Portugal. The Man are a clever lot; the major-label indie rockers are no strangers to well-conceived mischief, whether it's in videos, on-stage antics, or subtly hidden subversions in song lyrics. None of this will come across as blatantly as it does on Woodstock, the band's eighth studio album and first in four years. Woodstock was actually recorded twice; with producer Mike D and a lot of time, they cut enough material for a double album, then chucked it all, starting again with only fragments from the early sessions. The title was inspired by frontman John Gourley's dad's first-day ticket stub from the Woodstock festival, so much so that set opener "Number One" is electronically enhanced indie dance-psych that samples Richie Havens' "Freedom" from the Woodstock festival's soundtrack in the intro. Guest vocalist Son Little takes his tune and interweaves it with the band's contrasting melody and lyrics. On this set, Portugal. The Man continue to work with Mike D. but also with Danger Mouse and John Hill. They enlisted no less than nine engineers and more than 20 guest musicians and singers, and Woodstock sounds like it. It's an enormous-sounding, splashy album.While the recording contains the band's hyperkinetic, sometimes frantic tapestry of sounds from neo-psych to glam and indie (in places), they've upped their "commercial" ante considerably as evidenced by single "Feel It Still," which has a punchy, fingerpopping rhythm worthy of both Pharrell Williams and Mark Ronson, complete with bumping brass, crisp snares, and Gourley's falsetto. The irony of such an overt pop single isn't lost on the band: They've printed T-shirts that read "I was into Portugal. The Man before they sold out." The pop approach is subversive but you'll need to get to the various song's lyrics to discover it. (No spoilers.) Check the nocturnal loop and groove of "Easy Tiger" that weaves traces of glam and multi-layered psych into its dubby, club-floor stomp. While "Keep On" contains ghost traces of the band's indie past, it's more influenced by alternative R&B and still rocks. The Pharcyde's Fatlip guests on the wonderful, snare/hi-hat/acid-tinged zaniness that is "Mr. Lonely," while the hip-hop drums and Hill's multi-layered, Brian Wilson-esque swooping vocal and backmasked Baroque psych production on "Tidal Wave" are infectious. Closer "Noise Pollution" offers an upfront vocal mix with Mary Elizabeth Winstead & Zoe Manville adding a prominent vocal chorus into the meld of psychedelic pop, hip-hop, and dancefloor tropes in a dense production by Mike D. It'll be interesting to observe how P.TM's longtime fans react to Woodstock, or if it will even matter. They'll certainly retain enough of their base to chart, but the bet is, given how accessible and attractive (and yes, derivative) their loopy brand of pop is, they'll attract an entirely new crop of fans to compensate. Pump your fist, be "a rebel just for kicks now," and most of all, dance like your life depended on it. As far as P.TM is concerned, it does.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

In the year of his 90th birthday (which he would have celebrated on the 23rd of September 2020 had he not died in 2004), Ray Charles is honoured with a new 90-track compilation box set. Just another compilation like all the rest? Yes and no. Ray Charles is undoubtedly one of the most-compiled artists in the history of music. Published by Tangerine, the label that the musician set up at the end of the 50s to keep the rights to his songs, this box set starts out like all the others: with the post-Atlantic hits, Georgia On My Mind, Hit The Road Jack, One Mint Julep, Busted... These are timeless treasures of proto-soul, but there doesn't seem to be much novelty here. The rest is much more interesting, and much rarer: tracks recorded between the second half of the 1960s and the 2000s, many of which were only released on vinyl, never reissued on CD and until now unavailable on digital. This is the first time that Ray Charles' lesser-known years have been given the compilation treatment in this way, and it is a revelation. In the 90s and 2000s, the production of his songs had a synthetic feel, and they did not age too well. These rarer songs are often hidden gems of southern soul, flavoured with country and wrapped in sumptuous symphonic orchestrations. Whether he is singing the Muppets (It's Ain't Easy Being Green) or Gershwin (Summertime, a duet with Cleo Laine), Ray Charles is always deeply moving. Now, the dream is to hear reissues of all these albums in their entirety. © Stéphane Deschamps/Qobuz

The sequel to the 2017 Classics EP finds Pentatonix spending a full album singing the big hits of the day -- a move that isn't all that dissimilar to easy listening albums of the '60s and '70s, where Bacharach/David and Lennon/McCartney songs were given smooth arrangements designed for the adult contemporary charts. Pentatonix aren't so fusty. They do a medley of "Despacito" and "Shape of You" and cover Kesha, Demi Lovato, and Zedd, while never relying on old a cappella tricks. Make no mistake, they are still proudly the children of Glee, but that's also the ace up their sleeve: they're flashy about their hip attributes, which helps disguise how this album is -- at its core -- music by a very good music theater troupe.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

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Following chart-topping soundtrack appearances as a cast member of Disney Channel's Descendants franchise, Sofia Carson released her eponymous solo debut in early 2022. July of that year saw the release of the Netflix original movie Purple Hearts, starring Carson as a struggling singer/songwriter who enters into an arranged marriage with a marine (Nicholas Galitzine) that ultimately develops into the real thing. Channeling her exuberant, yearning pop into a set of four original songs, the album's arrangements rely more heavily on guitars than her trademark dance-pop sound. The brief soundtrack is rounded out by two covers plus "stripped" versions of ballad highlight "Come Back Home" and the driving "I Hate the Way." The covers -- a wispy version of Portugal. The Man's "Feel It Still" and a part-rock, part-cheer-team take on "Sweet Caroline" -- are more likely than not to irk fans of either the source material or Carson's previous output. However, the new songs -- which she co-wrote with hitmakers like Justin Tranter (Julia Michaels, Demi Lovato) and Skyler Stonestreet, among others -- are not only worth the price of admission (or subscription) for fans but showcase Carson's potential star power. © Marcy Donelson /TiVo

Still Alive and Well proved to the record-buying public that Johnny Winter was both. This is a truly enjoyable album, chock-full of great tunes played well. Johnny's version of the Rolling Stones' "Silver Train" revealed the potential of this song and what the Stones failed to capture. Everything here is good, so get it and dig in.© James Chrispell /TiVo

There's a moment on the third album by Soccer Mommy—aka Sophie Allison— when she sings, on "Still," "I don't know how to feel things small/ It's a tidal wave or nothing at all." And while she's certainly hinted at such extremes in the past (including on 2020's adult-alternative hit "Circle the Drain"), Sometimes, Forever shows just how low she can go. As always, though, it's done with an almost-ethereal beauty; producer Daniel Lopatin has said that the Roches' 1982 song "Losing True" was a vocal influence for the record. "I'd say that song is the birth of dream pop," he told Pitchfork. "And Sophie's record is the death of it!" Indeed, "Darkness Forever"—which feels as dark and moody as Medicine or the Cocteau Twins—opens with the line "head in the oven ... simmering low." The music surrounding Allison is glitchy, claustrophobic, even monstrous, and then she pierces it with a scream like you've never before heard from Soccer Mommy. "Newdemo" sounds dreamy, twinkling even, but the lyrics are sad and terrifying, casting Allison as Cassandra prophesizing the world's demise as everyone else smiles for selfies around her: "Hear the city roar … There's nothing it needs/ But money and greed … A new conversation spreads like fire/ It's keeping us warm/ But I see a storm." "Unholy Affliction," too, is about capitalism and—more than any modern-day artist has addressed—the '90s quandary of selling out. "So carve me up and let the colors run," Allison sings while a dirgey storm brews beneath, building power from busily syncopated drums. "Following Eyes" is also dark and looming—Allison has said it's a rare moment that moves from autobiography to fantasy. A trampling rocker, it's told like a ghost story, with the narrator experiencing some sort of terrible apparition while driving: "I cut the engine and I watched her through the steam ... like no horror I had seen." (Allison swears it's not metaphor.) On chiming "Feel It All the Time," meanwhile, she declares "I'm gasping for air," then the vocals skip a tiny beat. "I'm just 22 going on 23/ Already worn down from everything." The kids may ultimately be alright, but these are trying times. "Fire in the Driveway" boasts a minor fall and minor lift that tug at the heartstrings in a major way. The Roches' inspiration is a fascinating one, and, as before, you can hear traces of early Avril Lavigne (an Allison favorite), Juliana Hatfield, and The Sundays. "Shotgun" is a winner, its dark and loungey guitar bursting into the light—like coming out of a movie in the middle of the day, when it's both disorienting and sort of a thrill to discover you still have daylight to burn. The song is "all about the joys of losing yourself in love," Allison has said, but of course it's filtered through that extreme perspective: "Uppers and my heart never meshed/ I hated coming down/ But this feels the same without the bad things." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

Teddy Pendergrass was near, if not at, the pinnacle of a prosperous music career upon this album's release, which spawned two Top Ten singles. "Can't We Try," with its tender introduction, slowly builds into a dramatic vamp in which Pendergrass' domineering baritone clinches each lyric with absolute conviction -- an awesome display of vocal power and control. The compassionate number peaked at number three on the Billboard R&B charts after 16 weeks. Pendergrass did not lose any steam on the charts. The follow-up single, "Love T.K.O.," came on strong. His testimonial lead carried this crafty number to the second position on the charts, holding down that slot for five consecutive weeks before bowing after 18 weeks. However, the best track on this album is the duet with Stephanie Mills; "Feel the Fire," penned by Peabo Bryson, rings with passion and sensuality. Pendergrass and Mills' vocals strikingly contrast each other in an admirable way. The song was never a single release, but remains a constant on quiet storm formats. On a few numbers, such as the Ashford & Simpson remake "Is It Still Good to Ya," Pendergrass labors through the verses, struggling to find his form. Though a great song, it does very little for the former Blue Note. Notwithstanding, there are quite a few gems here.© Craig Lytle /TiVo

Portugal. The Man are a clever lot; the major-label indie rockers are no strangers to well-conceived mischief, whether it's in videos, on-stage antics, or subtly hidden subversions in song lyrics. None of this will come across as blatantly as it does on Woodstock, the band's eighth studio album and first in four years. Woodstock was actually recorded twice; with producer Mike D and a lot of time, they cut enough material for a double album, then chucked it all, starting again with only fragments from the early sessions. The title was inspired by frontman John Gourley's dad's first-day ticket stub from the Woodstock festival, so much so that set opener "Number One" is electronically enhanced indie dance-psych that samples Richie Havens' "Freedom" from the Woodstock festival's soundtrack in the intro. Guest vocalist Son Little takes his tune and interweaves it with the band's contrasting melody and lyrics. On this set, Portugal. The Man continue to work with Mike D. but also with Danger Mouse and John Hill. They enlisted no less than nine engineers and more than 20 guest musicians and singers, and Woodstock sounds like it. It's an enormous-sounding, splashy album.While the recording contains the band's hyperkinetic, sometimes frantic tapestry of sounds from neo-psych to glam and indie (in places), they've upped their "commercial" ante considerably as evidenced by single "Feel It Still," which has a punchy, fingerpopping rhythm worthy of both Pharrell Williams and Mark Ronson, complete with bumping brass, crisp snares, and Gourley's falsetto. The irony of such an overt pop single isn't lost on the band: They've printed T-shirts that read "I was into Portugal. The Man before they sold out." The pop approach is subversive but you'll need to get to the various song's lyrics to discover it. (No spoilers.) Check the nocturnal loop and groove of "Easy Tiger" that weaves traces of glam and multi-layered psych into its dubby, club-floor stomp. While "Keep On" contains ghost traces of the band's indie past, it's more influenced by alternative R&B and still rocks. The Pharcyde's Fatlip guests on the wonderful, snare/hi-hat/acid-tinged zaniness that is "Mr. Lonely," while the hip-hop drums and Hill's multi-layered, Brian Wilson-esque swooping vocal and backmasked Baroque psych production on "Tidal Wave" are infectious. Closer "Noise Pollution" offers an upfront vocal mix with Mary Elizabeth Winstead & Zoe Manville adding a prominent vocal chorus into the meld of psychedelic pop, hip-hop, and dancefloor tropes in a dense production by Mike D. It'll be interesting to observe how P.TM's longtime fans react to Woodstock, or if it will even matter. They'll certainly retain enough of their base to chart, but the bet is, given how accessible and attractive (and yes, derivative) their loopy brand of pop is, they'll attract an entirely new crop of fans to compensate. Pump your fist, be "a rebel just for kicks now," and most of all, dance like your life depended on it. As far as P.TM is concerned, it does.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

It's hard to imagine the wondrous spectacles that were Elton John shows in the '70s. Decked out in the kind of campy dress that would make a drag queen call the fashion police, Elton pranced and danced across the stage like he owned it -- because he did. But, alas, the '80s and a monstrous coke habit came calling, and when they left John was never the same performer or singer again. What was once fun and camp somehow became tacky and the singer seemed hopelessly out of it. This CD, taken from a sold-out weekend stand at Madison Square Garden in October 2000, is his bid to capture that old live magic for the younger types who missed it the first time around. Through the course of 17 tracks the artist huffs, puffs, wheezes, sputters, and does everything in his power to find that once unbridled energy. Does he? No, not really. But he does play nearly every major hit he's had in the process which, when you realize how many there are and how good they are, is one hell of a consolation prize. The cover, which depicts John decked in a white suit and surrounded by bananas and the like, doesn't do much to nix the tacky tag, but the music is, thankfully, better than its packaging. He also pulls several rabbits out of his hat in the form of Bryan Adams (who guests on "Sad Songs"), Mary J. Blige (who duets on "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues"), and, most amazingly, Kiki Dee, who rips into "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" in a way that Rupaul could only dream of. No, he hasn't recaptured that '70s magic, but the melodies are still great and you'll still know every word.© Steve Kurutz /TiVo

If there’s one Kiss album that deserves to celebrate its birthday with a bang, it’s definitely Creatures of the Night. Much heavier than the majority of the band’s discography, this opus has become a fan favourite over the years, and it’s no wonder: great tracks like ‘Rock and Roll Hell’ and ‘War Machine’, huge riffs, unparalleled heavy drums… What’s not to love? The 2022 remastering on the first CD in this box set is the perfect tribute to the nine songs on the original album, and each track is a masterpiece in its own right.By the second and third CDs, the birthday celebrations have come to an end… At this point, it feels more like Christmas. Listeners are gifted 34 recordings, often in the form of demos, and mostly unreleased. You’ll find the incredible ‘Feel Like Heaven’ sung by Gene Simmons, a fantastic bass and drum version of the rhythmic ‘Tell It to a Fool’, instrumental versions that are destined to liven up any karaoke night, an unreleased version of ‘Not for the Innocent’ (where Simmons and Paul Stanley share the vocals), as well as alternative takes on various tracks from the album. It’s a real treat for collectors and avid fans alike. It’s also a good opportunity to mourn the loss of the amazing Eric Carr–undoubtedly the best Kiss drummer.CDs 4 and 5 include live tracks recorded across several American cities during the Creatures of the Night tour. There’s an amusing little oddity tucked away in there too: the sound effects the band used on tour (wind, flames, sirens etc.). This isn’t really necessary, of course, but it’s definitely an interesting little snippet of music history. This anniversary edition is a real feast that will see you happily dive right back into this incredible album (which is on par with their 1992 release, Revenge). © Charlélie Arnaud/Qobuz

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Ron Sexsmith's third album continues the singer/songwriter's talent -- and perhaps his need -- for revealing his delicate and contemplative reflections on life and himself. On Whereabouts, Sexsmith sounds vulnerable yet a bit more worldly than on his previous two albums, and his clear, plaintive vocals sound best on the most introspective tracks like "Riverbed," "The Idiot Boy," and "Doomed." The only minor flaw is the production -- somewhat cold and soulless, it detracts from Sexsmith's intimacy instead of complementing it.© Gina Boldman /TiVo