Only the most hardhearted of cynics could resist the melancholy sweetness of this album's beloved title track. The song was a hit in 1968, and only became the opening cut on this wonderful album some 20 years later. This well-known recording of the tender ballad -- complete with a 16-piece string section -- is lovely enough. But it is Pops' gravelly voice and inimitable, signature delivery that really bring out its beautiful, aching quality. Also included are such hits as "Cabaret," "Dream a Little Dream of Me," and the Mills Brothers' "I Guess I'll Get the Papers and Go Home." New songs such as "The Home Fire" and "Give Me Your Kisses" show that Armstrong, even in his later years, was still bursting with personality and the essence of jazz. One of his best-selling albums ever, What a Wonderful World is, well, wonderful! This disc acts as a fond tribute to one of the most important figures in American music.© TiVo

The choice of Curtis Mayfield to score the blaxploitation film Super Fly was an inspired one. No other artist in popular music knew so well, and expressed through his music so naturally, the shades of gray inherent in contemporary inner-city life. His debut solo album, 1970's Curtis, had shown in vivid colors that the '60s optimist (author of the civil-rights anthems "Keep On Pushing" and "People Get Ready") had added a layer of subtlety to his material; appearing on the same LP as the positive and issue-oriented "Move On Up" was an apocalyptic piece of brimstone funk titled "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go." For Super Fly, Mayfield wisely avoids celebrating the wheeling-and-dealing themes present in the movie, or exploiting them, instead using each song to focus on a different aspect of what he saw as a plague on America's streets. He also steers away from explicit moralizing; through his songs, Mayfield simply tells it like it is (for the characters in the film as in real life), with any lessons learned the result of his vibrant storytelling and knack of getting inside the heads of the characters. "Freddie's Dead," one of the album's signature pieces, tells the story of one of the film's main casualties, a good-hearted yet weak-willed man caught up in the life of a pusher, and devastatingly portrays the indifference of those who witness or hear about it. "Pusherman" masterfully uses the metaphor of drug dealer as businessman, with the drug game, by extension, just another way to make a living in a tough situation, while the title track equates hustling with gambling ("The game he plays he plays for keeps/hustlin' times and ghetto streets/tryin' ta get over"). Ironically, the sound of Super Fly positively overwhelmed its lyrical finesse. A melange of deep, dark grooves, trademarked wah-wah guitar, and stinging brass, Super Fly ignited an entire genre of music, the blaxploitation soundtrack, and influenced everyone from soul singers to television-music composers for decades to come. It stands alongside Saturday Night Fever and Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols as one of the most vivid touchstones of '70s pop music.© John Bush /TiVo

The sheer tenacity -- albeit undeniably fitting -- of this double-disc set has made Black Moses (1971) one of Isaac Hayes' most revered and best-known works. The multi-instrumental singer/songwriter and producer had been a central figure in the Memphis soul music revolution of the mid-'60s. Along with Booker T. & the MG's, Hayes wrote and performed on more Stax sides than any other single artist. By the time of this release -- his fifth overall, and first two-record set -- Hayes had firmly established himself as a progressive soul artist. His stretched-out and well-developed R&B jams, as well as his husky-voiced sexy spoken "raps," became key components in his signature sound. Black Moses not only incorporates those leitmotifs, but also reaffirms Hayes abilities as an unmistakably original arranger. Although a majority of the album consists of cover material, all the scores have been reconfigured and adapted in such a fundamental way that, for some listeners, these renditions serve as definitive. This is certainly true of the extended reworkings of Jerry Butler's "Brand New Me" and Esther Phillips' "You're Love Is So Doggone Good" -- both of which are prefaced by the spoken prelude to coitus found in each respective installment of "Ike's Rap." The pair of Curtis Mayfield tunes -- "Man's Temptation" and "Need to Belong to Someone" -- are also worth noting for the layers of tastefully scored orchestration -- from both Hayes and his longtime associate Johnny Allen. The pair's efforts remain fresh and discerning, rather than the dated ersatz strings and horn sections that imitators were glutting the soul and pop charts and airwaves with in the mid-'70s. Hayes' own composition, "Good Love," recalls the upbeat and jive talkin' "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" from Hot Buttered Soul (1969), adding some spicy and sexy double-entendre in the chorus.© Lindsay Planer /TiVo

Arriving in early August, the third album from Girl Ray is a perfect summertime feel-good record. The North London trio takes a new spin on the dance floor, following up the R&B cool of 2019's Girl with a disco-inflected celebration of love, even the weird things it makes you feel. "True Love" is a sequin-glimmer bop, front loaded with spiky Bananarama bounce. "Everybody's Saying That" is breezy and modern, with a bridge formulated for throwing shapes and an infectious rushed chorus: "Everybody's saying that you could've done better/ But I really wanna end up with you." And "Up" cruises along on a disco-funk beat—courtesy of Sophie Moss' hip-swaying bass and slick guitar from singer Poppy Hankin, who sings of giddy new love undercut with self-doubt. It's a brooding mood that haunts the album's shimmering sound: "It feels unreal/ That you'd choose me as your one and only/ Tell me baby/ Safe in your arms/ Am I worthy of your charms?" "Love Is Enough," about missing a lover while away from home, channels summer-in-the-city heat and Luscious Jackson cool. "Begging You Now" chills out with icy synth squiggles, while "Wanna Dance"—leaning into the wah-wah—takes its sweet time. "Tell Me" boasts an oil-slick groove and sweeping diva-drama chorus, ready made for a roller disco afternoon. And "Hold Tight" gets incredibly romantic: "Your light is as warm as the sunshine/ Blazing down on the twist of our grapevine/ Talking shit in the grass would be just fine, my baby." It's a New Wave island kiss with a thudding ATL hip-hop drum beat that wouldn't be out of place on a Haim record; in fact, Hankin has said the song's production takes inspiration from that trio's Women in Music Pt. III. You can hear a little Haim, too, on the almost-ballad "Space Song," which could easily be used to track an emotional-climax movie scene: offering a sonic clue that the main character has learned their lesson and is resolved to make a course correction. Maybe about love? © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

This is the peak of George Benson's courtship of the mass market -- a superbly crafted and performed pop album with a large supporting cast -- and wouldn't you know that Quincy Jones, the master catalyst, is the producer. Q's regular team, including the prolific songwriter Rod Temperton and the brilliant engineer Bruce Swedien, is in control, and Benson's voice, caught beautifully in the rich, floating sound, had never before been put to such versatile use. On "Moody's Mood," Benson really exercises his vocalese chops and proves that he is technically as fluid as just about any jazz vocalist, and he become a credible rival to Al Jarreau on the joyous title track. Benson's guitar now plays a subsidiary role -- only two of the ten tracks are instrumentals -- but Q has him play terrific fills behind the vocals and in the gaps, and the engineering gives his tone a variety of striking, new, full-sounding timbres. The instrumentals themselves are marvelous: "Off Broadway" is driving and danceable, and Ivan Lins' "Dinorah, Dinorah" grows increasingly seductive with each play. Benson should have worked with Jones from this point on, but this would be their only album together.© Richard S. Ginell /TiVo

The release of Roses, the fifth album from this Melbourne, Australia indie-folk quintet, marks 10 years since Paper Kites’ international debut with their single, Bloom, in 2010, as well as the transformation of original duo Sam Bentley and Christina Lacy into a group including Sam Rasmussen, David Powys and Josh Bentley. Welcome to campfire ambience and the mood of a late morning lie-in, miles from the stress and violence of the world, with ten ethereal, romantic new songs that invite the listener in to relax and forget real-life troubles and strife. You’ll recognise the melancholy sterling guitar lines, a Sam Bentley signature, similar to Chris Isaak or some tracks by The XX. The novelty? Each song features a different guest vocalist, a parade of vocal wonderment dazzling the current scene, with singers from the four corners of the planet: Sweden’s Amanda Bergman, England’s Lucy Rose, Aussie Julia Stone, Ireland’s Rosie Carney, New Zealander Nadia Reid and Portuguese singer MARO. She helps kick off the album, and the mood is immediately set, with her spellbinding vocals gradually blending with Bentley and Lacy in Walk Above the City. Melancholy takes hold and spreads its way through the subsequent tracks, Climb on Your Tears with American-Irish singer Aoife O’Donovan (of Crooked Still), and a ballad that sounds like it just crossed over from the soundtrack to a David Lynch film, Crossfire, with a vocal from Amanda Bergman that would not be out of place in an episode of Twin Peaks. Without Your Love, featuring the lovely Julia Stone, pumps some energy back into the proceedings. As the title indicates, Roses is the perfect album to help celebrate Valentine’s Day, every day. © Yan Céh/Qobuz

During 2009 and 2010, James Blake issued a clutch of abstract dubstep singles on Hemlock, Hessle Audio, and R&S. Each release increased anticipation for the producer’s next move as he continually shuffled the deck on his bristly, off-center, and generally groove-less tracks, some of which incorporated vocals -- he sampled Kelis and Aaliyah on “CMYK,” for instance -- or his own voice, heavily processed. The Klavierwerke EP, the last in the series, was the most stripped down of the bunch. The day after it was released, Blake uploaded a video for his dramatic cover version of Feist’s “Limit to Your Love,” which indicated that the focus on his voice and sparse backing would continue. Consisting of Blake's pensive vocal, a simple but affecting piano, and recurring beat weighed down by sub-bass, it’s one of the most straightforward tracks on Blake’s brief debut album. The following “Give Me My Month” deviates most from Blake’s vinyl output; it’s a wistful piano-and-voice ballad that has far more in common with Procol Harum than any given contemporary linked to Blake. The rest of the tracks are more like exercises in sound manipulation and reduction than songs. The approach is no fault, but Blake pares it down to such an extent that the material occasionally sounds not just tentative but feeble, fatigued, even, as on “I Never Learnt to Share,” where one creaky line is repeated and treated throughout, placed over swelling synthesizer frequencies and a stamping beat. “The Wilhelm Scream,” one of the album’s highlights, is far more effective, a ballad with a pulse that increases in intensity with skillfully deployed reverb and surging waves of soft noise.© Andy Kellman /TiVo

Elijah is Bono’s son. Sian is The Edge’s daughter. They hold hands on the cover of these Songs Of Experience. Two “children” to evoke the world of 2017 and above all the legacy their parents intend to leave them…Recorded over three years with the help of an XL casting of producers such as Jacknife Lee, Ryan Tedder, Steve Lillywhite, Andy Barlow and Jolyon Thomas, this fourteenth studio album had to be the loud hailer of a world that is running less and less smoothly. Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump’s presidency and the migrant crisis are a good fuel for the writing of Bono, who’s still an expert in revolts. U2’s leader has the merit of being rather gifted in this area. Except that here, his starting point is something else. He says he’s been influenced by a conversation with his compatriot, the poet Brendan Kennelly, who would have advised him to write as if he was dead! Therefore, Bono imagined these songs as letters sent to his relatives, family, friends, and fans but also to himself. As for sound, we unsurprisingly find the spectacular 80s guitars from The Edge, whose hand has entered the rock history of the end of the 20th century. With a touch of modernity (the Auto-Tune on Love Is All We Have Left and Kendrick Lamar’s voice on Get Out Of Your Own Way) and a true quality in the band’s fundamentals, Songs Of Experience possesses enough arguments to keep the early fans of the Irish quartet excited and charm the others. © CM/Qobuz

The Backstreet Boys were the first and best of the boy bands of the great teen pop bands of the late '90s/early 2000s, even if 'N Sync eventually usurped their title of "the biggest boy band." Their reign seemed long, but it really wasn't -- only three albums before the bottom started to fall out with 2000's Black & Blue. If everything had gone right, Black & Blue would have ruled the charts for about two years, but about a year after its release, the group and their label unleashed The Hits: Chapter One, a sure sign not only that Black & Blue didn't perform to expectations, but they were worried about the shifting tastes of their audience. Instead of reviving interest in the group, the collection instead felt like it was closing the door on their period of dominance (and it initially sold that way, too, barely making a dent on the charts). Even if it is a bit of an inadvertent last will and testament, it's a hell of a summation of the group's glory days, offering definitive proof that the group wasn't just the best of their breed (boy bands, that is; thrushes like Britney, Christina, Mandy, and Jessica are not taken into account here), but that their best moments transcend their era -- and there's really no other way to describe such lovely pop tunes as "I Want It That Way," "As Long As You Love Me," and "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)," three songs that would have sounded perfect in any era (and their vocals would have worked in any era, too). Those are just the ballads -- the dance-pop numbers may be more tied to their era, but "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" and "Larger Than Life" are infectious pop nonetheless. If the rest of the singles that fill out this 13-track collection aren't quite as good as those five songs (although "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" is), they nevertheless are well-crafted, and those aforementioned singles are among the best mainstream pop of its time -- which is not only reason enough for this collection to exist, it's reason enough for pop lovers of any age or generation to have this as part of their library.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Secondhand Daylight, the second Magazine album, sounds like it must have been made in the dead of winter. You can imagine the steam coming out of Howard Devoto's mouth as he projects lines like "I was cold at an equally cold place," "The voyeur will realize this is not a sight for his sore eyes," "It just came to pieces in our hands," and "Today I bumped into you again, I have no idea what you want." You can picture Dave Formula swiping frost off his keys and Barry Adamson blowing on his hands during the intro to "Feed the Enemy," as guitarist John McGeoch and drummer John Doyle zip their parkas. From start to finish, this is a showcase for Formula's chilling but expressive keyboard work. Given more freedom to stretch out and even dominate on occasion, Formula seems to release as many demons as Devoto, whether it is through low-end synthesizer drones or violent piano vamps. Detached tales of relationships damaged beyond repair fill the album, and the band isn't nearly as bouncy as it is on Real Life or The Correct Use of Soap -- it's almost as if they were instructed to play with as little physical motion as possible. The drums in particular sound brittle and on the brink of piercing the ears. Despite the sub-zero climate, the lack of dance numbers, and the shortage of snappy melodies, the album isn't entirely impenetrable. It lacks the immediate impact of Real Life and The Correct Use of Soap, but it deserves just as much recognition for its compellingly sustained petulance. Even if you can't get into it, you have to at least marvel at "Permafrost." The album's finale, it's an elegant five-minute sneer, and as far as late-'70s yearbook scribbles are concerned, "As the day stops dead, at the place where we're lost, I will drug you and f*ck you on the permafrost" is less innocuous than "All we are is dust in the wind."© Andy Kellman /TiVo

The 1975 are back with their third studio album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. After a stint in rehab for frontman Matty Healy back in November/December, 2017, which helped him shake some drug problems, the four piece from Wilmslow are back to doing what they do best; making unique music with complex lyrics. So, what are The 1975 trying to tell us this time round?It doesn’t look like they’re overly bothered about being seen as a “cool” Indie Rock band anymore. They seem to have stepped out from behind this front to give us an album that focuses on sincerity and the role that the internet plays in our relationships. This message of sincerity is most clear on tracks such as Give Yourself A Try and Sincerity Is Scary which focus on overcoming identity problems (caused by people hiding behind social media) and giving an honest account of one’s self. One of the highlights of this album has to be Love It If We Made It, a track which takes a look at the political and social craziness of the time that we live in. “Modernity has failed us!” proclaims Healy. Speaking about the meaning of this song Healy stated “Love It If We Made it is the gem of hope amongst all of the rubble” ... “We have to really love each other, and if you don’t, just try.” The song that most clearly spells out the threat that the internet poses to our real, human relationships is The Man Who Married A Robot. Siri tells us the tale of a lonely man that became best friends with the internet and only existed online. Eventually the man dies, leaving no meaningful trace behind, but the internet lives on. There is something quite chilling about the story. Produced almost entirely by Healy and drummer George Daniel, the album also includes acoustic ballads such as Be My Mistake and Surrounded By Heads And Bodies as well as tracks with heavier production such as I Like America & America Likes Me. The boys close the album with I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes) which focuses on the struggles of everyday life and has a hint of the Oasis to it with a strong dash of melancholy. Insecurity, the increasing madness of the world, computer screen relationships, The 1975 bring it all together whilst appreciating that it isn’t always easy to be sincere. © Euan Decourt/Qobuz

Over six previous albums, Kentucky's Black Stone Cherry continued to prove that their hoary hybrid of Southern rock, grunge, post-metal, and hard rock remains vital. The Human Condition underscores their deserved reputation as the brotherhood of Southern swamp metal, but there is immense growth in their creative process. Previously, BSC's recording process always involved cutting basic tracks while playing live on the studio floor. Working in bassist Jon Lawhon's Monocle Studios, the band did a 180: For the first time ever, they meticulously multi-tracked every note and sound. The sonic detail is indeed expansive, but the group sacrificed none of their power or swagger. They also felt a sense of urgency; while recording, the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading exponentially, and they undertook marathon sessions to complete the record. They finished days before the world shut down. The result is a startlingly fresh-sounding BSC album.Opener "Ringin' in My Head" offers muted feedback and dissonance before a bone-crunching guitar riff introduces the melody. Though written years ago, its lyrics are oddly prescient: "People people, your attention please/I need to tell all y'all about a new disease/it's crept right up from beneath our nose...I got a ringin' in my head/My bones are shakin'...I can feel it in my chest...The whole world's been shaken." The jam welds shattering grunge to metal as vocalist Chris Robertson sounds the alarm. "Push Down & Turn" offers scorching swamp metal. Robertson wails about his struggles with bipolar disorder and the band protects him with a maelstrom of overdriven riffs, chugging bass, and John Fred Young's thundering kick drums. "When Angels Learn to Fly" and "In Love with the Pain" are both exercises in the kind of anthemic AOR stadium rock balladry employed by bands such as 38 Special and the Outlaws. The muscular, dynamic production frames infectious, melodic hooks, vulnerable lyrics, and chiming group choruses. The metallic psych in "The Chain" channels Soundgarden in the best possible way. "If My Heart Had Wings" melds Dobro, electric guitars, piano, synth strings, and majestic processional drumming as Robertson heartbreakingly confesses his shortcomings in a relationship strained to the breaking point. BSC's customary inclusion of a classic cover remains in a noisy, slamming, irresistible read of ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down," offered with impeccable backing vocals and the filthiest bass line Lawhon has yet recorded. On "Devil in Your Eyes," Ben Wells channels Sonny Landreth's slide guitar sound before raging into dark, swirling Pearl Jam-esque hard rock. "Keep On Keepin' On" had to close the set. Despite its fist-pumping riff and hard rock vamp, the lyrical melody and group refrain return us to the tragic uncertainty of the present: "When everything that's good is gone, got to keep on keepin' on." The Human Condition's polished production might startle, but it's key to the band's most adventurous, mature, and finely wrought album to date, hands down.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

Following up the splendid Saints & Sinners album was no easy task, but 1984's Slide It In turned out to be an even greater triumph for David Coverdale's Whitesnake. From the boisterous machismo of "Spit It Out" and "All or Nothing" to the resigned despair of "Gambler" and "Standing in the Shadow," and the embarrassingly silly title track, everything seems to click. For hit singles, look no further than the twin guitar attack of "Guilty of Love" and the sheer poetry and emotion of "Love Ain't No Stranger," one of the decade's greatest power ballads, bar none. Not to be outdone, "Slow an' Easy" is a masterpiece of sexual tension and the kind of power-blues which no one does as well as Whitesnake. On a quirky historical note, Coverdale fired most of the band soon after the album's release, replacing them with younger, prettier faces with which to better conquer America. For that purpose, Geffen Records even released a re-recorded version of Slide It In with flashy soloing from new guitarist John Sykes, sparking an ongoing debate as to which version is better.© Eduardo Rivadavia /TiVo