Among the masterminds of this fifth album by Jessie Ware (UK), we notice the presence of Stuart Price, the legendary producer of Madonna's Confessions On A Dance Floor. A detail which speaks volumes about the general hue of the That! Feels Good! album, with its impeccable artistry and disco-funk rhythms which are as scintillating as they are dramatic. With her powerful voice, this new LGBTQ+ icon perfectly fulfils her role as a Diva, with the theme of freedom featuring highly on the album – that is, freedom as a political statement. In That! Feels Good !, she asserts that "pleasure is a right", using a rhythm that Prince certainly would have been proud of.  The same is true for the Free Yourself track, with the added bonus of strong piano notes typical of 90’s handbag house. With a singular blend of sophistication and assurance, Jessie Ware sweeps away all inhibitions, including sexual ones: we may feel somewhat uncomfortable by the eroticism of These Lips, while Shake The Bottle seemingly reveals the recipe for a successful orgasm. Euphoric and hedonistic, this album is also an ambiguous self-portrait, as evidenced in the Pearls track, in which Ware defines herself as a “lover, freak, and mother.” With nods to the 70s and references to the 90s, That! Feels Good! mixes many festive musical genres from the end of the 20th century, and sometimes even flirts with the pastiche. It is therefore more an album attuned to the nightclub scene, but that doesn’t take away its mischievous or glamourous side. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

On Ghosts, a variety of keyboards—acoustic piano, electric Fender Rhodes, synths—make up the core of Polish composer, pianist, and singer Hania Rani's sound world. It's an ambient place inflected with delicate melancholia and, occasionally, uplift. A third of the tracks are instrumentals, but rather than simply functioning as musical interludes, the voiceless pieces are an integral part of the album's flow. The hypnotic, slightly ominous instrumental "Oltre Terra" opens the album with carefully crafted pulses, pings, and drones. The piece nicely sets up the incredibly catchy "Hello," where Rani, shaded by backup vocals and jazzy keyboard, gives voice to an irresistible melody that rides rubbery electronic bass and brushed drums. "Don't Break My Heart" hints at gospel and rhythm and blues. Special guest Duncan Bellamy of the British rock band Portico Quartet provides spare and subtle percussion and loops that play off Rani's yearning voice. On "Dancing with Ghosts," Rani is joined by Patrick Watson on vocals and piano; accompanied by a panoply of electronic sounds, their voices mesmerize. The next cut, the gently propulsive "A Day in Never," employs hand percussion and rippling piano to support Rani's rhythmically insistent singing. Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Ólafur Arnalds appears on "Whispering House," where tense breathing and spare and lovely keyboard tones fill the air. The effect is spooky: a haunting of a song that is barely there at all. By contrast, "Thin Line" vibrates with psychedelic energy. Strings arranged by Viktor Orri Árnason wend their way over percolating rhythms as Rani's vocals play with a handful of notes and words. The hypnotic track has a gentle quality but in this dreamy context it qualifies as a rocker. © Fred Cisterna/Qobuz    

Few albums can say that they have defined a generation, but (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? is undoubtedly among that elite crowd. Recorded over the course of just 15 days in 1995, the album catapulted Oasis from crossover indie act to worldwide pop phenomenon, flooding the charts with retro-rock riffs and unforgettable hooks. To say that its impact was titanic would be an understatement. It became the fastest-selling album in the UK since Michael Jackson’s Bad. It has sold over 22 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. And it was the knockout blow in the battle of Britpop, being twice as successful as their rival Blur’s contemporaneous album The Great Escape.Following up from the incredibly popular Definitely Maybe was no mean feat, but Oasis pulled it off without a hitch. The idealistic hope-against-the-odds message from their beginnings was replaced with realism and reflection. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Noel Gallagher commented that while their first album “was all about dreaming of being a pop star in a band, the second album is about actually being a pop star in a band”. They had reached where they wanted to be, and were wondering what lay beyond fame and fortune. The Mancunians had clearly enjoyed enough sex, drugs and rock’n’roll to yield four sides of vinyl, though they never limited themselves purely to counter-culture clichés. Noel Gallagher’s songwriting took on a notably more introspective tone, nestled in amongst jauntier tracks like She’s Electric and Roll With It. His philosophising shone through perhaps most obviously on Cast No Shadow, a song which was dedicated to The Verve’s frontman Richard Ashcroft and details the struggle that songwriters (and more universally, all of us) face when they desperately try to say the right thing and it keeps coming out wrong. Elsewhere, we find the attitude and aloofness that Oasis do so well. The cocaine anthem Morning Glory rides along a continuous wave of stadium-filling guitars as Liam Gallagher sings “All your dreams are made / When you’re chained to the mirror and the razor blade”. And then of course, there are Oasis’ biggest hits: Don’t Look Back In Anger, which urges the listener to live regret-free; Champagne Supernova, which despite its famously nonsensical lyrics (Slowly walking down the hall / Faster than a cannonball we’re looking at you) resonates with people the world over; and the often-imitated-never-replicated Wonderwall, where you’d be hard-pressed to find any Brit who doesn’t know all the words. Being more than just wedding dancefloor fillers and karaoke classics, the three tracks brilliantly capture the band’s skill for drawing complexity from simplicity. Ultimately, this album marked the beginning of the long-drawn-out end for Oasis and the albums that followed never quite lived up to the glorious rock and carefree euphoria found here. But then that’s another story… © Abi Church/Qobuz

This fifth studio album by Kate Bush is often considered one of her masterpieces. The themes explored and the general atmosphere on Hounds of Love once again demonstrate the singer-songwriter’s intelligence, especially in the subtle way she mixes darkness with lightness. The single Running Up That Hill - a huge hit in 1985 - perfectly testifies to this, as Kate Bush suggests how men and women could resolve their differences by walking in each other’s shoes ("And if I only could/I'd make a deal with God/And I'd get him to swap our places"). The driving electronic drums that envelop the song illustrate the singer's never-ending optimism despite the melancholic-tinged melody.Bush’s ambivalence is also palpable on The Big Sky, a song that is innocent and dark in equal measure. Musically speaking, the album echoes her double vision since we find Kate Bush’s beloved synths (especially the Fairlight) mixed with acoustic and sometimes traditional instruments (especially in the very Irish-sounding Jig of Life). As usual, she sprinkles various references to horror movies into her songs. In the disturbing song Hello Earth she quotes Jacques Tourneur (Night of the Demon, 1957) and uses choirs from Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979). Not to mention the lyrics on Hounds of Love, which are worthy of a Hitchcock nightmare. Alongside these tense moments, Kate Bush soothes us with softer songs, such as the ballad Dream of Sheep with its prevailing piano. A rich, intelligent, elegant, audacious album. In one word: a masterpiece. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

On Can't Slow Down, his second solo album, Lionel Richie ran with the sound and success of his eponymous debut, creating an album that was designed to be bigger and better. It's entirely possible that he took a cue from Michael Jackson's Thriller, which set out to win over listeners of every corner of the mainstream pop audience, because Richie does a similar thing with Can't Slow Down -- he plays to the MOR adult contemporary audience, to be sure, but he ups the ante on his dance numbers, creating grooves that are funkier, and he even adds a bit of rock with the sleek nocturnal menace of "Running With the Night," one of the best songs here. He doesn't swing for the fences like Michael did in 1982; he makes safe bets, which is more in his character. But safe bets do pay off, and with Can't Slow Down Richie reaped enormous dividends, earning not just his biggest hit, but his best album. He has less compunction about appearing as a pop singer this time around, which gives the preponderance of smooth ballads -- particularly "Penny Lover," "Hello," and the country-ish "Stuck on You" -- conviction, and the dance songs roll smooth and easy, never pushing the beats too hard and relying more on Richie's melodic hooks than the grooves, which is what helped make "All Night Long (All Night)" a massive hit. Indeed, five of these songs (all the aforementioned tunes) were huge hits, and since the record ran only eight songs, that's an astonishing ration. The short running time does suggest the record's main weakness, one that it shares with many early-'80s LPs -- the songs themselves run on a bit too long, padding out the running length of the entire album. This is only a problem on album tracks like "Love Will Find a Way," which are pleasant but a little tedious at their length, but since there are only three songs that aren't hits, it's a minor problem. All the hits showcase Lionel Richie at his best, as does Can't Slow Down as a whole.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Following on the heels of an album where he repudiated his past with his greatest backing band, Blood on the Tracks finds Bob Dylan, in a way, retreating to the past, recording a largely quiet, acoustic-based album. But this is hardly nostalgia -- this is the sound of an artist returning to his strengths, what feels most familiar, as he accepts a traumatic situation, namely the breakdown of his marriage. This is an album alternately bitter, sorrowful, regretful, and peaceful, easily the closest he ever came to wearing his emotions on his sleeve. That's not to say that it's an explicitly confessional record, since many songs are riddles or allegories, yet the warmth of the music makes it feel that way. The original version of the album was even quieter -- first takes of "Idiot Wind" and "Tangled Up in Blue," available on The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3, are hushed and quiet (excised verses are quoted in the liner notes, but not heard on the record) -- but Blood on the Tracks remains an intimate, revealing affair since these harsher takes let his anger surface the way his sadness does elsewhere. As such, it's an affecting, unbearably poignant record, not because it's a glimpse into his soul, but because the songs are remarkably clear-eyed and sentimental, lovely and melancholy at once. And, in a way, it's best that he was backed with studio musicians here, since the professional, understated backing lets the songs and emotion stand at the forefront. Dylan made albums more influential than this, but he never made one better.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

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

Following on from Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018), Arctic Monkeys return with an impeccably classy seventh chapter that further consolidates their status as a band with seamless longevity, capable of growing and evolving without losing an ounce of credibility. After the singles ‘There'd Better Be A Mirrorball’ and ‘Body Paint’, on which Alex Turner masterfully takes on the role of a deep crooner with dark poetry in the style of Richard Hawley, the eight other tracks set silky backdrops where strings and brass predominate.In the capable hands of James Ellis Ford, Arctic Monkeys’ producer since Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007) and also for The Last Shadow Puppets’ (Alex Turner and Miles Kane) The Age Of Understatement, The Car is meticulously produced with sublime guitars (‘The Car’) as well as soul (‘Big Ideas’) lining up alongside funk (‘Jet Skis On The Moat’ and its wah-wah). As for Matt Helder's drums, ever-present on the early albums, they are, unsurprisingly, far more discreet here, applied with the lightest of touches. Forget about the big riffs of the early days and make way for some lush orchestrations. Masterful. © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz

Musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS, film score composer (Soul, 2020), and multi award-winning musician for his solo album WE ARE in 2021, Jon Batiste is an artist that we might call a jack of all trades.The American returns in 2023 with World Music Radio, a record that, in a way, reflects this aspect of his personality: assuming the role of a griot/DJ and erasing musical frontiers, he embraces as many popular musics of the world as possible in order to prove the universal dimension of his own.As indicated by its title, this conceptual, erudite album takes the form of a radio show in which the host Jon Batiste broadcasts this musical firework from Earth to the rest of the universe. Even if on certain tracks, the insanity of the project falls a bit flat and transforms into mainstream pop, Jon Batiste hits the mark with songs like “My Heart” (with the jazz trombonist Rita Payés), “Calling Your Name” (with a melodica solo played by Batiste himself), as well as the moving piano ballad “Butterfly”, written for his wife Suleika Jaouad, who is fighting cancer. Apart from the aforementioned artists, World Music Radio is brimming with featured artists that also speak to the album’s international ambitions, from the saxophone solo of the legendary Kenny G on the interlude “Clair de lune”, to the stunning intervention of Français Chassol (on a track named after him), not to mention Lana Del Rey on the suave “Life Lesson”. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

There are aficionados and champions of Alice Cooper's many albums and eras. Some fans insist that Easy Action is one of the most criminally underappreciated records of the rock era, while others feel that Killer is the most rockin' album in the band's entire catalog; heck, there are folks out there who vociferously advocate for the wild charms and unexpected pleasures of Cooper's solo "blackout era" of the early '80s (and those folks are not wrong!). However, one thing that is widely agreed upon is that Billion Dollar Babies is Alice Cooper (the band) at the peak of its powers. The commercial sheen—and success—of its predecessor, School's Out, is seamlessly fused here with relentless, riff-fueled propulsion, decadent arrangements (brass band on "Elected"? Sure!), some of Cooper's most wittily deranged lyrics to date, and, of course, fantastic production from Bob Ezrin, who masterfully balanced all of the band's disparate elements. Babies is where commercial, creative, and critical success convene, and the result is not just a '70s rock masterpiece, but also that rarest of things: a '70s rock masterpiece that still manages to yield surprises. While packed with radio staples—the title track, "Elected," "No More Mr. Nice Guy"—and canonical classics ("Raped and Freezin'," "I Love the Dead"), there are also eyebrow-raising numbers like "Unfinished Sweet" (spaghetti western meets fuzzbox freakout meets rock opera) and "Mary Ann" (a sweet piano ballad that turns on an unexpected plot twist) that reiterate that, despite their success on the charts, Alice Cooper was still a delightfully transgressive band. The track lineup on this 50th anniversary "Trillion Dollar" deluxe edition slightly expands on 2001’s reissue. A 1973 Texas show featured earlier is rounded out with two additional, non-BDB songs from the concert, and the selection of outtakes is now accompanied by four single edits of album tracks. This edition also brings with it a warm, dynamic remastering that delivers on the original mix's maximalistic approach, making this the definitive rendition of a classic. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

Fallen is the major-label debut of Evanescence, a Little Rock, AR-based quartet led by the soaring vocals of 20-year-old Amy Lee. Emboldened by the inclusion of its single "Bring Me to Life" on the soundtrack to the hit film Daredevil, Fallen debuted at an impressive number seven on Billboard's Top 40. But "Bring Me to Life" is a bit misleading. A flawless slice of Linkin Park-style anguish pop, it's actually a duet between Lee and 12 Stones' Paul McCoy. In fact, almost half of Fallen's 11 songs are piano-driven ballads that suggest Tori Amos if she wore too much mascara and recorded for the Projekt label. The other half of the album does include flashes of the single's PG-rated nu-metal ("Everybody's Fool," "Going Under"). But it's the symphonic goth rock of groups like Type O Negative that influences most of Fallen. Ethereal synths float above Ben Moody's crunching guitar in "Haunted," while "Whisper" even features apocalyptic strings and a scary chorus of Latin voices right out of Carmina Burana. "Tourniquet" is an anguished, urgent rocker driven by chugging guitars and spiraling synths, with brooding lyrics that reference Evanescence's Christian values: "Am I too lost to be saved?/Am I too lost?/My God! My tourniquet/Return to me salvation." The song is Fallen's emotional center point and defines the band's sound.© Johnny Loftus /TiVo

Those who come from Louisiana always have a good ear for music. Always! Soul, blues, zydeco, rock, jazz, R&B, funk, pop or country, no one native to the New Orleans area worries about labels or genres. There is only good music and bad music. Period. Brittany Guerin, known as Britti, is the latest proof of this. Born in Baton Rouge, the singer, discovered by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, masters every style that resounds within the unique groove of the American South. And as Britti dresses her songs in a certain classicism, she is often reminiscent of classic soul singers that have come before her. Hints of her idols Diana Ross (“Save Me”) and Dolly Parton (“Keep Running”), as well as Norah Jones, Erykah Badu and Amy Winehouse (albeit less dreamy) can be heard on her debut album Hello, I’m Britti., a title that clearly references Dolly Parton’s first album from 1967, Hello, I’m Dolly… But even though the influence is apparent, it never limits Britti’s own inspiration, style or personality. An expert in 20th-century equipment and vintage sounds, Auerbach brings the perfect production, with just the right amount of sepia. He was clearly the one who assembled a team of studio legends around the singer, including bassist Nick Movshon (Amy Winehouse, Wu Tang Clan and a whole selection of albums for the label Daptone), guitarist Tom Bukovac (Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks), and Mike Rojas (Ricky Skaggs, Yola, Miranda Lambert), a wizard on the keys. Supported by this glittering cast,  Hello, I’m Britti. navigates soul vignettes, country pop interludes and R&B daydreams with immense ease and a certain class. Building a solid bridge between New Orleans and Nashville, this Qobuzissime has already declared itself one of the great albums of 2024. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Be Opened by the Wonderful is the 17th album from British rock outfit James and follows 2021's All the Colours of You. The 20-track release sees the band reworking their back catalog with the help of the Andra Vornici lead orchestra Orca 22 and the Manchester Inspirational Voices gospel choir. The album also includes the new track "Love Make a Fool," which was recorded specially for the album.© Rich Wilson /TiVo

If you were Frank Sinatra's daughter and wanted a career in music, how would you go about stepping out of your father's shadow? After a couple of cutesy singles cut with the producer behind Annette Funicello records, Nancy Sinatra, Frank's oldest child found her groove as the kind of female badass rebel that her father likely adored: fashion influencer who brought miniskirts from Carnaby Street to America's Main Street; daring agitator who shared a rare interracial kiss with dad's pal Sammy Davis Jr. on national TV; Playboy cover star at age 54. It's the attitude and image that's given her career a lasting aura and made it influential for artists as diverse as Primal Scream, Morrissey and Lana Del Rey who has modestly referred to herself as a "Gangster Nancy Sinatra." As this well-curated compilation proves, Sinatra's most influential music comes from her '60s collaboration with oddball pop chameleon Lee Hazlewood. Although the pair's vaguely sensual duet on the still puzzling, hippie-cowboy epic, "Some Velvet Morning," earned them artistic credibility, the crowning achievement of their partnership and Sinatra's calling card was 1965's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'"—a Hazlewood original that he originally intended to sing. Sinatra convinced him it needed a women's voice to turn it from a tale of spousal abuse to one of female empowerment. Her instincts proved prescient and her deadpan delivery and Hazlewood's snappy production style built around an unforgettable bass line birthed a defiant feminist '60s anthem. Other Sinatra/Hazlewood numbers included here are the fuzz guitar march, "Lightning's Girls," a tremolo-guitar led version of "Bang Bang" (Cher's first million selling single), and duets that charted with Hazlewood: "Summer Wine," "Jackson." The ace card in the Sinatra/Hazlewood union was using Los Angeles studio vets the Wrecking Crew as the backing band. With pros like Hal Blaine on drums, Al Casey, Glen Campbell and Larry Carlton on guitar and Carol Kaye on bass, it's all well-recorded and beautifully mixed music, solid and stylish, and brimming with a confident Angelino brand of white pop soul. © Robert Baird/Qobuz

A strange album in both its composition and its artwork. But, as we are talking about The Beatles, the strangeness is unquestionably wonderful... Released in late 1967 in England as a double EP and then in the US as a full album, Magical Mystery Tour is the soundtrack of the eponymous TV movie directed by Bernard Knowles for the BBC. Here we find much of the psychedelia of the Sgt Pepper's masterpiece, which had been released a few months earlier. The disc is not really designed as a full album, although it contains some of the greatest songs by the Fab Four, such as Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever, All You Need Is Love, Hello Goodbye, I Am The Walrus and The Fool On The Hill. Even instrumental compositions like Flying are real gems... With Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles sign off what would be the last of their tracks bathed in instrumental experimentation and unusual recording techniques, before turning to a final period of more refined writing. © MZ / Qobuz, Translation/BM

After acquiring a substantial following with Dreamboat Annie, Heart solidified its niche in the hard rock and arena rock worlds with the equally impressive Little Queen. Once again, loud-and-proud, Led Zeppelin-influenced hard rock was the thing that brought Heart the most attention. But while "Barracuda" and "Kick It Out" are the type of sweaty rockers one thought of first when Heart's name was mentioned, hard rock by no means dominates this album. In fact, much of Little Queen consists of such folk-influenced, acoustic-oriented fare as "Treat Me Well" and "Cry to Me." Anyone doubting just how much Heart's ballads have changed over the years need only play "Dream of the Archer" next to a high-volume power ballad like "Wait for an Answer" from 1987's Bad Animals.© Alex Henderson /TiVo