Her sensual voice is irresistible. Elizabeth Grant, aka Lana Del Rey, could sing the instruction manual for a wireless vacuum cleaner and she would still have our full attention. Even when she invites the whole world to join her (A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd, Stevie Nicks and Sean Lennon all featured on Lust For Life, her album released in 2017), she lives in her own little world where time moves slow and melancholy reigns supreme. Making music is her way of talking about her era, her contemporaries, the American Dream and, as far as we can tell, herself... With its shocking title, stylised album cover (featuring Duke Nicholson, Jack Nicholson’s grandson, aboard a boat sailing away from a burning coast) and her particularly slow tempos (only ballads here), Norman Fucking Rockwell! is largely rooted in folk. Del Rey roams around this great soundscape, more melancholic and evanescent than ever. She closely collaborated with Jack Antonoff on this album (a sought-after producer for pop stars such as Taylor Swift, St. Vincent, Lorde, Carly Rae Jepsen and Pink) and the producer shapes her melancholy with equal amounts of sobriety and slickness. The slow rhythms on this beautiful record offer a welcome break from the turbulence of today. One of the tracks that stands out is a cover of Sublime’s Doin’ Time (1996), itself a new interpretation of Gershwin’s Summertime, offering further proof of Lana Del Rey’s originality, something which is much more complex than some would have us believe... © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Released three years after Kenny Rogers' passing in 2020, Life Is Like a Song consists of material he recorded between 2008 and 2011 -- a span of time also roughly covered the recordings that comprised You Can't Make Old Friends, the slick and splashy 2013 affair that was his first high-profile studio album in eons. Unlike that record, Life Is Like a Song is fairly understated. Dolly Parton is the only superstar guest -- Jamie O'Neal and Kim Keyes both contribute accomplished duets -- and the songs favor sentimentality so strongly, the record concludes with Lionel Richie's "Goodbye" serving as a slightly cornball farewell. Then again, one of Rogers' specialties was delivering corny material in a convincingly honeyed murmur and so it is here as he sings songs of love with a warm, gentle touch. If the songs veer toward somnolence, that doesn't necessarily detract from the album's mellow charm. It finds Rogers in good voice and spirits, which is enough to be a nice little epilogue to a career filled with songs as soft, slow, and comforting as these.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /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

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Recorded and released in 1961, Judy at Carnegie Hall is one of the greatest live albums of all time, and the greatest of Garland's career. There's true electricity in each song, and her renditions of "That's Entertainment," "The Man That Got Away," and "Come Rain or Come Shine" will give you goose bumps, they're so loaded with emotion. With relentless verve, Garland takes on her entire musical catalogue with astonishing aplomb. There is little sign of the decades of self-abuse which had left her frail by the early '60s. But what we are fortunate enough to have is the magic and youth of her voice. Especially poignant are "You Go to My Head," "Just You, Just Me," and her reading of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."© Lindsay Planer /TiVo

You’d be forgiven if you thought Selena Gomez & the Scene’s third album in three years, 2011's When the Sun Goes Down, might show signs of a dip in quality control due to cranking out albums so quickly. You’d be wrong, though, because When the Sun Goes Down is actually an improvement over 2010's Year Without Rain. Where that record tried to position Gomez as a more serious and adult artist with varying levels of success, here she’s back to mostly being a young and breezy, happy-go-lucky pop singer. With a couple exceptions, the songs are sassier, lighter, and more fun. Her vocals are more spirited, the arrangements less reliant on heavy synths, and overall, there’s a more playful feeling to the record that’s more in keeping with her first album. She bubbles her way through dancefloor-friendly tracks like “Bang Bang Bang” and “That’s More Like It,” smolders a little (on her duet with Pixie Lott “We Own the Night” and "Middle of Nowhere"), and comes on like a convincing disco diva on “Hit the Lights.” The only stumble is the overly earnest empowerment anthem “Who Says,” which comes off a little stiff and out of place. It’s a tiny speck of a flaw though; the rest is really solid and fun modern pop with sharp hooks and a couple surprises, namely the stomping jam “Whiplash,” which channels Goldfrapp’s electro glam and throws in a charmingly odd spoken word section that for some reason is done with a British-y accent. It adds some welcome weirdness to an otherwise straightforward record, and shows how easily and successfully she can slip into different personas and styles. Perhaps a bit too easily, as ultimately, Gomez has yet to stake out an identify all her own: a point driven home in the album’s booklet, which features Gomez in a series of images of her in different guises, from Ann-Margret-style sex kitten to 1930s film star. She seems to be acting out the songs, more than actually feeling the emotions she’s singing about. Which is perfectly fine for disposable pop albums, but if she wants to make a real impact, she’ll need to dig a little deeper or stake out her own territory. That’s for the future, though. For now, as long as she makes records as good and as much fun as When the Sun Goes Down, everything will be fine.© Tim Sendra /TiVo

Brenton Wood's first LP for Double Shot records (or anybody, for that matter), it followed fast on the heels of his chart smash "The Oogum Boogum Song," an infectious ditty where Wood's elastic, charming vocals made you overlook the songs' Mickey Mouse production. As enticing is Wood's sincere delivery of "I Think You Got Your Fools Mixed Up." Also featured are a rendition of Count Five's (labelmates) "Psychotic Reactions" and his follow-up chartbuster "Gimme a Little Sign." A simplistic but arresting -- due solely to Wood's unpredictable vocalizing -- album. But at 23 minutes total running time, it's over before you can get your groove on. Out of print, but the best cuts are available on various best-of Brenton Wood CDs.© Andrew Hamilton /TiVo

Recorded live in France in 1982 but not released on CD in the U.S. until 1990, Heart Still Beating isn't quite in a class with Roxy Music's first live album, Viva, but nonetheless gives us a lot to be excited about. Lead singer Bryan Ferry and guitarist Phil Manzanera sound quite inspired much of the time, and Manzanera delivers some excellent solos. Longtime Roxy devotees will want to savor engaging versions of "Out of the Blue" and "Both Ends Burning" (both of which were heard on Viva), as well as such favorites as "Dance Away," "Avalon" and the clever "Love Is the Drug." Roxy comes closer to a mainstream rock sound on enjoyable interpretations of Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" and John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," but even then, the distinctive band's quirky art-rock tendencies remain.© Alex Henderson /TiVo

Their seventh full-length effort, the aptly named Love Lines, finds LP reflecting on the myriad ways devotion and intimacy intersect our lives, digging deep into past relationships, current dalliances, family, and self with honesty and curiosity. From doubt ("Golden") to rapture ("Wild"), LP constantly adjusts their freewheeling rock & roll to meet the moment, trafficking in elements of sweeping symphonic rock ("Long Goodbye") and Latin pop ("Hola") to deliver a potent and expertly crafted set of songs that play to all of their strengths.© Tivo Staff /TiVo

You and The Night and The Music is a wonderful collection of standards, augmented by two originals from Helen Merrill and Torrie Zito. Merrill's voice hasn't weakened much over the years, and there's true warmth to her performances on this album. She's supported by an impressive band, featuring bassist Charlie Haden, drummer Paul Motian, trumpeter Bob Millikan and pianists Masabumi Kikuchi and Torrie Zito. There's a relaxed charm to the music that helps make You & The Night & The Music one of her better latter-day efforts.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Selena Gomez has been a lot of things in her short career -- a Disney star, a steady source of tabloid fodder, an aspiring actress -- but what sometimes gets overlooked is that, since 2009, she's been making really good records that put her right at the top of her generation of pop singers. For You collects some of the biggest singles and best songs from her four albums, her "duet" with Selena ("Bidi Bidi Bom Bom"), and a couple new songs as well. At her best, Gomez has a light and nimble vocal style that fits into a wide variety of styles and always delivers just the right level of emotion without ever overselling. She feels natural delivering sweet pop anthems like "Who Says," hitting the sad disco on "Round & Round," or rocking out a little on "Falling Down." Mostly, though, she sticks to danceable, slightly melancholic dance pop, and this collection makes clear just how good she is at it. The only ballad included is the newly recorded, very adult and real-sounding "The Heart Wants What It Wants," and she acquits herself well here too. The other new track is "Do It," a rollicking midtempo pop jam that's also very "adult," to the point that any preteens checking it out may need to have a few things explained to them. Gomez might not be a belter or have the electric personality of some of her contemporaries; what she does possess is style, a winning voice, and lots of good songs -- as For You proves again and again.© Tim Sendra /TiVo