The Glorification of Sadness is the sixth studio album from British singer/songwriter Paloma Faith, following the release of 2020's Infinite Things. This record is a much more personal insight into the life of Faith, as it draws from her life experiences including the seperation from her partner of 10 years in 2022.© Liam Martin /TiVo

We have never seen a posthumous album hit the shelves so quickly after the death of an artist. Murdered on the 19th of February, 2020, at the age of 20, Pop Smoke immediately became the subject of resurrection projects. With Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon, produced by his mentor 50 Cent, it’s as if Pop Smoke has been brought back to life. Let us be clear: Pop Smoke is transformed on this album. This album is not about recording in continuity of who he was, namely the figurehead of the Brooklyn drill scene. The aim here is to take Pop Smoke a step forward without asking his permission. There are of course tracks that sound very Pop Smoke such as 44BullDog and Make It Rain, but how many are attempts to enter charts and playlists at any cost? The album includes Something Special, a syrupy tracks with early-2000 Bad Boy Records similarities and Got It on Me, which sounds like it could have been made for 50 Cent himself. New R&B flavours can be heard on Diana (featuring King Combs), curious sombre club rap sounds on West Coast Shit (with Tyga and Quavo) and some latin pop grooves on Enjoy Yourself. Pop Smoke’s strengths are somewhat dismissed in favour of track diversity and the exploration of new musical territory. Diehard fans will object but the wider public will no doubt be won over by this album. It’s daring, and at least you won’t get bored. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

Less frenzied than its predecessor, but more musically adventurous, More Specials was nearly as popular in its day as its predecessor, falling just one chart place below their debut. It kicked off in similar fashion as well, with a classic cover, this time with an exuberant take on Carl Sigman and Conrad Magidson's 1940s chestnut "Enjoy Yourself." A slower, brooding version with the Go-Go's in tow brings the album to a close, taking the place of the set-sealing "You're Wondering Now," which brought the curtain down on their first set. But there the similarities come to an end. The rest of the album is comprised of originals, including a pair of instrumentals -- the Northern soul-esque "Sock It to 'Em JB" and the Mexican-flavored "Holiday Fortnight" -- as well as a duo of minimally vocalized pieces, the intriguing "International Jet Set," and the overtly apocalyptic "Man at C&A." But fans had already been primed for the band's changing musical directions by the release the month before of "Stereotypes," its spaghetti western aura filled with the group's more mournful mood. It's an emotional despair taken to even greater heights on "Do Nothing," as the group futilely searches for a future, but musically stumbles upon a cheery, easygoing rhythm more appropriate to the pop styles of the English Beat than the angrier sounds the Specials had made their own. But to prove it's no fluke, there's the equally bright and breezy "Hey, Little Rich Girl," boasting fabulous sax solos from Madness' Lee Thompson. However, it's an immortal line from "Pearl's Cafe" that Terry Hall and the guesting Bodysnatchers' Rhoda Dakar deliver up in duet that best sums up their own, and the country's pure frustration: "It's all a load of bollocks, and bollocks to it all." It was an intensely satisfying set in its day, even if it wasn't as centered as their debut. The group seems to be moving simultaneously in too many directions, while the lyrics, too, are not quite as hard-hitting as earlier efforts. © Jo-Ann Greene /TiVo

Released in November 1976, the Jackson brothers' eleventh studio album was a turning point. For the first time, the band, which was slowing down a little, was no longer hosted by Motown, to which it was so deeply attached, but by CBS and its Epic subsidiary. Although four years earlier Michael had begun his solo career on Berry Gordy's label with Got to Be There, the standoff between Motown and the Jackson family, both financial and artistic, led to a thunderous divorce. Only Jermaine (who married the Motown boss's daughter and is replaced here by Randy Jackson, the youngest of the siblings) stayed with Berry Gordy, who was also able to keep hold of the Jackson 5 brand. Hence this 1976 début under the name The Jacksons. To mark all these changes, production was entrusted to the pair Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, the brains of Philadelphia soul, the precursor genre to disco that made early-70s America dance, dousing it in silk and champagne. Only the Jackson brothers were no longer novices or obedient little soldiers. They wanted to assert their own artistic choices more and more. This all made for a rather heterogeneous record, clearly marked by soul and groove, but whose real essence is rather hard to discern, caught as it is between the Jacksons' own choices and the hedonistic wills of Gamble and Huff. The latter wrote half of the songs, and Michael made his entrance by composing his very first track, Blues Away. At 18, his voice has a new assurance and marks a clean break from his character of Little Michael. Alongside The Jacksons, MFSB, the Sigma Sound Studios band led by Gamble and Huff, provides a polished score with strings (as necessary) and some very sensual rhythms. It's something of a slalom run, though not at all unpleasant, between a soul that borders on pop (Enjoy yourself) and a rhythm'n'blues that is casting an eye towards disco (Show You The Way to Go). The album would strike gold in the charts, of course, but it did not yet give a hint of the worldwide success that Michael would enjoy, three years later, solo, with Off The Wall  © Marc Zisman / Qobuz

After the commercial reprieve of the innovative "Dancing Machine" single (and album of the same name), the Jackson 5's successful five-year relationship with Motown and Berry Gordy ended. Their last Motown effort, Moving Violation, had barely made a dent. After an acrimonious split, brother Jermaine Jackson stayed at Motown, and Gordy fought and won, keeping the Jackson 5 moniker. The Jacksons isn't only their Epic label debut, it's the first album to feature youngest brother Randy Jackson. To ensure chart success, the group was teamed with Philadelphia producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, as well as their staff of writers and players. Despite the promise, The Jacksons is hampered by derivative tracks and a lack of knowing what to do with the group, particularly lead singer, Michael Jackson. The big hit here, the jerky "Enjoy Yourself," perfectly captured Michael Jackson's late adolescence, with his newfound vocal tics and inflections. "Show You the Way to Go" best captures the Philly sound, with a pretty melody and a great vocal from Michael, but it's a weak lyric. The Dexter Wansel-written and -produced "Keep on Dancing" matches a substandard discofied track to Michael Jackson's singular vocals. The last track, the graceful "Blues Away" marks the writing debut of the group and is a great match between artists and producers. For the most part, The Jacksons gives the guys by-the-numbers Philly tracks that could have been easily done by Lou Rawls. Despite the best songs, The Jacksons misses more than it hits.© Jason Elias /TiVo

Though the sound quality is less than perfect, this 1979 live EP perfectly captures the raw energy of the band in its prime. The title track was the band's first number one hit in the U.K. © Chris Woodstra /TiVo

After the commercial reprieve of the innovative "Dancing Machine" single (and album of the same name), the Jackson 5's successful five-year relationship with Motown and Berry Gordy ended. Their last Motown effort, Moving Violation, had barely made a dent. After an acrimonious split, brother Jermaine Jackson stayed at Motown, and Gordy fought and won, keeping the Jackson 5 moniker. The Jacksons isn't only their Epic label debut, it's the first album to feature youngest brother Randy Jackson. To ensure chart success, the group was teamed with Philadelphia producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, as well as their staff of writers and players. Despite the promise, The Jacksons is hampered by derivative tracks and a lack of knowing what to do with the group, particularly lead singer, Michael Jackson. The big hit here, the jerky "Enjoy Yourself," perfectly captured Michael Jackson's late adolescence, with his newfound vocal tics and inflections. "Show You the Way to Go" best captures the Philly sound, with a pretty melody and a great vocal from Michael, but it's a weak lyric. The Dexter Wansel-written and -produced "Keep on Dancing" matches a substandard discofied track to Michael Jackson's singular vocals. The last track, the graceful "Blues Away" marks the writing debut of the group and is a great match between artists and producers. For the most part, The Jacksons gives the guys by-the-numbers Philly tracks that could have been easily done by Lou Rawls. Despite the best songs, The Jacksons misses more than it hits.© Jason Elias /TiVo

Given that it's the same team that put together her first LP, it's no surprise that Enjoy Yourself sounds very similar to her debut. Which is fine if you take into consideration that at the time this formula was pure gold. Europe went mad for the diminutive Australian, and this simple dance-pop is catchy stuff. Stock-Aitken-Waterman knew what they had and they crafted songs that kept Kylie in the public eye. All in all, a good companion to her debut.© Chris True /TiVo

The success of a posthumous album often rides on how much it feels like a posthumous album. Heightened by the grey ethics around a post-mortem release, the results of these projects are polarizing to say the least, ranging from the legacy-affirming Circles to the parodic insult of "Jah on Drums." Regrettably, Pop Smoke's Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon (SFTSAFTM) lands firmly in the latter category: the elephant of the rapper's death is not just in the room, but strutting back and forth in front of the camera, dollar bills flying from its trunk.On first listen, the gap between Smoke's catalog and the radio-ready SFTSAFTM is vast. Gone are all traces of the rapper's place atop the Brooklyn drill movement, booming drill beats replaced by glitzy trap flair and empty basses. 808Melo, the force-behind-the-boards for Smoke's entire career, is entirely side-lined, appearing on just four of the album's 18 original tracks.SFTSAFTM's features tell the same story. Instead of contemporaries like Fivio Foreign and Rah Swish, we're given a who's-who of radio rap, with artists like Tyga and Karol G creeping their way onto the track list. Often, Smoke isn't even given the dignity of a first verse, with featured artists muscling their way in ahead of the late rapper on tracks like "The Woo" and "Diana." High-quality anthems with Smoke's collaborators -- Trap Manny's excellent "50K," Rah Swish's explosive "Double It" -- are notably absent.Yet the rapper's sheer charisma still manages to cut through: "44 Bulldog," "Tunnel Vision," and "Make It Rain" are excellent drill cuts, while "Gangstas" provides a refreshing change of pace for the Brooklyn star. While far from a new joint, it's immensely satisfying to finally hear "Many Men" (here titled "Got It on Me") in HQ, too. Other highlights arrive from the unreleased Huncho Woo mixtape ("Aim for the Moon," "Snitching"), but even these have been tinkered with, with Tyga squeezing his way ahead of the Quavo/Pop duo on "West Coast Shit." While the album holds merit purely on the basis that it gives us more of Smoke's unreleased catalog, the industry tampering is often too much to bear. Though the first two volumes of Meet the Woo lacked the bombast of Smoke's iconic singles, they demonstrated candor in their representation of the drill heavyweight; SFTSAFTM, by contrast, tarnishes the rapper's visionary style with predatory glitz as everyone jumps for a piece of the pie.© David Crone /TiVo

In the midst of a punk explosion in the late ‘70s, the UK experienced a ska revival led by Madness and, most notably, The Specials. Originally from Coventry, the multicultural gang originally led by Jerry Dammers is now reviving the syncopated rhythms of Jamaican rocksteady and its derivative, ska. In the heart of a grey Thatcherian England, it seemed that their strict dress code (pork pie hats, black suits and chequered patterns) was mandatory to fully appreciate their singles A Message To You Rudy (a cover of Dandy Livingstone), Too Much Too Young or Gangsters, as well as their two albums, Specials in 1979 and More Specials in 1980. Going by the name of The Special AKA, they published the equally essential album In The Studio With in 1984, which topped the charts thanks to their hit song (Free) Nelson Mandela...In the middle of Winter 2019, the Specials broke their (very) long silence with Encore. However, Jerry Dammers – the author of their greatest songs - and Neville Staple are no longer in the group! Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter are certainly present but for purists, wouldn’t The Specials without Jerry Dammers be like... The Rolling Stones without Keith Richards? With the help of guitarist Steve Cradock (from Ocean Colour Scene), drummer Kenrick Rowe and pianist Nikolaj Torp Larsen, these 2019 Specials look great. Their ska style crosses soul with vintage disco (with a beautiful cover of Black Skinned Blue-Eyed Boys by The Equals) and they certainly don’t forget to comment on the socio-political climate just as they did at the start. As a bonus, we find eleven live tracks (with all the hits from the golden era!), recorded in Paris at the Bataclan on November 30, 2014, and in London at the Troxy on November 16, 2016. A rather successful comeback. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

It could be argued that Billy Currington is enjoying himself just a tad too much on his fourth album. Everything rolls just a little bit too easily, Currington letting his words crawl out in a slow drawl, the tempos never getting any quicker than a shuffle, although things almost get heated on the bluesy closer, “Lil’ Ol’ Lonesome Dixie Town.” It’s such a low-key, lazy record, so consistent in tone that the singsongy chorus of “Love Done Gone” positively blares, that it almost seems slight, but Currington works better when he’s unhurried, sounding relaxed and natural when he admits he’s “Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer” or when he wishes that his girl loved him like his dog does or when he says with a smile that a “Bad Day of Fishin'” beats a good day of anything else. That last song is the only tune on Enjoy Yourself that Currington had a hand in writing, a stark contrast to 2008’s Little Bit of Everything where he penned roughly half the tunes, but the strength of the album is that it doesn’t sound like it was written by a bunch of Nashville pros -- its mellow vibes and occasional soft romantic touch feel true to Currington.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Less frenzied than its predecessor, but more musically adventurous, More Specials was nearly as popular in its day as its predecessor, falling just one chart place below their debut. It kicked off in similar fashion as well, with a classic cover, this time with an exuberant take on Carl Sigman and Conrad Magidson's 1940s chestnut "Enjoy Yourself." A slower, brooding version with the Go-Go's in tow brings the album to a close, taking the place of the set-sealing "You're Wondering Now," which brought the curtain down on their first set. But there the similarities come to an end. The rest of the album is comprised of originals, including a pair of instrumentals -- the Northern soul-esque "Sock It to 'Em JB" and the Mexican-flavored "Holiday Fortnight" -- as well as a duo of minimally vocalized pieces, the intriguing "International Jet Set," and the overtly apocalyptic "Man at C&A." But fans had already been primed for the band's changing musical directions by the release the month before of "Stereotypes," its spaghetti western aura filled with the group's more mournful mood. It's an emotional despair taken to even greater heights on "Do Nothing," as the group futilely searches for a future, but musically stumbles upon a cheery, easygoing rhythm more appropriate to the pop styles of the English Beat than the angrier sounds the Specials had made their own. But to prove it's no fluke, there's the equally bright and breezy "Hey, Little Rich Girl," boasting fabulous sax solos from Madness' Lee Thompson. However, it's an immortal line from "Pearl's Cafe" that Terry Hall and the guesting Bodysnatchers' Rhoda Dakar deliver up in duet that best sums up their own, and the country's pure frustration: "It's all a load of bollocks, and bollocks to it all." It was an intensely satisfying set in its day, even if it wasn't as centered as their debut. The group seems to be moving simultaneously in too many directions, while the lyrics, too, are not quite as hard-hitting as earlier efforts. © Jo-Ann Greene /TiVo

Enjoy Yourself: The Hits of Guy Lombardo is the finest collection ever assembled of Lombardo's biggest hits, including "Penny Serenade," "Nicaragua," "The Band Played On," "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later than You Think)," and "Auld Lang Syne." It's the most comprehensive compilation of Lombardo recordings ever assembled, touching on all aspects of his career and featuring the original versions of his best-known material.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo