With Wallflower, Diana Krall has made a journey to the wellspring of pop. For this album, coming out on Verve, the Canadian singer and pianist revisits tracks that were made famous by The Mamas & The Papas, Elton John, the Eagles, the Carpenters, Gilbert O’Sullivan, 10CC, Randy Newman, Crowded House, Bob Dylan and the Beatles. Diana Krall lends this collection charm, class and refinement which are all her own… © CM/Qobuz

Comebacks are Bob Dylan's thing. Call him irrelevant and he'll summon his demons and write another masterpiece. In the 1990s, one of America's greatest creative engines was drifting. The Don Was-produced Under The Red Sky, Dylan's only collection of new songs in the decade, was met with a collective shrug.  In 1995, there was the death of Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia—a "big brother" Dylan would call him in a eulogy he wrote for Rolling Stone.  But starting in late 1996, Dylan began writing  a record's worth of tunes in his home state of Minnesota that, after an extended recording process in California and Florida, would become Time Out of Mind. Critics and fans who'd consigned him to the scrap heap once again were effusive in their astonishment: Maybe Bobby wasn't done after all! Although the lyrics are often bitter and tinged with mortality, the love song melodies on Time Out of Mind are tender and his delivery often more pleading than angry or accusatory. The album also marked a return to writing and performing original materia, producing some of the best songs of his later career including "Make You Feel My Love," "Love Sick" and "Tryin' to Get To Heaven."As with most Dylan albums—even the masterworks—controversies immediately set in. The recording sessions were disorganized, cacophonous events, with conflicts between the artist and producer Daniel Lanois. Dylan disliked the sound of the final product, ending the partnership with Lanois after two albums. Deeper insight into the making of the album is now possible thanks to the five-disc Fragments volume of the always excellent Bootleg Series. More than just a collection of outtakes and live performances from that era, this set crucially includes a new 2022 mix by Michael H. Brauer that strips out much of Lanois' trademark shimmering production and sonic luster, stripping them back to the kind of mix Dylan supposedly preferred. The most obvious result of the remix is that it becomes even clearer that these melodies, mainstays in his live shows ever since, are truly among his best ever. The often-erratic swirl of instrumentation on the original album—three drummers and two pedal steel guitars playing at once—reorders itself and makes more sense. "Make You Feel My Love," for example, becomes a very clean mix of vocals and the powerhouse keyboard duo of Augie Meyers and Jim Dickinson. Throughout the new mixes, Dylan's vocals (always a matter of taste) become more prominent. For fans of the original album, the three discs of outtakes (one previously released) provide depth and insight and include the near classic "Red River Shore," an unrequited love story unreleased until 2008, and early takes of "Mississippi" which appeared on his next album, Love and Theft. The disc of live performances of the Time Out of Mind material with a five-piece band is especially good, featuring remarkably clear sound and several knockout performances including a near-acoustic "Tryin' To Get To Heaven" from Birmingham, England, an ardent, previously-released "Make You Feel My Love" from Los Angeles. and a roaring take from Buenos Aries of " 'Til I Fell in Love With You." A deeper dive than most of the Bootleg series, Fragments embodies the idea of essential. © Robert Baird/Qobuz

From the first seconds of "Alone in the Morning Alley," you can tell that Hemi Hemingway (the moniker of Shaun Blackwell) has a story for us.  And with that first strum of '60s twang, we are transported. You make your way through a dark underground dive bar, straining your eyes through the cigarette smoke, to see the forlorn crooner himself, centre stage. Hemingway opens Strangers Again as if he is speaking to you as an old friend: "If I think about it, I dunno, I'd say solitude is a curse, but then again, so is love." You can't help but stop in your tracks. Hemingway is a showman in the grandest troubadour traditions.  Across Strangers Again, he embodies rock 'n' roll charisma and takes us along on the journey of a starry-eyed dreamer grappling with the jolt of confronting destiny head-on and seeking their place amidst the tumultuous chaos of existence. This vintage debut shifts from slow-burning ballads, found in the likes of the steamy haze of "Dreamin' of You," into tracks like "Green Envy" that can't help but induce a euphoric sway. The fascinating use of digital instrumental elements, like that in "January Lake #3," aids in making the album feel nostalgic and classic but not outdated.   Beyond the love-stricken crooner story of Hemi Hemmingway, there is also a beautiful sense of depth to Blackwell's craft. Sung in both Māori and English and penned between London and New Zealand, Strangers Again also captures the shifting urban tensions of these two vastly different destinations. Intertwining love, loss and the boundless journey of returning to one's root, Hemmingway's undeniable charisma and presence anchors the album and paints a poignant picture of a fully realized artist, told through the age-old ballads of the human experience. Truly best experienced from top to bottom, and of course, a Qobuzissime! © Jessica Porter-Langson/Qobuz

By the mid-'90s, most urban R&B had become rather predictable, working on similar combinations of soul and hip-hop, or relying on vocal theatrics on slow, seductive numbers. With his debut album, Brown Sugar, the 21-year-old D'Angelo crashed down some of those barriers. D'Angelo concentrates on classic versions of soul and R&B, but unlike most of his contemporaries, he doesn't cut and paste older songs with hip-hop beats; instead, he attacks the forms with a hip-hop attitude, breathing new life into traditional forms. Not all of his music works -- there are several songs that sound incomplete, relying more on sound than structure. But when he does have a good song -- like the hit "Brown Sugar," Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin'," or the bluesy "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker," among several others -- D'Angelo's wild talents are evident. Brown Sugar might not be consistently brilliant, but it is one of the most exciting debuts of 1995, giving a good sense of how deep D'Angelo's talents run.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Tell Tale Signs is perhaps the most appropriately titled of all the volumes in Bob Dylan's official Bootleg Series thus far. Containing 27 tracks, the material here dates from the albums Oh Mercy through to 2006's Modern Times. It presents a carefully prepared sonic treat of a genuine enigma's musical world-view. Dylan may be an icon, but if it wasn't already obvious, he seems to perceive the modern world as a strange place that he no longer understands, nor wishes to. The music here is startling in its depth and presentation. It begins with one of the two versions of "Mississippi" included; the song first appeared on Love and Theft, but was written for the Time Out of Mind sessions five years earlier. This one, with only Daniel Lanois' electric guitar as backing, shows Dylan in full voice, and performing it as a midtempo blues. It's jauntier in tempo, but harder, leaner, and wearier than the released version. Even more shocking is "Most of the Time," which has become a signature of Lanois' production style with its warm, thickly padded guitars and muffled drums. This one features Dylan solo with harmonica and guitar. It comes off as a statement of actuality about strengths and weaknesses rather than as a treatise of denial in the aftermath of lost love. It feels like a back-porch country song here, with different lyrics that underscore the singer's steely determination. There are some truly amazing stops along the way. The unreleased "Red River Shore" would have shifted some of the darkness on Time Out of Mind to some declaration of empathy and even tenderness had it been released. Likewise, "Marchin' to the City," one of the best slow blues Dylan has ever written, offers a respite from the desolation on that album. Soundtracks get represented, too: the alternate take of "Tell Ol' Bill," from North Country, is a semi-rag tune with rambling honky tonk piano, and "Huck's Tune," from Lucky You, creates a more complex look at the male lead in the film with a Celtic undertow in the melody. Disc one closes with a burning live reading of "High Water (For Charley Patton)," with overdriven electric guitars replacing the banjo.A real surprise on disc two is a dynamite reading of Robert Johnson's "32-20 Blues" that was originally recorded for the covers-only World Gone Wrong, but left in the can. A completely unreleased tune, "Can't Escape from You" portrays Dylan the folksinger as a lover of early rock & roll ballads. In his own wrecked way, he pays homage (in waltz time) to the Platters, Doc Pomus, Leiber & Stoller, and Cisco Houston with a lonely B-3 and trebly guitars. There are two takes of "Dignity" here as well (one on each disc), the first a prophetic gospel solo piano version and the second a full-band roots rock rave-up. The version of "Ring Them Bells" recorded live at New York's Supper Club is so utterly moving that it raises goosebumps and leaves the studio version in the dust. The disc closes with the greatest moment on the whole set: "'Cross the Green Mountain," from the Gods and Generals soundtrack. Veteran Dylanologist Larry Sloman claims in his truly brilliant and incisive liner notes that this "might be his finest hour as a songwriter." The amazing thing? It's not just hyperbole. In all, even in some of its familiarities, Tell Tale Signs feels like a new Bob Dylan record, not only for the astonishing freshness of the material, but also for the incredible sound quality and organic feeling of everything here. It's a carefully presented set, but it's full of life and crackling energy and offers yet more proof -- as if any were needed -- that Dylan remains as cagey, unpredictable, and yes, profound and relevant as he ever was.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

After Willie Nelson's fragile appearance at the 2019 CMA Awards, duetting with Kacey Musgraves on a heart-wrenching version of "The Rainbow Connection," it wouldn't have come as a shock if the legend hadn't recorded another album. But Nelson, at 89, is on a prolific roll. He released two albums in 2021, as well as duets with Karen O and Michael McDonald, and performed at Farm Aid. He has a slew of tour dates on the calendar for 2022, to promote A Beautiful Time, his 72nd studio album. It's not always an easy listen, but it's an important one. Like Johnny Cash's American IV, you are enveloped by the sense of mortality. Written by Nelson, "I Don't Go to Funerals" has the feel of an outlaw classic and finds him humorously stubborn but also hopeful. "I don't go to funerals/ And I won't be at mine," he sings. Instead he plans to be "at a big old pickin' party" in the sky, alongside Waylon (Jennings), John (Cash), Merle (Haggard), Kris (presumably Kristofferson, who isn't dead yet) and "our sweetheart Patsy Cline." "Dusty Bottles" is a slow burn that lets Nelson's ragged voice play to its advantage: “Dusty bottles pour a finer glass of wine/ An old beat-up guitar just sounds better/ And wisdom only comes with time." "Live every day like it was your last one," he offers on "Live Every Day," "and one day you're gonna be right." Even though they're not all by him, the choice of songs says something about what's on Nelson's mind. It's a gentle record, with the music never getting in the way of letting Willie be Willie, even when he sounds particularly fragile on "I'll Love You Till the Day I Die," a romantic number written by Chris Stapleton and Rodney Crowell. (Throughout, longtime band member Mickey Raphael's harmonica is like a call from the past.) Nelson sounds strongest on "Energy Follows Thought," a stark and moving number delivered by a man who fought to find his place in Nashville (and who eventually gave up on that city to write his own rules). "Be careful what you ask for/ Make sure it's really what you want/ Because your mind is made for thinking/ And energy follows thought." It's a hoot to hear Nelson modestly purr a slinky cover of Leonard Cohen's "Tower of Song," including the line: "I said to Hank Williams, 'How lonely does it get?'/ Hank Williams hasn't answered me yet/ But I hear him coughing all night long/ About 100 floors above me in the tower of song." There's also a cover of "With a Little Help from My Friends," with Nelson's voice reaching up so sweetly on the bridge, it's like sunshine breaking through the clouds. The album closer, "Leave You With a Smile," is a weepie, "I just want to leave you with a smile/ Even though that hasn't always been my style/ I messed up best intentions/ But I've loved you all the while ... If I run out of time/ I'll wait for you in the sweet by-and-by." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

It only took two albums for Kane Brown to become one of country music's biggest stars. His third finds the singer in the mood for love songs—about his wife and family, his home state, his life—and willing to try on a few new guises. The record opens with chiming church bells and mournful strings as Kane announces "Bury me in Georgia," then gets very specific about where he wants that to be:  miles out of Chattanooga, south of the Tennessee state line, on a "no-name road off Highway 2 just past the Welcome sign." It's more of a hard, swampy Southern rocker than Brown usually traffics in, and it's exciting to hear his usually cool voice getting fiery against strident guitar. The same goes for the raw-edged title track, a duet that finds him and Blake Shelton trading verses about toiling as line workers but wondering: What if they were actually made to be on the stage? Brown is unafraid to play with genres on this record. Super fun "Like I Love Country Music" swings like the early '90s country of Alan Jackson or Brooks & Dunn—who all get name-checked, along with Ronnie Dunn singing a bit of his duo's 1991 hit "Brand New Man." It's a boot-scootin' good time that's as polished as a brand-new F-150. Brown himself has called "Grand" his "pop" single; it goes deep on the trap drums and, short of Brown's twang, there's nothing pretending to be country here. He tries on a different kind of pop—the silky-smooth variety—for "Thank God," a duet with his wife Katelyn Jae, whose feather-light vocals offer a complimentary layer as the couple sing about their gratitude for each other. There's a bit of Thomas Rhett-like soft disco courtesy of "See You Like I Do," and the chorus of beachy "Drunk or Dreamin'" sounds a whole lot like Rhett's "Half of Me." Brown gets Charlie Daniels-playful on "Devil Don't Even Bother," his speaking baritone setting up the ghost story of a mean girl from Tennessee so bad "the devil don't even bother." "Whiskey Sour" proves Brown's voice is a great fit for '70s singer-songwriter balladry. The 2021 chart-topping single "One Mississippi" finally makes it onto an album, and Brown pays tribute to the grandfather who raised him after his dad went to jail in 1996, with "Pop's Last Name": "He taught me 'Yes ma'am,' 'No ma'am'/ "God is good and God is great'/ He taught me elbows off the table/ And always clean your plate." The album—which, at 17 songs, is overloaded with a few forgettable ones—comes full circle for "Dear Georgia," a different kind of love song: Brown might call Tennessee home for a while, but his heart belongs to his Peach State birthplace where he'll one day be laid to rest. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

For his fourth album, Pusha T (undoubtedly one of the most talented rappers of his generation) has surrounded himself with two major producers: Kanye West and Pharrell Williams. How’s anyone meant to contain their excitement? It’s Almost Dry is a tender but lucid look at the Virginian rapper’s past. Pusha T often talks about his past as a dealer, unabashedly admitting on Let the Smokers Shine the Coupes: “The dope game destroyed my youth.” From the outset, Brambleton (produced by Pharell Williams) establishes a dark atmosphere. It’s fascinating how the musical styles of these huge names merge together to become one cohesive sound. You can hear Kanye’s sound on Just So You Remember (with Colonel Bagshot’s famous sample, which was used by DJ Shadow on the track Six Days two decades ago), which is in line with the stripped down, minimalist production he’s been developing across his last 3 albums. Meanwhile, Pharrell gives his signature sound to the very synthetic Call My Bluff. The unity between the two is striking. The album was announced by the release of the incredible single Diet Coke, which is nestled in the middle of a very modern tracklist (despite the influence from 2000s hip-hop). Once again, Pusha T packs a punch and consolidates his position as one of the most consistent names in American rap. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

Released at the height of the singer-songwriter era, Life And Times put Jim Croce up there with the best of them. Containing the upbeat top forty songs such as "One Less Set Of Footsteps" and "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" along with such ballads as "These Dreams," recalling James Taylor, and "Alabama Rain." High rollicking fun for anyone who likes enjoyable music.© James Chrispell /TiVo

As Time Goes By is a collection of songs taken from demos, live shows, and television performances recorded by the Carpenters between 1967 and 1980. In his liner notes, Richard Carpenter says this is a record for hardcore Carpenters fans only and he is right. The songs from the various TV specials the duo recorded are cute, mostly versions of standards like "I Got Rhythm," versions of the hits of the day, and Richard Carpenter instrumentals. Apart from the pretty take on the Wildweeds' country-rock-influenced "And When He Smiles," a song that should have been a hit for them if they had officially released it, the best of the lot is the duet on a medley of standards by Karen Carpenter and Ella Fitzgerald from 1980. While Ella is near the end of the road vocally, it is interesting to have two of the most precise singers ever trading verses back and forth. The "Carpenters/Como Medley" is also fun but much cheesier. The disc also includes a couple of songs that were previously unreleased ("Leave Yesterday Behind," a sweetly sung ballad recorded for a TV movie of the same name, and "The Rainbow Connection," which features a typically charming vocal from Karen as well as their versions of "California Dreamin'" and "Nowhere Man" from the original demos that got the band its record deal). The only problem with the outtakes and rarities here are that Carpenter felt the need to go in and fix, sweeten, or totally refurnish the songs. Perhaps he just has too much free time, perhaps he is an obsessive tinkerer. Whatever the excuse, the archival value of the songs has been tampered with and that makes the songs less valuable somehow. If indeed this set is designed with Carpenters diehards in mind, wouldn't they have liked to hear the original version of "Nowhere Man," the one-track mono version? Richard proudly boasts that he transferred the acetate disc to a 48-track, leaving him "47 tracks with which to play." Fine and dandy, but why not put the original on the disc and then follow it with the new version for comparison's sake? Or just listen to your new version at home and let the fans get a chance to hear an extremely rare and no doubt very interesting piece of Carpenters history? As for the tracks like "The Rainbow Connection" and the "Superstar/Rainy Days and Mondays" medley, Richard drenches his sister's vocals with strings and background singers when he should have left them alone. Maybe he just doesn't understand that people don't really care about his arrangements. What they care most about are his sister's vocals. As it is, he has done Karen and Carpenters fans a big disservice by tampering with artifacts that could have made for a very interesting disc. It still might be worthwhile to have for the material from the television specials and to hear Karen's voice again, however.© Tim Sendra /TiVo

One of the attractions of Céline Dion's sixteenth album (her fourth in English) is that it presents the missing link between the Quebecoise star and David Bowie's Space Oddity. That is, the conductor and arranger Paul Buckmaster, who worked for Bowie, but also for Elton John until 1978. For Céline, he put his signature on the song that gave the album its title: with its elegant strings, its nonchalant Latin rhythm and its torrid saxophone solo, Falling Into You lends a certain seductive suavity to the singer's image. As the cover of this release attests, Céline Dion was then a young woman (28 years old in 1996) who was no longer afraid to please: a natural "girl next door" (You make me feel like a natural woman), whose aura is enveloped by a positive light (Your light).In addition to Buckmaster, we will meet Jean-Jacques Goldman, another prominent behind-the-scenes man (If That's What It Takes, I Love You...). The Dion / Goldman duo had just released the world's best-selling francophone record (D'eux, 1995). Anecdotally, a third star of the studios could have been one of the pillars of Falling Into You, as Phil Spector had started to produce it, before his mood swings led René Angélil (manager and husband of Céline) to put a stop to the collaboration. Only the song River Deep, Mountain High, written by Spector, is a remnant of this fleeting encounter. Finally, a year before Titanic and the global hit My Heart Will Go On, Céline Dion is here doing her classes in the cinema with Because You Loved Me, a piece written by the "queen of the ballad" Diane Warren, for the feature film Up Close & Personal. The film depicted the meteoric rise of a TV journalist, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. It's hard not to draw a parallel with Céline Dion's in the 1990s (Falling Into You was one of the best-selling albums in history with 32 million copies sold worldwide). ©Nicolas Magenham / Qobuz