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Carpenters With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Carpenters
Pop - Released December 7, 2018 | A&M
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The greatest classics from The Carpenters have resurfaced in a sublime blend of vocal harmonies and symphonic arrangements. For this project in 2018, Richard Carpenter himself went along to Abbey Road Studios. Their last album in 1981, Made in America, was a half-posthumous album (Richard’s sister Karen having died in 1983 at only 32 years of age) and invoked a certain feeling of nostalgia, showing that this legendary pop group shifting more towards easy-listening could still be deep. However, it is still very rooted in the American culture of the seventies, particularly through the classics Close To You, Rainy Days and Mondays and We’ve Only Just Begun.With this album, the legacy of The Carpenters lives on in an unconventional way. The producers have kept the voices of the original recordings and some instrumental parts, surrounding them with the brand-new sounds of the violins from the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Thanks to their classy arrangements, these strings tastefully accentuate the romanticism of this timeless pop. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz
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You Get More Bounce With Curtis Counce!
Curtis Counce
Jazz - Released April 4, 1957 | Craft Recordings
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You Get More Bounce with Curtis Counce! is smooth, well-played post-bop. Recorded by Contemporary Records' great West Coast engineer Roy DuNann, and first released in 1957, this reissue features the original title and cover art, as well as improved sound courtesy of an all-analog remastering by Bernie Grundman from the original tapes. It's music for a cocktail party jazz crowd for whom the progressive talents of the era like Charlie Parker, Lee Morgan and Thelonious Monk may have been too raw and inexplicable. The slightly cool jazz benefits from Carl Perkins' underrated piano playing and tenor saxophone great Harold Land, creating a likable if unambitious program of standards that nob towards the cutting edge. Parker's "Big Foot"—in which everyone improvises a solo—becomes an effective vehicle for Land. Irving Berlin's "How Deep is the Ocean" proceeds at a languid, some might say, sexy pace. The uptempo "Mean to Me" opens with trumpeter Jack Shelton stating the theme before Land enters with a swinging, full-bodied solo. Sheldon returns and Perkins solos in a performance that could be called "be-Bop for the masses." No envelopes being pushed here but a pleasing listen all the same. © Robert Baird/Qobuz
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Glass Houses
Billy Joel
Pop/Rock - Released March 1, 1980 | Columbia
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The back-to-back success of The Stranger and 52nd Street may have brought Billy Joel fame and fortune, even a certain amount of self-satisfaction, but it didn't bring him critical respect, and it didn't dull his anger. If anything, being classified as a mainstream rocker -- a soft rocker -- infuriated him, especially since a generation of punks and new wave kids were getting the praise that eluded him. He didn't take this lying down -- he recorded Glass Houses. Comparatively a harder-rocking album than either of its predecessors, with a distinctly bitter edge, Glass Houses still displays the hallmarks of Billy Joel the pop craftsman and Phil Ramone the world-class hitmaker. Even its hardest songs -- the terrifically paranoid "Sometimes a Fantasy," "Sleepin' With the Television On," "Close to the Borderline," the hit "You May Be Right" -- have bold, direct melodies and clean arrangements, ideal for radio play. Instead of turning out to be a fiery rebuttal to his detractors, the album is a remarkable catalog of contemporary pop styles, from McCartney-esque whimsy ("Don't Ask Me Why") and arena rock ("All for Leyna") to soft rock ("C'etait Toi [You Were the One]") and stylish new wave pop ("It's Still Rock and Roll to Me," which ironically is closer to new wave pop than rock). That's not a detriment; that's the album's strength. The Stranger and 52nd Street were fine albums in their own right, but it's nice to hear Joel scale back his showman tendencies and deliver a solid pop/rock record. It may not be punk -- then again, it may be his concept of punk -- but Glass Houses is the closest Joel ever got to a pure rock album.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
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Are We There Yet?
Rick Astley
Pop - Released October 6, 2023 | BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited
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An abiding love of classic soul, twangy rock, and R&B has always been at the core of Rick Astley's pop sound. It's an organic blend that he's been increasingly digging into since 2016's 50 and one which underpins all of 2023's Are We There Yet? His third album to be produced out of his home studio in London, the album feels like a love letter to the earthy, blues-influenced work of artists like Bill Withers and Otis Redding. Central to the album is "Dippin' My Feet," an infectious, country- and gospel-tinged rocker that nicely evokes the similarly rootsy, throwback style of Oklahoma singer JD McPherson. In fact, it's easy to imagine Astley hearing the rise of roots-inspired artists like McPherson and even singers like Hozier (another possible touchstone for the sounds at play on Are We There Yet?) and finding common pop ground. Here, he takes a back-to-basics approach, framing his resonant baritone in ringing piano and organ flourishes, crisp acoustic guitars, handclaps, and warm backing vocal harmonies. While the album certainly has a lovingly crafted, analog quality, there's a raw immediacy to many of these tracks, as if they were recorded live-in-studio or captured at a passionate church service. It's an earthy vibe reflected in Astley's vocals, as on the gospel-influenced "Never Gonna Stop," where he takes on the throaty intensity of a blues singer. Other evocative sounds pop up elsewhere, as on "High Enough," a minor-key number with echoey vibraphone accents that brings to mind the yearning atmosphere of a Chris Isaak song. Similarly, "Forever and More" has the crisp, guitar-driven soulfulness of an '80s Style Council track. Certainly, all of the rootsy soulfulness Astley embraces on Are We There Yet? is far removed from the studio sophistication of his early hits. That said, it feels genuine and hard-won by age and experience. With Are We There Yet?, Astley hasn't just arrived, he's come into his own.© Matt Collar /TiVo
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Dark Before Dawn
Breaking Benjamin
Rock - Released June 23, 2015 | Hollywood Records
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The fifth studio long-player and first outing from Breaking Benjamin to rely on the talents of a more or less completely new lineup (founder, frontman, and namesake Benjamin Burnley remains at the wheel), Dark Before Dawn offers up little in the way of innovation. That said, as thick, smartly produced, largely inoffensive blasts of generic hard rock go, you could do a lot worse, and longtime fans will appreciate the fact that Burnley and his new shipmates (drummer Shaun Foist [Picture Me Broken], bassist Aaron Bruch, former Red guitarist Jasen Rauch, and ex-Adelitas Way guitarist Keith Wallen) stay true to the band's unwavering allegiance to all things late-'90s/early-2000s post-grunge/hard rock. In the six years since 2009's Dear Agony, Burnley has endured issues of both the legal and health varieties, and much of the 12-track set is spent attempting to process that period of personal upheaval, with standout cuts like the slow-burn single "Failure," the anthemic "Defeated," and the soaring "Close to Heaven" and "Angels Fall" leading the charge. Subtlety has never been Breaking Benjamin's strong suit (the album is bookended by a pair of perfunctory mood pieces titled "Dark" and "Dawn"), but what they lack in nuance they more than make up for in sheer melodic power. Somewhere between Burnley's powerhouse voice and the triple guitar-induced wall of sonic discord in which that pained throat wails, must lie some sort of catharsis, both for the listener and the band, but it's hard to conceal the fact that most of these songs are nearly interchangeable with the band's older material.© James Christopher Monger /TiVo
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Zenyatta Mondatta
The Police
Rock - Released October 3, 1980 | Polydor Records
The stage was set for the Police to become one of the biggest acts of the '80s, and the band delivered with the 1980 classic Zenyatta Mondatta. The album proved to be the trio's second straight number one album in the U.K., while peaking at number three in the U.S. Arguably the best Police album, Zenyatta contains perhaps the quintessential new wave anthem, the haunting "Don't Stand So Close to Me," the story of an older teacher lusting after one of his students. While other tracks follow in the same spooky path (their second Grammy-winning instrumental "Behind My Camel" and "Shadows in the Rain"), most of the material is upbeat, such as the carefree U.S./U.K. Top Ten "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da," "Canary in a Coalmine," and "Man in a Suitcase." Sting includes his first set of politically charged lyrics in "Driven to Tears," "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around," and "Bombs Away," which all observe the declining state of the world. While Sting would later criticize the album as not all it could have been (the band was rushed to complete the album in order to begin another tour), Zenyatta Mondatta remains one of the finest rock albums of all time.© Greg Prato /TiVo
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Black Moses
Isaac Hayes
Soul - Released November 18, 2016 | Stax
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Booklet
The sheer tenacity -- albeit undeniably fitting -- of this double-disc set has made Black Moses (1971) one of Isaac Hayes' most revered and best-known works. The multi-instrumental singer/songwriter and producer had been a central figure in the Memphis soul music revolution of the mid-'60s. Along with Booker T. & the MG's, Hayes wrote and performed on more Stax sides than any other single artist. By the time of this release -- his fifth overall, and first two-record set -- Hayes had firmly established himself as a progressive soul artist. His stretched-out and well-developed R&B jams, as well as his husky-voiced sexy spoken "raps," became key components in his signature sound. Black Moses not only incorporates those leitmotifs, but also reaffirms Hayes abilities as an unmistakably original arranger. Although a majority of the album consists of cover material, all the scores have been reconfigured and adapted in such a fundamental way that, for some listeners, these renditions serve as definitive. This is certainly true of the extended reworkings of Jerry Butler's "Brand New Me" and Esther Phillips' "You're Love Is So Doggone Good" -- both of which are prefaced by the spoken prelude to coitus found in each respective installment of "Ike's Rap." The pair of Curtis Mayfield tunes -- "Man's Temptation" and "Need to Belong to Someone" -- are also worth noting for the layers of tastefully scored orchestration -- from both Hayes and his longtime associate Johnny Allen. The pair's efforts remain fresh and discerning, rather than the dated ersatz strings and horn sections that imitators were glutting the soul and pop charts and airwaves with in the mid-'70s. Hayes' own composition, "Good Love," recalls the upbeat and jive talkin' "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" from Hot Buttered Soul (1969), adding some spicy and sexy double-entendre in the chorus.© Lindsay Planer /TiVo
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Live At The Royal Albert Hall
Beth Hart
Blues - Released November 30, 2018 | Provogue
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Beth Hart commands the stage with just one click of her fingers! The Californian tigress is still as feisty as ever without getting caught up in the clichés. In this live performance recorded on May 4th 2018 in London’s most prestigious setting, the Royal Albert Hall, she sets up her very own cabaret mixing blues, jazz and vintage soul. A woman who honours Nina Simone, Howlin’ Wolf, Dinah Washington, Buddy Guy and so many other key personalities of rhythm’n’blues, she shows us the full extent of her talent during this two-hour show. With a microphone to hand or sat behind her piano, what impresses us most is Beth Hart’s ability to mix all her musical influences and produce one very personal cocktail. Her secret? Her voice, of course. A kind of unstoppable magnet that pulls every word, every sentence, every chorus and which is made even more powerful by her contact with the audience. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz
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Police Deranged For Orchestra
Stewart Copeland
Rock - Released June 23, 2023 | BMG Rights Management (US) LLC
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No Secrets
Carly Simon
Pop - Released November 1, 1972 | Rhino - Elektra
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Carly Simon's best album, No Secrets was also her commercial breakthrough, topping the charts and going gold, along with its leadoff single, "You're So Vain." That song set the album's saucy tone, with its air of sexually frank autobiography ("You had me several years ago/When I was still quite naïve") and its reflections on the jet-set lifestyle. But Simon's honesty meant that her lyrical knife was double-edged; now that she felt she had found true love ("The Right Thing to Do," another Top Ten hit, was her celebration of her relationship with James Taylor), she was as willing to acknowledge her own mistakes and regrets as she was to point fingers. But it wasn't only Simon's forthrightness that made the album work; it was also Richard Perry's simple, elegant pop/rock production, which gave Simon's music a buoyancy it previously lacked. And Perry paid particular attention to Simon's vocals in a way that made her more engaging (or at least less grating) to listen to.© William Ruhlmann /TiVo
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Live In Amsterdam
Beth Hart
Blues - Released March 24, 2014 | J&R Adventures
This double disc is an exact replication of a concert vocalist Beth Hart and guitarist Joe Bonamassa performed in Amsterdam in support of their studio album Seesaw. What you hear is what was played: there are no overdubs or digital studio fixes. They replicate all but one track from the studio album ("Sunday Kind of Love") and five more from their 2011 offering Don't Explain, and play some other covers and a long band jam called "Antwerp Jam" as a finale. Hart and Bonamassa are backed by a killer band to boot, including a full horn section, drummer Anton Fig, bassist Carmine Rojas, rhythm guitarist Blondie Chaplin, and keyboardist Arlan Schierbaum. Highlights include their reading of Delaney Bramlett's "Well, Well," Ike Turner's "Nutbush City Limits," "Sinner's Prayer," "Something's Got a Hold on Me," "Chocolate Jesus," "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know," and, of course, Ms. Hart's devastating reading of Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind." Given her considerable power and ability to convey a wide range of emotions, this is not merely a set for guitar god worshipers -- though there's plenty for them here, too. [There are also packages that pair these discs with Blu-ray and DVD.]
© Thom Jurek /TiVo
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Works Volume 2
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Progressive Rock - Released November 10, 1977 | BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd
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Gifts From The Holy Ghost
Dorothy
Rock - Released April 22, 2022 | Roc Nation Records, LLC
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Not Without My Ghosts
The Amity Affliction
Metal - Released May 12, 2023 | Pure Noise Records
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ANTI
Rihanna
Pop - Released February 5, 2015 | Roc Nation - Rihanna
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Anti existed as an album cycle before it existed as an album -- arguably long before Rihanna knew what form her eighth album would take, either. Work on Anti began in the autumn of 2014 and proceeded in semi-public, progress being measured in Instagram posts and tweets, along with intermittent singles, each released to white-hot anticipation but none metamorphosing into massive hits. When Anti finally appeared in January 2016 -- three years after Unapologetic and months later than expected -- it bore none of these 2015 singles, a move that suggests a tacit acknowledgment that neither the curiously muted Kanye West and Paul McCartney collaboration "FourFiveSeconds" nor the unrestrained roar of "Bitch Better Have My Money" functioned as appropriate anchors for the album. Then again, neither would've felt at home on the cloistered Anti, the first of Rihanna's records to feel constructed as a front-to-back album. Such a sustained sensibility distinguishes Anti from its predecessors, records where album cuts often felt like afterthoughts. That's not the case with Anti. This is an album whose heart lies within its deep cuts. Mood matters more than either hooks or rhythm: it's a subdued, simmering affair, its songs subtly shaded yet interlocked to create a vibe caught halfway between heartbreak and ennui. The latter has always been a specialty of Rihanna -- her distance from her material was at once appealing and alienating -- so hearing her lean into "Love on the Brain" and "Higher" is something of a revelation: her voice is hoarse and ravaged, yet she's also controlled and precise, knowing how to hone these imperfections so her performance echoes classic soul while feeling fresh. These songs come at the end of the album, after a series of songs that drift and wonder, the sound of an artist trying to figure out not only what her album is but who she is. By the end of Anti, Rihanna may not arrive at any definitive conclusions about her art but she's allowed herself to be unguarded and anti-commercial, resulting in her most compelling record to date.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
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Oochya!
Stereophonics
Alternative & Indie - Released March 4, 2022 | Ignition Records Ltd
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They’re back again! Stereophonics are back with their new album Oochya!, their 12th full-length album in 25 years. This Welsh band have no need to worry about empty stadiums or being taken off the airwaves, as they’re still charging their way through the British rock landscape with the same energy they’ve always had. There’s a lot of fuel left in this band’s tank for a while yet. Their longevity is, in the most part, owed to their tried and tested formula: fast, catchy rock melodies, simple choruses that stick in your head, and the stadium-busting energy of frontman Kelly Jones. The amazing Hanging on your Hinges opens the album with its fat riff, Forever hooks you with its well-defined loops and youthful 90’s momentum, Seen that Look Before sounds like a soundtrack from an 80s romcom, while Jack in a Box offers an intimate banjo ballad. A well-conceived album with the classic Stereophonics sound that’s always seamlessly executed. © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz
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The Cure - Live at Glastonbury Festival 1986
The Cure
Alternative & Indie - Released May 17, 2023 | Vintage Jukebox
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Sacred Spaces
Syml
Alternative & Indie - Released November 19, 2021 | Nettwerk Music Group
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DNA
Cerrone
Electronic - Released February 7, 2020 | Malligator Préférence
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As of 2020, disco pioneer Marc Cerrone has been professionally making and performing music for nearly 50 years. His vast discography, spanning dozens of albums, has included Afro-beat-influenced funk, suspenseful soundtracks, adult contemporary pop, and French house. He will always be revered for his influential early solo albums, however, particularly the 1977 classic Supernature, which had an almost progressive rock-style sci-fi concept involving scientist-created mutants rebelling against humankind. While much of his later output is more populist, aiming at the radio or dance clubs, DNA is a more socially conscious, exploratory epic that recalls the space-disco subgenre more than any of Cerrone's past work. Unlike the guest-heavy 2016 effort Red Lips, this album was recorded entirely by Cerrone himself, and while it does feature his own vocoderized singing on some tracks, these are not pop songs in the slightest. Opening piece "The Impact" incorporates samples of the ethnologist Jane Goodall, reflecting on humanity's relationship with the planet. Instrumentals such as "Resolution" and "Air Dreaming" contain haunting melodies, propulsive drumming (played by Cerrone himself, rather than programmed on a grid), and starry synth arpeggios. The sensation of cruising through space is elevated by "I've Got a Rocket," which seems like a more interstellar variation on Cerrone's 1978 track "Rocket in the Pocket," with a sprinkling of Man-Machine-era Kraftwerk. The album slows down towards the end, suggesting that we've ventured far enough into the galaxy that we can cool the jets and float around for a while. "Close to the Sky" is a romantic soundtrack for a slow dance among the stars, and the dramatic finale "Prediction" sounds like the period leading up to facing one's own destiny. Showing all the bedroom synthwave geeks how it's done right, DNA is a remarkable effort, and easily the most exciting Cerrone album in ages.
© Paul Simpson /TiVo
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