Cure co-founder/former drummer Lol Tolhurst and Siouxsie and the Banshees beat-keeper Budgie first met in 1979 when their respective bands toured together. In recent years, the duo started hosting a post-punk podcast called Curious Creatures that eventually led to a musical collaboration with the producer Jacknife Lee. Originally envisioned as an instrumental album, Los Angeles evolved over time to include guest vocalists like LCD Soundsytem's James Murphy, Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie and Lonnie Holley, along with musicians such as U2 guitarist the Edge and harpist Mary Lattimore.In some ways, Los Angeles delivers exactly what you would expect from a collaboration between Tolhurst and Budgie: rhythm-heavy songs with hypnotic grooves indebted to Krautrock, electro and post-punk. Synthesizers zap like brain synapses on "Everything and Nothing" in between dizzying spurts of repetitive drum patterns; on the propulsive, Edge-featuring "Train With No Station," beatific recurring melodies peek through bustling electronic static like the sun peeking through clouds. Other guest stars are a more recognizable presence. The songs on which Gillespie appear (unsurprisingly) sound like Primal Scream's various guises—"This Is What It Is (To Be Free)" channels Screamadelica's gospel-tinged catharsis, while "Ghosted at Home" hews toward Vanishing Point's darker electro. Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock contributes frenetic vocals to the danceable (and aptly named) "We Got to Move." And Murphy contributes anguished yelps and croons to the throttling title track, which resembles a more adventurous LCD Soundsystem.But Los Angeles shines when lesser-known voices have their place in the spotlight. Pan Amsterdam is striking on the minimalist, jazzy hip-hop standout "Travel Channel," while Starcrawler's Arrow de Wilde helms a slab of scorching gothic-blues rock. And Holley presides over the rhythm-heavy experimental track "Bodies" like a fire-and-brimstone preacher before Mary Lattimore takes the song out with some bewitching harp. It's unsurprising given the pedigree of the artists involved—but Los Angeles is a ferociously fresh-sounding take on familiar sounds that lingers long after the music ends. © Annie Zaleski/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

With Wallflower, Diana Krall has made a journey to the wellspring of pop. For this album, coming out on Verve, the Canadian singer and pianist revisits tracks that were made famous by The Mamas & The Papas, Elton John, the Eagles, the Carpenters, Gilbert O’Sullivan, 10CC, Randy Newman, Crowded House, Bob Dylan and the Beatles. Diana Krall lends this collection charm, class and refinement which are all her own… © CM/Qobuz

Fred Again and Brian Eno is certainly THE collaboration of the year. On the one hand, the new sensation of British electronic music, who has brought the USA, from Madison Square Garden to Coachella, to its feet. On the other, the old wizard of the English studios; pioneer of ambient, jazz and producer and friend of Bowie. They met twelve years ago, thanks to a friend of Fred Again’s that happened to be Brian Eno's neighbour. In a tale as old as time, the young man became the older one’s protege, and given a leg up on his joint album with Karl Hyde from Underworld (2014), High Life. Some were a little quick to jump the ambient jazz gun with Secret Life simply because it featured Brian Eno, but that's not really what’s important.Yes, the orchestration is somewhat minimalist; but, above all, the two Englishmen offer us an album from out of this world. It’s almost as if they were communicating with us from another dimension through a distortion mirror. This is exactly how it feels to listen to tracks like Enough, which arguably morphs into an eighties hit on the other side of the looking glass. The delivery of tracks like these is sporadic, interposed with easily decipherable and memorable tracks like Safety, or with others which are placed closer to the transmitter for a crisp and clear sound, like the poignant Cmon. The final Come On Home is the where once again we get to witness the talent of Fred Again with refrains that send shivers down the spine. Bring on the next one! © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz

It took Depeche Mode only four years to assemble their first singles compilation, but 12 to assemble The Singles 86>98. Appropriately, the second set was much more ambitious than The Singles 81>85, spanning two discs and 20 songs, plus a live version of "Everything Counts." The Singles 86>98 was an album that many fans, both casual and hardcore, waited patiently for, and for good reason -- Depeche Mode were always more effective as a singles band than as album artists. That's not to say that the double-disc compilation is perfect. DM's output fluctuated wildly during those 12 years, as the group hit both career highs and lows. It's possible to hear it all on this set, from "Strangelove" and "Never Let Me Down Again," through "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence," to "I Feel You" and "Barrel of a Gun." It's possible that some casual listeners will find that the collection meanders a bit too much for their tastes, but the end result is definitive and, along with The Singles 81>85, ranks as Depeche Mode's best, most listenable album.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

With Another Side of Bob Dylan, Dylan had begun pushing past folk, and with Bringing It All Back Home, he exploded the boundaries, producing an album of boundless imagination and skill. And it's not just that he went electric, either, rocking hard on "Subterranean Homesick Blues," "Maggie's Farm," and "Outlaw Blues"; it's that he's exploding with imagination throughout the record. After all, the music on its second side -- the nominal folk songs -- derive from the same vantage point as the rockers, leaving traditional folk concerns behind and delving deep into the personal. And this isn't just introspection, either, since the surreal paranoia on "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and the whimsical poetry of "Mr. Tambourine Man" are individual, yet not personal. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, really, as he writes uncommonly beautiful love songs ("She Belongs to Me," "Love Minus Zero/No Limit") that sit alongside uncommonly funny fantasias ("On the Road Again," "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream"). This is the point where Dylan eclipses any conventional sense of folk and rewrites the rules of rock, making it safe for personal expression and poetry, not only making words mean as much as the music, but making the music an extension of the words. A truly remarkable album.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Phil Collins certainly has enough hits to fill out a double-disc compilation -- in the U.K. he had 25 Top 40 singles and he reached the Billboard Top 40 21 times in the U.S., with many of them overlapping -- but the 2016 set The Singles doesn't march through these hits in chronological order. Opening with "Easy Lover," his 1985 duet with Earth, Wind & Fire's Philip Bailey, this 33-track compilation happily hopscotches through the years. Such non-chronological sequencing does mean certain hits are saved for the greatest emotional impact -- naturally, "Take Me Home" closes out the proceedings -- but it also focuses attention on songs that weren't blockbusters, whether it's such meditative turn-of-the-'90s adult contemporary hits as "That's Just the Way It Is" or the brooding early single "Thru These Walls." Ultimately, this forced perspective is why The Singles is something more than just a collection of big hits: it helps illustrate that Collins' solo catalog ran deeper than "In the Air Tonight," "You Can't Hurry Love," "Sussudio," "One More Night," "Against All Odds," and "Another Day in Paradise."© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

A decade after splitting up at the peak of their mainstream popularity, house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia returned to the scene with a massive comeback tour and a fresh album, Paradise Again. Technically their first official studio album, the set followed their early-2010s hit compilations Until One and Until Now -- home to global smashes like "Save the World," "Antidote," "Greyhound," and "Don't You Worry Child" -- which landed as electronic dance music stormed the mainstream. While the tracks on Paradise Again aren't as iconic or revelatory as those anthems, they're no less effective, hitting the emotional core and inspiring equal parts spiritual rapture (like on "Heaven Takes You Home" with Connie Constance) and visceral physicality ("Mafia" and "Frankenstein" featuring A$AP Rocky). Mainstream crossover hit "Moth to a Flame" is a standout, one of a handful of era-specific tracks crafted with their collaborator du jour and Coachella co-headliner the Weeknd, who included the trio's contributions "How Do I Make You Love Me?" and "Sacrifice" on his Dawn FM album. Additional guests Mapei, Seinabo Sey, Ty Dolla $ign, and 070 Shake also join the party, while a "Roxanne"-sampling "Redlight" credits Sting as a full-fledged guest. Beyond the immediate pop-friendly attention grabbers, Swedish House Mafia dig deep into their progressive house selves for extended journeys (like "Can U Feel It" and "It Gets Better") that should please purists. Clocking in at over an hour, there's enough here for all types of fans to enjoy and rejoice that the guys have returned.© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo

Download not available

The second in a series of catalog re-recordings and revisions, Red [Taylor's Version] finds Taylor Swift revisiting her self-styled pop breakthrough Red. Released nine years after the original album, Red [Taylor's Version] does bear a few signs of maturation, notably on the explicitly pop moments, such as "I Knew You Were Trouble," "22," and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," which seem ever so slightly muted when compared to the 2012 versions. Nevertheless, much of the point of the re-recordings is to get these new versions as close to the original versions as possible so they can be easily licensed and to that end, Swift succeeds admirably. The more interesting part of Red [Taylor's Version] arrives in the second half when Swift records songs left in the vault, including "Better Man" -- a song she gave to Little Big Town, who won a Grammy for Best Country/Duo Group Performance in 2018 for their recording -- and duets with Phoebe Bridgers ("Nothing New"), Chris Stapleton ("I Bet You Think About Me"), and Ed Sheeran ("Run"). The highlight of these is a ten-minute version of "All Too Well," a bitter ballad that was already one of the peaks of Red and is now turned into an epic kiss-off. This, along with excavated songs, are reason enough for Swift to revisit Red and they, not the re-recordings, are the reason to return to Red [Taylor's Version].© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

There have been many, many Dolly Parton compilations over the years, but RCA/Legacy's 2005 set The Essential Dolly Parton is one of the handful that gets it right. Spanning two discs and 37 tracks, this set covers her entire career, from her 1967 debut, Hello, I'm Dolly, to her 2001 bluegrass comeback album, Little Sparrow, but the bulk of this set concentrates on her hitmaking years for RCA in the '70s and '80s. Since Dolly had so many hits, not all of them can be included even on a double-disc collection, but this does a tremendous job of picking the biggest and the best of them. Roughly, the first disc covers her first decade of recording, including a healthy dose of her inventive country-folk material from the early '70s, while the second disc covers her slicker crossover hits from the '80s. Dividing her material in this fashion makes each disc consistent within itself, and helps make this a more listenable set than such similar career-spanning collections as 1993's The RCA Years. While Raven's excellent Mission Chapel Memories: 1971-1975 documents her most creative period more effectively, this tells the story of her entire career, and it's the best of its kind of compilation yet assembled.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

This is the album that solidified Uriah Heep's reputation as a master of gothic-inflected heavy metal. From short, sharp rock songs to lengthy, musically dense epics, Demons and Wizards finds Uriah Heep covering all the bases with style and power. The album's approach is set with its lead-off track, "The Wizard": it starts as a simple acoustic tune but soon builds into a stately rocker that surges forth on a Wall of Sound built from thick guitar riffs, churchy organ, and operatic vocal harmonies. Other highlights include "Traveller in Time," a fantasy-themed rocker built on thick wah-wah guitar riffs, and "Circle of Hands," a stately power ballad with a gospel-meets-heavy metal feel to it. Demons and Wizards also produced a notable radio hit for the band in "Easy Livin'," a punchy little rocker whose raging blend of fuzz guitar and swirling organ made it feel like a '70s update of classic '60s garage rockers like the Electric Prunes or Paul Revere & the Raiders. However, the top highlight of the album is the closing medley of "Paradise" and "The Spell": the first part of the medley starts in an acoustic folk mode and slowly adds layers of organ and electric guitar until it becomes a forceful, slow-tempo rocker, while the second half is a punchy, organ-led rocker that includes an instrumental midsection where choral-style harmonies fortify a killer, Pink Floyd-style guitar solo from Ken Hensley. All in all, Demons and Wizards works both as a showcase for Uriah Heep's instrumental firepower and an excellent display of their songwriting skills in a variety of hard rock styles. As a result, it is considered by many fans to be their finest hour and is definitely worth a spin for anyone with an interest in 1970s heavy metal.© Donald A. Guarisco /TiVo