Michael Jackson had recorded solo prior to the release of Off the Wall in 1979, but this was his breakthrough, the album that established him as an artist of astonishing talent and a bright star in his own right. This was a visionary album, a record that found a way to break disco wide open into a new world where the beat was undeniable, but not the primary focus -- it was part of a colorful tapestry of lush ballads and strings, smooth soul and pop, soft rock, and alluring funk. Its roots hearken back to the Jacksons' huge mid-'70s hit "Dancing Machine," but this is an enormously fresh record, one that remains vibrant and giddily exciting years after its release. This is certainly due to Jackson's emergence as a blindingly gifted vocalist, equally skilled with overwrought ballads as "She's Out of My Life" as driving dancefloor shakers as "Working Day and Night" and "Get on the Floor," where his asides are as gripping as his delivery on the verses. It's also due to the brilliant songwriting, an intoxicating blend of strong melodies, rhythmic hooks, and indelible construction. Most of all, its success is due to the sound constructed by Jackson and producer Quincy Jones, a dazzling array of disco beats, funk guitars, clean mainstream pop, and unashamed (and therefore affecting) schmaltz that is utterly thrilling in its utter joy. This is highly professional, highly crafted music, and its details are evident, but the overall effect is nothing but pure pleasure. Jackson and Jones expanded this approach on the blockbuster Thriller, often with equally stunning results, but they never bettered it.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Tom Waits collaborated with director Robert Wilson and librettist William Burroughs on the musical stage work The Black Rider in 1990. A variation on the Faust legend, the 19th century German story allowed Waits to indulge his affection for the music of Kurt Weill and address one of his favorite topics of recent years, the devil. Waits had proven an excellent collaborator when he worked with director Francis Ford Coppola on One from the Heart, making that score an integral part of the film. Here, the collaboration and the established story line served to focus Waits' often fragmented attention, lending coherence and consistency. He then had three years to adapt the score into a record album in which he did most of the singing and writing (though Burroughs contributed, singing one song and writing lyrics to three), and he used the time to come up with his best recording in a decade, a varied set of songs that work whether or not you know the show. (Seven of the 20 tracks were instrumentals.) Waits used the word "crude" to describe his working method several times in the liner notes, and a crude performing and recording style continued to appeal to him. But the kind of chaos that can sometimes result from that style was reined in by the bands he assembled in Germany and Los Angeles to record the score, so that the recordings were lively without being off-puttingly primitive. © William Ruhlmann /TiVo

Sonny & Cher, Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg, Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood, Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris, Les Paul & Mary Ford, She & Him... The history of popular music is full of mythical mixed duos. And here, a new tandem makes an entry greeted by a Qobuzissime! On one side, a gold-plated rock icon who occasionally comes out of his lair: Paul Simonon, ex-bassist of the Clash (that's him on the cover of London Calling!) and more recently member of The Good, The Bad And The Queen with Damon Albarn and the late Tony Allen. On the other, the folkeuse Galen Ayers, daughter of Kevin Ayers, the eccentric British co-founder of Soft Machine.The album that these two have just recorded is however light years away from their history-laden resumes. From the very first notes of Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?, Galen & Paul play the troubadour card, the simple—not simplistic—walk between styles, landscapes and territories. Viscerally cosmopolitan and even European (they sing in English and Spanish, and talk about Paris), these ten tracks play it nonchalant with a street singer side. Mariachi fragrances, reggae sounds, the carefree Italian and French variety of the '60s—the concept of Galen & Paul is retro without being old-fashioned, funny without being potache, poetic without being cliché.The duo is supported by impeccable musicians (guitarist Simon Tong—another one of Simonon's The Good… bandmates, jazz drummer Seb Rochford and Dan Donovan on keyboards), and by Tony Visconti, Bowie's producer who is more used to "big sound" records. And then there is Damon Albarn who comes to blow in his melodica on some tracks. In 38 minutes, Galen & Paul take us around the world, a warm, benevolent, nostalgic elsewhere that feels good. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Soundtrack of the eponymous film directed by Richard Lester (dubbed in French Quatre garçons dans le vent or Four boys in the wind), A Hard Day's Night is a first for The Beatles, as for this third album released at the beginning of summer 1964, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote every song on the disc without any covers! And what songs! Can’t Buy Me Love, A Hard Day's Night, I Should Have Known Better - the level is very high and each hit track shows a rapidly developing musical and artistic identity as the group went from being national treasures to international icons. Every corner of this changing pop façade is fascinating. The irresistible melodies are pulled together by sparkling guitars in an innocent, feel-good tribute to all things melodic. A Hard Day's Night is the epitome of the early periods of that famous 'sound' of the The Beatles. Even in ballads such as And I Love Her, the Fab Four already demonstrate a fascinating musical maturity... A true joy for the listener. ©MZ/Qobuz, Translation/BM

When the Wailers began recording their fifth album, they were in the middle of a contract dispute with CBS, the upshot being that Catch a Fire was their first record for Island under the auspices of Chris Blackwell. The band had recorded a batch of classic songs in Jamaica, then brought the tapes to London, where Blackwell proceeded to remix them, adding rock guitars and keyboards to a handful of tracks (with the band's ultimate approval). No matter how convoluted its creation might have been, Catch a Fire is a hands-down classic album that both defines and transcends the reggae genre while bringing it to a wider audience, and it started Bob Marley on his way to becoming a global star. As much as Marley became the hero over time, Fire is a group creation where the band, singers, and songwriters all worked together to create something greater than its individual elements. Yes, Marley wrote most of the songs and sang them with a pleasing blend of warmth and strength, but without the soothing, empowering harmonies of Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh backing him, and the at once tight and elastic bounce and strut of the band driving him forward, the album wouldn't have been nearly as good. Tosh, too, takes lead on a couple of songs: the deeply soulful, Impressions-inspired "Stop That Train" and the fierce protest song "400 Years," which shovel coals onto the fire that blazes beneath much of the record's laid-back exterior. The album is a good mixture of songs like that -- as well as "Concrete Jungle" and "Slave Driver" -- that make the listener want to shout and fight, and those that are made for times when the lights get a little lower and thoughts turn to romance. "Stir It Up" is one of these, and its echoing guitars, bubbling organ, and shimmering synths pair with Marley's aching lead and the note-perfect backing vocals to create a wonderfully slinky baby-making jam. "Baby We've Got a Date (Rock It Baby)" is a little more insistent, featuring some almost strident female vocals, but the mood is similar. The only hitch is the wandering slide guitar, a slight misstep that could have been avoided if Blackwell had left well enough alone. Another tiny stumble comes on "No More Trouble," which is the kind of vague, sloganeering song Marley became more known for once he jettisoned the other two Wailers and took center stage. It's a pretty good attempt, though, and the funky clavinet gives the song some extra bite. Regardless of these faint faults, the album holds together incredibly well as a listening experience and features the original Wailers at their angriest, toughest, and most romantic peak. Anyone looking to check out reggae at its very best -- or Bob Marley before he became an omnipresent icon -- would do well to give Catch a Fire a spin.© Tim Sendra /TiVo

A musical romance about a jazz pianist (Ryan Gosling) and an aspiring actress (Emma Stone) set in the City of Angels, La La Land was written and directed by Damien Chazelle, the man behind the 2014 Oscar winner Whiplash. He enlisted his former Harvard roommate Justin Hurwitz to write the songs and score for the film. The pair also worked together on Whiplash, about drummers, and on a 2009 student project that went on to receive theatrical distribution, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, about a jazz trumpeter. Hurwitz is joined here by lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, two veterans of musical theater (the off-Broadway musical Dogfight, TV's Smash, Broadway's Dear Evan Hansen) at the relatively young age of 31 by the time of release. (The latter is also true of Chazelle and Hurwitz.) La La Land's original soundtrack includes both songs and instrumentals, with the songs performed by a cast that also includes John Legend, fresh off his Oscar win for Selma's "Glory," and Callie Hernandez, a musician-turned-actress. Hernandez performs alongside Stone, Jessica Rothe, and Sonoya Mizuno on "Someone in the Crowd," a soaring, uptempo number with swing-era rhythms. Preceding it, the film opens with a big production number set in L.A. traffic that Hurwitz said was inspired by Jacques Demy-Michel Legrand film musicals of the '60s ("Another Day of Sun"). While listeners and moviegoers alike will find that Gosling and Stone don't quite have the singing chops of an Astaire and Rogers, their voices are warm and approachable, and their duet "A Lovely Night," in particular, is a bright charmer. Later, Legend delivers the goods on "Start a Fire," a song written in the context of a jazz musician trying to cross over to the contemporary mainstream. Score tracks range from the tender-slash-anxious piano piece "Mia & Sebastian's Theme," to the legit jazz exercise "Herman's Habit," to the Romantic tone poem "Planetarium." The film and the soundtrack wrap up with a second reprise of Gosling's "City of Stars," this time hummed by Stone, which will likely provide a feel-good earworm after the music ends.© Marcy Donelson /TiVo

This is U2 following in the footsteps of David Bowie. Like the Heroes singer, who moved to Berlin in 1976 to find fresh inspiration, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen went to the German capital in 1990 to write their seventh album. With the wall having fallen a year earlier, there was an atmosphere of freedom, and indeed of chaos. Produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, Achtung Baby blends these two moods, both in content and form. Musically, it is more experimental, industrial and electronic than in the band's previous albums, although it retains a certain lyricism. As for the lyrics, they meet the Irish group’s usual standard, transcending their sentimental themes to evoke human relationships more generally (So Cruel, Even Better Than the Real Thing, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses). Unification is at the heart of some tracks, starting with the famous One. But here again, Bono brings a universal outlook.This Berlin exile was not ideal from an artistic point of view and they finished Achtung Baby at home, in Irish studios. However, traces of Germany can be felt in some of the songs, starting with Zoo Station, a reference to the Zoologischer Garten underground station. The rocking Until the End of The World was written for the film of the same name by German director Wim Wenders. It is a fictional conversation between Jesus and Judas, carried by a powerful guitar solo by The Edge. Eno summed up U2's European album as follows: “Buzzwords on this record were trashy, throwaway, dark, sexy and industrial (all good) and earnest, polite, sweet, righteous, rockiest and linear (all bad).” In addition to the remastered version of Achtung Baby, this 30th Anniversary Edition includes 22 previously unreleased songs and many remixes. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

Released in 1973, three years after the separation of The Beatles, this compilation from 1962-1966 (more commonly known as the The Red Album) brings together 26 songs recorded, as indicated by the title, between 1962 and 1966. From Love Me Do (opening track) to Yellow Submarine (closing track), how far the four boys from Liverpool came in that period is quite awe-inspiring. It is especially fascinating to realize, in retrospect, that all of these masterpieces were recorded in just five short years! The artistic evolution that is taking shape here is also stunning: the mischievous and restless debut, the birth of the writing of Lennon/McCartney, the evolution of work in the studio... this double compilation allows you to hear and understand this rather unique period in the history of rock'n'roll and pop. Its blue twin, The Beatles 1967 - 1970, was released simultaneously and is obviously an indispensable companion. ©MZ/Qobuz, Translation/BM

Ella Fitzgerald had the ability to personalize some of the most recognizable material from the foremost songwriters in American popular music history. In this instance, the combination of Cole Porter's words and Fitzgerald's interpretation of them created one of the most sought after sessions in vocal history -- embraced by jazz and pop fans alike, transcending boundaries often associated with those genres. Originally released in 1956 on the Verve label, such standards as "Night and Day," "I Love Paris," "What Is This Thing Called Love," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "You're the Top," and "Love for Sale" secured one of Ella Fitzgerald's crowning moments. The success of these early Porter (and previous Gershwin) sessions brought about numerous interpretations of other songbooks throughout the next several years including those of Rodgers and Hart, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, and Irving Berlin.© Al Campbell /TiVo

"I saw my task... was to capture them in their delapidated glory before some more professional producer f--ked them up," Elvis Costello wrote of his role behind the controls for the Pogues' second album, Rum Sodomy & the Lash. One spin of the album proves that Costello accomplished his mission; this album captures all the sweat, fire, and angry joy that was lost in the thin, disembodied recording of the band's debut, and the Pogues sound stronger and tighter without losing a bit of their edge in the process. Rum Sodomy & the Lash also found Shane MacGowan growing steadily as a songwriter; while the debut had its moments, the blazing and bitter roar of the opening track, "The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn," made it clear MacGowan had fused the intelligent anger of punk and the sly storytelling of Irish folk as no one had before, and the rent boys' serenade of "The Old Main Drag" and the dazzling, drunken character sketch of "A Pair of Brown Eyes" proved there were plenty of directions where he could take his gifts. And like any good folk group, the Pogues also had a great ear for other people's songs. Bassist Cait O'Riordan's haunting performance of "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day" is simply superb (it must have especially impressed Costello, who would later marry her), and while Shane MacGowan may not have written "Dirty Old Town" or "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda," his wrought, emotionally compelling vocals made them his from then on. Rum Sodomy & the Lash falls just a bit short of being the Pogues' best album, but was the first one to prove that they were a great band, and not just a great idea for a band.© Mark Deming /TiVo

After the breakup, Beatles fans expected major statements from the three chief songwriters in the Fab Four. John and George fulfilled those expectations -- Lennon with his lacerating, confessional John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Harrison with his triple-LP All Things Must Pass -- but Paul McCartney certainly didn't, turning toward the modest charms of McCartney, and then crediting his wife Linda as a full-fledged collaborator on its 1971 follow-up, Ram. Where McCartney was homemade, sounding deliberately ragged in parts, Ram had a fuller production yet retained that ramshackle feel, sounding as if it were recorded in a shack out back, not far from the farm where the cover photo of Paul holding the ram by the horns was taken. It's filled with songs that feel tossed off, filled with songs that are cheerfully, incessantly melodic; it turns the monumental symphonic sweep of Abbey Road into a cheeky slice of whimsy on the two-part suite "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey." All this made Ram an object of scorn and derision upon its release (and for years afterward, in fact), but in retrospect it looks like nothing so much as the first indie pop album, a record that celebrates small pleasures with big melodies, a record that's guileless and unembarrassed to be cutesy. But McCartney never was quite the sap of his reputation, and even here, on possibly his most precious record, there's some ripping rock & roll in the mock-apocalyptic goof "Monkberry Moon Delight," the joyfully noisy "Smile Away," where his feet can be smelled a mile away, and "Eat at Home," a rollicking, winking sex song. All three of these are songs filled with good humor, and their foundation in old-time rock & roll makes it easy to overlook how inventive these productions are, but on the more obviously tuneful and gentle numbers -- the ones that are more quintessentially McCartney-esque -- it's plain to see how imaginative and gorgeous the arrangements are, especially on the sad, soaring finale, "Back Seat of My Car," but even on its humble opposite, the sweet "Heart of the Country." These songs may not be self-styled major statements, but they are endearing and enduring, as is Ram itself, which seems like a more unique, exquisite pleasure with each passing year.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

By most metrics, Röyksopp's Profound Mysteries project is everything longtime fans could want: sleek Nordic synth pop, a grand return to the album format, and collaborations with left-field mavericks like Alison Goldfrapp, Jamie Irrepressible, Susanne Sundfør, and Astrid S, among others. Launched in April 2022, the Norwegian electronic duo's first proper album in eight years arrived as a highly conceptualized world of off-putting visual "artifacts" (each song is paired with its own digital music-visualizer), short films, cinematic instrumentals, and lush downtempo pop songs fronted by a highly curated cast of vocalists. A second volume followed in August, revealing a similar, though slightly altered, guest list, and the project now concludes with November's Profound Mysteries III. For those counting, that's 30 new tracks, 30 artifacts, and 30 films. Since their debut around the turn of the millennium, Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland have consistently produced at the top of their game, but even by their own standards, 2022 saw an absolute deluge of new content. Like its two predecessors, this third set dances between light and darkness, exploring the parameters of Röyksopp's hallmark sound on highlights like the glacial, string-laden "So Ambiguous," with its very understated vocal from Irrepressible, and the menacing, nearly 10-minute instrumental centerpiece "Speed King." At its peak, the latter track feels like an Antarctic rave or the soundtrack to a high-speed snowmobile chase, proving that Berge and Brundtland can still bring the thunder to the dancefloor. Both Sundfør and Goldfrapp are back, though their unique talents feel a bit wasted on their respective cuts, "Stay Awhile" and "The Night," two underwhelming tracks that feel like paler sequels to their earlier contributions. Detroit's Maurissa Rose adds a rare bit of American flair to Röyksopp's overwhelmingly European palette on "Feel It," and Londoner Pixx helps end the project on a high note with the dynamic "Like an Old Dog." Standouts aside, Profound Mysteries III feels like the weakest link in this ambitious, year-long project which, while exciting to behold, probably could have been condensed into a one exceptional album. © Timothy Monger /TiVo

Although it stems from a work that Iyer originally crafted back in 2011, one could hardly imagine a better title for a 2021 album release than Uneasy. As the world wobbles onto its post-pandemic footing and the United States begins to take stock of the social and political toll from years of continued divisiveness, any optimism or forward motion one may feel is almost always tempered by the reality of that which came before. That anger and frustration with the past and the resultant realism about the future is at the core of the pianist's first trio album for ECM since 2015's Break Stuff. Like that outing, Uneasy relies on tight, confident interplay between three highly skilled and unique musicians, but this lineup is all new, featuring double-bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. Iyer's skills as a player, composer, and collaborator have since grown considerably and Uneasy is an excellent showcase for all of them. "Children of Flint" and "Combat Breathing" are stunning compositions, focusing on the human costs of political negligence and malfeasance, forces that have unmistakably driven the uneasiness behind the album's title. "Children of Flint" is the more rigorous of the two, opening the album in a dramatically unfolding manner, but "Combat Breathing" definitely holds its own, finding a sturdy groove that's fueled by fire—not funk—and culminating in a cluster of sonics that evaporates into the ether like so much tear gas. The interplay between the three players is remarkable throughout, most notably on the dramatic "Entrustment," which relies on telepathic communication between the rhythm section and Iyer's piano; likewise, "Retrofit"—a piece written for sextet and appropriately complex—gets handled deftly by these three, giving each plenty of opportunity to shine. Of course, it's Iyer's piano work that holds down the entire affair, and as he wends through the dense, melodic "Touba," he manages to evoke Coltrane's spiritual-era changes, but with a more pensive vibe, while on the solo piece "Augury," his playing is both insistent and introspective. On Uneasy, Iyer continues his unique balancing act of presenting complex and demanding compositional ideas in a framework that's welcoming and accessible, with players who see eye-to-eye and can help execute that vision in a way that's imaginative and invigorating. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

Cheek To Cheek, a surprising discographic encounter between Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, was one of 2014's more pleasant surprises. The unlikely duo had some fun revisiting the Great American Songbook (Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington) with a sense of mischief, playfulness and a certain class. Despite his age, Sinatra's favourite singer proved, at the dawn of his 90s, that he was still an unbeatable crooner. But the biggest surprise was from Lady Gaga and her unique, spot-on timbre, which can excel in other material and not just Poker Face... Seven years on, the two stars, 60 years apart, set off on a second adventure that proved as delicious as the first, this time devoted entirely to the repertoire of Cole Porter. Backed up by a gleaming big band with five-star brass and silky strings, the evergreen Night & Day, Love For Sale and I Get a Kick Out of You have all the charm of old luxury cars, the softness of leather club chairs and the smoothness of velvet. There are no surprises, and no formal revolutions, in this pair's mischievous vocal jousting: just the pleasure of an hour of retro vocal jazz done just right, a passport out of the tumult of the present day. Salutary. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

American Idiot was a rarity of the 21st century: a bona fide four-quadrant hit, earning critical and commercial respect, roping in new fans young and old alike. It was so big it turned Green Day into something it had never been before -- respected, serious rockers, something they were never considered during their first flight of success with Dookie. Back then, they were clearly (and proudly) slacker rebels with a natural gift for a pop hook, but American Idiot was a big album with big ideas, a political rock opera in an era devoid of both protest rock and wild ambition, so its success was a surprise. It also ratcheted up high expectations for its successor, and Green Day consciously plays toward those expectations on 2009's 21st Century Breakdown, another political rock opera that isn't an explicit sequel but could easily be mistaken for one, especially as its narrative follows a young couple through the wilderness of modern urban America. Heady stuff, but like the best rock operas, the concept doesn't get in the way of the music, which is a bit of an accomplishment because 21st Century Breakdown leaves behind the punchy '60s Who fascination for Queen and '70s Who, giving this more than its share of pomp and circumstance. Then again, puffed-up protest is kind of the point of 21st Century Breakdown: it's meant to be taken seriously, so it's not entirely surprising that Green Day fall into many of the same pompous tarpits as their heroes, ratcheting up the stately pianos, vocal harmonies, repeated musical motifs, doubled and tripled guitars, and synthesized effects that substitute for strings, then adding some orchestras for good measure. It would all sound cluttered, even turgid, if it weren't for Green Day's unerring knack for writing muscular pop and natural inclination to run clean and lean, letting only one song run over five minutes and never letting the arrangements overshadow the song. Although Green Day's other natural gift, that for impish irreverent humor, is missed -- they left it all behind on their 2008 garage rock side project Foxboro Hot Tubs -- the band manages to have 21st Century Breakdown work on a grand scale without losing either their punk or pop roots, which makes the album not only a sequel to American Idiot, but its equal.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo