Greg Gonzalez's androgynous voice. Ethereal guitars that blur at the edges. Weightless rhythms. Sensual melodies. In all, Cigarettes After Sex wear their name well... Somewhere between dream pop and shoegaze, the Texan group is an invitation to nonchalance, an apologia for giving up. If you took the vocals off this album, you'd wind up with easily the most erotic counterfeit soundtrack available today. Like a slow bubbling, like a delicious, languorous draught of a fine musical vintage. The spirit of Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch's official composer, isn't far away... Cigarette? © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

It wasn't noted much at the time, but founding keyboardist Jesse Carmichael sat out Maroon 5's 2012 album Overexposed -- a circumstance that just happened to coincide with Adam Levine capitalizing on his Voice-fueled stardom. Overexposed and over-filled with guest producers and songwriters drafted to compensate for the absent Carmichael, rapper Wiz Khalifa, reliable Swedish hitmakers Max Martin & Shellback, and icy OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder gave the group a steely sleekness to suit contemporary charts. Some of this is retained on V, the 2014 record that marks Carmichael's return to the group, partially because all those guests save Khalifa return for a second helping. The absence of the rapper suggests Maroon 5 aren't quite as concerned with sounding youthful as they were last time around, which is generally true. Some tracks maintain the glossy veneer that overwhelmed Overexposed -- not entirely a surprise with Martin billed as the record's executive producer -- and, despite some unnecessary vocal processing on Levine scattered throughout the record, these are largely the ones featuring returning guests: Tedder co-writes and co-produces the album's lead single, "Maps," a song where Levine's Sting mannerisms steamroll the hooks," while Shellback helms "Animals," "In Your Pocket," and "Feelings," with all but the last placing emphasis on brittle beats. Elsewhere, the vibe shifts slightly back to the soulful pop that's remained at Maroon 5's core since the beginning, here given an ever so slight maturation to balance the modern moves heard on the rest of the record. Sometimes, the group achieves a delicate balance between the two extremes -- "It Was Always You," "New Love," and the aforementioned "Feelings" -- but the best moments on V are when Maroon 5 embrace the tuneful, slightly soulful adult contemporary pop band they've always been, as they do on "Sugar," "Coming Back for You," and the Gwen Stefani duet "My Heart Is Open."© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

This draped in light rerelease of Purple Rain is an opportunity to take a beautiful trip back in time… For Prince, the 1999 advent coincides with several disputes with his entourage. The pinnacle is reached when the guitarist Dez Dickerson leaves, soon replaced by Wendy Melvoin. The star goes back to work and mulls over a project even crazier than a double album: a quasi-autobiographical movie! With their head on the chopping block, his managers are tasked with finding a film without delay. Warner’s movie division is rather lukewarm and wants warranties. Prince and his ever growing family (The Revolution, The Time, Vanity 6) perform regularly at the First Avenue club and spend the rest of their time locked away in a gigantic warehouse rehearsing and taking drama and dance classes to prepare for the movie. Prince even transferred his own studio in this warehouse to record the soundtrack of his crazy project. He also sets up a mobile studio in front of the First Avenue, where he makes live recordings of other songs. In the end, Warner Studios pay up for what will probably be one of the worst movies they’ve produced so far, a dud that will however give an exuberant and awesome soundtrack: Purple Rain reaches the top of the R&B and Pop charts. Let's Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, Take Me With U, Purple Rain and I Would Die 4 U are all Princely hits that will dominate the airwaves in 1984 and 1985. His decadent funk rock and his frilled-shirted pimp style seduce the entire planet. Once again, the musician manages to mix his different foibles like a new Sly Stone. Containing pop melodies reminding of the Beatles and Hendrixian guitars with a funk groove rhythm, Purple Rain offers above all a complete revamping of these fundamentals of music… This Purple Rain Deluxe – Expanded Edition includes the remastered original album (the remastering was made in Paisley Park in 2015 with the original master tapes, and Prince supervised the whole process a few months before his passing), as well as eleven new titles, but also all the edit versions of the singles and their B sides. Taken from Prince’s numerous unreleased archives, the new tracks are true gems, like the 1983 instrumental version of Father’s Song. Some of them, like the studio version of Electric Intercourse, never even got out of Paisley Park before! Those gems have been mastered by Bernie Grundman, who worked on the original album. © MD/Qobuz

Signing to a major label, Soundgarden take a step toward the metal mainstream with Louder Than Love, a slow, grinding, detuned mountain of Sabbath/Zeppelin riffs and Chris Cornell wailing. The production is quite murky, as the rest of the band tries to poke its way through Kim Thayil's guitar squall. There are some essential Soundgarden items mixed in, among them the haunting "Hands All Over," the punky "Full on Kevin's Mom," and the stereotypically macho metal stupidity of "Big Dumb Sex," whose ironic intent is often misconstrued. It's certainly worthwhile to sift through Louder Than Love, but don't expect consistency.© Steve Huey /TiVo

According to Joni Mitchell, Travelogue is her final recorded work, and if that is so, it's a detailed exploration of moments in a career that is as dazzling as it is literally uncompromising. Over 22 tracks and two CDs (and as stunning package featuring a plethora of photographs of Mitchell's paintings), Travelogue is a textured and poetic reminiscence, not a reappraisal, of her work -- most of it from the 1970s through the 1990s. A 70-piece orchestra, as well as jazz legends Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Kenny Wheeler, drummer Brian Blade, bassist Chuck Berghofer, producer Larry Klein, and organist Billy Preston, among others, accompanies her. It's true that Mitchell dabbled in this territory in 2000 on Both Sides Now, but that recording only remotely resembles this one. Cast in this way it is true that this is no easy cruise, but given the nearly 40 years of her sojourn in popular music, Mitchell's work, particularly from the mid-'70s on, has been difficult for many to grasp on first listen and always gives up its considerable rewards, slowly making her records age well over time; they are not disposable as much of the music from her peers is. These completely recast songs cover the entirety of her career, from her debut, Song From a Seagull, to Turbulent Indigo (with certain albums not being represented at all). It's true there aren't high-profile cuts here except for "Woodstock," which is radically reshaped, but it hardly matters. When you hear the ultrahip, be-bopping "God Must Be a Boogie Man," there is an elation without sentimentality; in the scathing and venomous "For the Roses" and "Just Like This Train," the bitterness and aggression in their delivery offers the listener an empathy with Mitchell's anger at the recording industry -- and anyone else who's crossed her. But while there is plenty of swirling darkness amid the strings here, there is also the fulfillment of prophecy; just give a listen to this version of "Sex Kills" that bears its weight in full measure of responsibility and vision. Her voice, aged by years of smoking, is huskier and is, if anything, more lovely, mature, deep in its own element of strength. The restatement of W.B. Yeats, "Slouching Toward Bethlehem," is more stunning now than ever before as is "Hejira." In "The Circle Game" and "Slouching Toward Bethlehem," you hear the ambition in Mitchell's musical direct as she has moved ever closer to the tone poem as a song form. Though it may not be as easy on first listen as Court and Spark, Travelogue will continue to unfold over time and offer, like her best work, decades of mystery and pleasure.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

Machine Gun Kelly's transition from rapper with pop sensibilities to pop-punk revivalist that began in earnest on his 2020 album Tickets to My Downfall continues enthusiastically with sixth album Mainstream Sellout. Made once again with blink-182's Travis Barker acting as producer and drummer, Mainstream Sellout goes even further than the last album in reshaping Kelly's sound as a 2020s approximation of the kind of melodic but anguished punk Barker and his peers were making in the start of the aughts. This is most apparent in songs made up of big, distorted guitars, simplistic but catchy hooks, and Barker's tight, snappy drumming. Willow duet "Emo Girl," the frantic and harmony-heavy "Born with Horns," and "Drug Dealer" (one of two tracks here featuring guest performances from Lil Wayne) all model themselves after the kind of 2000s pop-punk that was exciting enough to evoke a sense of rebellion and angst, but not too aggressive for radio airplay. Kelly doesn't erase all traces of his commercial rap past, however, and tracks like the blackbear-featuring "Make Up Sex" and "Die in California" -- an album standout with contributions from Gunna and Young Thug -- incorporate either trappy drum programming, fluid rap flows, or other familiar elements of rap production. Where Kelly's rebirth as a troubled, guitar-slinging punk was novel and backed by a fair number of serviceable tunes on Tickets to My Downfall, this shtick wears thin quickly on Mainstream Sellout. Unimaginative, by-the-numbers emo/pop-punk tropes show up to the point where songs blur together or feel assembled at random more than written. In addition to these uninspired moments, multiple tracks are confusing experiments that don't work, and don't fit with the rest of the album. The hardcore-paced, 72-second-long "WW4" feels awkward and unnecessary, and the watery emo-trap track "Ay!" doesn't commit fully enough to any of its stylistic directions, giving Lil Wayne little to work with as he turns in a distracted, Auto-Tune-doused verse. While Tickets to My Downfall came across like an established star taking risks with his sound in the name of self-discovery, Mainstream Sellout feels mostly like a middling attempt to further cross over into pop-punk, this time lighter on ideas and cohesion.© Fred Thomas /TiVo

Smashes, Thrashes & Hits is a compilation of Kiss's greatest hits from their '80s career. Since there weren't enough chart-toppers from that period to fill an entire album, however, '70s classics from their more theatrical days are also included, such as "Love Gun," "Shout It Out Loud," and "Rock and Roll All Nite." (Peter Criss' power ballad, "Beth," is also featured on the album, but is a re-recorded version with then-drummer Eric Carr on vocals.) This combination of classic power rock and pop-metal is what makes the record entertaining, and the album's two new tracks, "Let's Put the X in Sex" and "(You Make Me) Rock Hard," continue to display Kiss' interesting melodies. Although necessary only to the avid Kiss fan, Smashes, Thrashes & Hits is an acceptable compilation and is another good introduction to the band.© Barry Weber /TiVo

Machine Gun Kelly's transition from rapper with pop sensibilities to pop-punk revivalist that began in earnest on his 2020 album Tickets to My Downfall continues enthusiastically with sixth album Mainstream Sellout. Made once again with blink-182's Travis Barker acting as producer and drummer, Mainstream Sellout goes even further than the last album in reshaping Kelly's sound as a 2020s approximation of the kind of melodic but anguished punk Barker and his peers were making in the start of the aughts. This is most apparent in songs made up of big, distorted guitars, simplistic but catchy hooks, and Barker's tight, snappy drumming. Willow duet "Emo Girl," the frantic and harmony-heavy "Born with Horns," and "Drug Dealer" (one of two tracks here featuring guest performances from Lil Wayne) all model themselves after the kind of 2000s pop-punk that was exciting enough to evoke a sense of rebellion and angst, but not too aggressive for radio airplay. Kelly doesn't erase all traces of his commercial rap past, however, and tracks like the blackbear-featuring "Make Up Sex" and "Die in California" -- an album standout with contributions from Gunna and Young Thug -- incorporate either trappy drum programming, fluid rap flows, or other familiar elements of rap production. Where Kelly's rebirth as a troubled, guitar-slinging punk was novel and backed by a fair number of serviceable tunes on Tickets to My Downfall, this shtick wears thin quickly on Mainstream Sellout. Unimaginative, by-the-numbers emo/pop-punk tropes show up to the point where songs blur together or feel assembled at random more than written. In addition to these uninspired moments, multiple tracks are confusing experiments that don't work, and don't fit with the rest of the album. The hardcore-paced, 72-second-long "WW4" feels awkward and unnecessary, and the watery emo-trap track "Ay!" doesn't commit fully enough to any of its stylistic directions, giving Lil Wayne little to work with as he turns in a distracted, Auto-Tune-doused verse. While Tickets to My Downfall came across like an established star taking risks with his sound in the name of self-discovery, Mainstream Sellout feels mostly like a middling attempt to further cross over into pop-punk, this time lighter on ideas and cohesion.© Fred Thomas /TiVo

Ian Dury's primary appeal lies in his lyrics, which are remarkably clever sketches of British life delivered with a wry wit. Since Dury's accent is thick and his language dense with local slang, much of these pleasures aren't discernible to casual listeners, leaving the music to stand on its own merits. On his debut album, New Boots and Panties!!, Dury's music is at its best, and even that is a bizarrely uneven fusion of pub rock, punk rock, and disco. Still, Dury's off-kilter charm and irrepressible energy make the album gel, with the disco pulse of "Wake Up and Make Love with Me" making perfect sense next to the gentle tribute "Sweet Gene Vincent," the roaring punk of "Blockheads," and the revamped music hall of "Billericay Dickie" and "My Old Man." [Repertoire's 1996 CD reissue adds five essential singles -- "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll," "Razzle in My Pocket," "You're More Than Fair," "England's Glory," "What a Waste" -- that nearly make the disc a Dury best-of.]© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

The sophomore full-length effort from the English collective Sex, Death, & the Infinite Void leans hard into Creeper's affinity for lofty horror-tinged glam rock with the sturm and drang of a Jim Steinman production. Where 2017's Eternity, In Your Arms flirted with Meat Loaf-esque rock & roll pageantry. Sex, Death, & the Infinite Void goes all in, delivering an elaborate yet tightly knit 40-minute set that's spilling over with thespian despair and emo-tinged apocalyptic fervor. It's also a sh*t-ton of fun -- a master class in smudged-eyeliner camp directed by a clutch of vampires masquerading as musical theater majors. The band's darkened pop-punk is as expansive as it is rooted in the genre's snappy-verse/huge-chorus sonic architecture, with sugary barre chord brooders like "Annabelle" and "Be My End" giving way to Lynch-ian sock-hop jams ("Thorns of Love") and Roy Orbison-spun country-pop ("Poisoned Heart"). Frontman Will Gould continues to be a compelling ringleader, peppering his fatalistic anthems with delectable pop culture references, such as describing the protagonist of the crafty, hook-laden "Cyanide" as "Christina Applegate hopelessly beautiful in 1988," while providing melodramatic spoken-word between-song interludes alongside ex-Sister of Mercy Patricia Morrison like some sort of goth-punk Rod Serling. Potentially cringeworthy in lesser hands, Creeper ultimately sell the hell out of the album. Like its predecessor, Sex, Death, & the Infinite Void treats naval-gazing like a spectator sport, with each death-obsessed narrative resolving into a gang-vocal crescendo ("God can't save us, so let's live like sinners") of stale cigarette smoke and beer-can-crushing outsider solidarity.© James Christopher Monger /TiVo

One of the most assured debut albums of the mid-'80s, and one of the finest pop-soul confections of all time, No Parlez was the record that, following from the stellar success of Paul Young's earliest hits, left him poised to dominate the remainder of the decade like no other vocalist could have. Three singles laid bare all that Young was so eminently capable of. "Wherever I Lay My Hat," a beautifully impassioned take on what was, in all fairness, never one of Marvin Gaye's greatest performances, left mouths hanging open in awe; a meaty revision of Nicky Thomas' "Love of the Common People" proved that the earlier performance was no fluke; and "Come Back and Stay" indicated that the boy wasn't only a great singer, he had access to some great originals as well. Add the idiosyncratic yowling of the so-evocatively-named Fabulous Wealthy Tarts backing singers, jabbing a wealth of seemingly meaningless refrains, yelps and cackles into the gaps around Young's own vocal and, before it was even on the racks, it was clear that No Parlez was going to be an invigorating ride. And still it was capable of shocks. The title track was borrowed from former Slapp Happy art rocker Anthony Moore's "Industrial Drums" (from his Only Choice album) -- scarcely the kind of role model that Young's apparent drive for pop superstardom normally looked towards, while Moore's erstwhile bandmate Dagmar Krause surfaced elsewhere, to layer mystifyingly Euro-flavored vocals over a deeply soulful version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart." Yes, that "Love Will Tear Us Apart," a song still so draped in the martyrdom of Ian Curtis that to even think of revising it was regarded as sacrilege in some quarters. Young did more than that, though, he reinvented it. As a whole, the album does not live up to its greatest moments -- once past that so-superlative "Love of the Common People," side two lags badly as it heads towards the nadir of the closing "Sex." Breathtakingly original in small doses, Laurie Latham's production (and the Wealthy Tarts' keening) both lose their appeal after a while. One cannot help, too, but wish that the regular single mixes of the hits had been replaced by the superlative 12" mixes that accompanied their original release -- "Come Back and Stay," in particular, is up there with any Soft Cell or Frankie extension in the annals of classic 12"s. But though it's not flawless, still No Parlez is fearless and, looking back over Young's entire career (so far), one can only wonder how it all went so wrong? He could have ruled the decade like no other Brit of his age. Instead, the back cover photo simply makes him look like the younger brother of one of the guys who beat him to it. And you can bet Robert Smith wasn't expecting that!© Dave Thompson /TiVo