Mariah Carey has been stung by critical charges that she's all vocal bombast and no subtlety, soul, or shading. Her solution was to make an album in which her celebrated octave-leaping voice would be downplayed and she could demonstrate her ability to sing softly and coolly. Well, she was partly successful; she trimmed the volume on Music Box. Unfortunately, she also cut the energy level; Carey sounds detached on several selections. She scored a couple of huge hits, "Hero" and "Dreamlover," where she did inject some personality and intensity into the leads. Most other times, Carey blended into the background and let the tracks guide her, instead of pushing and exploding through them. It was wise for Carey to display other elements of her approach, but sometimes excessive spirit is preferable to an absence of passion.© Ron Wynn /TiVo

Only two months after the masterful White Album, this tenth Beatles album was released in January 1969 and seems a bit... tired. The soundtrack to the animated film by Canadian George Dunning (which was released in theaters seven months earlier), Yellow Submarine offers thirteen tracks, of which only six (at the time, only side A) are by the Fab Four. The rest is largely the bringing together of various instrumentals by legendary producer George Martin. Overdubs and sound effects of all kinds, psychedelia is required from one end to the other for this great album. It is certainly one that remains essential to understanding the history of the group, without really ever reaching the level of Revolver, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart Club or Abbey Road. ©MZ/Qobuz, Translation/BM

Her self-titled debut LP (later retitled Ain't No Mountain High Enough after the single became a hit) was arguably her finest solo work at Motown and perhaps her best ever; it was certainly among her most stunning. Everyone who doubted whether Diana Ross could sustain a career outside the Supremes found out immediately that she would be a star. The single "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" remains a staple in her shows, and is still her finest message track.© Ron Wynn /TiVo

Reported to be her final album for Atlantic at the time of its release, Charli XCX embraces the idea of being a major-label pop artist to the fullest on Crash. For her, going mainstream is something of a daring move. Her previous album, 2020's Mercury Prize-longlisted how i'm feeling now, was one of her most experimental releases, its heartbroken hyperpop capturing the feeling of bouncing off the walls during the COVID-19 quarantine. That album (and her mixtapes) made a strong case for her more spontaneous releases being among her best, but the craft she applies to Crash isn't overdone. This is truly poptimist pop that consciously reframes the genre's past heyday as worthy of celebrating and updating. XCX grounds the album in the styles of the late '80s and early '90s and the late '90s and early 2000s -- eras when pop was highly produced but also highly creative. It's an aesthetic that suits Charli XCX well, especially on the bright, New Jack-jacking moves of "New Shapes," which features Caroline Polachek and Christine and the Queens, two other experts at giving a fresh context to vintage pop. On "Yuck," a charmingly disgusted rejection of lovey-dovey infatuation, XCX creates the perfect pastiche of late-'80s sounds, but she gets more literal on "Used to Know Me," which samples Robin S.'s 1993 earworm "Show Me Love"; on "Beg for You," a collaboration with Rina Sawayama, she folds in the massive hits "Cry for You" by September and "Don't Cry" by Milk Inc. Putting a boundary-pushing artist like Sawayama on one of Crash's most overtly retro songs feels like a missed opportunity, but "Beg for You"'s pulsing desperation is still a highlight that shows just how baked into pop's collective memory these decades-old songs still are. As she pays homage to pop music's past, XCX also borrows from her own. The way Crash takes inspiration from David Cronenberg's film of the same name echoes how she alluded to Quentin Tarantino's True Romance on her debut album, and the percolating death wish of the title track continues the car motif winding through her work since Icona Pop's "I Love It." The tweaked vocals on the slow-motion ballad "Move Me" recall the Charli highlight "Cross You Out," while "Good Ones" combines the self-defeating heartache that's been a key theme since her early days with the hooky songwriting that she's transformed into hits for others. Among all these revisitations of the past, Crash's concision feels new. On her other albums, XCX occasionally included so many songs that the great songs had to compete with the good ones for attention. At a sleek 33-minutes long, Crash lets songs like "Lightning" -- an unlikely but winning collision of freestyle beats, giddy orchestral synth stabs, and processed vocals -- claim the spotlight they deserve. It may not be quite as striking as how i'm feeling now, but on Crash, Charli XCX once again finds endless freedom in pop's constraints.© Heather Phares /TiVo

This set, although it doesn't say it anywhere on the cover, is entirely made up of live tracks. That's not a good thing. Marvin Gaye disliked touring, and truthfully, his sweetly nuanced singing style worked best in a studio setting, where every lift and turn of his phrasing could be clearly heard. The concert stage, by contrast, required large, grand gestures from his singing, and while no one would suggest Gaye was ever anything but a solid performer, the hushed intimacy that made some of his greatest songs so magnificent was often difficult to attain on-stage. Bootlegs and cobbled-together packages of live Gaye shows have been on the market for years, often with the venue mislabeled (if it is listed at all) and overly intrusive crowd noise. This set is drawn from Gaye's final tour in 1983, and while it's interesting to hear a ten-minute version of "Sexual Healing," one of Marvin Gaye's greatest songs, and a clear statement of his major theme -- the use of love, lust, and sex to reach out to God -- nothing here is even close to essential.© Steve Leggett /TiVo

Admittedly, the soundtrack to Yellow Submarine wasn't one of the highlights in the Beatles' catalog, so providing an official alternate version of it is no big deal. The soundtrack always felt cobbled together, because it was. It only contained four new songs -- two of which were written by Harrison, which indicates how seriously Lennon and McCartney took the project, if their enjoyable throwaways ("Hey Bulldog" and "All Together Now," respectively) didn't provide enough of a clue -- plus two previously released songs ("All You Need Is Love," "Yellow Submarine") and a side of George Martin instrumentals from the film's score. The Beatles never assembled a slighter album while they were active, so it wasn't a sacrilege when their organization decided to assemble a "songtrack" -- a soundtrack that featured only the songs in the film, not any of the instrumentals -- to coincide with the re-release of the film in 1999. In a way, the "songtrack" (which is what the Beatles' associates insisted on calling the new effort) is an improvement on the soundtrack since it eliminates dead weight and strengthens the original six songs with nine songs featured in the movie ("Eleanor Rigby," "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," etc.). It's a little jarring not to hear the songs from the soundtrack in a different order on the songtrack, but ultimately the record is entertaining, if a bit familiar. That's not the case with the sound, though. The Beatles have decided to make this the first remixed CD in their catalog. The differences are slight but often notable and never really an improvement; as a matter of fact, it could likely be enough to irk, possibly anger, longtime Beatlemaniacs. It helps distinguish the Yellow Submarine "songtrack" as much as the new sequencing.© 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

You All Look the Same to Me is the third record by a British band Archive released in 2002. With a sound halfway between classical trip-hop of Bristol school and electronic psychedelic rock (and many shades of alternative pop in between), Archive enjoyed more success in continental Europe, (i.e. in France) than at home.© Sergey Mesenov /TiVo

The Backstreet Boys finally broke (and broke big) in America during 1998, as if by design. They had been Euro sensations for a couple of years, but it wasn't until Backstreet's Back was unleashed in the U.S. in 1997 that they had a presence in the States, and it was no small presence, either -- after selling over ten million copies, the album remained in the Top 40 on the eve of the release of its sequel, Millennium. And sequel is the appropriate word -- Millennium has no pretense of being anything other than an album for the moment, delivering more of everything that made Backstreet's Back a blockbuster. There's a familiar blend of ballads and dance-pop, a similar shiny production, a reliance on the Boys' charisma that brings to mind the debut. If Millennium were anything other than big, glossy mainstream pop, such calculation may be a little unseemly, but in this context, it can be rather fun. True, the album doesn't pack as much punch as its predecessor -- there's a number of good songs, but more filler than before, and the Backstreet sound isn't as fresh as it was the first time around -- but it does deliver what fans want: more of the same. And since there are singles as infectious as "I Want It That Way" and a handful of good ballads, that will be enough to satisfy anyone craving more, more, more.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Blackout was Scorpions' first highly successful album, due to its clever balance of pop/rock (the title track), power ballads ("When the Smoke Is Going Down"), and catchy heavy metal ("Dynamite," "No One Like You"). Vocalist Klaus Meine had a throat operation prior to the record's release, and surprisingly, his voice sounds more melodic and lively than ever. The rest of the band sounds great as well, and the album is highlighted by the fast-paced performances of guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs. Blackout has been called Scorpions' best record ever, and that statement is not unjust. "No One Like You" gave the band its first chart hit.© Barry Weber /TiVo

Lady A prefaced the release of Need You Now by issuing its title track as a single; it reached the top spot on the country charts and stayed there for five straight weeks. It was their second number one, and they wasted no time following it with "American Honey," which appeared a mere two months before this set was in stores. This singing/songwriting trio -- lead vocalists Charles Kelly and Hillary Scott, with multi-instrumentalist and backing vocalist Dave Haywood -- understand how Nashville works, and they know how to work it. On their sophomore effort, they stick very close to the formula of their debut: a slew of mid- and uptempo love songs, a sad ballad, and a couple of rocked-up good-time tunes, all self-written with some help from some of Nashville’s most respected writers. Kelly’s baritone is emotive, expressive, and deep in the pocket, no matter what he’s singing. He shines on the soft rocking "Love This Pain," which could have been a single. Scott's voice is a little less distinctive, but she does possess a unique form of phrasing and reaches deeply into her protagonist’s personal situations, whether it's the celebratory good-time girl in "American Honey" or the wildly-in-love mature woman on "Hold on Tight." The group party anthem on the set -- an obligatory addition these days -- is "Stars Tonight," which contains more than a few clichés, but has a killer guitar riff and an infectious chorus. With co-production from Paul Worley, Lady A prove there is no sophomore slump on Need You Now. Here, the band's seamless, polished, and savvy brand of contemporary country is even more consistent than it was on their debut; it’s virtually flawless in its songwriting, production, and performance.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

Luther Vandross could sing almost anything convincingly, which is one of the reasons Songs is so entertaining. A collection of personal favorites, Songs suffers from the common flaws of covers albums -- it isn't consistent, it sounds slightly canned, and seems like a way to buy time between "real" albums. Nevertheless, Vandross is a truly fine singer, which is what makes Songs worthwhile.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

As 1975's classic Pick of the Litter seemed to garner its strength from melancholy and faultless arrangements, this 1976 studio follow-up often wallows in style over substance and platitudes. The pretty but vacuous "Now That We're Together" is all over the road and has inane lyrics like, "You're such a great crowd/Why don't you sing loud." Other tracks "You're All I Need in Life" and "If You Can't Be in Love" all put into practice arrangements and themes that were better executed on New and Improved. Although things get a little mushy here, producer Thom Bell and the Spinners do have their moments here. The highly danceable and infectious "Rubberband Man" breaks out of this effort's stodgy surroundings and gave lead singer Philippe Wynne plenty of room for his skilled scatting and effortless riffing. The best non-hit on this effort is "Toni My Love." The song is jazzy rumination on a mature relationship and it's the only track that's skilled enough to stand tall on Pick of the Litter. Despite the few high points, Happiness Is Being with the Spinners winds down before any of its predecessors did. The best of the last tracks, "The Clown" is a little overwrought and Philippe Wynne sounds like his hands are tied. Happiness Is Being with the Spinners is one of the first Bell efforts to be partially recorded at Kaye Smith Studios in Seattle, WA, and was mastered at A&M Studios rather than Philadelphia's Sigma Sound. That fact arguably changed the winning formula and for the most part this falls short of the work that came before it.© Jason Elias /TiVo