The 58-track Never My Love: The Anthology, very different from the 61-track French and Japanese release Someday We'll All Be Free (2010), appeals slightly more to fanatics than it does newcomers. Disc one covers Donny Hathaway's singles and albums highlights, from 1969 and 1972 A-sides recorded with June Conquest through 1978's "You Were Meant for Me." There's a lot of familiar ground, all of it representative, but many selections differ from the album counterparts, including the two-part 7" version of "The Ghetto," the promo edit of "Thank You Master (For My Soul)," and single edits of "Giving Up," "A Song for You," and "Come Little Children." The second disc consists of unreleased studio recordings, none of which overlaps with the material unearthed on Someday We'll All Be Free. Unfortunately, that means Hathaway's cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" isn't present, but there are two slices of hard and heavy soul that date from the late '60s, a mighty interpretation of "Never My Love" (a platinum hit for the Association), the gorgeously bittersweet "Memory of Our Love," and a fascinating 20-minute concerto. Other tracks, not quite aimless but sensibly left in the archive, help fans fill in the gaps of the mid- to late-'70s period when Hathaway's creativity was severely impaired. Disc three, all newly issued as well, is like an alternate, not quite as hot edition of Live. It draws from the eight sets Hathaway performed during three October 1971 nights at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village. None of it was included on any of the previous Hathaway live albums, yet they're no mere scraps, highlighted by similarly sprawling trips through "Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)" and "The Ghetto" that involve tremendous interplay between Hathaway and his formidable band. Finally, the last quarter of the anthology contains all of the 1972 classic Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, as well as three additional Roberta/Donny duets produced by giants James Mtume and Reggie Lucas: the number two Hot 100 hit "The Closer I Get to You," "You Are My Heaven," and the undervalued boogie gem "Back Together Again." Charles Waring's lengthy essay is an illuminating and deeply emotional read, with quotes from those who worked closest with Hathaway, including Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin, and Flack. The CD edition is shaped like a DVD set, fold-out style, with sharp design. It's a long overdue treat for anyone interested in a genius whose talents as a singer, keyboard player, songwriter, arranger, and producer gave the world a bounty of life-affirming and inspiring music. Hopefully an enterprising label has the resources to endure the licensing nightmares required to release a compilation that showcases Hathaway's work for artists like the Unifics, the Impressions, Curtis Mayfield, Phil Upchurch, Roberta Flack, Jerry Butler, and Willie Nelson. Paired with this, we'd get the full scope of the man's work.© Andy Kellman /TiVo

1973, Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth finds its way into stores and magnifying its release. “The pain grows deeper in the ghetto”, chanted by a voice that reverberates in the simple accompaniment of a piano, this is the opening one of the most cult and unrecognized albums of the Stax label. She is Kathleen Kent. She is part of 24-Carat Black, a collective of 25 musicians held together by the sole force of Dale Warren. Spotted in Cincinnati, where they reign supreme, the former Ditalians dream of becoming the future Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye circulated by Motown. Why did Warren believe so much in them? He left very quickly in the early beginnings of Motown to join Stax and orchestrate notably the album of Isaac Hayes (Hot Buttered Soul, The Isaac Hayes Movement). Inexperienced, the kids from Ohio do not immediately embrace the project Warren has been carving out for them for months. In an America where the water is always murky for African-Americans, the class struggle has turned from a dead pacifism with Malcolm X to the affirmation of the black identity, with its culmination one year prior, at the Wattstax festival. “I am black, I am proud, I am beautiful, I must be respected”, shout the arena of Black Woodstock after having listening to Warren’s Salvation Symphony. With Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth, the conductor intends to develop the subject further. Serious sobriety, purity without pretense, ample funk arrangements carefully decorated by his craftsmanship, the work does not tick the boxes of the commercial formula which is quickly stamped "conceptual". With an eye clearly on the formats explored by progressive rock, its eight cleverly titled titles exercise the blues and gospel roots of black music, with it totaling 55 minutes. Synopsis One: Kathleen Kent's uncompromising monologues about black suffering precede Princess Hearn's gospel prayers on God Save The World. Then Hearn finds Ernest Latimore for Poverty's Paradise, a sublime requiem stretching over twelve minutes. Valerie Malone takes care of the classy Mother's Day and Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth. If the scores are already ready when they arrive in the studio, Brown-Baggin’ and 24-Carat Black will come from jam-sessions, while Foodstamps will be entirely from Warren. Possessing a rare quality, the songs draw their strength in the precocity of Carat-Black. Hearn, Malone and organist Billy Talbert were not even fifteen when they started working on the project. After six months of sleepless nights spent on rehearsals, a twelve-hour session would be enough to record everything. Only the voices would be transplanted afterwards. A year later, 24-Carat Black would separate after having conquered the crowd of the Holiday Inn Memphis. Shortly then after, Shotgun is born and the alcoholism of Warren. In his descent into a dark place, he will have time to see his work reach a cult status. A cult that will give so much to hip-hop as it is sampled by its golden age who go on to take torch, like Digable Planets, Jay-Z, Nas, RZA and even Madlib. © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz

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French rapper Rohff released this, his fifth album, in 2006. While having already established himself as one of his home country's leading hip-hop artists, Rohff continued to exceed expectations and this two-disc, 31-track collection is proof of all that work. It includes the favorites "Starfuckeuze," "La Puissance," and "Toujours."© Chris True /TiVo

Considering that he hadn't delivered a full-fledged solo album since 1993's disappointing Lethal Injection, maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise that Ice Cube returned hard in 1998 with War & Peace, Vol. 1 (The War Disc), since five years is a long, long time to stay quiet. What was a surprise was how ambitious the album was. The first installment in a proposed double-disc set, The War Disc is a cacophonous, cluttered, impassioned record that nearly qualifies as a return to form. Designed as a hard-hitting record, it certainly takes no prisoners, as it moves from intense street-oriented jams to rap-metal fusions, such as the Korn-blessed "Fuck Dying," with its seething, distorted guitars. It's a head-spinning listen and, at first, it seems to be a forceful comeback. Upon closer inspection, The War Disc falters a bit. Not only does the relentless nature of the music wear a little thin, but Cube spends too much time trying to beat newcomers at their own game. His lyrical skills are still intact, but he spends way too much time boasting, particularly about material possessions, and his attempt to rechristen himself Don Mega, in a Wu-like move, simply seems awkward. Even so, the quality of the music -- and the moments when he pulls it all together, such as "3 Strikes You In" -- sustains War and makes it feel more cohesive than it actually is. The key is purpose -- even if Cube doesn't always say exactly what he wants, he does have something to say. That alone makes War & Peace, with just one album completed, a more successful and rewarding listen than the typical double-disc hip-hop set of the late '90s.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

History, Mystery is among Bill Frisell's most eclectic yet accessible projects. Produced by longtime ally Lee Townsend, this double-disc, 90-minute, 30-piece suite encompasses the full range of Frisell's musical past and his influences, obsessions, and storylike vision. It is performed by a star-studded octet that includes trumpeter Ron Miles, saxophonist Greg Tardy, and a string section featuring Eyvind Kang, Jenny Scheinman, and Hank Roberts, with bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen in the rhythm section. History, Mystery dances across entire musical landscapes: bebop/post-bop, Malian folk music, tangos, Delta blues, modern classical music, vintage soul, and rock. The source material for this recording was compiled from a multimedia collaboration with artist Jim Woodring called Mysterio Sympatico in 2002 and recorded during a tour. The rest was recorded for Stories from the Heart of the Land, a 2007 series on National Public Radio. Frisell composed most of this work, but his own "history" is revealed in his choice of covers: Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," "Jackie-Ing" by Thelonious Monk, "Sub-Conscious Lee" by Lennie Tristano, and "Baba Drame" by Malian guitar legend Boubacar Traoré. The sense of "mystery" is in just how these various sources are melded in a multi-textured tapestry of sound. Balance for this work is achieved in the strength of its arrangements, and the glue that binds them together is the string section. Its role is pivotal: it anchors the listener through its many stylistic and textural changes. The notion of "history" here is also revealed in the way songs are juxtaposed. For instance, a soul tune like "A Change Is Gonna Come" actually precedes a knotty yet swinging bop number like "Jackie-Ing." Non-American sources are cited, too. The nuevo tango-inspired "Probability Cloud" is the theme that bookends disc one. It begins as a digital guitar soundscape before an Astor Piazzolla-inspired tango comes to the fore in the strings. Traoré's droning desert blues "Baba Drame features an interlude that evokes late-19th century Spanish folk music, itself inspired by the chants and sung prayers of the Moors centuries before. Disc two engages themes, departures, and returns in numerous ways: the haunting, near-ambient "Monroe," with guitar and viola in the forefront; the spectral "Lazy Robinson" that floats between carnival music and modern classical composition with a rock backbeat (in waltz tempo); and the two-part "Answer," a strange, nightmarish, and disorienting sketch where the strings play an actual counterforce to Frisell's guitar. The music here is very adventurous and exploratory yet completely accessible. "Faces," with its traces of Gil Evans and Igor Stravinsky, contrasts wonderfully with the tough bebop in "Sub-Conscious Lee (itself furthered by Scheinman's violin referencing Stéphane Grapelli's Gypsy swing). "Waltz for Baltimore" places the grittiness of Tardy's guttural rhythm & blues honk against Frisell's elegant, modernist jazz chords; they are both made slightly surreal by Scheinman's violin, playing a minimal loop that bridges and yet displaces eras in ether. History, Mystery is an ambitious work; it's full of elliptical, riveting moments, shape-shifting colors, and multivalent textures. Frisell's inherent love of formal lyricism, expansive harmonics, and divergent musical histories reflects his tireless passion for tracing sources. In composing his own material, he also interprets and arranges his sources. On History, Mystery he achieves musical alchemy; he creates something new from familiar, exotic, and even forgotten forms, providing listeners with a magical aural experience.© Thom Jurek /TiVo