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

Even if you were expecting something different, this still comes as a surprise. With Let’s Start Here, Lil Yachty, a rapper too easily lumped into the SoundCloud mumble rap crowd, ventures into psychedelic and synthetic pop. His cleverly autotuned voice is the only thing that reminds us it really is him. This fifth album is divisive—so much the better. By drawing upon the likes of Tame Impala, Pink Floyd, Tyler, The Creator and Frank Ocean, Lil Yachty seeks to establish himself as a recognised and recognisable artist. He relies on a team of producers, including Justin Raisen (Billie Eilish, Angel Olsen), Sad Pony (Nicki Minaj, Kelela), and Patrick Wimberly, one-half of the pop duo Chairlift. Lil Yachty frequently and skilfully pushes the boundaries of rap, not by simply stretching its limits, but by taking an altogether new direction and constantly positioning himself against them, anchoring himself in a completely distinct aesthetic. There’s no doubt that he’s mixing his favourite genres together here, but Let's Start Here is a new artistic path. Perhaps it’s nothing more than a fleeting digression, but it still features some fascinating tracks, such as the convoluted ‘REACH THE SUNSHINE.’ and the loosely rhythmic ‘paint THE sky’. Lil Yachty successfully achieves his goals with this album. He makes himself stand out and encourages people to consider his musical talents in a way that’s relevant, all whilst expressing a visceral need to explore musical realms other than those that the public would like to impose on him. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

For Kiss' breakthrough 1975 release Alive!, the band had a total of three studio albums from which to select their in-concert repertoire. By mid-1977, Kiss had released another three studio recordings (Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over, and Love Gun), and with a new Kiss album needed for the holiday season, a second live album, Alive II, was assembled. Three sides were recorded live in concert at the Los Angeles Forum (with a few tracks recorded in Japan), while the fourth side featured five new studio recordings. Like its predecessor, there's been quite a lot of speculation concerning extensive overdubbing (the proof being that you can often hear several Paul Stanley voices singing backup simultaneously!), but Alive II shows that Kiss was still an exciting live band despite all the hype. Adrenaline-charged versions of "Detroit Rock City," "Love Gun," "Calling Dr. Love," "Shock Me," "God of Thunder," "I Want You," and "Shout It Out Loud" are all highlights. On the fourth side, Ace Frehley only plays on a single song (his self-penned classic "Rocket Ride") for reasons unknown, while session guitarist Bob Kulick filled in for the AWOL Frehley. Among the studio tracks is the made-for-the-stage anthem "Larger Than Life," which the band surprisingly never performed live.© Greg Prato /TiVo

By 2016, anything associated with the Top Dawg Entertainment/Black Hippy crew was considered "highly anticipated" by the hip-hop faithful, but no one in the posse had come close to the crossover success of superstar MC Kendrick Lamar. Team member Schoolboy Q was the crown prince, although his mix of gangsta rap and left-field production had failed to make him a household name, something The Blank Face LP holds dear. This sprawling, cumbersome, and often psychedelic effort feels like a glorious clearing house for the diverse and deep rapper, offering giant, cinematic, and challenging efforts like the Anderson Paak-featuring title track and the opening epic, "Torch," then shifting gear and getting flippant with oddball throwaways like the ultra-nasty "Studio" sequel called "Overtime." "Overtime" at least goes off-the-charts, sounding as if R&B porno artist Blowfly was mimicking R. Kelly's or guest vocalist Miguel's sexy styles, and while the beat Tyler, the Creator crafts for "Big Body" could be his silliest to date, Tha Dogg Pound still act if it's prime strip club stuff, and it's as fascinating to hear as it is odd. If "By Any Means" sounds like an important anthem for a year when race relations are at a new low, it begins "You can f**k my b*tch/You can have my ho" and goes more gutter from there, and while that makes it arguably disposable compared to the proud anthem "Ride Out" or the wonderful rumination called "Kno You Wrong," this 17-track, almost-mixtape is no slog on first listen. Fully-formed stunners like the Jadakiss feature "Groovy Tony/Eddie Kane" and "Tookie Knows II" are cold-blooded classics, and even if return visits require some dropped cuts, there's an awesome, tight album hiding inside this set of tracks, a set where the B-sides sneak in. As a release born firmly in the age of streaming, playlists, and The Life of Pablo, it's a sprawling album to argue about and examine. In Schoolboy Q's discography, it's the experimental LP with an attitude, and a giant Magical Mystery Tour that will dazzle his fans.© David Jeffries /TiVo

It's something of a mystery why Mute Records waited until early 2006 to release Goldfrapp's third album, Supernature, in the U.S. After all, when it came out in the U.K. the previous summer, it made the duo into a bona fide chart success, to the point where the album's terrific lead single, "Ooh La La" -- on which Allison Goldfrapp channels Marc Bolan's dippy-cool vocals and lyrics over a shuffling, glam-tastic beat -- drew comparisons to former S Club 7 star Rachel Stevens' similarly glam-inspired hit "Some Girls." While Goldfrapp might balk at being called (or compared to) a pop act, it's undeniable that the duo has streamlined and simplified its sound since the baroque Felt Mountain days. It's also undeniable that Supernature is some of Goldfrapp's most accessible work. Coming across like the missing link between Black Cherry's sexy, sharp-edged dancefloor experiments and Felt Mountain's luxe soundscapes, Supernature sometimes combines the best elements from those two albums into something great, and at other times renders them into something surprisingly bland. Along with the aforementioned "Ooh La La," the upbeat tracks find Goldfrapp becoming the robo-glam-disco gods that Black Cherry suggested they might: the starkly catchy "Lovely 2 CU," the fabulously blasé "Ride a White Horse," and "Satin Chic," which could single-handedly make honky tonk pianos fashionable again, all use the duo's inherently theatrical style to very catchy, immediate ends. Interestingly, though, the sweeping ballads that used to be Goldfrapp's forte are the most uneven tracks on Supernature. It's not that tracks like "Time Out from the World" and "Koko" aren't pretty and ethereal enough, but they're just not that distinctive. Likewise, "Fly Me Away" is pleasant, but maybe a little too pleasant -- it almost sounds like it was commissioned for a travel commercial. However, "Let It Take You" shows that Goldfrapp can still craft gorgeous, weightless ballads, and "Number 1" nails the laid-back sexiness that many of the other slower songs attempt. It's surprisingly heartfelt, too -- is there a sweeter compliment than "you're my Saturday"? It would be unfair to say that Supernature's stripped-down pop is a dumbed-down version of what Goldfrapp has accomplished in the past, since it takes a certain kind of smarts to hone songs into instantly catchy essences like the album's best tracks. Yet, as delightfully stylish and immediate as Supernature is, it's still hard to escape the nagging feeling that Goldfrapp could make its ethereal sensuality and pop leanings into something even more compelling. [Supernature was released in the U.S. with the bonus track "Beautiful," which originally appeared on the U.K. Number 1 EP.]© Heather Phares /TiVo

Staying true to eclectic ambience through dramatic electronic music, Hooverphonic raise the pressure from their debut single "2Wicky" for a more passionate effort on their second album, Blue Wonder Power Milk. New vocalist Geike Arnaert captures an innocence that was practically blindsided on the first album by former lead singer Liesje Sadonius. Blue Wonder Power Milk is intricately woven with string arrangements and pulsating dance club beats for a drowsy feel. Most songs featured on Blue Wonder Power Milk are guided by light strings, allowing Hooverphonic to gently fall into genres of indie pop, dream pop, and trip-hop, however each song does take on a life of its own -- slowly. Album opener "Battersea" arrives with Arnaert's breathy vocals for a spiraling drum'n'bass track about self-indulgence. "Club Montepulciano," which received moderate airplay on college radio and "Eden" both glide with an ethereal beauty, whereas "Lung" thrives with heavy guitar licks and throbbing Depeche Mode-like synths. Blue Wonder Power Milk attempts for a strong introduction, and while it is indeed enchanting, it's also slow to rise. It isn't until the latter part of the record where the music feels tight. Songs such as "Renaissance Affair" and "Tuna" both depict an artistical splendor. Both compose a naïveté, unlike "2Wicky," with its personal lyrics and impersonal orchestral mystery. "Magenta" is pure symphonic bliss -- raging keyboard hues are hard hitting with a delicate sensuality taking over the entire theme of the album. Blue Wonder Power Milk depicts what's yet to come from Hooverphonic, but also a sound that is unafraid to be young and wistful to be reworked in future albums.© MacKenzie Wilson /TiVo

When he's not directing feature films like House of 1000 Corpses and Devil's Rejects, Rob Zombie likes to make music. Educated Horses, the prolific director, writer/animator/horror aficionado's return to the world of hedonistic, sexed-up monster rock doesn't stray too far from the formula that garnered him such a rabid fan base, but there's less theater and more backwoods creepiness at hand this time around. Horses crawls on all fours for the first three tracks, relying on too many tried-and-true White Zombie dance beats and turgid guitar riffs to hint at anything outside of sheer puppetry, but when the mid-tempo crunch of "17 Year Locust" begins to echo Sabotage-era Black Sabbath, it's clear that Zombie himself is having the time of his life pulling the strings. "Scorpion Sleeps," with its boot-stomping intro plays like Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll, Pt.1" blaring from angel's trumpets at the apocalypse, "Ride," with its Tubular Bells-inspired piano riff, evolves into a storm of sonic debauchery, and the purely psychedelic singalong "Death of It All" sounds like the end credits to the last film ever. Schlock it may be, but it's infinitely more listenable -- and enjoyable -- than most schlock thinks it is.© James Christopher Monger /TiVo

The 21st century soul revival has spawned many projects that seem too artificial. But one thing is certain: Durand Jones & The Indications excel in this kind of material: with them, it all feels perfectly natural. Rather than revisiting old recording techniques, or painstakingly reproducing the recipes of iconic albums of Great Black Music, the band from Louisiana and Indiana prefers to base itself on the rhythm & blues of the 1970s, on its ballads and its joyful string orchestrations. Take, for example, the magnificent Ride Or Die, a model of the genre, a choral piece that distils the science of chorus and sensuality. Their influences are Sylvia Robinson, the Delfonics, the Dramatics and Phyllis Hyman's disco-funk, as evidenced by The Way That I Do and the single Witchoo. In 2016, their debut album sounded more dogmatic. But Durand Jones & The Indications have taken a freer approach with this third, almost-flawless album. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 is the disc for those fans who didn't want to pony up the big money for the 30th anniversary edition of Born to Run and its two DVDs. This is the soundtrack for one of them, the Hammersmith Odeon concert, from beginning to end captured in vibrant sound. This show has been revered by tape traders and bootleggers for decades and never has it been presented better, thanks to Bob Clearmountain's fantastic mix. What makes this show so historically important is that it was the first time the band was able to travel overseas to play. (They were barred from doing so in the United States because of a legal battle with Springsteen's former manager.) In any case, well in advance of the gig the notorious British music weeklies began to create a pick-and-pan hype to build and topple a potential new rock messiah as they did all the time. Or, as Springsteen in his liner notes writes, "...this week's Next...Big...Thing." The band was terrified yet geeked to play the hallowed hall. These guys were scared; it fueled the gig, and they pulled it off in spades. They have everything to prove, and plenty to stare down. (Hell, the media hype almost made them the standard-bearers for the entire history of American rock, whether they wanted to be or not -- and they may not have believed it themselves, but they played like they felt the responsibility for it, overtly referencing Sam Cooke, Isaac Hayes, and even Boyce & Hart by including pieces of their tunes in Springsteen originals, showing where it all came from. And then, by using a portion of Celtic soulman Van Morrison's "Moondance" -- who was taking his own bit from David "Fathead" Newman's read of his former boss Ray Charles -- in "Kitty's Back," they reveal clearly that the Beatles, the Stones, and the Who were nowhere to be found on this night.) Most of all, the E Street Band had the quivering guts and naïveté to pull it off. These guys play their asses off; it's as if tomorrow they'll die, so what the hell. The tape proves this show to be adrenaline-filled and fear-drenched. This is a mind-blowing gig. It was filmed for preservation and forgotten about until being resurrected by Springsteen. The highlights? Hell, everything here. It begins with a tenderly desperate, under-orchestrated "Thunder Road," sprints head on into a burning "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" before whispering into a free jazz intro to a dramatic, swaggering "Spirit in the Night" that oozes street-smart Jersey soul. And the train never stops; it only slows a bit for moments at a time. And it's not for the band to catch its breath; it's for the crowd, whether it's the frighteningly intense "Lost in the Flood," the shuffling country roots rock that introduces the rollicking "She's the One," or the swaggering anthem of "Born to Run," which only take listeners through a little over half of the first disc! They had the audience after "Spirit," but they were into something deeper, wilder -- check the spit and vinegar in "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" -- so they kept pushing harder. This was a young band that musically was as good as anybody on that night. They were rehearsed, confident, and armed with a collection of songs that virtually any musician worth his or her salt would kill to have written even one of. Disc two offers no letdown. There's arguably the single most intense read of "Jungleland" on tape, and a riotously joyful version of "Rosalita" to counter the theater of darkness just visited upon the crowd in the previous song. This version of "Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" is pure street urchin romance taken to the nth level. The E Streeters' read of the "Detroit Medley" is an homage to Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, whose scorching takes on Little Richard's "Jenny Take a Ride," "Devil with a Blue Dress," and "Good Golly Miss Molly" offer spiritual inspiration. They stay on full stun with "For You" and cap it all with "Quarter to Three," leaving the crowd to fall back into the night, wondering if they could believe what they'd just witnessed. Springsteen himself says the night was a blur to him and he never looked back for 30 years at the film or even listened to the show. While the soundtrack is only half the experience of the Hammersmith Odeon 1975 document, it's a worthy half and a necessary set to add to any Springsteen live shelf.© Thom Jurek /TiVo