2020 may not be the best year to publish an LP intended for the dancefloor, but Róisín Murphy is not the type to throw in the towel. This new album from the ex-singer of trip-hop duo Moloko, whose 1998 hit Sing It Back (and the epic remix by Herbert) will never be forgotten, is an extravaganza of fabulous disco/house that isn’t the most innovative but showcases the genre at its very best. The Irishwoman’s vocals are effortless and the production by Richard Barratt, aka DJ Parrot, a Sheffield native like Murphy herself and a true legend affiliated with FON Records and Warp Records, is flawless. Between the sensual and vintage disco opener Simulation, the perfectly muted base in I Want Something More, the eager bass in Shellfish and the wild Jealousy to close, everything is perfectly calibrated, refined and orchestrated. More than just stylish, Róisín Machine is a bundle of pure energy and this album is up there among the best of disco tunes from all eras. © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz

"I'm already lost in the groove," Róisín Murphy sings at one point on Crooked Machine, and it's hard to come up with a better description of this graceful, cleverly crafted expansion of 2020's excellent Róisín Machine. A set of reworkings helmed by that album's producer, Crooked Man's Richard Barratt, Crooked Machine is a true reinvention of its source material; these remixes aren't just a couple of minutes longer than the original tracks, or updated with slightly different beats. Murphy lets Barratt have free rein -- a wise choice, considering that along with her wit and charisma, his production magic helped make Róisín Machine so striking. He rebuilds the tracks out of their subtlest elements (often stripping out Murphy's lead vocals, save for the occasional verse or chorus) and goes deeper into the haunted, soulful dance sound he mastered on his own Crooked Man and Crooked House. "Echo Returns," a musically and mythologically apt makeover of the storming "Narcissus," sets its whispery vocals and massive sub-bass afloat in a galactic wash of dubby sounds. "Less Is More"'s title wittily acknowledges that it's a minimalist take on "Something More," yet its peaks are just as high and its momentum is just as irresistible as the original's are. Crooked Machine's seamless mix may capture the foggy, sweaty, hypnotic glory of the dancefloor even more ably than its predecessor, but standouts like the surging opening track "Kingdom of Machines" and "Crooked Madame" (a playful revamp of "Shellfish Mademoiselle") abound. It's a testament to Murphy and Barratt's enduring creative chemistry that they continue to bring out the best in each other in unexpected ways: "Assimilation," a tender, elegant reimagining of 2012's single "Simulation," proves that the project's oldest track still has plenty of room for reinterpretation. Barratt goes further off-book with the jagged synth bass and wild keyboard solos that drive "We Are the Law" and the wobbly low end of "Hardcore Jealousy," both of which have a risk-taking sense of fun. Moments like these make Crooked Machine possibly even more danceable than the original, as well as a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend more time in Róisín Machine's world.© Heather Phares /TiVo

The late Joe Dassin was a very successful singer in his adopted France, and this collection, released by Sony/BMG France in 2005 contains 23 of his biggest tunes. This particular edition lacks the second disc of material associated with other releases, but still captures this singer's best moments. Includes "Et si Tu n'Existais Pas," "Les Champs-Elysees," and "Le Chemin de Papa."© Chris True /TiVo

Brigitte Fontaine and Areski Belkacem's final release before a retirement that lasted nearly 20 years, 1977's Vous et Nous is a remarkable album. A 33-track double album (song lengths range from barely 30 seconds to nearly seven minutes), Vous et Nous often sounds like nothing so much as what Stereolab would be doing two decades later. (The members of Stereolab are acknowledged fans of Fontaine, and the band's lovely "Brigitte" was written in tribute to her in 1995.) The instrumentation alternates between bleeping synthesizers and rattlingly primitive electronic drums on some songs and acoustic guitars and hand percussion on others. For the first time, Fontaine and Belkacem split the vocal duties about evenly; his gruff, mumbled vocals contrast nicely with her much sweeter tone, and the North African and Eastern European influences he had brought to her previous few albums are much more in evidence here. The two versions of the title track, one with a minimal electronic background and the other featuring the same Balkan-style melody played on authentic instruments, are representative of the two stylistic poles of the album. Artistically challenging yet surprisingly accessible (at least more so to a contemporary audience than it might have been upon its initial release), Vous et Nous is an endlessly fascinating cross-cultural experiment.© Stewart Mason /TiVo

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In 1743, two years before Rameau’s Platée, Boismortier created an extraordinarily modern and madcap "comic ballet", Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse. As the exuberant plotunfurls, Cervantes’ hero encounters monsters, enchanters, princesses and people from Japan, making for plenty of offbeat and audacious dances and choruses. Musical beautyrubs shoulders with satirical and irreverent comedy. A choice work for Hervé Niquet, who leads his Concert Spirituel with unparalleled energy! © Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Tour 66: Stade de France 2009 documents the farewell tour of Johnny Hallyday, who announced his intention of retiring from the stage a couple years earlier. The album's title is an allusion to both the singer's advanced age and the iconic American highway. The tour commenced on May 8, 2009, and included a few sold-out shows at the 80,000-seat Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, as well as a free concert for 800,000 people at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Unfortunately, the tour came to a premature conclusion when Hallyday experienced a series of health problems late in the year that became something of a controversy when he was treated in the United States after a botched surgery in France. While the tour didn't go ahead as planned, leaving many fans holding tickets for canceled shows, at least there is Tour 66: Stade de France 2009, a satisfactory document of the tour released in a variety of formats. The standard edition includes 34 songs spread across two CDs, including a good mix of greatest hits, cover songs, recent material, and the new song "Et Maintenant." The greatest hits include "Ma Gueule," "Joue Pas de Rock'n'Roll pour Moi," "Diego, Libre dans Sa Tête," "Que Je T'Aime," "Allumer le Feu," "Noir C'est Noir," "Derrière l'Amour," "La Musique Que J'Aime," and "L'Envie." The cover songs include "Je Veux Te Graver dans Ma Vie" (an adaptation of the Beatles' "Got to Get You Into My Life"), "Unchained Melody" (as popularized by the Righteous Brothers), "Blue Suede Shoes" (Carl Perkins), "That's All Right" (Elvis Presley), "La Terre Promise" (an adaptation of Chuck Berry's "Promised Land"), "I Got a Woman" (Ray Charles), and "Les Coups" (an adaptation of Stevie Wonder's "Uptight [Everything's Alright]"). The more recent material includes the chart-toppers "Ça N'Finira Jamais" and "Marie" from 2008 and 2002, respectively. Lastly, there's an encore performance of "Et Maintenant," a great new song released as the album's lead single. Beside this two-CD standard edition of Tour 66, there are a couple different DVD releases, plus a mammoth collector's edition box set that includes four CDs, two DVDs, and all kinds of bonus material. Though Hallyday is well past his prime here on Tour 66, he gives an impassioned performance that makes for a fitting farewell; moreover, the set list is nicely balanced between hits and covers.© Jason Birchmeier /TiVo

In the years between 2007's Overpowered and 2015's Hairless Toys, Róisín Murphy issued a string of singles that were as excellent as her albums. "Simulation," a 2012 collaboration with producer Richard Barratt, was a particularly glittering highlight of that era. A swirl of mirror ball sparkles and dry ice fog, it spoke to Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's transporting version of disco as well as Murphy's skill at sweeping listeners into a world of her own. It was a potent start to her collaboration with Barratt, who went on to craft similarly elegant music steeped in house and disco traditions as Crooked Man. On 2020's Róisín Machine, he and Murphy continue to bring out the best in each other. It only makes sense to start the album with the beginning of their long-simmering partnership: eight years later, "Simulation" remains as stunning as when it first appeared, with reflections upon reflections of Murphy's voice unfolding over its steady beat and pulsing synths. Though the track sets the tone for what follows, Róisín Machine never feels predictable. More than on some of her previous releases, Murphy winks at the playful artificiality that has been her trademark since the Moloko days. She's often seemed like she could be an android with her shape-shifting vocals and unexpected songwriting choices; only she would name a sultry track "Shellfish Mademoiselle," and only she could get away with it. Fortunately, this more straightforward approach doesn't detract from the power of her illusions. The gradual smoothing of her style that started on Overpowered and made Hairless Toys so gorgeously sophisticated attains a fittingly mechanical perfection on Róisín Machine. It's as seamless as a mix album, with a haziness that calls to mind the magic of the dancefloor on tracks like the ghostly "Game Changer." With Barratt's help, Murphy dives deeper than ever before into the disco and house roots that make up the foundations of her solo career, but even with a narrower focus, she finds a wide range of expression. On "Kingdom of Ends," she ascends to her rightful position as the empress of dance music on steeply rising synth strings that feel infinite. On "Narcissus," those strings become a nervy, restless loop as Murphy riffs on Greek mythology, one of many moments on Róisín Machine where she melds fantasies and club culture into songs that are as artful as they are kinetic. She's never sounded as velvety as she does on "Murphy's Law," her version of the classic disco trope of dancing through heartache, while the emotional complexity she brings to "Incapable" and "Jealousy" works with their driving beats, not against them. From start to finish, Róisín Machine is cohesive and spellbinding. Murphy truly is a machine in her consistent creativity, and this is a particularly well-oiled example of her brilliance.© Heather Phares /TiVo