How to better a record like Revolver? Sign off another by the name of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. For many, this is truly the greatest pop and rock music of all time, if not one of the most significant works of art in popular culture from the second half of the twentieth century... After discovering the endless possibilities offered to them in the recording studio, John, Paul, George and Ringo continue their crazy musical experiments. More than ever considered as the ‘fifth Beatle’, producer George Martin runs out a magic carpet of discoveries that would go on to influence the future of pop. When this eighth studio album is released in June 1967, the era is one that has embraced the all-out psychedelic, and this concept album is a true hallucinatory trip (not only for Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds). Like the patchwork of his mythical pocket, Sergeant Pepper's journeys through pure pop, manly rock'n'roll, totally trippy sequences (to near worldly scales), retro songs of nursery rhymes, animal noises and even classical music! On the composition side, the duo of Lennon/McCartney is at the top of its game, delivering new songs that are still influential today. © MZ/Qobuz, Translation/BM

At the time of his very first recordings in 1941, Muddy Waters was not yet called Muddy Waters, and he played acoustic guitar. It wasn't his guitar since he didn't own one, but one that was lent to him by Alan Lomax, the man who discovered him deep in Mississippi when he was a farmer and an amateur musician. A few years later, Muddy Waters went up to Chicago and became the boss of electric blues, no doubt possessing many of his own guitars at that stage. However, in 1963 he went into the studio to record Folk Singer, an album with acoustic guitar. Why this unplugged turn? Was there a powercut in Chicago? Nope, it was what the market dictated. And at that time, the black public turned to soul, while the buoyant market for blues musicians became that of young white folk lovers, who confused authenticity and acoustics. Muddy Waters played the game, and played it well. This album is very well produced, with a sound makes it feel like Muddy Waters is playing in your living room… and that your living room sounds like a cathedral! Plus, he brought some buddies along, including Buddy Guy and Willie Dixon. With his majestic and solemn voice, Muddy Waters plays zen, essential, with few notes and long pauses between each one. The record demands that you don’t move, just listen. The album is hardly representative of Muddy Waters’ electric style, but it’s still one of his best. © Stéphane Deschamps/Qobuz

For what we are told is his 74th solo studio longplayer (well, who's counting?), the absolute force of nature that is Willie Nelson has chosen to revisit some of the best songs from his own catalog—including "On the Road Again," "Yesterday's Wine," "A Good Hearted Woman," and "Bloody Mary Morning"—and record them in a bluegrass vein. This infectious, high keening sound, bluegrass, coined and minted in the 1950s by Bill Monroe and friends in the hills of Kentucky, has always been more of a subtle influence on Nelson's own sound; his obvious earliest influence was the Western swing perfected by Bob Willis and his Texas Playboys. Monroe did perform at Live Aid in 1990 and once recorded a duet with Nelson, but this entire project seemed a bit out of left field upon its announcement. Thankfully, Bluegrass is nothing aside from a delightful surprise.With crisp production duties overseen by longtime producer Buddy Cannon, the band assembled here is a who's who of modern bluegrass: Ron Block (banjo), Josh Martin (acoustic guitar), Rob Ickes (dobro), Barry Bales (upright bass), Aubrey Haynie (fiddle), Dan Tyminski (mandolin), Seth Taylor (mandolin) and Bobby Terry (acoustic guitar, gut string guitar). Curiously, Nelson made the album without one of his nearest and dearest companions. The record could be seen in part as a tribute to Nelson's longtime sideman, guitarist Jody Payne, who played with Nelson from 1973 until his death in 2013. He told AARP that it's the first album where he "didn't play 'Trigger' since I've had him," referring to the busted-up Martin N-20 acoustic guitar Nelson first got in 1969—as much a part of Willie Nelson's entire vibe as his long hair and wide smile. Because Nelson was reared on Western swing, one assumes that it would take more practice to shoehorn his jazzy, laconic style into these reworkings.What might be the sappy equivalent of those truckstop knockoff bluegrass tributes to individual artist records turns out to be a wonderful addition to Nelson's catalog. Bluegrass interpretations by well-known country stars continue to be successful, for as diverse an array as Dwight Yoakam, Dolly Parton, and Sturgill Simpson. And the music's resurgence sees no signs of slowing, thanks to such stalwarts as Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings, and Railroad Earth. Nelson's entry, recorded just before his 90th birthday, will age well. As with Tony Bennett or Miles Davis at the end of their own careers, Nelson is clearly kept alive, and buoyantly so, by the power of his music, and his fans' devotion for it. © Mike McGonigal/Qobuz

When his 2015 CMA wins for Album of the Year, New Artist of the Year, and Male Vocalist of the Year turned Chris Stapleton into an overnight sensation, it raised the expectations for the sequel to his debut Traveller considerably. Released two years to the day after Traveller, From A Room: Volume 1 surprises with its modesty. Yes, it's the first installment of a two-part album -- a move that, by definition, suggests some level of heightened ambition -- but From A Room: Volume 1 benefits from its lean 32-minute running time, its brevity shifting attention to the sturdiness of its nine songs. Stapleton revives his Traveller blueprint, adhering to the worn, leathery sound of '70s outlaw country, but his success has slowed his roll, allowing him to proceed with a quiet confidence. Most of the album does move at a leisurely pace, with the bruised ballad "Broken Halos" setting the tone for the rest of the record. A sly cover of "Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning" -- a 1982 hit for Willie Nelson -- builds upon this contemplative mood and he returns to it frequently, whether it's on the skeletal "Either Way" or the simmering tension of the closing "Death Row." Stapleton expands upon this rumination by offering a couple of soulful heartbreak numbers -- "I Was Wrong" and "Without Your Love" -- an old-fashioned barroom lament ("Up to No Good Livin'"), and a pair of rowdy, funny blues-rockers ("Second One to Know," "These Stems") that give From A Room: Volume 1 dimension and color. As good as each of these songs is individually -- and there isn't a bad song in the bunch -- what's best about From A Room: Volume 1 is how it holds together. There's no grand concept here: it's just a collection of good tunes, delivered simply and soulfully, and that's more than enough. © Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Graduation's pre-leak talk wasn't as substantive as it was with Kanye West's first two albums. As with just about any other artist's third album, it had to be expected. The College Dropout was one of the most anticipated debuts of the early 2000s, while Late Registration had people wondering why Kanye would feel the need to work so extensively with multi-instrumentalist rock producer Jon Brion (the J Dilla of the chamberlin) and whether or not Kanye's hubristic tendencies would get the better of it. With Graduation, there was Takashi Murakami's artwork, a silly first-week sales competition with the decreasingly relevant 50 Cent, and chatter about synthesizers running wild. That was about it, but it all seemed loud and prevalent, due in part to a lack of high-profile rap albums released in 2007. Graduation is neither as bold nor as scattered as The College Dropout, and it's neither as extroverted nor as sonically rich as Late Registration. Kanye still makes up for his shortcomings as an MC and lyricist by remaining charmingly clumsy, frequently dealing nonsense through suspect rhyme schemes: "I never be picture-perfect Beyoncé/Be light as Al B. or black as Chauncey/Remember him from Blackstreet, he was black as the street was/I never be laid-back as this beat was." The songs that are thematically distanced, introspective, and/or wary -- there are many of them -- are, in turn, made more palatable than insufferable. That his humor remains a constant is a crucial aspect of the album, especially considering that most other MCs would sound embittered and hostile if they were handling similar subjects, like haters new and old, being a braggart with a persistent underdog complex, getting wrapped up in spending and flaunting, and the many hassles of being a hedonist. Those who have admired Kanye as a sharp producer while detesting him as an inept MC might find the gleaming synth sprites, as heard most prominently throughout "Flashing Lights" and "Stronger," to be one of the most glaring deal-breakers in hip-hop history. Though the synthesizer use marks a clear, conscious diversion from Kanye's past productions, highlights like "I Wonder," "The Glory," and "Everything I Am" are deeply rooted in the Kanye of old, using nostalgia-inducing samples, elegant pianos and strings, and gospel choirs. So, no, he's not dreaming of fronting A Flock of Seagulls or joining Daft Punk. He's being his shrewd, occasionally foolish, and adventurous self.© Andy Kellman /TiVo

How to better a record like Revolver? Sign off another by the name of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. For many, this is truly the greatest pop and rock music of all time, if not one of the most significant works of art in popular culture from the second half of the twentieth century... After discovering the endless possibilities offered to them in the recording studio, John, Paul, George and Ringo continue their crazy musical experiments. More than ever considered as the ‘fifth Beatle’, producer George Martin runs out a magic carpet of discoveries that would go on to influence the future of pop. When this eighth studio album is released in June 1967, the era is one that has embraced the all-out psychedelic, and this concept album is a true hallucinatory trip (not only for Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds). Like the patchwork of his mythical pocket, Sergeant Pepper's journeys through pure pop, manly rock'n'roll, totally trippy sequences (to near worldly scales), retro songs of nursery rhymes, animal noises and even classical music! On the composition side, the duo of Lennon/McCartney is at the top of its game, delivering new songs that are still influential today. © MZ/Qobuz, Translation/BM

Exorcizing the ghost of a failed relationship via the time-honored tradition of the breakup album, Norah Jones luxuriates in beautiful misery on Little Broken Hearts. Liberated by the separation but not quite ready to let it go, Jones achieves a curious subdued tension here, dressing unadorned confessionals in softly stylized studio noir created with the assistance of producer Danger Mouse, who collaborated with her the year before on the collective Rome. Seeming opposites -- the classicist meets the futurist -- Jones and Danger Mouse are well matched, as both artists are not as set in their ways as their individual reputations would suggest. Jones began to drift away from the jazzy sophistication of Come Away with Me when she released the quietly adventurous Not Too Late way back in 2007, the year after Danger Mouse broke into the mainstream via Gnarls Barkley. In the ensuing half decade, the singer/songwriter continued to dabble in different sounds and styles while the producer streamlined his electronic eccentricities, leaving them to meet at the crossroads of Little Broken Hearts, where he wrings out the pathos in her songs. The songs themselves hold little mystery -- all motivations are laid bare, there are no twists in the melodies or detours hidden within the structure -- so all the mystique derives from a production that amplifies the themes. Occasionally, Danger Mouse piles on his signature murk a little too thickly, weighing down such spare sad songs as "She's 22" and "Miriam," yet his aural tapestries often lend the tunes a lilting melancholy they require and add dimension to the album's poppier moments ("Happy Pills," "Say Goodbye"). Conversely, by placing so much emphasis on the stylish ever-shifting surfaces of its production, Little Broken Hearts never quite sinks in emotionally. Norah Jones may be pouring her heart out but it's been given an elegantly detailed sculpture that camouflages her pain. Listen closely and its evident, but it takes effort to ignore the alluring haze and hear the songs that lie beneath.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

How to better a record like Revolver? Sign off another by the name of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. For many, this is truly the greatest pop and rock music of all time, if not one of the most significant works of art in popular culture from the second half of the twentieth century... After discovering the endless possibilities offered to them in the recording studio, John, Paul, George and Ringo continue their crazy musical experiments. More than ever considered as the ‘fifth Beatle’, producer George Martin runs out a magic carpet of discoveries that would go on to influence the future of pop. When this eighth studio album is released in June 1967, the era is one that has embraced the all-out psychedelic, and this concept album is a true hallucinatory trip (not only for Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds). Like the patchwork of his mythical pocket, Sergeant Pepper's journeys through pure pop, manly rock'n'roll, totally trippy sequences (to near worldly scales), retro songs of nursery rhymes, animal noises and even classical music! On the composition side, the duo of Lennon/McCartney is at the top of its game, delivering new songs that are still influential today. ©MZ/Qobuz, Translation/BM

In 1962, Ella Fitzgerald was at the height of her powers, about midway through recording her now-iconic series of "songbook" albums and, two years earlier, having released a barnstormer of a live album, Ella in Berlin, that solidified her position as one of the most talented and popular musicians working in the jazz idiom. Her only competition at the time was, essentially, Frank Sinatra and herself. During the course of 1962, she would release three albums: two complementary collaborations with Nelson Riddle that further pushed her into crossover territory without tarnishing her credibility or minimizing her skills, and the oft-overlooked Rhythm is My Business, a hard-swinging set that comes off breezy and soulful, but is a remarkable document of the strength of Fitzgerald and her band during this era. And it's that strength that's captured on The Lost Berlin Tapes, recorded in concert at Berlin’s Sportpalast that year. Verve Records founder Norman Granz frequently recorded live sets of many of his acts (Fitzgerald especially), and that's what accounts for both the existence and the remarkable fidelity of these "lost" tapes. (Though they were never truly lost; Granz had just stashed them away). From a performance perspective, it's unbelievable that this concert recording sat unheard for more than a half-century. Brimming with energy and benefiting from the confidence that can only come from being at the top of one's game, Ella and her band careen through 17 songs with a full-throated fervor that's greeted with an equally enthusiastic response from the crowd. The set both swings incredibly hard and evinces a cool, sophisticated polish, a combination that, again, pretty much only she and Sinatra were delivering at this scale during the era. It's the sort of casual excellence that's made to look deceptively easy. (And yes, she aces the version of "Mack the Knife" here.) Releases like this—especially in the aftermath of the devastating Universal fire that destroyed so many iconic album masters and so much unreleased material—prove that, even when we think a barrel has been fully scraped or a vault fully excavated, there will always be warm, welcome surprises to be found in the archives of these legendary artists. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

In the six years between And in the Endless Pause There Came the Sound of Bees and Orphée, Jóhann Jóhannsson became a celebrated film composer, earning back-to-back Oscar nominations for his life-affirming score for The Theory of Everything and his ominous, rough-edged music for Sicario. During this time, Jóhannsson continued to work on personal projects including this, his Deustche Grammophon debut. In its own way, Orphée is also a little like a soundtrack: the composer drew inspiration from the story of Orpheus' ill-fated attempt to rescue his wife Eurydice from the underworld, building on Ovid and Jean Cocteau's versions of the tale in his meditations on death, rebirth, and creativity. The Orpheus myth reflected Jóhannsson's life while he worked on the album: his move from Copenhagen to Berlin marked the closing of one chapter in his life and the start of a new one. Like And in the Endless Pause There Came the Sound of Bees, Orphée is both more intimate than some of his larger works, and immediately recognizable as Jóhannsson's. On "Flight from the City," a gentle but insistent piano motif rises and falls like breath, while strings deepen its sweet ache; layers of counterpoint inspire bittersweet wonder on "The Drowned World"; "Orphic Hymn" showcases the composer's flair for choral pieces, with Paul Hillier's Theatre of Voices performing lines from Ovid's text in Renaissance style; and "Fragment II" offers a brief burst of his grander scale with its ever-widening sea of drones and strings. This piece features Orphée's main motif, an ascending harmonic pattern that also appears on the ghostly "A Song for Europa," which introduces the staticky, numbers station-like recordings that flicker through the album, adding another layer of distance and mystery. Orphée's studies in change give equal time time to mourning and hope, whether on the spine-tingling "A Pile of Dust" or the way "A Sparrow Alighted Upon Our Shoulder" and "By the Roes, and by the Hinds of the Field" dance between joy and sorrow. Similarly, Jóhannsson makes the album's chiaroscuro qualities explicit on "De Luce et Umbra," where a shadowy, almost subliminal pulse adds tension to the skyward strings, and on the Emily Dickinson-inspired diptych "Good Morning, Midnight" and "Good Night, Day," where subtle transitions evoke standing between ends and beginnings. On Orphée, Jóhannsson expresses the need to let some things and people go to let new ones in with remarkable nuance, as well as the affecting beauty fans have come to know and love.© Heather Phares /TiVo

Just one year after the lavish reissue of Come Away With Me, the now legendary album that brought Norah Jones to fame at the turn of the 2000s, attention now turns to another of her masterpieces, Little Broken Hearts. It benefits from the same tasteful editorial treatment in the form of a magnificent box set of three discs, accompanied by a copious booklet rich with documentation. Little Broken Hearts, the singer's fifth album, originally released on the Blue Note label in 2012, marks a clear aesthetic shift in her career. She’s distanced herself from a jazzy background to move towards a mix of folk-rock and pop, with more forward facing seduction. The album was recorded in close collaboration with Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse, who in addition to providing all the bass, drums and guitar parts, did most of the string arrangements and production of the ensemble. It is presented as a remastered version, embellished with two previously unreleased tracks, remixes by Peter, Bjorn & John and Dave Sitek, as well as a live version of the album recorded at the time of its release (as part of the Austin City Limits festival). A Norah Jones flagship album that certainly deserves your attention. © Stéphane Ollivier/Qobuz 

Junior Wells’ first album released in 1965, Hoodoo Man Blues is one of the pillars of Chicago blues. The kind of pillar that holds up the ceiling in a smoky club on the West Side, with a leather-clad pimp leaning up against it. It's like being at Theresa’s Lounge, the legendary club in Chicago where Junior Wells spent his evenings blowing into his harmonica with his guitarist and friend Buddy Guy. Junior Wells is one of the greats of the blues harmonica, to the point of having won a long contract in Muddy Waters' band, replacing Little Walter. But on his first album, he doesn't get out his CV nor show off his skills. He's content with playing as if he was in a club with his band. In other words, it's funky. Tight, sensual, tense. Junior Wells and his band of dancing blues experts never overdo it, each note is in its place. All the magic of this record lies in the interaction between the musicians, like in jazz. Junior Wells is not the type to demonstrate his technical skills as a harmonica player. But he still explodes here on a virtuosic cover of Chitlins Con Carne, a piece by jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell. The direct links between jazz and blues at the time are rare enough to deserve a mention. © Stéphane Deschamps/Qobuz

It's said that good things come to those who wait. That's certainly true of New York-via-Nashville singer-songwriter Laura Cantrell. Her superlative new album, Just Like a Rose: The Anniversary Sessions, comes nearly a decade after her last full-length, 2014's No Way There from Here.Thanks to savvy production from Don Fleming (Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub), Rosie Flores (Wanda Jackson), Paul Burch (Lambchop), and Ed Stasium (Ramones, Talking Heads)—Just Like a Rose sounds timeless, and touches on multiple approaches: heartland-rock Bangles (the title track), pedal steel–augmented vintage country ("Bide My Time"), folk-leaning '70s soft rock ("Unaccompanied"), and gentle Americana ("I'm Gonna Miss This Town").As it turns out, this long gap between albums stemmed partly from COVID delays. Cantrell had originally wanted Just Like a Rose to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her debut album, but the extra time gave room for both new songs and tunes Cantrell has had kicking around, and also left the door open for an impressive list of musical collaborators. Steve Earle chimes in with gruff vocals on the Lone Justice-esque highlight "When The Roses Bloom Again," while Buddy Miller also makes contributions alongside Flores and Burch.Lyrically, however, Cantrell also explores the emotional vicissitudes of modern life. The waltzing ballad "AWM - Bless" is a scathing indictment of the thorny modern political climate ("AWM" stands for "Angry White Man") that ends with the devastating, passive-aggressive phrase "bless your heart." Meanwhile, "I'm Gonna Miss This Town" chronicles the conflicted feelings often present when leaving home. In contrast, the protagonist of "Brand New Eyes" embraces new beginnings after setting out on their own. At the end of the day, Cantrell's clear-eyed observations buoy Just Like a Rose—and ensure it's one of the most emotionally satisfying albums of 2023. © Annie Zaleski/Qobuz

Steve Kuhn has excelled in many settings in a career spanning over five decades, but he is at his best leading a trio. Like many top pianists, Kuhn interacts with his musicians rather than relegating them exclusively to the role of accompanists. By the time of this 2011 record date, he had worked with bassist Steve Swallow at various times for over a half-century and with drummer Joey Baron for over 20 years, but this marked their first recording together as a trio. Swallow's sublime lyrical bass is always a welcome addition, while Baron has contributed to recordings by a diverse range of stylists. Kuhn contributed many of the songs, highlighted by his lyrical samba "Adagio" and the glistening, light-hearted "Morning Dew." He also revisits several of his best compositions recorded for previous projects: the lush ballad "Romance," the whispered "Pastorale" with Swallow playing lead in the introduction as Kuhn plays soft chords behind him and Baron's light touch on brushes providing the perfect accent, along with the mellow yet hip "Promises Kept." Swallow's compositions are frequently used by leaders with whom he works. His "Dark Glasses" opens with a mysterious air but shifts quickly into a bright bossa nova. One can only imagine the inspiration for the title to "Good Lookin' Rookie," and this breezy number doesn't disappoint, with Kuhn's driving piano and Swallow's intricate bass solo, along with Baron's drum breaks. Highly recommended!© Ken Dryden /TiVo

Since releasing their self-titled debut album in 1995, Gov't Mule have remained close to their trademark bluesy hard rock roots. While they cover classic blues tunes regularly, they apply that musical signature. Heavy Load Blues marks the first time the quartet have recorded an album devoted strictly to blues. They cut it in one small room in a New England studio standing very close to one another -- without headphones -- using small vintage amplifiers. The band played stripped-down blues live from the studio floor; the few overdubs were added later. The 13-song standard version of the set offers six excellent Warren Haynes originals alongside covers by masters such as Ann Peebles, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and others. Haynes co-produced the set with John Paterno. Gov't Mule's approach is exemplified in their reading of Junior Wells' "Snatch It Back and Hold It"; they inserted a spontaneous jam called "Hold It Back" into the middle without rehearsing it (Matt Abts' drumming is stellar). Leroy Carr's "Blues Before Sunrise" walks a line between the composer's strolling piano version (Danny Louis shines), John Lee Hooker's boogie read, and Muddy Waters' house-rocking Chicago blues take. Bland's "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" is slow, steamy, and downhearted, with glorious bass work from Jorgen Carlson and a swelling B-3. Haynes' singing -- buoyed by his biting guitar through the turnarounds -- has never sounded better. Tom Waits' "Make It Rain" is sinister, broken, and lost. The distorted guitar and basslines edge into a filthy Wurlitzer, then swirl around the lyric with venomous intent. Gov't Mule have performed Ann Peebles' "I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home" live before, but not like this. It delivers funky organ and bass work as Haynes adds delightfully rhythmic phrasing in his leads. The guitarist's "If Heartaches Were Nickels" has been recorded by Joe Bonamassa, Charles Wilson, and Dudley Taft, but this smoldering version is unparalleled due to Haynes' masterful playing and deeply emotional vocal delivery. Howlin' Wolf's "I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)" is raucous, angry, and deep, deep blue; throughout it, Gov't Mule channel Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies with great success. The title track is a slow, unaccompanied resonant acoustic blues done in vintage Delta style, while "Black Horizon" recalls Mississippi Fred McDowell's slide approach to gospel blues, complete with a testifying backing chorus. Heavy Load Blues is raw, heavy, and immediate, the sound of a band unfettered while pursuing a deep blue groove that never quits.© Thom Jurek /TiVo