Real Power is Gossip's first album in 12 years, when singer Beth Ditto walked away to launch a solo career, act, start a clothing line and model. She has admitted to needing a break, but that "in the music industry you're not allowed to have that. So you end up making things you don't like. You become a product." Indeed, Gossip's last record, A Joyful Noise, felt a bit phoned-in after the hurricane force of their mid-aughts, indie sleaze-defining output. Now, the band is recharged, but bearing battle scars—Ditto divorced her wife, who she had been with since she was 18; lost her father; and fell out of sorts with co-founder and guitarist Nathan "Brace Paine" Howdeshell after he became a born-again Christian. The two have repaired their relationship and, along with drummer Hannah Blilie, they're not just re-treading the same old ground. For one thing, producer Rick Rubin—a Buddhist and Transcendental Meditation devotee who can rock out with the best of them—was a fascinating choice to oversee their comeback, and Ditto has said he brought a needed calm and peace to the proceedings. That does not mean boring. Songs like "Tough" and "Don't Be Afraid" feel stripped down and vulnerable compared to old Gossip records; that's not to say stark, but the air shifts to allow Ditto to bare a tender, Freda Payne-esque side. "Crazy Again" is subdued but with sunny guitar and a great kick-in, as Ditto seems to sing about finding love after divorce: "Don't invite me home/ I'm fragile at the moment/ Heart of glass." "Turn the Card Slowly," meanwhile, feels haunted—its edgy, lone-wolf guitar line tracking lines such as "Is it the last time?/ Was it the first time?/ Your love is a swinging door"; it's like a transmission from some alternate Stevie Nicks universe. "Edge of the Sun" is velveteen dance-floor pop, "Give It Up for Love" plays with New Wave disco, and "Light It Up" applies a sing-song melody to emo-pop mid-tempo balladry. "Act of God" is an absolute fearless delight: a thick slab of Motown soul set to cheeky organ and a great galloping rhythm, conjuring wild horses tromping across a landscape. And the title track sounds like revolution via the revelation that it's not enough just to make a difference in an insular community. Accompanied by cool funk guitar and buzzy synth, Ditto sounds every bit the soul diva as she declares "Rhythm in my blood, my heart is pounding … I want real power." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

The sixth studio long player from the Windy City-based outfit, Immortalized finds Disturbed bolting down the house they finished building on 2010's Asylum, offering up a 13-track slab of vintage mid- to late-2000s heavy rock piled high with bottom-heavy riffs, piston-like percussion, and big modern rock radio-ready choruses filled with randomly generated declarations of defiance. To say that the old "if it's broke don't fix it" idiom looms large over the proceedings is a bit of an understatement, but Disturbed's particular brand of 21st century hard rock has brought in enough platinum over the years to warrant a bit of metathesiophobia, and their myriad post-hiatus projects ultimately failed to yield the same dividends. With that noted, the listener's likelihood of deriving any kind of enjoyment from the album is directly related to their amore for previous outings, and Immortalized has more than its share of vintage Disturbed goodies, like the soaring first single "The Vengeful One," the stadium-ready "Who Taught You How to Hate," and the nervy Muse-lite title track. The band's shamelessly melodramatic reading of Simon & Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence," which effectively utilizes the pared-down piano and vocal treatment that helped Gary Jules resurrect Tears for Fears' "Mad World," and the anthemic and refreshingly upbeat mid-album gem "The Light," impress with their unabashed theatricality and strong vocal turns from David Draiman. And as per usual, Don Donegan's stellar guitar work is the glue that keeps the whole affair from disappearing into the populist ether. However, a five-year break between albums should lend itself to a bit of growth, even for a band as everyman as Disturbed, but there's just not much here to keep the group's detractors from bringing out their pitchforks, and over time, staying the course may leave fewer and fewer townsfolk to protect them.© James Christopher Monger /TiVo

The third album in Jacob Collier's ambitious Djesse series, 2020's Djesse, Vol. 3 finds the acclaimed British singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist exploring a vibrant mix of contemporary R&B, vintage-inspired funk, and hip-hop, all woven together by his kaleidoscopic electronic-based production. The set follows Collier's previous Djesse albums and again features a bevy of guest artists. This time out, he joins forces with Jessie Reyez and T-Pain on the kinetic "Count the People," Mahalia and Ty Dolla $ign on the lushly emotive "All I Need," and Tori Kelly on the swaggeringly soulful "Running Outta Love." We also get equally compelling contributions by Kimbra, Daniel Caesar, and Kiana Ledé. These are all gorgeously rendered songs that again underline Collier's reputation as a pop virtuoso, ably bringing together his love of '70s soul, jazz, EDM, and hooky pop.© Matt Collar /TiVo

Throughout 1969 and into 1970, CCR toured incessantly and recorded nearly as much. Appropriately, Cosmo's Factory's first single was the working band's anthem "Travelin' Band," a funny, piledriving rocker with a blaring horn section -- the first indication their sonic palette was broadening. Two more singles appeared prior to the album's release, backed by John Fogerty originals that rivaled the A-side or paled just slightly. When it came time to assemble a full album, Fogerty had only one original left, the claustrophobic, paranoid rocker "Ramble Tamble." Unlike some extended instrumentals, this was dramatic and had a direction -- a distinction made clear by the meandering jam that brings CCR's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" to 11 minutes. Even if it wanders, their take on the Marvin Gaye classic isn't unpleasant, and their faithful, exuberant takes on the Sun classics "Ooby Dooby" and "My Baby Left Me" are joyous tributes. Still, the heart of the album lays in those six fantastic songs released on singles. "Up Around the Bend" is a searing rocker, one of their best, balanced by the menacing murkiness of "Run Through the Jungle." "Who'll Stop the Rain"'s poignant melody and melancholy undertow has a counterpart in Fogerty's dope song, "Lookin' out My Back Door," a charming, bright shuffle, filled with dancing animals and domestic bliss - he had never been as sweet and silly as he is here. On "Long as I Can See the Light," the record's final song, he again finds solace in home, anchored by a soulful, laid-back groove. It hits a comforting, elegiac note, the perfect way to draw Cosmo's Factory -- an album made during stress and chaos, filled with raging rockers, covers, and intense jams -- to a close.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Paolo Nutini's fifth studio album, 2022's Last Night in the Bittersweet, finds the Scottish singer/songwriter bringing together all of the soulful and deeply literate aspects of his sound. The album, which arrives on the heels of an eight-year hiatus following 2014's Caustic Love, kicks off in experimental fashion with "Afterneath," an explosive rock collage in which he screams in wordlessly throaty Robert Plant-fashion against a driving post-punk groove. All of this functions as a swirling backdrop to frame a sample of Patricia Arquette's iconic "You're so cool" monologue (penned by Quentin Tarantino) as her character Alabama from the 1993 film True Romance. While nothing as avant-garde pops-up again on Last Night in the Bittersweet, the opening dreamscape works to introduce the mature and deeply artistic vibe Nutini conjures moving forward. In the movie True Romance, Arquette's speech works as an invocation of true love, tested by adversity and unbreakable even by death. Last Night in the Bittersweet feels borne out of a similar romantic turbulence, as if Nutini has been through a tough period of his life, only to emerge with a stronger and more emotionally grounded sense of himself. Last Night in the Bittersweet has the sprawling character of a classic vinyl double-album, like something Todd Rundgren might have released in the mid-'70s, straddling singer/songwriter pop craftsmanship and art rock swagger. There's a gorgeously analog quality to the album, as if much of it was recorded live in-studio. There's also a feeling that Nutini is drawing upon his varied influences and making them his own. "Radio" is a brilliant pop moment, evoking the emotive work of Peter Gabriel, while "Petrified in Love," with its wiry guitars and Vox organ accents, smartly draws upon the early '80s sound of artists like Tom Petty and Elvis Costello. Nutini is perhaps best on Last Night in the Bittersweet when he sinks with closed-eye intensity into the languid, country-tinged balladry of "Through the Echoes," or frames his warm, double-tracked vocals in sun-dappled orchestration as on the Carpenters-sounding "Julianne." It's an album that leaves you feeling quietly joyful and, as in the spare, poignant closer "Writer," in which Nutini ruminates on the interplay between art and life, might just make you cry.© Matt Collar /TiVo

Bruce Springsteen's debut album found him squarely in the tradition of Bob Dylan: folk-based tunes arranged for an electric band featuring piano and organ (plus, in Springsteen's case, 1950s-style rock & roll tenor saxophone breaks), topped by acoustic guitar and a husky voice singing lyrics full of elaborate, even exaggerated imagery. But where Dylan had taken a world-weary, cynical tone, Springsteen was exuberant. His street scenes could be haunted and tragic, as they were in "Lost in the Flood," but they were still imbued with romanticism and a youthful energy. Asbury Park painted a portrait of teenagers cocksure of themselves, yet bowled over by their discovery of the world. It was saved from pretentiousness (if not preciousness) by its sense of humor and by the careful eye for detail that kept even the most high-flown language rooted. Like the lyrics, the arrangements were busy, but the melodies were well developed and the rhythms, pushed by drummer Vincent Lopez, were breakneck.© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

Beth Hart commands the stage with just one click of her fingers! The Californian tigress is still as feisty as ever without getting caught up in the clichés. In this live performance recorded on May 4th 2018 in London’s most prestigious setting, the Royal Albert Hall, she sets up her very own cabaret mixing blues, jazz and vintage soul. A woman who honours Nina Simone, Howlin’ Wolf, Dinah Washington, Buddy Guy and so many other key personalities of rhythm’n’blues, she shows us the full extent of her talent during this two-hour show. With a microphone to hand or sat behind her piano, what impresses us most is Beth Hart’s ability to mix all her musical influences and produce one very personal cocktail. Her secret? Her voice, of course. A kind of unstoppable magnet that pulls every word, every sentence, every chorus and which is made even more powerful by her contact with the audience. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz

Released in time for the 21st anniversary of the Rolling Stones' 1995 live album Stripped, Eagle Rock's Totally Stripped package focuses on the visual element. At its simplest, it's a CD/DVD set, with the DVD containing a documentary following the Stones through studio sessions and rehearsals for their club shows in London, Amsterdam, and Paris, while a super deluxe set contains Blu-rays of the full concerts of each of these gigs. In each incarnation, the CD cherry-picks highlights from these live shows, presenting 13 previously unheard performances plus recycling a "Street Fighting Man" initially released on Stripped. That 1995 album didn't rely strictly on hits: the Stones emphasized their roots, covering Buddy Holly, Willie Dixon, and Robert Johnson, while also finding space for country-rock and such rarely played '60s gems as "The Spider and the Fly" and "I'm Free." Comparatively, the CD on Totally Stripped plays it fairly straight, concentrating on hits and live staples. The curve balls are "Faraway Eyes," the Voodoo Lounge single "I Go Wild," and a cover of "Like a Rolling Stone" that was designed as the emphasis track for the Stripped project. So, there may not be a lot of surprises here, but this particular disc retains the same appeal as the original album. Moving from stadiums to theaters reinvigorated the Stones, letting them reconnect with their lithe essence. Charlie Watts drives these performances, giving them a big, hard swing; Keith Richards and Ron Wood weave their guitars with audible glee; and Mick Jagger doesn't toss off the songs, he sings them with the precision his words deserve. The Stones wound up touring for another 20-plus years but this marks a point when they begin to ease into their veteran status, getting more out of revisiting the old tunes than pushing the new ones.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

As a songwriter for other contemporary pop stars, Ryan Tedder has proven his talent for writing intensely catchy songs that stick in people's heads. This is evidenced not only by his success producing songs for such artists as Adele, Leona Lewis, and Maroon 5, but also with his own band OneRepublic. And as with 2006's Dreaming Out Loud and 2009's Waking Up, One Republic's 2013 third studio album, Native, once again gives Tedder a vehicle to turn his hitmaking abilities on himself, and in the process, steal just a little bit of the spotlight away from his more recognizable clients. And why shouldn't he? Tedder has a burnished, resonant singing voice and passionate, emotive vocal style that's perfectly suited for the uplifting crossover songs he so expertly writes. In many ways, OneRepublic are a clearing house for mainstream pop sensibilities, and Native is no exception, with songs such as "If I Lose Myself Again," "I Lived," and "Au Revoir," touching upon the soaring, piano-driven alt-rock of Coldplay, the funky, synthetic, blue-eyed-soul of Maroon 5, and the slick yet earnest R&B balladry of any number of modern divas. Which isn't to say that the songs on Native are unremarkable. On the contrary, Tedder reveals a broad palette of stylistic inspiration, and cuts like the roiling, romantic "Light It Up" and the atmospheric and yearning "Can't Stop" touch upon the ruminative qualities of indie rock, the falsetto-heavy tones of Prince-styled lead vocals, and the wide-eyed drama of '80s Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. Elsewhere on Native, tracks like "Counting Starts" reveal that Tedder has clearly been listening to the British folk-rockers Mumford & Sons and, as evidenced by the percussive operatic of "Feel Again," Florence and the Machine. Of course, with Tedder having possibly worked with any one of the artists mentioned here prior to recording Native, one could argue that he's merely been listening to his own music. Ultimately, that music, as heard on Native, remains as catchy as ever.© Matt Collar /TiVo

A misconception has sometimes been associate with Norah Jones: that the Texan is little more than a pleasant light-jazz singer whose albums serve as harmless background music for high-brow and proper evening dinners. Though her writing, playing and eclectic collaborations, she has clearly proved that she is far more interesting than this cliché. And this 2020 offering is a new illustration of her complexity. As is often the case with Norah Jones, Pick Me Up Off the Floor is not quite jazz, not quite blues, not quite country, etc… Her genre-defying music works primarily to suit the song being played. Here we find what has been left behind after sessions with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Thomas Bartlett, Mavis Staples, Rodrigo Amarante and several others.But for all that the result is not simply a contrived mishmash of collaborations but a collection of songs that hold the same silky groove (present on six out of 11 tracks on the record in which Brian Blade’s drums work delicate miracles) and calm sound which increasingly suits the artist, somewhere between pure poetry and realism. “Every session I’ve done, there’ve been extra songs I didn’t release, and they’ve sort of been collecting for the last two years. I became really enamoured with them, having the rough mixes on my phone, listening while I walk the dog. The songs stayed stuck in my head and I realised that they had this surreal thread running through them. It feels like a fever dream taking place somewhere between God, the Devil, the heart, the Country, the planet, and me.” Rarely has Norah Jones sang with such strength, like on I’m Alive where she sings of women’s resilience, or on How I Weep in which she tackles love and exasperation with unequalled grace. This Deluxe Edition contains two bonus tracks and a collection of 17 songs culled from Norah’s Live From Home weekly livestream series. Thie Live From Home selections include a mix of career-spanning originals and such covers as Guns N’Roses’ Patience, John Prine’s That’s The Way The World Goes Round and Ravi Shankar’s I Am Missing You. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Renting out an abandoned convent on the outskirts of New York City to record the follow-up to the hellacious Rocks may not have been the best idea, but 1977's Draw the Line still managed to be another down-and-dirty Aerosmith release. While it wasn't as awe-inspiring as their last two albums -- the members have said that the music suddenly got "cloudy" around this time (due to in-band fighting/ego clashes, excessive living, etc.), Draw the Line catches fire more times than not. Unlike their most recent album successes, the band shies away from studio experimenting and dabbling in different styles; instead they return to simple, straight-ahead hard rock. The album-opening title track features a gloriously abrasive Joe Perry slide guitar riff and has been featured in concert ever since, while the punk-esque "Bright Light Fright" featured Perry's first ever lead vocal spot on an Aerosmith record. Other highlights include a reworking of the blues obscurity "Milk Cow Blues," which Perry's pre-Aerosmith group, the Jam Band, played live, as well as "I Wanna Know Why," "Critical Mass," "Get It Up," "Kings and Queens," and "Sight for Sore Eyes." Draw the Line would turn out to be the last true studio album from Aerosmith's original lineup for nearly a decade.© Greg Prato /TiVo

For years, decades even, Bruce Springsteen was legendary for the amount of recordings he did not release. Every time he cut an album, he recorded a surplus of songs and left some out, not always on the basis of quality, but often because they simply didn't suit the mood of the record. It was inevitable that dedicated fans and collectors would bootleg these recordings, and for many years, he was one of the most popular bootlegged artists, rivaling even Bob Dylan. Dylan released a box set of unreleased songs in 1991, paving the way for the long-overdue appearance of a similar Springsteen set, Tracks, in 1998. Spanning four discs, it isn't entirely devoted to unreleased material -- a few B-sides pop up here and there -- nor is it truly definitive, since it misses a number of key outtakes, plus his original version of "Because the Night," the sole hit for Patti Smith. Instead, the compilation is an unassuming sampling of what's in the vaults, from his early acoustic demos to polished outtakes from Human Touch and Lucky Town. Along the way, there are a number of great songs -- "Bishop Danced" is every bit as terrific as its legend, as are "Thundercrack," "Give the Girl a Kiss," "Hearts of Stone," "Roulette," and many others. Tracks merely offers fans an enjoyably sequenced selection of what was left behind. If the end result isn't as revelatory as some may have expected (even the acoustic "Born in the U.S.A.," powerful as it is, doesn't sound any different than you may have imagined it), it's because Springsteen is, at heart, a solid craftsman, not a blinding visionary like Dylan. That's why Tracks is for the dedicated fan, where The Bootleg Series and The Basement Tapes are flat-out essential for rock fans.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Described by the band alternately as "a fresh new perspective" and "the beginning of a new era of Pea world domination" and "what is actually happening in the world right now," The Beginning inevitably follows The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies), which boasted the number one single in America -- either "Boom Boom Pow" or "I Gotta Feeling" -- during fully half of 2009, including every single summer day (and then some). Although the lead single here prominently samples an '80s touchstone, and on the cover the Peas are displayed as pixelated preteens, Nintendo fashion, The Beginning isn’t a nostalgia trip. Barring a Slick Rick or Chic sample here and a Mr. Roboto reference there (plus buckets of hi-res synth driving the productions), nothing else directly evokes the '80s. As on their last two LPs, it's heavily reliant on nightclub sloganeering and will.i.am’s purposefully (?) lame throwback rapping, alongside Auto-Tune harmonies and waves of synth. David Guetta appears on only one track, but his production job for 2009's "I Gotta Feeling" casts a long shadow on this record of don’t-stop-the-party jams and half-baked club-life anthems. It leads off with a pumping first single, "The Time (Dirty Bit)," oddly built off "(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life," the inescapably treacly duet by Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes from 1987's Dirty Dancing. The album was announced in July 2010 and released four months later, but it still sounds as though it was rush-recorded and rush-released, the results of a string of late-nighters by will.i.am and co-producer DJ Ammo. (Perhaps their latest date with destiny, aka the halftime show of Super Bowl XLV, had something to do with it.) There are plentiful will.i.am vocals and comparatively few features for Fergie and the others, and the songs don't burrow into your head, earworm-style, like "My Humps" or "Boom Boom Pow." Still, there are scattered moments of respectability, including that lone David Guetta production, "The Best One Yet (The Boy)," and "Don't Stop the Party."© John Bush /TiVo