Listening to the (deservedly) much-hyped debut album from Wet Leg, you might wonder if front women Hester Chambers and Rhian Teasdale come from another planet—one that doesn't know or understand the conventions of Western pop songs. That's how quirky and just plain weird their songwriting and performing can be. There is no aim to be pretty, and it's refreshing.  The finest example of this is the band's killer first single, "Chaise Longue," with Chambers disaffectedly—almost as if reading from a user's manual—reciting blush-inducing double entendres (including the Mean Girls quote "Is your muffin buttered? Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?") over drums that tick like a time bomb, until it all erupts in a tilt-a-whirl dizzy chorus. Chambers in particular tends to wear milk-maid dresses and hausfrau kerchiefs, which, coupled with her odd singing style—sometimes a murmur ("Loving You"), sometimes an exaggeration (the way she seesaws the word "hi-e-e-e-e-de" on the Britpop-esque "Supermarket"—makes the sexy, playful lyrics all the more intriguing. On the post-punk "Wet Dream," powered by lecherous bass and detailing the come-on texts of an ex, "It's enough to make a girl blush" becomes the chant "It's enough," veering effortlessly from flirtatious to weary. "Angelica" folds in new wave guitars that sound like honking taxis, a nursery rhyme tinkle and shoegaze wash to create an anthem of boredom. "But I don't wanna follow you on the 'gram/ I don't wanna listen to your band/ I don't know why I haven't left yet/ Don't want none of this," Chambers sings, exhibiting the opposite of party FOMO. It's a similar anti-social theme on the Breeders-like "I Don't Wanna Go Out": "I have to find a way out/ Of the plans that I made in the past … Control, alt, delete." Teasdale, the straight woman behind "Chaise Longue"'s call-and-response "What?" plays it creamy-dreamy louche on "Convincing," while the chorus chimes in like a clowder of mewling kittens. "Being in Love" brings surf-rock ooohs  and nervous energy, while "Piece of Shit"—so pretty with its Luna-like  guitar—is heartbreaking. "Want me to cry? ... like I might die?" Chambers sings to someone who made her feel she's fucking up at life."Like a piece of shit, you either sink or float." It all ends with spacey, grand "Too Late Now," the bass looming like a gentle giant as Chambers rushes her spoken lyrics: "I don't need no radio/ No MTV, no BBC/ I just need a bubble bath to set me on a higher path." Right on. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

The Breeders of Pod and the Breeders of Last Splash seemed like two very different bands, as the astringent indie rock of the band's debut seemed to take a back seat to the highly melodic riff-dealing of their commercial breakthrough. The departure of Slint drummer Britt Walford and Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donnelly was certainly a factor, as Jim MacPherson's straightforward drumming has a whole lot to do with the propulsive power of Last Splash. However, Kim Deal's decision to recruit her twin sister Kelley for guitar and vocals is also a big factor. While the Deal sisters' vocal harmonies are justifiably praiseworthy for giving Last Splash some of its most memorable moments (the entirety of "Cannonball," for instance), the quirky muscularity of their deceptively intricate guitar work is the album's secret weapon. The weird combination of multi-tracked and doubled guitar lines (some on acoustic guitars, some on electric guitars, some on distorted acoustic guitars) sounds like effortlessly chunky garage rock, but a close listen to the component parts of a cut like the Blondie-nod of "Flipside" is likely to cause dizziness. This studio intensity is prevalent throughout much of Last Splash, giving it a unique patina that feels as rough and loose as it does meticulously crafted. Much of the album's sonic perfectionism has been variously ascribed to Kim Deal's wish for vengeance after being rudely fired from the Pixies, her escalating drug use, or simply that she's an audiophile spirit trapped in an indie rocker's body. In all likelihood, it was all three things combined with the natural energy that comes from a band working with an exceptional set of material. While "weird Breeders" gets plenty of air time on Last Splash ("Mad Lucas" and "Hag" both could have been Pod outtakes; "Roi" manages to make Led Zeppelin riffs sound like art-rock), the ridiculous quantity of infectious melodies and top-shelf arrangements on the album ("Saints," "Cannonball," "No Aloha," "Divine Hammer" and "Do You Love Me Now?") are evidence of an artist at the peak of her powers who just happens to have a band alongside her that can absolutely deliver on the promise of that material. This 30th anniversary edition benefits from being remastered from the original, long-thought-lost analog tapes (Deal was adamant that the album was recorded in an all-analog chain, so this should be a faithful rendition) as well as two previously unreleased bonus tracks. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

Whitney Houston became an international star with this album. It sold more than ten million copies around the world, yielded a string of number one hit singles across the board like "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," and "Love Will Save the Day," and established Houston as the era's top female star. She later went on to more than solidify that status, with other hit albums and a budding film career. While this is a far cry from soul, it's the ultimate in polished, super-produced urban contemporary material.© Ron Wynn /TiVo

After the harrowing Plastic Ono Band, John Lennon returned to calmer, more conventional territory with Imagine. While the album had a softer surface, it was only marginally less confessional than its predecessor. Underneath the sweet strings of "Jealous Guy" lies a broken and scared man, the jaunty "Crippled Inside" is a mocking assault at an acquaintance, and "Imagine" is a paean for peace in a world with no gods, possessions, or classes, where everyone is equal. And Lennon doesn't shy away from the hard rockers -- "How Do You Sleep" is a scathing attack on Paul McCartney, "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" is a hypnotic antiwar song, and "Give Me Some Truth" is bitter hard rock. If Imagine doesn't have the thematic sweep of Plastic Ono Band, it is nevertheless a remarkable collection of songs that Lennon would never be able to better again.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Her most fully realized and vulnerable effort to date, You & I carries Rita Ora into the future with a collection of songs that celebrate new love and self-acceptance. Following 2018's excellent sophomore set The Phoenix, the long gap between full-lengths results in a bevy of new experiences for Ora to sing about as she enters another phase of life. The front half of the album is loaded with the big pop moments, such as the one-two punch of the euphoric opening run "Don't Think Twice" and "You Only Love Me," peaking with album highlight "Praising You," which interpolates Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" to the intended joyous effect. "Waiting for You" hits a similar sweet spot, sounding like an Avicii chart-topper that could level a festival audience. Throwback synths shimmer on "That Girl" -- which borrows from Rick James' classic "Party All the Time" -- and haunt on the dark, confused "Unfeel It." For the closing run of You & I (almost a full half of the total tracks on the deluxe edition), most of the energy has been expended and it's time for the ballads and midtempo sentimentality. While the best of the bunch appeared earlier on track six as the dramatic but triumphant '80s ballad "You & I," songs like "Look at Me Now" and "I Don't Wanna Be Your Friend" push the emotion (and Ora's vocals) to the fore like a Sia production. Facing her fears and taking the plunge, Ora dances and pines her way through soulful depths and exciting highs. You & I is a nourishing, adult examination of love and relationships that matures the singer and her catalog in the process.© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo

Arriving ten years after the single-disc Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits (known as Rocket Man: Number Ones in North America) and 15 years after the double-disc Greatest Hits 1970-2002, Diamonds ups the game by offering two variations on Elton John's greatest hits: a double-CD version and a limited-edition triple-disc box set. Given John's canon is close to set, it should come as no surprise that Diamonds follows the same path as its predecessors -- indeed, the first ten songs on Diamonds are the same as those on Greatest Hits 1970-2002, with minor rejiggering; ultimately, there is a 26-song overlap -- but within its standard two-disc set, it finds a place for some important hits absent in prior comps. Notably, this has "Little Jeannie," "I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That," and his live duet with George Michael, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," all welcome additions, and as it extends into the present, it also finds space for John's artistic renaissance of the 21st century in the form of "Electricity," "Home Again," and "Looking Up." The third disc on the deluxe version deepens the story further by adding a bunch of hits that could've feasibly been included on the first two discs -- "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Pinball Wizard," "Mama Can't Buy You Love," "Part-Time Love," "Victim of Love," "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)," "Kiss the Bride," the superstar charity single "That's What Friends Are For" -- and also underscores his enduring stardom and cultural reach by including OK '90s U.K. hits with Kiki Dee, Pavarotti, and LeAnn Rimes, plus his 2012 U.S. dance hit with Pnau, "Good Morning to the Night" (conspicuous in their absence is any duet with Leon Russell). This last disc offers up plenty of hits but it also feels slightly messy because of the leap from "Kiss the Bride" to "Live Like Horses," but that only indicates how John would've been equally well served by a four-disc set. Instead, we get this excellent -- if incomplete -- collection that is equally satisfying in either its double-disc or triple-disc incarnation.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Capitol's 2005 collection All the Best weighs in at only 18 tracks, which is a little bit light to truly contain all of the best songs Tina Turner has recorded over her lengthy career. And, truth be told, it doesn't come close to containing all of her best -- it concentrates on material she recorded from her '80s comeback, Private Dancer, on, stretching all the way into the '90s but focusing on such '80s hits as "What's Love Got to Do with It," "Private Dancer," "The Best," "Better Be Good to Me," "Typical Male," and "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)," adding her biggest '90s hit, "I Don't Wanna Fight," plus a couple of OK but forgettable new songs. The classic 1973 version of "Nutbush City Limits" is here, but it's the only Ike & Tina cut; the version of "Proud Mary" is taken from the soundtrack of her 1993 biopic What's Love Got to Do with It. That highlights the problem with All the Best -- it has many of the big hits, but for one reason or another ignores the music on which her legend is built. Still, as a summation of her comeback and beyond, it's good, and for fans who favor this sound, it's a good disc to have.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Simply the Best is surrounded by some of the best situations a compilation can hope for. Tina Turner's work for Capitol past Private Dancer was spotty, she made a bunch of appearances on soundtracks and other artists' albums, and most of the tracks on Private Dancer are good enough to own twice. Almost half of Private Dancer shows up on Simply the Best, but you don't have to endure the way the original album spiraled down into slick fizzle. Instead you have to endure a misguided, pumped-up house remix of "Nutbush City Limits," but that's it. Everything else here is either top-notch or campy, certifiable fun. A duet with Rod Stewart on "It Takes Two" supplies the fun along with the new track, "I Want You Near Me" (Turner to lover: "You're so good with your hands/To help me with a hook or zip"). The two other new tracks tacked to the end beat out most of the album cuts the collection passes on, plus you get the bombastic "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" without having to buy a dull soundtrack. The oldest cut by years is the monolithic "River Deep-Mountain High," which is a bona fide classic but sonically out of place here. Reprogram the disc to play it at the beginning or end, skip the new "Nutbush" completely, and you've got sparkling, nearly perfect overview of Turner's postcomeback career.© David Jeffries /TiVo

There is no overestimating the historical power and influence of Shania Twain's Come on Over. You can hear it in the music of Taylor Swift (all the way up through 1989, easily), as well as Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini, Carly Pearce, Kelly Clarkson, Maren Morris, latter day The Chicks, even Harry Styles. Its success—40 million copies sold and counting—freed up boundaries (for better or worse) for countless country acts, from Rascal Flatts to Dan + Shay, to be unashamed of going pop. The album's production, by Twain's now-ex husband Mutt Lange (who was previously best known for his work with AC/DC and Def Leppard), is an epoch in the country music timeline—much the way Chet Atkins' Nashville Sound was. While some of those production flourishes sound a bit dated on the three-disc remaster (including domestic and international versions plus a grab bag of collaborations and remixes) of Come on Over, these are still killer songs that would tear it up on country and/or pop radio today. "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" packs an even bigger dose of serotonin. Every aspect—guitar, fiddle, vocals—of "Love Gets Me Every Time" sounds so crisp and clear on both the US version and its international compatriot, famously stripped of the hollering fiddle at the front of the mix. Freshened-up "You're Still the One" glistens, the pedal steel sharp as ever against the gooey cloud of backing vocals. But want something different? There's also a fun 1999 live duet with Elton John turning his twang up to 11, as well as several thumping dancefloor remixes and a largely superfluous version from Twain's 2022 Las Vegas residency, with Coldplay's Chris Martin on piano. There's both the spirited and clicky original of "I'm Holdin' On to Love (To Save My Life)" and a more down-home take with Alison Krauss. The bluegrass queen makes a second appearance on a duet of "From This Moment On," from the Up! Close and Personal live album, offering a warmer, rounder take on the pristine original with Bryan White. A 1999 Miami concert collab on the song with Backstreet Boys puts everyone's vocal acrobatics on display. "Honey, I'm Home," always one of the most countrified tracks on the album, is slick as a whistle, and cowbell positively vibrates on "That Don't Impress Me Much" (and the line "OK, so you're Brad Pitt/ That don't impress me much" still holds up). And while remastering highlights how cheesy Lange's Eurovision-style production is on "Come On Over," Twain just sounds terrific. Viva Shania. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

I Want You, while it a Top Ten smash for Marvin Gaye in 1976, is not as generally as well-known as its predecessors for several reasons. First, it marked a sharp change in direction, leaving his trademark Motown soul for lush, funky, breezy disco. Secondly, its subject matter is as close to explicit as pop records got in 1976. Third, Gaye hadn't recorded in nearly three years and critics were onto something else -- exactly what, in retrospect is anybody's guess. From the amazing Ernie Barnes cover painting "Back to Sugar Shack" to the Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson string and horn arrangements to Leon Ware's exotic production that relied on keyboards as well as drums and basses as rhythm instruments, I Want You was a giant leap for Gaye. The feel of the album was one of late-night parties in basements and small clubs, and the intimacy of the music evokes the image of people getting closer as every hour of a steamy night wears on. But the most astonishing things about I Want You are its intimacy (it was dedicated to and recorded in front of Gaye's future second wife, Jan), silky elegance, and seamless textures. Gaye worked with producer Leon Ware, who wrote all of the original songs on the album and worked with Gaye to revise them, thus lending Gaye a co-writing credit. The title track is a monster two-step groover with hand percussion playing counterpoint to the strings and horns layered in against a spare electric guitar solo, all before Gaye begins to sing on top of the funky backbeat. It's a party anthem to be sure, and one that evokes the vulnerability that a man in love displays when the object of his affection is in plain sight. Art Stewart's engineering rounds off all the edges and makes Gaye's already sweet crooning instrument into the true grain in the voice of seductive need. "Feel All My Love Inside" and "I Want to Be Where You Are" are anthems to sensuality with strings creeping up under Gaye's voice as the guitars move through a series of chunky changes and drums punctuate his every syllable. In all, the original album is a suite to the bedroom, one in which a man tells his woman all of his sexual aspirations because of his love for her. The entire album has been referenced by everyone from Mary J. Blige to D'Angelo to Chico DeBarge and even Todd Rundgren, who performed the title track live regularly. By the time it is over, the listener should be a blissed-out, brimming container for amorous hunger. I Want You and its companion, Ware's Musical Massage, are the pre-eminent early disco concept albums. They are adult albums about intimacy, sensuality, and commitment, and decades later they still reverberate with class, sincerity, grace, intense focus, and astonishingly good taste. I Want You is as necessary as anything Gaye ever recorded. © Thom Jurek /TiVo

During the five years between Sucker and her self-titled official third album, Charli XCX was busier than ever exploring the different sides of her music. Not only did she found her own label, Vroom Vroom, she wrote songs for and collaborated with a who's who of pop music. She also released two mixtapes, Number 1 Angel and Pop 2, that reflected her mercurial talent -- and her connections to pop's underground and mainstream -- better than either True Romance or Sucker did. With Charli, she attempts to capture the spontaneity of those releases in a more polished format; more often than not, she succeeds. This is especially true of the collaborations that dominate the album's first half, where she's joined by some of pop's best and brightest. "Gone," which teams Charli with Christine and the Queens, is a standout that combines the crisp, double-jointed synth pop of Chris with Charli's flair for pop fantasies into a bold '80s fever dream tailor-made for dance-offs. On "Cross You Out," Charli recruits Sky Ferreira, who expertly adds some extra drama to its hyperreal heartache. The album's timeliest assist comes from Lizzo, whose irrepressible cameo on "Blame It on Your Love" helps distinguish it from the many other tropical and dancehall-inspired songs released in the late 2010s. However, it's Charli's two songs with Troye Sivan that establish the album's sound and vision. On "1999," the duo delivers an unabashedly nostalgic love song to pop's past, singing the praises of Britney and Michael over brittle synths that evoke Max Martin's heyday; later, they close the album with "2099," a darkly gleaming track that, thanks to the fractured production of PC Music's AG Cook, sounds like the landing of a spaceship -- or a time machine. Cook and other members of the PC Music collective ensure that Charli never becomes too straightforward, particularly on "Shake It," which features frantically sloshing and clanking tones that match the feverish energy of Big Freedia, CupcakKe, Brooke Candy, and Pabllo Vittar. In comparison to the album's numerous collaborations, Charli's solo tracks feel separate, and sound much lonelier. Though "Thoughts" and "I Don't Wanna Know" prioritize a mood of late-night regret over hooks, Charli saves two of the album's best songs -- the bittersweet "White Mercedes" and the tentatively hopeful "Official" -- for herself. While Charli gives equal time to her pop bona fides and her experimental leanings in a way similar to Number 1 Angel or Pop 2, it doesn't always join these facets of her music as effortlessly. In a way, its unevenness is only fitting for an artist as committed to blurring pop's artistic boundaries and connecting the dots between its past, present, and future as she is -- that she's this hard to pin down this far into her career is exactly what makes her a continually intriguing talent.© Heather Phares /TiVo

Rather than rushing out an album in the spring of 1968, when "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" (Number 9 Pop, Number One R&B) hit, Motown waited, through the modest summer success of "You Met Your Match" (Number 35 Pop, Number Two R&B), until "For Once in My Life" (Number Two Pop and R&B) became Wonder's next mammoth single, to release an album. As a result, this album contained all three hits, making it one of Wonder's more consistent albums of the '60s, even with filler like "Sunny" and "God Bless the Child." The real find, however, is the driving "I Don't Know Why," which, when placed on the B-side of Wonder's next single, "My Cherie Amour," became a hit on its own, going to Number 39 (Pop) and Number 16 (R&B). © William Ruhlmann /TiVo

Caro Emerald came out of nowhere in 2009 with the summertime hit "Back It Up," a catchy jazz-pop song with a dance beat. The follow-up single, "A Night Like This," was an even bigger hit, topping the Dutch charts. By the time Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor came around, Emerald was well established as one of the most exciting new artists to emerge from the Netherlands in some time, and her full-length album debut was eagerly awaited. It includes the smash hit singles "Back It Up" and "A Night Like This," both written by Vincent de Giorgio, David Schreurs, and Jan van Wieringen. The latter two Dutchmen are Emerald's producers. They released Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor on their Amsterdam label Grandmono Records. In addition to the pair of singles, the album includes ten new songs quite varied in style. "Just One Dance" is straight dance-pop with dashes of jazz, and "The Lipstick on His Collar" draws from both Amy Winehouse circa Back to Black (2006) and Portishead circa Dummy (1994). "The Other Woman" is another song that brings to mind Winehouse and Portishead. Other songs like "Dr. Wanna Do" go heavy on the jazz. Emerald is a talented singer and she sings in English well, but in the end, the varied jazz-pop productions and the slick dance beats are what set her apart from the crowd. Fans of the initial singles should find plenty else to enjoy on Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor, which finds Emerald trying out a number of different jazz-pop styles.© Jason Birchmeier /TiVo