With Paranoïa, Angels, True Love, Christine And The Queens embarks on a long spiritual journey, with Madonna as their guiding high priestess. The two artists met in 2015 during a concert by the American, when Madonna had invited him to go on stage to choreograph a few dance steps. For this album, Christine And the Queens called on her to speak instead of sing. Seduced by the sheer madness of the project, Madonna agreed to take part in three songs (Angels Crying in My Bed, I Met an Angel and Lick the Light Out). Christine And The Queens wanted to salute this iconic voice "which speaks with all the facets inscribed in our consciousness, taking on multiple forms and roles, from the maternal figure to the dominatrix". As for the second feature of the album, the American singer and rapper 070 Shake, who can be heard on True Love and Let Me Touch You Once, makes an appearance. The spiritual form of Paranoïa, Angels, True Love owes a lot to the music produced by Mike Dean (who works with Jay-Z and Beyoncé). Often coated with a trip hop colour that reflects the multiple influences of Christine And The Queens, the tracks cede the place of honour to spectrally high strings and ecstatic electric guitar solos. We also hear a mystical cover of Canon de Pachelbel (Full of Life). Finally, this album is a way for Christine and the Queens to showcase the full range of their voice, which has never been so mixed and reverberated, for it to have maximum effect (A Day in the Water). Paranoia, Angels, True Love can be perceived as the singer's tribute to a highly determined English-speaking pop, but the air of strange musical comedy shows that this resolutely atypical object belongs only to them. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

By 1969, Gram Parsons had already built the foundation of the country-rock movement through his work with the International Submarine Band and the Byrds, but his first album with the Flying Burrito Brothers, The Gilded Palace of Sin, was where he revealed the full extent of his talents, and it ranks among the finest and most influential albums the genre would ever produce. As a songwriter, Parsons delivered some of his finest work on this set; "Hot Burrito No. 1" and "Hot Burrito No. 2" both blend the hurt of classic country weepers with a contemporary sense of anger, jealousy, and confusion, and "Sin City" can either be seen as a parody or a sincere meditation on a city gone mad, and it hits home in both contexts. Parsons was rarely as strong as a vocalist as he was here, and his covers of "Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman" prove just how much he had been learning from R&B as well as C&W. And Parsons was fortunate enough to be working with a band who truly added to his vision, rather than simply backing him up; the distorted swoops of Sneaky Pete Kleinow's fuzztone steel guitar provides a perfect bridge between country and psychedelic rock, and Chris Hillman's strong and supportive harmony vocals blend flawlessly with Parsons' (and he also proved to be a valuable songwriting partner, collaborating on a number of great tunes with Gram). While The Gilded Palace of Sin barely registered on the pop culture radar in 1969, literally dozens of bands (the Eagles most notable among them) would find inspiration in this music and enjoy far greater success. But no one ever brought rock and country together quite like the Flying Burrito Brothers, and this album remains their greatest accomplishment. - © Mark Deming /TiVo

It took a while to introduce Christine and the Queens' self-described "freakpop" to the world. The group's debut album first arrived in 2014 as Chaleur Humaine in frontwoman Héloïse Létissier's native France, then it was issued in the United States in 2015 as Christine and the Queens, and finally as a deluxe U.K. edition of Chaleur Humaine in early 2016. The acclaim for the album -- whatever its title -- only grew with each release, and rightfully so: on Chaleur Humaine, Christine and the Queens don't just embrace differences, they see them as beautiful. Within the album's lovely synth pop, there's strangeness and strength; "I'm doing my face with magic marker," Létissier sings on "Christine," a subtly irresistible track with the power of an anthem in the making. A similar independence pulses through the gorgeous "Saint Claude," which depicts the moment of walking away or committing entirely with heart-stopping beauty. As Chaleur Humaine unfolds, Christine reveals herself as less of a disguise and more of a prism for Létissier's distinctive outlook. She addresses her pansexuality throughout the album, subtly on songs like the aforementioned "Christine" and more directly on "Half Ladies" and "iT," a call-and-response track with the Queens where her backing band sings "She's a man now/And there's nothing we can do." This fluidity extends to the ease with which Létissier blends French traditions with contemporary pop, hip-hop, and R&B. She mixes all of the above on "Paradis Perdus," an interpolation of Kanye West's "Heartless" and Christophe's 1973 hit "Les Paradis Perdus," transforming them into something with its own emotive power. Elsewhere, the band balances the urgency of songs such as "Safe and Holy" and gentler moments like "Nuit 17 à 52" with a grace reflecting Létissier's former life as a dancer. Indeed, Christine and the Queens' emotional and musical agility only makes Chaleur Humaine's heartfelt, thoughtful pop that much richer and rewarding. © Heather Phares /TiVo

On his third album as Christine and the Queens—but also using the new moniker Redcar—the artist now known simply as Chris isn't pushing boundaries so much as flying over them. "My journey with gender has always been tumultuous. It's raging right now, as I'm just exploring what is beyond this," he said in a May 2022 interview, around the time he announced his adoption of masculine pronouns. "A way to express it could be switching between they and she. I kind of want to tear down that system that made us label genders in such a strict way … I think the answer is to be flickery, fluid, escaping." That's also a pretty good description of his music, which is equally, and charmingly, hard to pin down. Opener "Ma bien aimée bye bye" finds Chris, as Redcar, adopting a chanteur's pose against the late-night cabaret sounds of slinky guitars and shimmering high-hat. Sung in a seamless mélange of French and English, it's a seductive goodbye but still, it's "my life till I die." (It completely fits Chris's estimation of the Redcar personality, which he has also called a "poetic and philosophical construction"—a very Bowie thing to say—as "suave and sophisticated.") While the last Christine and the Queens album leaned heavily into hard-edged '90s funk, here there are more references to the crisp-heavy bottom beats of Shannon-style '80s dance pop, especially on "la chanson du chevalier"—remarkable for its ethereally circling round-robin vocals, ranging from high and sweet ("the man I love") to a richer lead and sharp back-up—and Grace Jones-esque industrial rhythms. "Tu sais ce qu'il me faut" adopts Jones' unique binary of wild and controlled, while "Les âmes amantes" sounds like it's from another planet: liquid and layered. There's also dancefloor euphoria ("Looking for love"), powerful synth-heavy moments ("Les étoiles," aka the stars), airy sweetness ("rien dire") and an Annie Lennox cool breeze ("la clairefontaine"). A groovy eight-and-a-half-minute epic, "Combien de temps" samples electropop pioneer Gina X. "Je te vois enfin" sets up an intriguing mystery: "Oh-oh, my father I believe they have sinned," the lyrics translate to English. "It's impossible in your books not to sin." But Chris—Redcar—is perhaps most revealing on "Mémoire des ailes." The song is so clean and hymn-like, it sounds sacred, with vocals that completely envelop even as the music edgily stutters and shudders. "I'll teach you a game, I'll teach ya," he sings, at once a promise and a tease. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

On her third album, singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus confronts her past with gimlet-eyed veracity. Her brand of nostalgia is both pining—for people, the past, old feelings—and calling it out for what it was. "I know that the teen version of me wouldn't approve of me now, and that's embarrassing and a little bit heartbreaking," she has said—adding that revisiting places that were once significant can feel like "trespassing." Opener "Hot & Heavy" gets right at that. "Being back here makes me hot in the face," she sings a capella before the second verse kicks in with lush guitar and chiming piano and you realize that the "you" she's addressing is a past version of herself: "You used to be so sweet/ Now you're a firecracker on a crowded street." The vibrant, twinkling "Brando" tells the story of a "dramatic" high school friend—the kind who uses pop-culture references as a shield to pretend they are better than everyone else—who, Dacus has said, only wanted her "to be a scene partner in the movie of his life." The bouncy, Phoebe Bridgers-esque "First TIme" recalls the scary thrill of sneaking out of the house, with synth and then guitar shining like a bright beam of light to lead the way. "VBS"—as in Vacation Bible School, a summer program for Christian youth—is easy-loping and catchy as the clever Dacus looks back on her religious youth and an early romance. "In the summer of '07, I was sure I'd go to heaven/ But I was hedging my bets at VBS," she sings. Slightly off-kilter guitar sounds like a question, while the line "Playing Slayer at full volume helps to drown it out" is followed by a little explosion of metal noise for a punchline. Like her boygenius bandmate Julien Baker, Dacus grew up in a religious household; but while Baker has agonized over her doubts pretty viciously in her music, Dacus sounds like she has reached more of a settled reckoning. "Triple Dog Dare" remembers what it was like wrestling with religious condemnation of queer love, and "Christine" recalls "coming home from a sermon saying how pent-up evil we are." That song sounds light and tender, Dacus' delivery almost choir-like, but the lyrics are heartbreaking, addressing a friend slipping into an all-consuming relationship: "Nobody's perfect/ There may be better but you don't feel worth it/ That's where we disagree." Meanwhile, "Thumbs" is about meeting a college friend's abusive father and how hard it was to contain her rage. "I love your eyes and he has them ... I imagine my thumbs on the irises/ Pressing in until they burst," she sings, promising, "I would kill him if you let me." The music is spare, barely a shadow behind Dacus' voice, and she remains at an even keel—but that only makes her conviction sound all the more true. Who knew gauze could be so impenetrable? © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

Launched in 1987 by Alan McGee, the mad and brilliant boss of the label ‘Creation’ that would eventually go on to discover Oasis, The House of Love is above all else the coming together of a songwriter, Guy Chadwick, and an inspired guitarist, Terry Bickers. Under the influence of Jesus & Mary Chain and Echo & The Bunnymen, with a lyricism pinched from the Smiths and a minimalist style straight from the Velvet Underground, these Londoners put together a great selection of disparate rock’n’roll classics. At times The House Of Love wanders off into acoustic, or psychedelic music, choosing a clearer path before unleashing an electric tsunami. Melancholy takes over and hypnotises the ears (Christine) and catchy melodies are put on a never ending loop (Salome)… Thirty years after its release, their first eponymous album (their second was also self-titled) has lost none of its splendour as illustrated by this Deluxe, 85 track re-release. It includes the band’s complete recordings for the label ‘Creation’ between 1987 and 1988: the first official album and the singles (such as Destroy The Heart, their greatest song!), B-sides, demos, alternative versions, Peel sessions and all kinds of rarities, all remastered. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

After Join Hands, guitarist John McKay and drummer Kenny Morris departed the Banshees, leaving the band at a crossroads. Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin elected to soldier on with ex-Slits drummer Budgie and two guitarists, ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones and John McGeoch of Magazine as guest Banshees. Despite the personnel upheaval, the result is a surprisingly strong record: Kaleidoscope. While a number of the songs here are still dark-hued and feature bleak lyrics, they are made very palatable by extraordinarily imaginative production values featuring intricate synthesizer-flecked arrangements; psychedelic touches in "Christine," spaceship synthesizer swoops in "Tenant," and rhythmic camera clicks in "Red Light" all enliven their respective songs. Sound quality here is lighter and much clearer than on previous releases. Sioux's singing shows noticeable improvement here, still tuneless at times but also exhibiting more range and subtlety than previously. The song "Hybrid," a Joy Division-style number, shows her vocals running the gamut from primitive to inspired. Other highlights include the galloping, vibrant up-tempo number "Skin," the spooky and atmospheric "Lunar Camel," the medium-tempo rocker "Trophy," and the punky vocalise "Clockface." Kaleidoscope was a make-or-break album for Siouxsie and the Banshees, and happily the band came through strongly.© David Cleary /TiVo

Christine McVie opted out of the reunited Fleetwood Mac's return to the studio for 2003's Say You Will, and listening to her 2004 solo album In the Meantime, it's easy to see why. She simply didn't want work on such a grand scale as Fleetwood Mac. She wanted to make a low-key, intimate, mellow record that's more about atmosphere than songwriting. It makes In the Meantime an unassuming return to recording -- it's hardly a big splash that some might expect after a 20-year wait between solo records -- and it's not bad. It's not particularly memorable since the songs are so low-key that they tend to float by one by one, sustaining the friendly, relaxed vibe, but not going much beyond that, either. Yet, there's a certain charm in that, especially in comparison to the big-budget, widescreen epics of such Mac albums as Tango in the Night, where each track was meticulously arranged and assembled piece by piece. Here, McVie is comfortable, playing with a sympathetic band, and sounding at ease for the first time in years. It's nice to hear her so relaxed, and while it's hard not to wish that it was easier to remember the songs once the album was finished, it's hard not to enjoy In the Meantime as it's playing.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

A pinch of Michael Jackson, a dash of Laurie Anderson, a sprinkle of Judith Butler, stir, and you get Chris – the title of Christine and the Queens’ second album, but also the name of her male alter ego. By cutting part of her original name and embodying this persona who looks like an athletic and murky boy, she frees herself from rigid gender restrictions and brings strength and toughness to the 23 (!) songs of this double album (both parts mirroring each other). Inspired by 1980s electronica and 1990s gangsta funk, Chris’ music is not only groovy and catchy, but also reinforces the concept that dictates Héloïse Letissier’s (Chris/Christine’s real name) music. Whether the listener wears stilettos or cowboy boots, their feet will be carried away by the catchy beats of Doesn’t Matter or 5 Dollars. However, she can also lower her guard and slow down the tempo of her queer tornado with songs like Make Some Sense or Les Yeux mouillés. 
One of the main focuses of the lyrics on this album (written in English and French) is the body, particularly in Girlfriend and Damn (What Must a Woman Do), in which much attention is paid to saliva and sweat. It’s through the body that Chris’ fluctuating identity and creative dancing are displayed the most. Gender and art are closely connected in her work. By working around the concept of double identity in her performance, Chris attempts to highlight the social construct of sexual identity, and does it both seriously and humorously. “I'm gone in a flick, but back in a second”, she sings in the single Girlfriend. Could she/he be playing a fun little magic trick on us? © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

For Kiss' breakthrough 1975 release Alive!, the band had a total of three studio albums from which to select their in-concert repertoire. By mid-1977, Kiss had released another three studio recordings (Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over, and Love Gun), and with a new Kiss album needed for the holiday season, a second live album, Alive II, was assembled. Three sides were recorded live in concert at the Los Angeles Forum (with a few tracks recorded in Japan), while the fourth side featured five new studio recordings. Like its predecessor, there's been quite a lot of speculation concerning extensive overdubbing (the proof being that you can often hear several Paul Stanley voices singing backup simultaneously!), but Alive II shows that Kiss was still an exciting live band despite all the hype. Adrenaline-charged versions of "Detroit Rock City," "Love Gun," "Calling Dr. Love," "Shock Me," "God of Thunder," "I Want You," and "Shout It Out Loud" are all highlights. On the fourth side, Ace Frehley only plays on a single song (his self-penned classic "Rocket Ride") for reasons unknown, while session guitarist Bob Kulick filled in for the AWOL Frehley. Among the studio tracks is the made-for-the-stage anthem "Larger Than Life," which the band surprisingly never performed live.© Greg Prato /TiVo

Love Gun was Kiss' fifth studio album in three years (and seventh release overall, peaking at number four on Billboard), and proved to be the last release that the original lineup played on. By 1977, Kiss merchandise was flooding the marketplace (lunch boxes, makeup kits, comic books, etc.), and it would ultimately lead to a Kiss backlash in the '80s. But the band was still focused on their music for Love Gun, similar in sound and approach to Rock and Roll Over, their previous straight-ahead rock release. It included Ace Frehley's lead vocals on "Shock Me," as well as one of Kiss' best and most renowned hard rockers in the thunderous title track. The album's opener, "I Stole Your Love," also served as the opening number on Kiss' ensuing tour, while "Christine Sixteen" is one of the few Kiss tracks to contain piano prominently. "Almost Human" is an underrated rocker and features a great Jimi Hendrix-esque guitar solo from Frehley (no doubt due to ex-Hendrix producer Eddie Kramer manning the boards again), while "Plaster Caster" is a tribute to the famous groupies of the same name. The only weak spots on an otherwise stellar album are an obvious "Rock and Roll All Nite" ripoff titled "Tomorrow and Tonight," and a pointless remake of the Phil Spector-penned classic "Then He Kissed Me" (reworked as "Then She Kissed Me").© Greg Prato /TiVo

If you like John Carpenter as a director, you’ll like him as a composer! The horror and action films expert belongs in fact to these directors that compose the music of their own movies, like Charlie Chaplin or Clint Eastwood. Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 is a somewhat peculiar compilation in that he has recorded again for the occasion his most famous themes. In order to do this, Carpenter surrounded himself with collaborators he had worked with on his two solo albums (Lost Themes and Lost Themes II): Daniel Davies (the son of Dave Davies from the Kinks!) and Cody Carpenter (his son). The compilation opens with In The Mouth Of Madness, whose guitar riff is now performed by Daniel Davies (in the 1994 soundtrack, it was performed by his father). The track reminisces of the atmosphere from Metallica’s Enter Sandman, whose lyrics evoke childhood nightmares. This is one of the director’s favorite songs, which is not surprising as his most famous movie (Halloween) tells the story of a serial killer obsessed with the crime he committed as a child. The captivating and minimalist theme of the latter movie has of course a place of honor in this anthology, in an interpretation rather close to the original. You’ll also find many other pieces taken from Carpenter 70s/80s era, in particular the disturbing and melancholic piano from The Fog or the heavy synthesizers from Assault on Precinct 13. But sometimes John Carpenter takes his composer hat off, and he had the good idea to include The Thing, when this soundtrack was composed by the Italian maestro Ennio Morricone. This rather complete overview of Carpenter’s musical and cinematographic career shows both his love of synthesizers (which he uses as much for repetitive melodies as for distressing ambience tracks), but also of a rather heavy rock not devoid of lyricism. © NM/Qobuz

It's great cosmic justice that the least flamboyant member of the Nicks/Buckingham version of Fleetwood Mac is also the one who contributed many of the band's best songs, including "Say You Love Me," "Over My Head," "Don't Stop" and the divine, "Songbird." Only that last tune, in greatly altered form, appears on this compilation that focuses on Christine McVie's two solo albums, Christine McVie (1984) and especially, In The Meantime (2004).  The decision not to include anything from her first band Chicken Shack's two albums, her self-titled solo debut, or any of her Fleetwood Mac material outside of the title track keeps this from being a more complete picture of her singing, piano playing and often breathtaking songwriting.  Licensing challenges are likely culprits for the lack of Fleetwood Mac material, but the omission of her biggest solo hit, the very Mac-esque "Got a Hold on Me" from her debut (which featured the talents of Lindsey Buckingham, Steve Winwood and Steve Ferrone) is mystifying.  What's here though has been fully remixed by producer Glyn Johns (The Rolling Stones, The Beatles) who tinkered with levels and moved instruments around in the mix without changing the originals in hugely obvious ways. This collection also contains two unreleased tracks—the bouncy guitar-led "Slow Down," which was originally written and recorded for the 1985 film American Flyers but went unused, and the heartbreak ballad "All You Gotta Do," a duet McVie wrote and recorded  with the late George Hawkins (whose bass is heard on all but one of the album's songs). Originally left unfinished, "All You Gotta Do" was completed by adding Ricky Peterson on organ and Glyn Johns' son, Ethan on drums and guitar. Most interesting is the orchestral version of "Songbird" where the brilliantly talented arranger and composer Vince Mendoza builds a lush string setting around McVie's original vocals from the Rumours session to give the song an even more ethereal, slightly less lonely feel than the original. The results are utterly spectacular.  © Robert Baird/Qobuz

This EP from Christine And The Queens – released only a year and a half after her second album Chris – continues in the musical line that is so personal to Héloïse Létissier (Chris’ real name). Electronica from the 80s and 90s appears to still be the driving force behind the singer’s music, but there are influences from Michael Jackson and Laurie Anderson as well. That’s not where the ‘new’ aspect from the title comes from then. La Vita Nuova refers instead to the first work written by Dante in the 13th century, in which Beatrice Portinari appears, a woman that Dante is madly in love with. He experiences great suffering following her sudden disregard for him, but also develops a certain level of maturity. The emancipatory virtues of moral suffering are at the heart of this EP, especially in its cornerstone track People I’ve Been Sad: “Adolescence contrariée par un millier de chardons morts/Marcher pieds nus sur du verre et maintenant tout est plus fort (Teenage years upset by a million dead thistles/Walking barefoot on broken glass now everything is stronger). Chris seems to be playing the victim, but a former victim whose pain has made them stronger, as in Je disparais dans tes bras: “Pourrais-tu m’aimer? Ça j’en doute, quand tu prends ce que tu veux de moi” (Could you love me? I doubt it, when all you take from me is what you need). If we turn our attention to the cover, the roles appear to be reversed. Other than the vague references to The Exorcist and Mary Poppins, the image of Chris looking forlornly into the distance, leaning against a lampost on a foggy street, reminds you of Joan Bennett in Fritz Lang’s Scarlet Street (1945). Bennett plays Kitty, a scheming femme fatale who plots against Edward G. Robinson’s naïve character called… Chris. In identifying with Kitty, Christine And The Queens deploys her strength, while also endeavouring to forget her painful past. The dominance of the colour purple – which in Dante’s time was the colour of mourning – across the various imagery of the project, is telling. On Nada, over an understated but upbeat orchestration, she states loud and clear that she's “never ever coming back again”. With this collection of multilingual songs (French, English, Spanish, Italian), Christine And The Queens is drawing a new map of her life, a glittering atlas with Mountains steeper and more grandiose than ever. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

During her years with Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie only recorded one album. It was released in 1984, after Mirage had run its course and the band was taking an extended break. Given its release date, it's not surprising that Christine McVie sounds like it could have been recorded during the Mirage sessions -- it's a collection of soft rock/pop and ballads that are pleasantly melodic and ingratiating. Only a handful of cuts, such as the wonderfully catchy, lightly bouncy hit single "Got a Hold on Me," work their way into the memory, but nothing on Christine McVie is anything less than agreeable. The record simply suffers from a rather predictable fate -- it's a little too sweet and laid-back to be consumed in one sitting, and its best songs would have sounded even better if they were balanced by Lindsey Buckingham's insular, paranoid pop genius and Stevie Nicks' hippie-folk mysticism.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Love Gun was Kiss' fifth studio album in three years (and seventh release overall, peaking at number four on Billboard), and proved to be the last release that the original lineup played on. By 1977, Kiss merchandise was flooding the marketplace (lunch boxes, makeup kits, comic books, etc.), and it would ultimately lead to a Kiss backlash in the '80s. But the band was still focused on their music for Love Gun, similar in sound and approach to Rock and Roll Over, their previous straight-ahead rock release. It included Ace Frehley's lead vocals on "Shock Me," as well as one of Kiss' best and most renowned hard rockers in the thunderous title track. The album's opener, "I Stole Your Love," also served as the opening number on Kiss' ensuing tour, while "Christine Sixteen" is one of the few Kiss tracks to contain piano prominently. "Almost Human" is an underrated rocker and features a great Jimi Hendrix-esque guitar solo from Frehley (no doubt due to ex-Hendrix producer Eddie Kramer manning the boards again), while "Plaster Caster" is a tribute to the famous groupies of the same name. The only weak spots on an otherwise stellar album are an obvious "Rock and Roll All Nite" ripoff titled "Tomorrow and Tonight," and a pointless remake of the Phil Spector-penned classic "Then He Kissed Me" (reworked as "Then She Kissed Me").© Greg Prato /TiVo