On her ninth album, and first in nearly a decade, Natalie Merchant echoes the lushness of her classic Ophelia from 1998—though you can hear the age in her voice. That's not a bad thing. You might not recognize her in the first notes of the excellent "Big Girls," but you will soon enough. Her voice is richer, smokier, and a stunning complement to duet partner Abena Koomson-Davis' warm lilt on both this soulful piano number and its follow-up "Come on, Aphrodite," an appeal to the goddess to deliver all the beauty and messiness of love. Egged on by vibrant horns, Koomson-Davis sounds full of longing, while Merchant is simply commanding: "Make me head over heels/ Make me drunk/ Make me blind/ Over the moon/ Half out of my mind." Merchant has said the 10 songs here "needed all the textures of full orchestrations: wood, metal, gut, reeds, skins, human breath, pressure, and friction," which led her to seven composers, including Gabriel Kahane and Megan Gould, as well as the Celtic folk group Lúnasa. Insistent cowbell escorts in sultry piano and Cab Calloway-style horns on "Tower of Babel," while "Narcissus" is set to romantic guitar and tells that Greek myth from cursed Echo's point of view, letting her speak the complete thoughts she was unable to say in the original story. "I'm nothing but the clear and empty sky above/ I'm light, can you see me?" Merchant sings, her voice at times reaching the clarity of her early 10,000 Maniacs years. And her signature vibrato is perhaps best highlighted on "Song of Himself." She covers "Hunting the Wren" by the Irish folk band Lankum, offering a softer, more delicate contrast to the stoic pain of the original, which uses the bird as a metaphor for exploited women. "Sister Tilly" is a melancholic but playful string tribute to the fading Chelsea Girls and '60s earth mothers of yore—the "women of my mother's generation who are leaving us now," Merchant has said. She lovingly chronicles "your Rilke poems and your stacks of Mother Jones, your feminist raves in your Didion shades, and your Zeppelin so loud and so proud." Near the end, it rolls into an easy, Carly Simon-like sway. (There are shades of Joni Mitchell, meanwhile, on the Celtic-tinged "Eye of the Storm.") The whole thing ends on a dramatic turn with "The Feast of Saint Valentine" and its chamber pop stylings; kudos to Merchant for managing to open a song with the line "In the deep and darkest night of your soul" and close it with "Love will conquer all" without earning any cynicism for those cliches. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

Irish musician Glen Hansard, who is no stranger on the scene, nonetheless began this album in secret. In November 2022, he and his band set up shop in a corner of his favorite pub to test his new songs on the local audience, in order to gauge the opinion not of the crowds from his concerts, but of the pub regulars. Hansard left the performance – albeit perhaps a bit tipsy – with the inspiration to create the most rock-focused album of his discography… one that would drown out the laughter and clinking pints of the crowd below. Recorded in a Dublin studio, his fifth album All That Was East Is West Of Me Now has a simpler, rougher, and more straightforward sound compared to his previous works.Glen Hansard's folk-rock is undeniably more rock than folk here. In some tracks, especially at the top of the album, you can hear the influence of electric Neil Young-style guitars, which bring with them a newfound darkness and sense of tension. But amidst the edginess – Hansard manages to stay loyal to his Van Morrison influences, crafting winter folk ballads that make you want to stay by the fireplace or at the back of the pub while it's raining outside. Sometimes, the two influences collide in the record - offering ballads in the storm. Regardless of the style, Hansen, in chunky knitted sweaters, excels with his crooner-like voice. “Between us there is music” he sings on the album’s fourth track – reminding us that this is music designed to bring people together.  © Stéphane Deschamps/Qobuz

Lee Perry is generally acknowledged as a production genius, but on occasion that genius can be destructive, and while there's no disputing his talent, sometimes the results can be less than aurally satisfying. This is especially true when it comes to albums, where Perry's efforts were often erratic. On Heart of the Congos he was brilliant, and across the record's original ten tracks Perry created a masterpiece of music. Many critics consider this 1977 album one of the best roots records of all time, and at the very least, it was Perry's apex -- only Junior Byles' Beat Down Babylon is an equal contender. Which is why it's all the more shocking that the record was turned down by Island, and even back in Jamaica it received only a limited release. It took nearly two decades for Heart of the Congos to reappear, finally reissued with a clutch of period bonus tracks by Blood and Fire. The Congos themselves seem the least-likely contenders to record an exceptional album with Perry. The duo of Cedric Myton and Roy "Ashanti" Johnson had a unique sound, revolving around the former man's crystalline falsetto, which was set off by the latter's rich tenor. The pair composed deeply cultural songs, but both men's vocals had a gentle quality that would wither under a typical deep roots arrangement. Still, Perry had proved his worth working with the soft, husky tones of Byles, but few expected him to be able to repeat this feat. In fact, if anything, the producer was even more sympathetic to the Congos' styling and exhibited a musical self-restraint that astonished even his hardcore fans. Every track on the original album is worthy of classic status, and all presented the group and their songs in the best possible light. To this end, Perry was aided by a phenomenal group of sessionmen and guest backing vocalists which included Gregory Isaacs, a pair of Heptones, and the mighty Meditations. But beyond the Congos' superb songs and performance, the superb musicianship, and the exceptional vocal talents, it's Perry's arrangements that brought these numbers to life. Each one was carefully tailored, taking into consideration the mood of the piece and the vocalist. The tribal beats of "Congoman," for example, are just the song's launch pad; its the way the vocals and harmonies weave in and out that makes the piece extraordinary. The 12" and "Chanting" versions give further evidence of Perry's genius. "Ark of the Covenant" is stuffed to the brim with instrumentation, with the vocals soaring overhead, and brings the album to a religious fervor. In contrast, "Solid Foundation" is stripped back, a showpiece for Myton's marvelous falsetto. There's the stirring roots of "Open the Gates" and "Sodom and Gomorrow," while rocksteady echoes across the deeply affecting "Children Crying" and "La La Bam Bam." Every track offers something new: a unique sound, an unforgettable melody and rhythm, an unexpected arrangement. As much work went into the remastering as the recording, and the album sounds as good as it must have at the time it was recorded. Revel in the moment.© Jo-Ann Greene /TiVo

Given the title of its sixth release, it's fair to wonder if Mastodon is hinting at 2011's The Hunter or its back catalog. Many of the tracks on Once More 'Round the Sun dig into the band's seemingly inexhaustible bag of monstrous riffs and wonderfully fractured motifs. That said, as a collective, they unapologetically explore the more polished and accessible songwriting and performing craft found on The Hunter. This set marks a fork in the road where Mastodon evolves once more, to cross over from metal's angular, sludgy power to adrenaline-fueled, hook-laden, hard rock. The album was produced by Nick Raskulinecz, best known for his work with Foo Fighters and Rush. The sound Mastodon pursues here draws inspiration from the '70s, without remotely being an exercise in nostalgia. There is one notable exception; it's deliberate and obvious: "The High Road" boasts unapologizing Thin Lizzy worship, albeit ambitiously updated. (Who better?) Its verse/riff structure weds Lynott's rhythmic sensibility to Mastodon's dynamic aggression. The anthemic chorus melody and harmonies, and twinned lead guitar roar, were trademarked by Lizzy's Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham long ago. "Chimes at Midnight" is intense, fueled by a mammoth chugging riff. It lets the "drop D" freak flag fly, with a near-shouted vocal, harmonic chorus, and spacy six-string interludes. "The Motherload," with its swaggering guitar heroics, is a wound-out yet nearly hummable prog melody, with a relentless bass and snare attack. "Aunt Lisa," with its knotty guitar intro, contains processed vocals, a series of rising and falling key changes, and the Coathangers guesting -- cheerleader style -- in a chanted vocal chorus à la Faith No More's "Be Aggressive!" There are also some substantive guitar pyrotechnics in the extended solos in "Halloween" and "Ember City," which, due to their imagination and focus, add dimension to them as songs. "Diamond in the Witch House" is a sprawling, nearly eight-minute closing jam. Neurosis' Scott Kelly and his menacing growl guest as it lumbers, trudges, and lurches ever forward (longtime fans will likely dig this). Once More 'Round the Sun furthers what Mastodon began on The Hunter: expanding their music past metal's rigid borders -- toward an integrative sound that doesn't leave metal out.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

This eighth album from the South African post-grunge titans is the follow-up to 2017's Poison the Parish. The album, whose Latin title means "If you want peace, prepare for war," was recorded over two months in Nashville and marks the debut of their new guitarist Corey Lowery (ex-Saint Asonia). It sees the band turn in another dose of their melodic heavy rock -- this time with a markedly political slant -- and includes the brooding single "Dangerous."© TiVo

A John Williams masterpiece, the emotion he evokes through this music is incredible: it can make you experience what the characters in the movie are feeling -- see the menace of Captain Hook, or find your happy thought and fly. One could just sit and listen to it for hours without finding all the little nuances in the music. It includes the vocal selections "We Don't Wanna Grow Up" and "When You're Alone."© Tavia Hobart /TiVo

There's no shortage of Handel aria recitals these days, especially in Britain, but this one by bass baritone Christopher Purves stands out from the crowd in several respects. First of all, it is rare in collecting arias for bass voice, which was, in Handel's time as it was later on, generally associated with a few fixed and generally negative character types (tyrants, rogues, repressive patriarchs). Second, it's a very pleasantly varied collection of tunes, including displays of brilliant passagework, out-of-the-norm writing in service of characterization (Fra l'ombre e gl'orrori, from Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, track 4), and high climactic drama (the big, three-part Revenge, Timotheus cries, from Alexander's Feast, track 19, is a familiar example). Finally, Purves unearths some rarely heard pieces and programs them intelligently. When did anyone last year anything from Muzio Scevola, or Riccardo Primo, rè d'Inghilterra, which must have pleased London audiences in 1727 despite its Italian-language text. Purves does not have the biggest voice in the bass baritone universe, and there could be a bit more sound in the very low notes. But the dimensions of the music are right for the period. He's pleasingly accurate in the passagework, and he's a real actor who makes these potentially stilted characters come alive. Listeners will want to hear Purves in a small production of one of these operas after hearing this album, preferably accompanied by the strong historical-instrument group Arcangelo under Jonathan Cohen, as he is here.© TiVo