Whenever previously unreleased material by John Coltrane is discovered, it's an event. On Evenings at the Village Gate, Coltrane and his superb band are joined by Eric Dolphy, which makes for essential listening. The album was recorded at the famous Greenwich Village club in 1961 on a single microphone; producer and sound engineer Rich Alderson was checking out the sound system and testing a new mic, not intentionally recording an LP. The instrumental balance on the unearthed tapes isn't flawless, but that's a quibble: the overall sound and room tone are good, and the music stuns. Coltrane's work in the early '60s was changing: he was absorbing Indian and African influences; at times, both simplifying (in terms of the changes, or harmonic structures) and expanding (playing long exploratory solos); and imbuing the sounds with a deepening spiritual feeling. Dolphy's love of birdsong is apparent during an extended flute statement on opener "My Favorite Things," and Coltrane lights up the sky with a soprano sax solo that grows and grows in intensity. Elvin Jones's layered waltz-time swing is a driving force as the horn players take flight. "When Lights Are Low," written by Benny Carter and Spencer Williams in the 1930s, finds the band initially evoking that earlier time, but Dolphy's bass clarinet soon heads to wonderfully strange places. Coltrane's soprano solo is brief, and McCoy Tyner's gracefully shaped piano lines are comparitively straight-ahead; the focus here is Dolphy. Around the time of these recordings, Coltrane would sometimes include two bassists in his lineups. On "Africa," which runs to 22 minutes, there's a lengthy section featuring bassists Reggie Workman and Art Davis. One bass provides a hypnotic pulse, while the other employs various timbres and attacks in the course of an extended solo. It's a good example of how Coltrane encouraged his bandmates to stretch. The highpoint is "Impressions."  Coltrane's playing is remarkable, a rush of notes that is profoundly focused and displays a searching intensity from beginning to end. Dolphy's bass clarinet picks up where Coltrane leaves off, and Tyner follows with another excellent piano outing that coolly—relatively speaking—compliments the horn players' statements. This track is one for the ages. © Fred Cisterna/Qobuz

J.J. Cale was the embodiment of cool blues. With his atypical blend of rock, folk, country, blues and jazz, he was one of the most influential figures in rock'n' roll. Worshipped by Clapton, the Cocaine writer who spent most of his time in a mobile home remains the essence of a laid-back and relaxed musical style. For his fans, Stay Around is a gift from heaven. This posthumous record from April 2019 brings together fifteen unreleased songs mixed and produced by Cale himself and compiled by his widow, Christine Lakeland, and his old collaborator and manager Mike Kappus. "I wanted to find stuff that was completely unheard to max-out the ‘Cale factor'," says Lakeland, "using as much that came from John’s ears and fingers and his choices as I could, so I stuck to John’s mixes. You can make things so sterile that you take the human feel out. But John left a lot of that human feel in. He left so much room for interpretation.” Obviously, all these gems - from the stripped back Oh My My My to the more elaborate Chasing You - do not change anything at all about what we knew and loved about this king of cool. The quality of Stay Around, which never sounds slap-dash, proves that the man took every second of his art seriously. And as always with him, we come out of this posthumous album with the feeling of having fully lived a human and warm encounter. A sincere and engaging experience, connected to the soul and the gut. Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Highly anticipated since the biopic trend took over Hollywood, the film depicting the Jamaican icon’s ascension to superstardom has been fully approved by the Marley family, with Kingsley Ben-Adir in the role of Bob and eldest son Ziggy as executive producer. To seal the deal, the label Tuff Gong has released a “soundtrack” to the film, which unsurprisingly showcases a number of Bob Marley’s hits, resembling an encore to Legend, with the eternal classics that are “Get Up, Stand Up,” “I Shot the Sheriff,” “Natural Mystic,” “Is This Love” and “Redemption Song”.We also hear the famous version of “No Woman, No Cry” at London’s Rainbow Theatre on June 4, 1977 – a concert that was seized upon for reissues in both 2020 and 2022. From the film, we also find “So Jah S’eh” and a version of “War/No More Trouble” with backing vocals by Naomi Cowan in place of the I-Threes, the new sensation of Jamaican reggae incarnating Marcia Griffiths in the film, and Anna-Sharé Blake, protégée of Protoje, playing Judy Mowatt. On keyboard for this version is Aston Barrett Junior, who takes on the role of his father, Family Man, legendary bassist, orchestra conductor, and scorned composer of the Wailers, who passed away February 3rd, 2024, a few days before the release of One Love, and whose immense career would also be deserving of its own film. © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz

Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, is back with his anticipated fourth album After Hours, an intoxicating R&B record that feels like a natural progression from its predecessors. After 2016’s Starboy and the EP My Dear Melancholy 2 years later, the chart-topping singer made his acting debut in the Netflix thriller Uncut Gems alongside Adam Sandler. This may have been behind the inspiration for this new character the singer portrays with a broken nose, leather gloves and deep red tux in the album cover and the music video for lead single Blinding Lights, reminiscent of A-Ha’s Take On Me, the new wave from the 1980s and its synthwave revival. “I don’t like to leave my house too much. It’s a gift and a curse but it helps me give undivided attention to my work… It distracts from the loneliness, I guess”, confesses the Canadian. Unlike Starboy, there are no features on this album, The Weeknd choosing instead to invite a range of top tier producers to refine the music: Metro Boomin on the epilogue Until I Bleed Out, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker on Repeat After Me (Interlude), the loyal Illangelo, vaporwave pioneer Oneohtrix Point Never for Scared to Live and even hitmaker Max Martin (Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Britney Spears) for the pop-sounding Save Your Tears, resulting in 14 tracks that blend soul, R&B and new wave nuances. ©️ Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz

Both artistically and commercially, Boz Scaggs had his greatest success with Silk Degrees. The laid-back singer hit the R&B charts in a big way with the addictive, sly "Lowdown" (which has been sampled by more than a few rappers and remains a favorite among baby-boomer soul fans) and expressed his love of smooth soul music almost as well on the appealing "What Can I Say." But Scaggs was essentially a pop/rocker, and in that area he has a considerable amount of fun on "Lido Shuffle" (another major hit single), "What Do You Want the Girl to Do," and "Jump Street." Meanwhile, "We're All Alone" and "Harbor Lights" became staples on adult contemporary radio. Though not remarkable, the ballads have more heart than most of the bland material dominating that format.© Alex Henderson /TiVo

Scaled smaller than 2012's double-album Privateering, Tracker also feels suitably subtle, easing its way into being instead of announcing itself with a thunder. Such understatement is typical of Mark Knopfler, particularly in the third act of his career. When he left Dire Straits behind, he also left behind any semblance of playing for the cheap seats in an arena, but Tracker feels quieter than his new millennial norm. Some of this is due to the undercurrent of reflection tugging at the record's momentum. Knopfler isn't pining for the past but he is looking back, sometimes wistfully, sometimes with a resigned smile, and he appropriately draws upon sounds that he's long loved. Usually, this means some variation of pub rock -- the languid ballad "River Towns," the lazy shuffle "Skydiver," the two-chord groove of "Broken Bones" -- but this is merely the foundation from which Knopfler threads in a fair amount of olde British folk and other roots digressions. This delicate melancholy complements echoes of older Knopfler songs -- significant stretches of the record are reminiscent of the moodier aspects of Brothers in Arms, while "Beryl" has just a bit of the "Sultans of Swing" bounce -- and this skillful interweaving of Knopfler's personal past helps give Tracker a nicely gentle resonance.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Created in the summer of 2017, at the initiative of Canadian pianist Renee Rosnes for International Women's Day, Artemis is a collective, international, transgenerational, and exclusively female jazz group. Quite a unique phenomenon in this day and age. With a first eponymous album released on the Blue Note label in 2020, which was favourably received by international critics, this lineup is back to delivery this new opus, albeit with a slightly changed line-up — Ingrid Jensen retains her role on the trumpet and the rhythm section remains unchanged (Rosnes on piano, Noriko Ueda on double bass and Allison Miller on drums). However, the newcomer Nicole Glover takes the place of Melissa Aldana on tenor saxophone while Alexa Tarantino assumes the alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, and flute (replacing Anat Cohen). The album is divided into eight beautifully crafted themes (two covers by Lyle Mays (Slink) and Wayne Shorter (Penelope) and six original tracks showcasing the compositional talents of each member of the group). A vast register of forms covers the entire aesthetic spectrum of a jazzy modernity, so typical of the Blue Note label’s heritage. Artemis develops lyrical, sophisticated, and continually seductive music, varying in moods and colours with shimmering arrangements and solo interventions of great emotional intensity, without ever losing the overall coherence of their ambition. Renee Rosnes’ (pianist, arranger and musical director for the group) influence remains apparent throughout the album, anchoring the group’s music in the tradition which it has honoured for more than thirty years, together with illustrious musicians like Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter and even Ron Carter — but throughout this well-executed project, the richness of the album's content undoubtedly owes its body and soul to all the musicians involved. © Stéphane Ollivier/Qobuz

Every musician has their standout record, but Exodus is so much more than that for Bob Marley. Not only did this album propel the singer to whole new heights, but it also tells the story of an artist turned statesman. It’s 1976: Bob Marley thinks he’s reached the pinnacle of his career after Eric Clapton reveals his name to the world after covering his song I Shot the Sheriff. After the departure of Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer two years earlier, Bob Marley is the sole captain of his ship and has become a star in Jamaica, where a tumultuous election is brewing. Michael Manley, the Prime Minister, is up against Edward Seaga, a man who has the support of people living in the Tivoli Gardens district in Kingston. Seaga sent gangs to terrorise other areas of the city that didn’t favour him, and on the 3rd of December 1976, gunmen visited Bob Marley’s house. It was suspected that his political stance was leaning towards Manley, and the singer, his wife Rita and his manager Don Taylor were all shot at. Miraculously, no one died. Injured but still alive, Bob Marley took to the stage two days later at the Smile Jamaica Concert, revealing the wounds beneath his shirt and gaining popularity in the process. Despite this act of bravery, it would be his last show in Jamaica before his self-imposed exile to England.Once across the Atlantic, Bob Marley stepped into Island Studios in January 1977, as if he felt there was some kind of urgency to record his music. The album’s title, Exodus, obviously refers to his own exile, but it’s also a nod to the Rasta concept of repatriation, which advocates for a return to Africa. Feeling ultra-productive, Bob and his musicians recorded about twenty tracks, half of which were used for the following album, Kaya. Whilst the first half of the record is brimming with politically charged lyrics (Natural Mystic, Heathen and Exodus, as well as So Much Things to Say and Guiltiness), the rest is a lot more easy-going, including songs such as Waiting in Vain, Jamming and Three Little Birds. It’s clear Bob wanted to keep things as light-hearted as possible. The album concludes with the legendary Punky Reggae Party, a tribute to the reggae-infused English punk musicians. The track, with its frantic rhythm that’s worlds away from the Wailers typical sound, is a monumental moment, bringing together Lee Perry (who co-wrote the lyrics), Sly Dunbar (drums), and the members of the bands Aswad and Third World, who were also signed to Island.Upon its release, the record was an instant hit. Each single only propelled Bob Marley further into superstardom. When he finally returned to Jamaica on the 22nd of April 1978 for the One Love Peace Concert, he miraculously managed to bring enemies Michael Manley and Edward Seaga together on stage. He forced them to shake hands whilst the Wailers played the hit Jamming… a truly historical moment. © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz

The Weeknd's career deserved a best of. Shortly after the release and the worldwide success of After Hours in 2020, and without a doubt one of his best projects, The Highlights is a synthesis of ten years of music, ten years spent defining modern pop. So, let's say it right away, there are no surprises here in terms of the track list. We find The Weeknd's hits, including the latest phenomenon, Blinding Lights, but also I Feel it Coming , a duet with Daft Punk, or The Hills, which truly transformed him into a global pop star in 2016. With no new material, this Greatest Hits allows you to retrace the Canadian's discography, but also to make some detours through projects other than his albums, in particular thanks to Earned It from the soundtrack to the film 50 Shades of Grey, to Pray For Me from Black Panther, or Love Me Harder, featuring Ariana Grande and released on the album My Everything by the latter in 2014. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

As fatiguing as it is invigorating, as cold-blooded as it is heart-rending, as haphazardly splattered as it is meticulously sculpted, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is an extraordinarily complex 70-minute set of songs. Listening to it, much like saying or typing its title, is a laborious process. In some ways, it's the culmination of Kanye West's first four albums, but it does not merely draw characteristics from each one of them. The 13 tracks, eight of which are between five and nine minutes in length, sometimes fuse them together simultaneously. Consequently, the sonic and emotional layers are often difficult to pry apart and enumerate. Nothing exemplifies its contrasting elements and maniacal extravagance as much as "All of the Lights." Rattling, raw, synthetic toms are embellished with brass, woodwinds, and strings. It’s a celebration of fame ("Fast cars, shooting stars") and a lament of its consequences ("Restraining order/Can't see my daughter"). Its making involved 42 people, including not one but two French horn players and over a dozen high-profile vocalists, only some of which are perceptible. At once, the song features one of the year's most rugged beats while supplying enough opulent detail to make Late Registration collaborator Jon Brion's head spin. "Blame Game" chills more than anything off 808s & Heartbreak. Sullen solo-piano Aphex Twin plays beneath morose cello; with a chorus from John Legend, a dejected, embittered West -- whose voice toggles between naturally clear-sounding and ominously pitched-down as it pans back and forth -- tempers wistfully-written, maliciously-delivered lines like "Been a long time since I spoke to you in a bathroom, ripping you up, fuckin' and chokin' you" with untreated and distinctively pained confessions like "I can't love you this much." The contrast in "Devil in a New Dress," featuring Rick Ross, is of a different sort; a throwback soul production provided by the Smokey Robinson-sampling Bink, it's as gorgeous as any of West's own early work, yet it's marred by an aimless instrumental stretch, roughly 90 seconds in length, that involves some incongruent electric guitar flame-out. Even less explicable is the last third of the nine-minute "Runaway," when West blows into a device and comes out sounding something like a muffled, bristly version of Robert Fripp's guitar. The only thing that remains unchanged is West's lyrical accuracy; for every rhyme that stuns, there's one deserving of mockery from any given contestant off the The White Rapper Show. As the ego and ambition swells, so does the appeal, the repulsiveness, and -- most importantly -- the ingenuity. Whether loved or loathed, fully enjoyed or merely admired, this album should be regarded as a deeply fascinating accomplishment.© Andy Kellman /TiVo

To the thousands of questions raised about themselves, the Arctic Monkeys answer Whatever People Say I Am, I Am Not. Their success story, born in bars and on the Internet, is as huge as it is dazzling. Smashing the British sales record – over 360,000 albums sold in a week −, they receive this memorable accolade from the Times: Bigger than the Beatles! In Great Britain, ever since the Libertines have burnt out, the horizon had turned dull grey. All until this fluorescent-adolescent quartet from Sheffield. Led by the timid Alex Turner, the Monkeys concocted for this perfect first album thirteen frantic tracks bordering on genius, that the NME ranked 19th in its 500 Greatest albums of all time list. It featured everything that had been missing from the rock landscape. Incisive guitar riffs for Turner’s scruffy compositions (The View From The Afternoon, I Bet You Look Better On The Dancefloor, Dancing Shoes) and Matt Helders’ cheeky drums. Andy Nicholson on the bass for the last time. They play, hard and fast. The whole thing is overflowing with extensive lyrics about the daily life of the English working class. Shiny but not polished, youthful but well formed. Recorded in the country side, in the Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire, this opus draws from the Strokes’ nonchalance (Riot Van), Franz Ferdinand’s dancing energy (Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured) and the Libertines’ phlegm (Mardy Bum), while also drawing inspiration from their idols, the Jam, the Smiths, and Oasis, already putting down their very own trademarks for years to come. © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz

After the success of 1974's Natty Dread and 1976's Rastaman Vibration, Bob Marley was not only the most successful reggae musician in the world, he was one of the most powerful men in Jamaica. Powerful enough, in fact, that he was shot by gunmen who broke into his home in December 1976, days before he was to play a massive free concert intended to ease tensions days before a contentious election for Jamaican Prime Minister. In the wake of the assassination attempt, Marley and his band left Jamaica and settled in London for two years, where he recorded 1977's Exodus. Thematically, Exodus represented a subtle but significant shift for Marley; while he continued to speak out against political corruption and for freedom and equality for Third World people, his lyrics dealt less with specifics and more with generalities and the need for peace and love (though "So Much Things to Say," "Guiltiness," and "The Heathen" demonstrate the bullets had taken only so much sting out of Marley's lyrics). And while songs like "Exodus" and "One Love/People Get Ready" were anthemic, they also had less to say than the more pointed material from Marley's earlier albums. However, if Marley had become more wary in his point of view (and not without good cause), his skill as a songwriter was as strong as ever, and Exodus boasted more than a few classics, including the title song, "Three Little Birds," "Waiting in Vain," and "Turn Your Lights Down Low," tunes that defined Marley's gift for sounding laid-back and incisive at once. His gifts as a vocalist were near their peak on these sessions, bringing a broad range of emotional color to his performances, and this lineup of the Wailers -- anchored by bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett, drummer Carlton Barrett, and guitarist Julian "Junior" Murvin -- is superb, effortlessly in the pocket throughout. Exodus was recorded at a time when Bob Marley was learning about the unexpected costs of international stardom, but it hadn't yet sapped his creative strengths, and this is one of the finest albums in his stellar catalog.© Mark Deming /TiVo

Graduation's pre-leak talk wasn't as substantive as it was with Kanye West's first two albums. As with just about any other artist's third album, it had to be expected. The College Dropout was one of the most anticipated debuts of the early 2000s, while Late Registration had people wondering why Kanye would feel the need to work so extensively with multi-instrumentalist rock producer Jon Brion (the J Dilla of the chamberlin) and whether or not Kanye's hubristic tendencies would get the better of it. With Graduation, there was Takashi Murakami's artwork, a silly first-week sales competition with the decreasingly relevant 50 Cent, and chatter about synthesizers running wild. That was about it, but it all seemed loud and prevalent, due in part to a lack of high-profile rap albums released in 2007. Graduation is neither as bold nor as scattered as The College Dropout, and it's neither as extroverted nor as sonically rich as Late Registration. Kanye still makes up for his shortcomings as an MC and lyricist by remaining charmingly clumsy, frequently dealing nonsense through suspect rhyme schemes: "I never be picture-perfect Beyoncé/Be light as Al B. or black as Chauncey/Remember him from Blackstreet, he was black as the street was/I never be laid-back as this beat was." The songs that are thematically distanced, introspective, and/or wary -- there are many of them -- are, in turn, made more palatable than insufferable. That his humor remains a constant is a crucial aspect of the album, especially considering that most other MCs would sound embittered and hostile if they were handling similar subjects, like haters new and old, being a braggart with a persistent underdog complex, getting wrapped up in spending and flaunting, and the many hassles of being a hedonist. Those who have admired Kanye as a sharp producer while detesting him as an inept MC might find the gleaming synth sprites, as heard most prominently throughout "Flashing Lights" and "Stronger," to be one of the most glaring deal-breakers in hip-hop history. Though the synthesizer use marks a clear, conscious diversion from Kanye's past productions, highlights like "I Wonder," "The Glory," and "Everything I Am" are deeply rooted in the Kanye of old, using nostalgia-inducing samples, elegant pianos and strings, and gospel choirs. So, no, he's not dreaming of fronting A Flock of Seagulls or joining Daft Punk. He's being his shrewd, occasionally foolish, and adventurous self.© Andy Kellman /TiVo

Time takes its cues more from such bands as the Alan Parsons Project and Wings than from Jeff Lynne's fascination with Pepper-era Beatles. Sure, all the electronic whirrs and bleeps are present and accounted for, and Time did spawn hit singles in "Hold on Tight" and "Twilight," but on the average, ELO had begun to get too stuck on the same structure and content of their releases. "The Way Life's Meant to Be" echoes very early ELO hits like "Can't Get It Out of My Head," and the "Prologue" and "Epilogue" segments try and bring about a unifying concept that doesn't quite hold up upon listening all the way through. Time proves to be competent ELO but not great ELO.© James Chrispell /TiVo