The sixth studio long-player from Netherlands-based symphonic rock outfit Within Temptation picks right up where 2011's generally well-received conceptual outing Unforgiving left off, expanding on the group's penchant for stylistic elasticity while maintaining a foundation of solid songwriting and engaging narrative. The appropriately named Hydra (the multi-headed monster of myth reflects the group's ability to juggle multiple musical genres) includes guest appearances from Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones, rapper Xzibit, ex-Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen, and Soul Asylum vocalist Dave Pirner, and features the singles "Paradise (What About Us?)" and "Dangerous."© James Christopher Monger /TiVo

Biopic The Dirt tells the story of Mötley Crüe's wild ride through their time as one of the most popular and most debaucherous bands of the metal years. During a blistering run that lasted the entirety of the '80s, the L.A. band sold millions of records, toured the world, and challenged death constantly with reckless behavior, substance abuse, and the kind of mayhem that sometimes seems like it only existed in the time when hair metal reigned. Some of these misadventures were collected in the 2001 book The Dirt, and the 2019 film adaptation of the book further dramatizes some of the group's already unbelievable antics, as well as getting into the music that made it all happen. The soundtrack to the film is made up entirely of music by Mötley Crüe, but in addition to 14 selections from their early catalog, they recorded four entirely new tracks in 2018 especially for inclusion in the film. Rapper Machine Gun Kelly (who plays the role of drummer Tommy Lee in the film) features on the song "The Dirt (Est. 1981)," dropping a rapped coda about tattoos, girls, cars, and the rock & roll lifestyle into the song's pop-metal framework. Huge, hooky choruses were part of the Crüe's formula for success in the '80s, and they don't shy away from that formula here, either. In addition to two other new songs, "Crash and Burn" and "Ride with the Devil," the band offer an unlikely cover in the form of Madonna's 1984 smash hit "Like a Virgin." Die-hard metalheads might scoff at the idea of a band synonymous with '80s metal decadence taking a stab at one of the decade's most commercial artists, but 35 years later the context of the song (and of all the musicians in the equation, for that matter) has shifted to the point where the cover can be taken at face value. It's a revved-up version of an undeniably catchy song, delivered with an extra dose of menace and possibly a self-aware smirk at how ridiculous it is. The Dirt soundtrack pairs the nostalgia of well-loved favorites ("Home Sweet Home," "Kickstart My Heart," "Shout at the Devil") with the reinvigorated excitement of the raw newer songs for a collection that feels more like a companion to the film than a greatest-hits repackaging.© Fred Thomas /TiVo

In the year of his 90th birthday (which he would have celebrated on the 23rd of September 2020 had he not died in 2004), Ray Charles is honoured with a new 90-track compilation box set. Just another compilation like all the rest? Yes and no. Ray Charles is undoubtedly one of the most-compiled artists in the history of music. Published by Tangerine, the label that the musician set up at the end of the 50s to keep the rights to his songs, this box set starts out like all the others: with the post-Atlantic hits, Georgia On My Mind, Hit The Road Jack, One Mint Julep, Busted... These are timeless treasures of proto-soul, but there doesn't seem to be much novelty here. The rest is much more interesting, and much rarer: tracks recorded between the second half of the 1960s and the 2000s, many of which were only released on vinyl, never reissued on CD and until now unavailable on digital. This is the first time that Ray Charles' lesser-known years have been given the compilation treatment in this way, and it is a revelation. In the 90s and 2000s, the production of his songs had a synthetic feel, and they did not age too well. These rarer songs are often hidden gems of southern soul, flavoured with country and wrapped in sumptuous symphonic orchestrations. Whether he is singing the Muppets (It's Ain't Easy Being Green) or Gershwin (Summertime, a duet with Cleo Laine), Ray Charles is always deeply moving. Now, the dream is to hear reissues of all these albums in their entirety. © Stéphane Deschamps/Qobuz

The fact that the Zac Brown Band felt compelled to title their 2021 album The Comeback is a tacit admission that things aren't entirely well in the ZBB camp. A commercial powerhouse from 2008 to 2017, Zac Brown Band were fixtures on both the country and pop charts, a situation that led Brown to stretch his musical wings. At first, this meant he pushed ZBB to rock a bit hard, then jam a bit longer, but soon he heard the siren call of dance music, sending him down the path toward the bizarre electro-pop project Sir Rosevelt, a busman's holiday that informed not only 2018's The Owl by ZBB but the near-simultaneously released solo album The Controversy by Zac himself. The Sir Rosevelt-inspired triumvirate was enough to pump the breaks on ZBB's momentum, which in turn was enough for Zac Brown to get back to where he once belonged. Hence, The Comeback, a record designed to reassure wary fans that the group still can make rock, country, folk, and pop the way they used to back in the Obama administration. The allusions to older songs are shameless. Take "Same Boat," a surgical fusion of the beachy "Toes" and back porch picking of "Chicken Fried" designed to stir up warm nostalgic feelings among fans. That's also the case with the rest of the record, which alternates between harmony-heavy ballads, brawny (but not burly) arena rockers, and mellow pop tunes, all filled with homilies to faith, family, and home. Brown leans into clichés a little too hard and never can resist hitting the nail squarely on the head -- witness "Fun Having Fun," whose meaning is underscored over and over -- but he's savvy enough of a craftsman to make this blatant pandering effective and maybe even a little fun, if you're in the right mood.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

"It's kind of unbelievable to me that I’m still recording. I never thought I would still be singing at my age, and people seem to really want to hear me, they know me, they give me love - I'm just overwhelmed, really. I thank God every night before I go to bed and then again every morning for waking up." Few people would have imagined that at 79 years old Mavis Staples would still be reaching a wide audience and recording albums. Her inner strength is fully intact and this live performance at the Union Chapel in London just goes to prove it. Trump's America acts as a good source of inspiration and a powerful fuel for this voice that sings about God, love, and all the injustices and evils that surround us. She’s just as politically engaged as she was during The Staple Singers’ heyday (who were led by Pops Staples, her illustrious father) when the band released several protest songs for the Civil Rights Movement. Here, the gospel queen essentially sings songs from albums that she has released on the label ANTI since 2007. From Love and Trust by Ben Harper to Funkadelic's Can You Get to That and What You Gonna Do (which she sang during the sixties with The Staple Singers), from Let's Do It Again by Curtis Mayfield to Slippery People by Talking Heads, Mavis Staples’ voice turns everything it touches into gold. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

In the middle of the punk tsunami, late-70s England was experiencing a healthy ska revival led by in part Madness and above all by the Specials. This multiracial gang from Coventry, led by Jerry Dammers, brought the syncopated rhythms of Jamaican rocksteady and its offshoot, ska, back to life. Pork pie hats, fitted black suits, checkered patterns: in the grey depths of Thatcherism, you needed the right outfit, the better to appreciate singles like A Message to You Rudy (a cover of the Dandy Livingstone number), Too Much Too Young and Gangster, and their two albums, Specials (1979) and More Specials (1980). Under the name Special Aka, they released the equally essential In the Studio With in 1984, which was topped off by the hit single (Free) Nelson Mandela... In 2019, the Specials got back together. Some were a little sceptical, as Dammers, who wrote their greatest hits, and Neville Staple were missing from the new line-up. But Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter all pulled it off in the end, with a ska sound that flirted with soul and even vintage disco on the album Yet. And above all, these new Specials for the new millennium are still making commentary on their social and political environment, just like in the old days. And there is plenty of both the political and the social in their well-named Protest Songs 1924–2012, a fine collection of covers ranging from blues to rock, folk, soul and reggae. These are political songs, mostly from the States, by the likes of Leonard Cohen, Talking Heads, the Staple Singers, Big Bill Broonzy, Bob Marley, Chip Taylor, Malvina Reynolds and even Frank Zappa. The trio opts here for an essentially acoustic sound, leaning on a folk'n'soul tradition that highlights lyrics and vocals. And while a touch more madness might have given the whole thing a bit more musical punch, these protest songs nevertheless retain all their historical force. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

On his third studio album, Randy Newman found a middle ground between the heavily orchestrated pop of his debut and the more stripped-down, rock-oriented approach of 12 Songs, and managed to bring new strength to both sides of his musical personality in the process. The title track, which Newman has described as a sort of commercial jingle written for slave traders looking to recruit naïve Africans, and "Old Man," in which an elderly man is rejected with feigned compassion by his son, were set to Newman's most evocative arrangements to date and rank with the most intelligent and effective use of a large ensemble by anyone in pop music. On the other end of the scale, "Last Night I Had a Dream" and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" are lean, potent mid-tempo rock tunes, the former featuring some slashing and ominous slide guitar from Ry Cooder, and the latter a witty and willfully perverse bit of erotic absurdity that later became a hit for Joe Cocker (who sounded as if he took the joke at face value). Elsewhere, Newman cynically ponders the perils of a stardom he would never achieve ("Lonely at the Top," originally written for Frank Sinatra), offers a broad and amusing bit of political satire ("Political Science"), and concludes with one of the most bitter rants against religion that anyone committed to vinyl prior to the punk era ("God's Song [That's Why I Love Mankind]"). Whether he's writing for three pieces or 30, Newman makes superb use of the sounds available to him, and his vocals are the model of making the most of a limited instrument. Overall, Sail Away is one of Newman's finest works, musically adventurous and displaying a lyrical subtlety that would begin to fade in his subsequent works.© Mark Deming /TiVo

Earnest, modest and not afraid to crack a dad joke, Zac Brown is country music’s version of a guy you would ask for help with a flat tire. That everyman approachability and love of a platitude (on this, his seventh major-label album, he drops "If you can't be nice, don't say nothin' at all" and "There's only so many trips around the sun") has made him a star. With The Comeback, he ticks a lot of boxes on the country-music lyric checklist—fishing, screen doors, pickup trucks, John Deere, a pawn-shop guitar—but there are stylistic surprises, too. It all kicks off with "Slow Burn," an ode to nostalgia for young love that is so big and arena-ready it could be a Kings of Leon track, complete with a sky-cracks-open choir’s "ohhhhhh" opening. The chorus of "Us Against the World" is almost as big, both setting Brown up for exciting awards show or concert performance moments. Fiery Southern rocker "GA Clay," meanwhile, sounds like it’s tailormade for a pick-up commercial, but adds in massive backing vocals that recall Merry Clayton’s "Gimme Shelter" wail. There’s a Mellencamp stomp and guitar jangle to the title song, which doubles down on the clichés with a guest appearance by the ghosts of 2020: "There's a thousand empty classrooms, broken glass in the streets/ Old Glory hanging on houses we're not supposed to leave/ It may feel like Lady Liberty's down on her luck/ When you hit rock bottom the only way is up." Brown also indulges in a bit of '80s FM country: There's a Ronnie Milsap spirit to the irresistible, organ-tinged "Old Love Song," and the great chorus of "Don't Let Your Heart" rocks an Alabama x Bob Seger (that rolling piano!) vibe. The bands dives into Hee Haw humor with "Fun Having Fun," a bluegrass novelty that piles on cartoony police sirens and "tough guy" voices for dads and cops, as Brown celebrates being a firebug, wrecking his granddaddy's truck and hotboxing while doing 95mph. "Paradise Lost on Me" is his easy-breezy ballad that belies its heartbreak-at-the-beach lyrics. "Wild Palomino" comes on like campfire sing-along and delivers two all-American country declarations: "As long as god's still in church and hard work still works and this collar on my shirt's still blue/ I'll never stop loving you" and "Whiskey's a Band-Aid that just leaves more scars." Jazz singer Gregory Porter serves up a soulful guest turn on "Closer to Heaven," while, on "Stubborn Pride," blues rocker Marcus King's gravelly rasp underscores the honey smoothness of Brown's own voice. And sometimes, it pays not to reinvent. Catchy "Same Boat" sounds a lot like Brown's first hit "Chicken Fried," weaving in fiddle, jug-band bass and a knee-slappin' bridge. "We're all in the same boat/ Fishing in the same hole," Brown sings, simplifying America's ideological divide to the point that you can only laugh when an Andy Griffith-style whistle kicks in. It’s already a hit. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

Another album, another tour, another live album souvenir of the tour. Paul McCartney has essentially followed this pattern since his 1989 return to arenas for the supporting tour for Flowers in the Dirt, and each of the records is essentially the same: the big solo hits, some of the big Beatles songs, plus a few tunes from the latest solo album. The repertoire changes slightly over the years, with some Beatles tunes drifting in and out of rotation, but they all play exactly the same -- glossy, professional readings of the songs that you know and love, played in arrangements very close to the original versions. Comprised of highlights from his 2001/2002 tour, the double-disc Back in the U.S. is longer than, say, Paul Is Live, but that's the only difference, and there's really nothing notably different than the equally long Tripping the Live Fantastic. If anything, he's playing for the crowd even more than usual, filling out the set list with sentimental favorites, including a version of "Something" as a tribute to the recently departed George Harrison. There is an unflagging sense of showmanship here, and the musicianship is top-notch, and there's nothing wrong with the music -- but there's nothing interesting about it, either. Given the hot streak that he'd been on since 1998's Flaming Pie, it's a bit of a disappointment that this doesn't live up to those standards, but then again, this is no better or no worse than what you'd expect given his live albums since 1989. Unfortunately, it's exactly what you'd expect, which is certainly not as satisfying as a good live album and somehow more disappointing than a flat-out bad album. [For territories outside the United States, Back in the U.S. was released as Back in the World, with a slightly different track listing, taken from gigs outside of the States. "Vanilla Sky," "C Moon," and, mercifully, "Freedom" are dropped from the album and "Calico Skies," "Michelle," "Let 'Em In," and "She's Leaving Home" take their place, all on the second disc. This results in a slightly stronger album (only "C Moon" is really missed), but the overall feel of the record remains the same.]© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Experienced reggae fans will immediately notice something about this long-overdue Joe Higgs reissue: that it sounds startlingly like an early-'70s Wailers album. There's a good reason for that: the relatively obscure Joe Higgs was the architect of the legendary Wailers' early sound. Higgs mentored the young Bob Marley and his trio in songwriting, arranging, and harmony singing, and in 1972 (when Life of Contradiction was originally released) Marley and company were completing their metamorphosis from a bouncy ska and rocksteady outfit into a serious and rootsy ensemble that would change the face of reggae music for good. Higgs' solo work has always been respected by reggae fans but has never garnered the commercial success it deserved. It's unlikely that this reissue will do much to change that -- it's much too clearly a product of its time -- but a solid core of listeners have been awaiting its release for years, and they won't be disappointed. Higgs is in excellent voice on every track, and the rhythms laid down by the Now Generation band are perfect examples of the churning, midtempo reggae sound that was in the ascendant in the early '70s. Highlights include the brilliant "Got to Make a Way" and "Come on Home," and the bonus tracks (the non-album single "Let Us Do Something" plus version) sweeten the deal nicely. The lyrics may get a little bit trite at times (how's this for insight: "Life is an experience that only a fool could refuse"), but Higgs' heart is so clearly right, his voice is so powerful, and the rhythms so sharp and dread, the occasional lyrical banality is easy to overlook. Very highly recommended. © Rick Anderson /TiVo