-Leonard Cohen conspiratorial growl. The new lyrics are about a heavyweight boxing match, the devil, and a Faustian deal. One of rock's enduring masterpieces has now become the backdrop for a spoken word piece where Waters imparts the perspective he's gained since the album's original release in 1973. © Robert Baird/Qobuz

Taylor Swift left her longtime home of Big Machine in 2018, setting up shop at Republic Records. Usually, such changes in label are only of interest to trainspotters, but once Swift departed Big Machine, the label was acquired by a group owned by Scooter Braun, a nemesis of Taylor's. The singer attempted to regain rights to her original recordings to no avail, leaving her with one option: she could re-record her records, thereby undercutting the value of her catalog in terms of syncs, placements, and licensing. Swift carried through on the promise in April 2021, releasing Fearless (Taylor's Version), a brand-new version of her 2008 breakthrough. Swift recorded all 19 songs from the 2009 Platinum Edition of Fearless, adding a new version of "Today Was a Fairytale" from the Valentine's Day soundtrack, then six additional songs ("From The Vault") -- songs that were written around the time of Fearless but not released. These tracks are of greatest interest, as they certainly have a younger, dewy-eyed perspective but were recorded with Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, the producers of Swift's mature work. The blend of youth and experience is appealing, and it can also be heard in the newer renditions of the Fearless material. Swift largely re-creates the arrangements and feel of the original 2008 album, yet her voice and phrasing has aged, giving the music a hint of bittersweet gravity. That said, it's only a hint; Fearless (Taylor's Version) serves the purpose of offering new versions that could be substituted for the originals for licensing purposes. It's to Swift's credit that the album is an absorbing (if long) listen anyway.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Turning away from the sweet pop of Out of Time, R.E.M. created a haunting, melancholy masterpiece with Automatic for the People. At its core, the album is a collection of folk songs about aging, death, and loss, but the music has a grand, epic sweep provided by layers of lush strings, interweaving acoustic instruments, and shimmering keyboards. Automatic for the People captures the group at a crossroads, as they moved from cult heroes to elder statesmen, and the album is a graceful transition into their new status. It is a reflective album, with frank discussions on mortality, but it is not a despairing record -- "Nightswimming," "Everybody Hurts," and "Sweetness Follows" have a comforting melancholy, while "Find the River" provides a positive sense of closure. R.E.M. have never been as emotionally direct as they are on Automatic for the People, nor have they ever created music quite as rich and timeless, and while the record is not an easy listen, it is the most rewarding record in their oeuvre.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Even before this fourth Tame Impala album came out, Kevin Parker was, more than ever, everywhere! Kanye West, Kali Uchis, Lady Gaga, Travis Scott, Theophilus London, The Avalanches and a handful of others were lining up to pick the Australian’s brain in one way or another; on his part, the leader of Tame Impala has dazzled the world with his talents since 2007, blending psychedelic rock, XXL rhythms and airtight choruses. However, the ultra-hypnotic psychedelics have been put on mute for The Slow Rush, his sunniest and most hedonistic work to date. There is a serious feel-good factor to this chill, 80s-sounding album which can occasionally sound very FM even slightly cheesy… The fluffy R&B of Hall & Oates and The Bee Gees, the soft art pop/rock of 10cc or Supertramp and the polished finish of early Air music are all clear influences, with the synths tending to eclipse the guitars. But such is Kevin Parker’s talent that he submerges these inspirations in a production that is 100% 2020. The Slow Rush is a formidably effective record, and the catchy Is It True could propel it to dizzying heights. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

In 2015, David Gilmour decided to undertake a series of concerts in the world’s oldest venues. A year later, the guitarist from Pink Floyd becomes the first artist since the gladiators in 79 AD to give a concert before an audience in Pompeii’s amphitheater! It was a trip back to the Italian city for him, as he had already performed there in 1971 during the shooting of Adrian Maben’s movie Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii… In the shadow of the Vesuvius, David Gilmour plays in the more than legendary venue on July 7th and 8th, 2016 and revisits songs that have always been there his whole life, in solo as well as with Floyd. And let’s not forget the new interpretations of The Great Gig In The Sky from the album Dark Side Of The Moon, rarely performed in solo by Gilmour. © CM/Qobuz

There’s a ‘before and after’ Out Of Time in the life of R.E.M. This ‘before’ for Michael Stipe’s band is mainly found on university campuses where the group gained a cult following in the ‘80s… How then did R.E.M. manage to sell 12 million copies of Out Of Time to the world? The answer is that this record was both sublime and austere. An uncompromising album, like the chamber rock such as Nirvana and the Pixies that you’d blast out without caring about pissing off the neighbours in that year of 1992… Always virtuosic, Peter Buck goes from the mandolin to the acoustic guitar with great ease, John Paul Johns from Led Zeppelin sublimely arranges refined chords and Michael Stipe shines with his melancholic and tortured prose with the candor of a man with self-assured belief. Cinemascope ballads prevail, peaking with Everybody Hurts. It must be said, Automatic For The People is not the most easy-flowing album by R.E.M. but it is one of the most beautiful. Released in 2017, this 25th anniversary edition also offers, alongside the remastered album, a live recording from the 40 Watt Club in Athens on the 19th November 1992 with some cover versions like Funtime by Iggy Pop and Love Is All Around by The Troggs. © MD/Qobuz

Never say never. In 2014, upon unveiling the stunning full-length album The Inevitable End, Röyksopp vowed to never release another album–or, more precisely, anything else in "the traditional album format."  In the eight years since, the Norwegian duo have remained wholly faithful to their word, dripping out standalone archive tracks, random singles, and collaborations, but never once—beyond the straightforward vault-clearing Lost Tapes compilation—indulging in anything that resembled a "traditional album." However, here we are, in the first half of 2022, with Profound Mysteries, a piece of work that very much seems like a "traditional album" from the three-singles-before-the-full-length rollout and bespoke website to the press-and-promo run of interviews and video premieres and 10-tracks-to-a-set composition. (There’s also a robust complement of independently produced short films that have little or nothing to do with the songs themselves.)  Still, the most important part—the listening experience—is album-like indeed, and yet it feels a bit askew. Yes, there are 10 tracks here, but two are under two minutes long, and one of them is a 52-second closing-track lock groove that sounds like the last robot you'll hear at the end of the world. The remaining eight tracks–while staying somewhat faithful to Röyksopp's traditional amalgamation of churning synths, driving rhythms, ethereal atmospheres, and occasional female vocal cameos (most notably: the house-music-in-heaven groove of "Breathe," with Astrid S)—seem to be careening off in multiple directions, with great sounds trying to find worthy ideas on which to latch. The longest cut, "This Time, This Place…," is also the most monochromatic, with a throbbing groove that feels caught between '80s car-chase soundtrack and an unending disco hangover that never seems to resolve; meanwhile, "There, Beyond the Trees" echoes the duo's 2013 track "Daddy's Groove," but prefers to lay back in its own shadow, settling between atmosphere and accent. Both cuts sound fantastic and easily evoke all the reasons why Röyksopp is so beloved, but they also exemplify the fish-nor-fowl essence of Profound Mysteries, which never seems to find a conceptual or textural throughline to bind its multiple parts. None of the cuts could easily be called "singles" in the standalone-bangers way that would make this a compilation of highlights of the duo's previous near-decades worth of work.  So while it makes for something of a disorienting listen, Profound Mysteries is also far from a disappointment. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

Producer Kanye West's highlight reels were stacking up exponentially when his solo debut for Roc-a-Fella was released, after numerous delays and a handful of suspense-building underground mixes. The week The College Dropout came out, three singles featuring his handiwork were in the Top 20, including his own "Through the Wire." A daring way to introduce himself to the masses as an MC, the enterprising West recorded the song during his recovery from a car wreck that nearly took his life -- while his jaw was wired shut. Heartbreaking and hysterical ("There's been an accident like Geico/They thought I was burnt up like Pepsi did Michael"), and wrapped around the helium chirp of the pitched-up chorus from Chaka Khan's "Through the Fire," the song and accompanying video couldn't have forged his dual status as underdog and champion any better. All of this momentum keeps rolling through The College Dropout, an album that's nearly as phenomenal as the boastful West has led everyone to believe. From a production standpoint, nothing here tops recent conquests like Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name" or Talib Kweli's "Get By," but he's consistently potent and tempers his familiar characteristics -- high-pitched soul samples, gospel elements -- by tweaking them and not using them as a crutch. Even though those with their ears to the street knew West could excel as an MC, he has used this album as an opportunity to prove his less-known skills to a wider audience. One of the most poignant moments is on "All Falls Down," where the self-effacing West examines self-consciousness in the context of his community: "Rollies and Pashas done drive me crazy/I can't even pronounce nothing, yo pass the Versacey/Then I spent 400 bucks on this just to be like 'N*gga you ain't up on this'." If the notion that the album runs much deeper than the singles isn't enough, there's something of a surprising bonus: rather puzzlingly, a slightly adjusted mix of "Slow Jamz" -- a side-splitting ode to legends of baby-making soul that originally appeared on Twista's Kamikaze, just before that MC received his own Roc-a-Fella chain -- also appears. Prior to this album, we were more than aware that West's stature as a producer was undeniable; now we know that he's also a remarkably versatile lyricist and a valuable MC.© Andy Kellman /TiVo

Though the reissue campaign that presented PJ Harvey's albums with their demos was extensive, it still didn't gather everything in her archives. She fills in those gaps with B-Sides, Demos & Rarities, a comprehensive set of harder-to-find and previously unreleased material that covers three decades of music. Kicking off with a handful of previously unreleased demos, the collection celebrates what makes each track special within Harvey's chronology. Short but fully realized versions of "Dry" and "Man-Size" reaffirm that by the time she hits the record button, she knows exactly what she's doing; the guitar and voice sketches of "Missed" and "Highway 61 Revisited" are as formidable as the finished takes; and the demo of the B-side "Me Jane" (yes, that's how thorough this set is) offers one of the Rid of Me era's catchiest songs in an even rawer state. B-Sides, Demos & Rarities reinforces just how vital Harvey's non-album tracks are to her creative trajectory. The uncanny carnival oompah of "Daddy," a "Man-Size" B-side, feels like one of the earliest forays into the eeriness that gave an extra thrill to To Bring You My Love, White Chalk, and much of Harvey's later work. She continues Is This Desire?'s experimentation on "The Bay," which contrasts songwriting befitting a classic folk ballad with pulsing keyboards and jazzy rhythms, and continues to try to make sense of the world's chaos on Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea-era material spanning the whispery Saturn return of "30" to "This Wicked Tongue," an updated expression of biblical sin, desire, and torment that delivers one of the set's most quintessentially PJ Harvey moments. Fittingly for such an anachronistic-sounding album, White Chalk's B-sides reach back to Harvey's earliest days: "Wait" and "Heaven" date back to 1989 and deliver sprightly, strummy folk-pop that's almost unrecognizable as her work. The set's previously unreleased music contains just as many revelations. One of its most notable previously missing puzzle pieces is the demo of Uh Huh Her's title track. A shockingly pure expression of rage, jealousy, and sorrow, it may have been too raw and revealing even for a PJ Harvey album, but it's a shame that it and the like-minded "Evol" didn't make the cut. Conversely, "Why'd You Go to Cleveland," a 1996 collaboration between Harvey and John Parish, and the 2012 demo "Homo Sappy Blues" are downright playful, proving the complete picture of her music includes something akin to fun. Highlights from the collection's 2010s material include "An Acre of Land," a lush ballad rooted in the British folk traditions that are just as essential to her music as punk or the blues, and the 2019 cover of Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand," which pays homage to a kindred spirit while transforming the song into something more desolate and plaintive. A must-listen for anyone following Harvey's archival series, B-Sides, Demos & Rarities serves as a fascinating parallel primer to her music and the multitudes within it.© Heather Phares /TiVo

Maroon 5 have certainly come a long way since their days in the indie outfit Kara's Flowers. After the band's demise in 1999, frontman Adam Levine surrounded himself with New York City's urban hip-hop culture and found a new musical calling. Maroon 5 was born and their debut album, Songs About Jane, illustrates an impressive rebirth. It's groovy in spots, offering bluesy funk on "Shiver" and a catchy, soulful disposition on "Harder to Breathe." "Must Get Out" slows things down with its dreamy lyrical story, and Levine is a vocal dead ringer for Men at Work's Colin Hay. Don't wince -- it works brilliantly. Songs About Jane is love-drunk on what makes Maroon 5 tick as a band. They're not as glossy as the Phantom Planet darlings; they've got grit and a sexy strut, personally and musically. It's much too slick to cross over commercially in 2002, but it's good enough for the pop kids to take notice.© MacKenzie Wilson /TiVo

Filming a concert is no mean feat, though Roger Waters has nailed it. Mostly thanks to Sean Evans, the director behind the images used for The Wall tour in 2014. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Waters paired up with Evans again for his latest tour Us + Them in 2019. In order to select the best performances while maintaining a visual (and sonic) cohesion, the recording took place over four days, during performances at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam in June 2018. Each new studio album is basically an excuse to go on another tour and bring as much of the Pink Floyd repertoire to the stage – something that’s also true for his brother-in-arms David Gilmour. Of course, there are a few tracks from his record Is This the Life We Really Want? released in 2017 (Déjà Vu, The Last Refugee, Picture That), but what the fans really want are the older tracks. Waters knows that of course, performing Wish You Were Here, Another Brick in The Wall, Dogs and Money. It’s a shame that Comfortably Numb is missing, even in the video version, especially since the classic was performed on stage over the four evenings. While the film strives to be even more politically engaged than those in the past (featuring an anti-Trump speech and touching on the Palestine crisis...), the live album only transcribes the musical magic. Most importantly, it spotlights the talented artists surrounding the bassist, with guitarist and singer Jonathan Wilson in the front row, whose physical (and vocal) resemblance to David Gilmour has wowed us all. Prepare to be surprised. © Chief Brody/Qobuz