The title Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones is slightly misleading, suggesting that Madonna topped the pop charts 50 times. The 50 Number Ones in the title of Finally Enough Love refer to the hits Madonna placed at the top of Billboard's dance charts, a chart she called home even longer than the pop charts themselves. The last time Madonna placed in the Billboard Top Ten was in 2012, when "Give Me All Your Luvin" peaked at ten, but she remained a dominant presence on the Dance charts into the 2020s, when "I Don't Search I Find" -- a single that lends this compilation its title phrase -- reached number one in 2020. Truth be told, Madonna had more than 50 dance chart-toppers -- "Causing a Commotion" is notable among the absences -- but it's difficult to find fault with a compilation this generous, particularly when it offers such revelations as well. Positioning Madonna as a dance artist helps emphasize her innovations while suggesting she remained a vital part of dance culture for decades. Viewing her through this prism naturally downplays her pop sensibilities and gift for sultry ballads, yet it still comes as a shock that the '80s hits are wrapped up in nine songs, while the '90s are concluded at the collection's 22nd track with "Beautiful Stranger." This means well over half of the collection is devoted to the 21st century, a period when Madonna was a superstar yet only occasionally in center stage. Effectively, this is the photo negative of Celebration, the 2009 album that contains all the pop radio staples: where that largely played for comfort, this is percolating and alive, with even the biggest hits being offered in alternate single or video edits or different mixes. The result is a compilation that pushes Madonna's artistry to the forefront, as it shows a musician who continually engages with fashions, trends, and innovations. Certainly, this doesn't tell the entirety of Madonna's story, but it's a crucial chapter to document and, fortunately, it's done so quite thoroughly here.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

The full range of Ben Harper's influences would not come to bear until later albums, but his debut, Welcome to the Cruel World, lays a strong foundation. "Like a King" and "Take That Attitude to Your Grave" burn with a political conviction rarely heard during the 1990s. "Forever" has a tenderness which demonstrates Harper's emotional range. Lackluster hippie jams that cultivated his early following may have served a purpose but feel fluffy by comparison when compared to the meatier tracks. Ben closes the album with a song that frequently closes his concerts, "I'll Rise." This song, built around Maya Angelou's 1979 poem "And Still I Rise," reminds one of art's ability to pierce through society, self, and the soul.© Ryan Randall Goble /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

When Boz Scaggs signed with Virgin Records after spending at least 17 years with Columbia, listeners had no idea what to expect. Some Change proved to be a pleasant surprise. Instead of going out of his way to be as slick and commercial as possible or offering something contrived and robotic, the singer-turned-restaurant-owner let his better instincts win out and delivered a very honest and natural-sounding collection of pop, pop/rock, and soul-influenced pop. On songs ranging from the smooth "I'll Be the One" (which has a slightly Average White Band-ish appeal) and the haunting "Sierra" to the ominous "Follow That Man," there's no question that Scaggs is coming from the heart. Arguably, Some Change is his best album since 1976's Silk Degrees. © Alex Henderson /TiVo

This Is What We Do is the fifth album from the Neil Barnes' Leftfield project and comes some seven years after 2015's Alternative Light Source. The album sees Barnes bringing a fresh take to the dub-propelled breaks and bass of Leftfield’s past. Guest vocals come from reggae legend Earl 16, Fontaines D.C.'s Grian Chatten, and poet Lemn Sissay.© Rich Wilson /TiVo

In less than four years, Simple Minds produced and progressed like few other bands. They released six albums, including a pair of nervy post-punk classics in Real to Real Cacophony and Empires and Dance, as well as the lavish "new pop" triumph New Gold Dream. Their audience expanded, and dates opening for the likes of U2 and the Police placed them in stadiums. The band's sound naturally became less subtle. For Sparkle in the Rain, they sought U2 producer Steve Lillywhite, whose approach helped shape their performances into a forceful, direct set of commercial rock designed to shake nosebleed seats. Despite frontman Jim Kerr's vaguest gesturing and most voluble bellowing to that point, the move worked. The pounding "Waterfront," hurtling "Speed Your Love to Me," and gleaming "Up on the Catwalk," the album's singles, all reached the Top 30 in the U.K., and by the end of the year, the band was headlining North American hockey arenas and amphitheaters. Apart from the brawling "The Kick Inside of Me," which contains one of Kerr's least tethered turns, none of the album cuts matches the urgency heard in the singles. Relatively restrained moments, such as the absurdly titled "'C' Moon Cry Like a Baby" ("Could this be something we don't understand," indeed), resemble stiff stabs at re-creating tense drama akin to the tail end of New Gold Dream. As successful as it was, Sparkle in the Rain merely poised Simple Minds for their biggest year, 1985, when they followed up with "(Don't You) Forget About Me" and "Alive and Kicking," singles that hit the Top Ten in the U.K. and the U.S.© Andy Kellman /TiVo

When Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan covered Wings' "Silly Love Songs" as a guest vocalist for the Replicants, it was amusing and well thought out. When Tool covered "No Quarter" in concert it was intense, appropriate, and staggeringly good. And when Maynard continued the tradition with the beautiful recording of Failure's "The Nurse Who Loved Me," it became apparent that Maynard had a penchant for re-recording songs that were of high quality but not necessarily anthems. But then there's the notion of recording a whole album of covers, which immediately sends off red flags that the water may be running dry and the record label is thirsty for a new release. A Perfect Circle's album of covers, eMOTIVe, falls flat and fails to raise the bar set so high by the quality of their previous two releases. Turning some of popular music's most potent songs into a soundtrack ideal for background music at your local teen-angst mall-chain clothing store, A Perfect Circle work their way through 12 songs that would almost be unrecognizable in their current arrangement if one weren't familiar with the original versions of each song. John Lennon's somber, optimistic anthem for peace, "Imagine," is changed from its original major key to a funereal minor key dirge. Marvin Gaye's perfect "What's Going On" is turned into a horrible industrial track that would be permissible on a budget-line compilation but is simply unforgivable in its inclusion here. The same could apply to the butchering of Black Flag's "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie" and a few other numbers. However, the album's sole moment of tranquility and its most effective moments lie in the band's treatment of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks," and the disturbing a cappella of Joni Mitchell's "Fiddle and the Drum." eMOTIVe is a slight dent in the armor of Maynard's nearly flawless career as a frontman, and it's (hopefully) a mere detour for A Perfect Circle. © Rob Theakston /TiVo

On the cover of her debut, The Soul Sessions, Joss Stone's face is obscured by a vintage microphone, a deliberate move that emphasized the retro-soul vibe of the LP while hiding the youthful face that would have given away that Stone was a mere 16 years old at the time of the album's release. The point was to put the music before the image and it worked, selling the album to an older audience that might have stayed away, thinking that the teenager sang teen pop. If the debut was designed to give Stone credibility, her second album, Mind, Body & Soul, delivered almost exactly a year after its predecessor, is designed to make her a superstar, broadening her appeal without losing sight of the smooth, funky, stylish soul at the core of her sound. There's no radical revision here -- she still works with many of the same musicians she did on The Soul Sessions, including Betty Wright and Little Beaver -- but there are some subtle shifts in tone scattered throughout the record. Certain songs are a little brighter and a little more radio-ready than before, there's a more pronounced hip-hop vibe to some beats, and she sounds a little more like a diva this time around -- not enough to alienate older fans, but enough to win some new ones. The album has a seductive, sultry feel; there's some genuine grit to the rhythms, yet it's all wrapped up in a production that's smooth as silk. By and large, the songs are good, too, sturdily written and hooky, growing in stature with each play. While Stone has developed a tendency to over-sing ever so slightly -- she doesn't grandstand like the post-Mariah divas, but she'll fit more notes than necessary into the simplest phrases -- she nevertheless possesses a rich, resonant voice that's a joy to hear. She may not yet have the set of skills, or the experience, to give a nuanced, textured performance -- one that feels truly lived-in, not just sung -- but she's a compelling singer and Mind, Body & Soul lives up to her promise.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

The full range of Ben Harper's influences would not come to bear until later albums, but his debut, Welcome to the Cruel World, lays a strong foundation. "Like a King" and "Take That Attitude to Your Grave" burn with a political conviction rarely heard during the 1990s. "Forever" has a tenderness which demonstrates Harper's emotional range. Lackluster hippie jams that cultivated his early following may have served a purpose but feel fluffy by comparison when compared to the meatier tracks. Ben closes the album with a song that frequently closes his concerts, "I'll Rise." This song, built around Maya Angelou's 1979 poem "And Still I Rise," reminds one of art's ability to pierce through society, self, and the soul.© Ryan Randall Goble /TiVo

After seven albums and 12 years in the game, it can stop being said that Ben Harper is hard to categorize, because at this point, the fact that he always incorporates diverse elements -- from folk to hard rock to funk -- into his music and makes something very much his own is a given. He's practically created a genre. So maybe that's why it's so surprising that Both Sides of the Gun, a two-disc album, has little of that very thing that makes him so unique. Instead, he chooses to show off the range of his musical interests, and ends up with something closer to a compilation than a Ben Harper album. The softer, acoustically based disc is full of pretty love songs and sweetly strummed guitars, and though Harper has done this before and kept his own style intact (in "Two Hands of a Prayer" and "When She Believes," for example), here he comes off sounding a bit boring. He hasn't forgotten himself completely: both "Never Leave Lonely Alone" and "Crying Won't Help You Now" are good songs, sounding strongly of him while also experimenting with other styles (Latin/French and gospel, respectively), but almost all the other tracks could have been pulled off any run-of-the-mill singer/songwriter album from the past ten years. Things improve slightly on the other, louder, disc ("Please Don't Talk About Murder While I'm Eating" is all electric blues, complete with a distorted slide guitar solo, and "Serve Your Soul" is the most Harper-ish of everything, blending folk guitar, pure rock, raw blues, and socially conscious lyrics into one eight-minute masterpiece), but there's still that sampler-record feeling there. "Engraved Invitation" and "Get It Like You Like It" are heavily influenced by the Rolling Stones, "Both Sides of the Gun" alludes to Curtis Mayfield and James Brown, and "Better Way" is practically a tribute (at least musically) to Prince's "7." Harper has always borrowed from other artists, but he's also always added enough of himself to make it not quite so...blatant. It's not that he isn't able to perform such a diverse selection: there are plenty of excellent cuts and most of the album is quite good. Harper is a fantastically talented musician, and he has really developed his voice since Diamonds on the Inside and is unafraid to do things with it, going from a croon to a scream and always sounding great. But why he's copying other people's styles instead of building on his own is both odd and disappointing, because he's always been able to experiment before while also preserving his individuality. If in Both Sides of the Gun Harper is trying to show his audience what a wide variety of music he can cover, he certainly accomplishes that. But if he's trying to create an album that is really about him, he doesn't quite deliver. Ben Harper is in there, don't worry, but he can be a little hard to find. © Marisa Brown /TiVo

One of the Canterbury scene's most revered bands, Hatfield and the North made up for the brevity of their career with some fascinating music. Always adventurous, the quartet had the keen sense to realize that only the most hardened jazz fans respond to numerous key changes and exceedingly complex time signatures, and thus enlivened their live set with the odd gnome smashing, suggestive lyrics, and jokey song titles. It worked a charm, with the band quickly amassing a large, loyal following at home in Britain and across the continent. On their eponymous debut, Hatfield stunningly succeeded in translating both their sense of fun and their musical brilliance onto disc. After a bit of light humor, the band slide into "Going Up to People and Tinkling," which glides gloriously across the keys and rhythm shifts. Both "Calyx" and "Aigrette" experiment with vocals as an instrument, while the exuberant "Rifferama" is a master class on the use of riffs. However, it's the expansive "Son of 'There's No Place like Homerton'" that forms the album's centerpiece, a propulsive, keyboard driven piece that still awaits a modern dance troop's attention.© Dave Thompson /TiVo