The key to Chris Stapleton's immense success, of course, is his remarkable, inimitable vocal tone: a worn-leather rasp that can stretch high and low, project real strength and sweetness, and isn't specifically "country"—there are traces of Stax soul, Ray Charles' R&B and deep-fried Southern rock. But Stapleton also feels reliable; he's an artist of integrity and good taste who doesn't bother with false moves or trying on trends. In short, he is classic in real time. And that hasn't changed with Higher, his fifth solo album (after fronting the band Steeldrivers for years) in less than a decade. Co-produced once again with Dave Cobb, the album taps into the catholic formula that works well for him. Single "White Horse" is glorious arena rock, a sinewy flex with some particularly heavy moments. "South Dakota" brings Memphis-blues stomp, slithering confidently and managing to make that prairie state sound badass: "I'm in South Dakota/ Trouble ain't hard to find." Written with Miranda Lambert, "What Am I Gonna Do" is a mid-tempo pleaser with lazy-sun Skynyrd guitar and Stapleton, as always, beautifully complimented by harmonies from his wife Morgane Stapleton. She matches him as an equal duet partner and not just support on "It Takes a Woman," a '70s-ish country ballad that gives Stapleton the chance to hit an otherworldly note as he sings, "You make me hiiiiiiiigh and keep my feet on the ground." Sultry "Think I'm In Love With You" delivers a very '80s adult-contemporary vibe, complete with urbane strings—violin not fiddle. "Loving You On My Mind" is silky R&B, Stapleton sounding like a natural lover man as he sings, "Ever since there's a morning/ I've been wondering/ How you do that thing you did last night." He pushes toward falsetto on that one, but goes all the way on soulful ballad "Higher." Acoustic "Mountains Of My Mind" is gentle as a mountain stream and evokes memories of Guy Clark, while memorable "The Bottom" has a Willie Nelson feel, as Stapleton finds a way to deepen country's tangling of love—and heartbreak—and alcohol: "The heart holds a memory/ And the memory holds a past/ And the past holds a woman/ At the bottom of a glass/ So I don't have a problem/ If I don't see the bottom." And "Crosswind" is a metaphor-rich driving song ("carrying a heavy load," "picking up speed") that mimics the rhythm of rolling truck wheels for an excellent snapshot of outlaw country: "Trying to keep all the rubber on 65/ Might not make it out alive/ White-knuckling the wheel just to survive/ Caught in the crosswind." The parts are old, but Stapleton makes it feel brand new. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

At 23 years of age, Stevie Wonder’s music is in its innovative stages in Innervisions, released on August 3, 1973. Playing all kinds of instruments, featuring musicians such as Jeff Beck, Ray Parker Jr., David Sanborn and Buzz Feiten, and touching on a range of themes from drugs, ghetto, spirituality, politics, racism and of course love with a big L, Michigan’s musical genius manages to create the ultimate fusion of soul, rhythm’n’blues, funk and pop. The sound of his synthesisers was unprecedented at the time and works well with this spiritual soul music that is full of crazy melodies. Innervisions provides the perfect soundtrack for difficult times in America, like in Living for The City where Stevie recalls the trials and tribulations of a young black man from Mississippi who went to New York for a job he would never get, before ending up behind bars (to make his 7-minute composition even more realistic, he incorporates street recordings, siren sounds and arrest-dialogues). With He’s Misstra Know-It-All, Stevie takes a thinly-veiled dig against the incumbent president, Richard Nixon. This album is the perfect addition to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On released two years earlier as we leave the blues behind and embrace the broken American dream instead. It’s also very personal for Stevie Wonder, who has the original Innervisions cover engraved in braille, “This is my music. It’s all I have to say to you and all that I feel. Know that your love helps mine to stay strong”. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Released in 1982, the double-album Original Musiquarium I summarizes Stevie Wonder's classic period of the '70s, concentrating primarily on the hits, but adding a few album tracks to hint at the depth of his albums, as well as four new songs (one for each side, all pleasant, none particularly remarkable). Though there could be some dispute about the album tracks, this does wind up as an excellent overview of Wonder's period of greatest activity, and it's a terrific listen to boot -- any record that sports such hits as "Superstition," "You Haven't Done Nothin'," "Living for the City," "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," "Higher Ground," "Sir Duke," "Boogie on Reggae Woman," and "I Wish" is guaranteed to be a great listen, and it is. Wonder remains a quintessential album artist, but this record is a terrific snapshot of the highlights.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

For anyone who prefers Ellie Goulding on the dancefloor, Higher than Heaven is a welcome return to that space. Her fifth full-length and follow-up to 2020's Brightest Blue, this tightly packed set of synth-washed, neon bangers eschews the deep introspection and personal slant of its predecessor, barreling headlong into the club in search of healing through euphoria and release. Described by the artist as her "least personal" album to date, Heaven focuses on pure thrills and escapism like similarly reactive COVID-era energizers from Dua Lipa, Kylie Minogue, and Ava Max. The album's catchiest moments are produced by Koz (Dua Lipa, Lykke Li, Lights), who plucks the most addictive textures from across the decades -- disco, '80s pop, and '90s house -- for highlights such as "Midnight Dreams," "Cure for Love," the throbbing "Like a Saviour," and the shimmering title track. Meanwhile, "By the End of the Night" strikes an ideal balance between Goulding's fun and melancholy sides, delivering a yearning yet uncertain early peak. Elsewhere, both the hazy "Love Goes On" and the strutting "Easy Lover" with Big Sean benefit from warm R&B smoothness courtesy of co-writer/producer Greg Kurstin, just as the sensual "Waiting for It" dives deeper into sweaty slow jam territory. Heaven's most intense moment arrives in the second half with the standout single "Let It Die," an urgent earworm about a tragic split that finds the resolve to move on atop an infectious beat and Goulding's most impassioned, anguished performance here. One of her strongest albums to date, Higher than Heaven falls somewhere between the commercial blitz of Delirium and the fearless, electronic heart of Halcyon. While it may not cull from her deep well of personal experiences, Heaven still ends up being one of the most immediate and compulsively listenable efforts in her catalog.© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo

Anti existed as an album cycle before it existed as an album -- arguably long before Rihanna knew what form her eighth album would take, either. Work on Anti began in the autumn of 2014 and proceeded in semi-public, progress being measured in Instagram posts and tweets, along with intermittent singles, each released to white-hot anticipation but none metamorphosing into massive hits. When Anti finally appeared in January 2016 -- three years after Unapologetic and months later than expected -- it bore none of these 2015 singles, a move that suggests a tacit acknowledgment that neither the curiously muted Kanye West and Paul McCartney collaboration "FourFiveSeconds" nor the unrestrained roar of "Bitch Better Have My Money" functioned as appropriate anchors for the album. Then again, neither would've felt at home on the cloistered Anti, the first of Rihanna's records to feel constructed as a front-to-back album. Such a sustained sensibility distinguishes Anti from its predecessors, records where album cuts often felt like afterthoughts. That's not the case with Anti. This is an album whose heart lies within its deep cuts. Mood matters more than either hooks or rhythm: it's a subdued, simmering affair, its songs subtly shaded yet interlocked to create a vibe caught halfway between heartbreak and ennui. The latter has always been a specialty of Rihanna -- her distance from her material was at once appealing and alienating -- so hearing her lean into "Love on the Brain" and "Higher" is something of a revelation: her voice is hoarse and ravaged, yet she's also controlled and precise, knowing how to hone these imperfections so her performance echoes classic soul while feeling fresh. These songs come at the end of the album, after a series of songs that drift and wonder, the sound of an artist trying to figure out not only what her album is but who she is. By the end of Anti, Rihanna may not arrive at any definitive conclusions about her art but she's allowed herself to be unguarded and anti-commercial, resulting in her most compelling record to date.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

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Curtain Call 2 is one of those titles like Final Destination 2: an absurd name for a sequel but the brand has already been established, so what are you gonna do? In Eminem's case, he released Curtain Call: The Hits as part of his purported retirement in the mid-2000s. Inactivity didn't suit Em, so he returned in 2009 with Relapse, a record that kicked off a particularly prolific decade and a half. Curtain Call 2 chronicles the releases since Relapse, featuring most -- but not all -- of his charting singles, along with a handful of album tracks, non-LP cuts, and three new numbers: "From the D 2 the LBC," which features Snoop Dogg; "The King and I, " a contribution to Baz Luhrmann's Elvis soundtrack featuring CeeLo Green; and "Is This Love ('09)," which showcases 50 Cent. At over two and a half hours, Curtain Call 2 is generous to a fault, playing like an endless streaming playlist instead of a curated compilation, yet it does feature many highlights from Eminem's mid-career records, including "Crack a Bottle," "Not Afraid," "Love the Way You Lie," "Berzerk," "The Monster," "Lucky You," and "Godzilla."© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

More meticulously crafted than its predecessor Arc of a Diver and more musically adventurous than its follow-up, Roll with It, Back in the High Life represents the pinnacle of Steve Winwood's '80s pop output. High production values, interlocking percussion lines, R&B backing vocals, horns, synthesizers, and ideas borrowed from various world musics enhance and update Winwood's proclivity for blues, R&B, and rock. His distinctive blue-eyed soul vocals are, naturally, at the front of the mix as well.The runaway number one single, "Higher Love," with its syncopated groove, pan-African percussion, and slick Top 40 production, kicks off this accessible set. Elsewhere, the dance-gospel of "Wake Me Up on Judgment Day," the semi-acoustic title track, and the funk-touched "Split Decision" (which proves Winwood's R&B roots were still strong) keep the stylistic wheel turning. The record's success, sonically and commercially, should come as no surprise. Since his days in Traffic, Winwood has been a masterful stylistic synthesist, melding a range of aesthetics in ways that invariably connect with listeners. Back in the High Life is further proof of his remarkable abilities.© Rovi Staff /TiVo