Dirt is Alice in Chains' major artistic statement and the closest they ever came to recording a flat-out masterpiece. It's a primal, sickening howl from the depths of Layne Staley's heroin addiction, and one of the most harrowing concept albums ever recorded. Not every song on Dirt is explicitly about heroin, but Jerry Cantrell's solo-written contributions (nearly half the album) effectively maintain the thematic coherence -- nearly every song is imbued with the morbidity, self-disgust, and/or resignation of a self-aware yet powerless addict. Cantrell's technically limited but inventive guitar work is by turns explosive, textured, and queasily disorienting, keeping the listener off balance with atonal riffs and off-kilter time signatures. Staley's stark confessional lyrics are similarly effective, and consistently miserable. Sometimes he's just numb and apathetic, totally desensitized to the outside world; sometimes his self-justifications betray a shockingly casual amorality; his moments of self-recognition are permeated by despair and suicidal self-loathing. Even given its subject matter, Dirt is monstrously bleak, closely resembling the cracked, haunted landscape of its cover art. The album holds out little hope for its protagonists (aside from the much-needed survival story of "Rooster," a tribute to Cantrell's Vietnam-vet father), but in the end, it's redeemed by the honesty of its self-revelation and the sharp focus of its music. [Some versions of Dirt feature "Down in a Hole" as the next-to-last track rather than the fourth.]© Steve Huey /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

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The Better Life, 3 Doors Down's debut album, positions them somewhere between radio-ready post-grunge and more aggressive alternative metal. The best songs are memorable exercises in that style, and even though the songwriting is uneven, that's often to be expected from a first record; there is at least an indication of potential here.© Steve Huey /TiVo

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"Locked Up"'s success provided Akon with instant heavyweight clout. Upgraded from writing songs and doing the occasional hook for B-, C-, and D-level artists, he tallied a multi-platinum album, was granted his own boutique label (which was used to spawn T-Pain), and became in-demand as an A-list collaborator -- he worked with Young Jeezy, R. Kelly, Gwen Stefani, and even Elton John. His second album, Konvicted, isn't much different from the debut (patchiness included), even though it comes from a different perspective. He even addresses his newfound fame, along with the expectations and other forms of grief that come with it, in a vague but very saddened way throughout "The Rain." For the most part, though, Konvicted offers more ultra-macho R&B. The guest spots come from Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Styles P, leaving no room for female hooks or verses. Akon hits on strippers (but does not fall in love with them), smacks behinds, and tends to go with what suits him best: bragging and seducing while delivering like-sounding hooks in his unique voice. Whenever the yearning and heartache is allowed through, he's not persuasive, and he sounds like he still has the club on his mind.© Andy Kellman /TiVo

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Seemed like drama was always something Eminem craved, but in the year leading up to The Re-Up, the drama was heavy, a really, really bad kind of heavy. He checked himself into rehab, got remarried for a few months to the infamous Kim before that went south, then his best man and best friend Proof is murdered in a bizarre and depressing incident that made all the gangster talk that came previously extra chilling. A mixtape that was originally planned to be released on the underground circuit, The Re-Up has plenty of that serious heat that influenced Eminem to go aboveground with the release. There's the surging remix of 50 Cent's "Ski Mask Way," the excellent all-star single "You Don't Know," a couple clever redo's of Akon's "Smack That" single with various members of the Shady family, and "There He Is" with newcomer Bobby Creekwater living up to his hype over a rich Alchemist beat. Tacked onto the end is Eminem's shining moment, "No Apologies," which speaks to his frozen heart, then lashes out at critics. The man's lyrical dexterity is on display for the soul-searching closer, there's no doubt about that, but the target is questionable, since it didn't really seem like Em was getting a critical drubbing in 2006. A diversion maybe? Could be, since he's sidestepping a whole lot of the other issues here. While Proof gets his due with the intro to his unreleased track "Trapped," this is hardly his memorial, plus his D12 brothers Bizarre and Kuniva are in no hurry to lay off the gun talk with their visceral and knowingly irresponsible "Murder." The quick marriage/divorce and rehab are barely noted, either, and while Em has every right to keep whatever he wants private, longtime fans looking for that usual candor are in for a shock. Instead of using the mixtape format as an up-to-the-minute dispatch from the soul, Em has decided to bring the Shady empire back into focus with The Re-Up. 50 Cent and his G-Unit crew are brought back into the Shady scene when it seemed they just about outgrew it, and with Creekwater, Cashis, and Stat Quo all anxious to become "rookie of the year," the Shady spotlight is validated. Once the Eminem hardcore accept that this is more about the whole talented and hungry crew than the man with a devastating year on his hands, they'll co-sign.© David Jeffries /TiVo

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"Locked Up"'s success provided Akon with instant heavyweight clout. Upgraded from writing songs and doing the occasional hook for B-, C-, and D-level artists, he tallied a multi-platinum album, was granted his own boutique label (which was used to spawn T-Pain), and became in-demand as an A-list collaborator -- he worked with Young Jeezy, R. Kelly, Gwen Stefani, and even Elton John. His second album, Konvicted, isn't much different from the debut (patchiness included), even though it comes from a different perspective. He even addresses his newfound fame, along with the expectations and other forms of grief that come with it, in a vague but very saddened way throughout "The Rain." For the most part, though, Konvicted offers more ultra-macho R&B. The guest spots come from Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Styles P, leaving no room for female hooks or verses. Akon hits on strippers (but does not fall in love with them), smacks behinds, and tends to go with what suits him best: bragging and seducing while delivering like-sounding hooks in his unique voice. Whenever the yearning and heartache is allowed through, he's not persuasive, and he sounds like he still has the club on his mind.© Andy Kellman /TiVo

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