An absolute delight, the first full-length album from singer-songwriter supergroup boygenius truly plays to its members' individual and collective strengths. (Credits extend to Autolux's Carla Azar on drums and Jay Som's Melina Duterte on bass.) Each is allowed to shine equally, taking lead on their own songs—but also bring out surprising, shining qualities in the others. "True Blue" sounds like a track from one of Lucy Dacus' solo records, filled out with pure harmonies and grand, low-key drama. Dacus is brilliant at pinpointing fine, evocative details—bandmate Phoebe Bridgers says of her, "Lucy's a noticer"—and there's no shortage in this tale of real, messy friendship that thrills and bruises: "When you moved to Chicago/ You were spinning out … When you called me from the train/ Water freezing in your eyes/ You were happy and I wasn't surprised." Julien Baker's vibrant "$20," likewise, delivers her trademark nervous edge, but the trio take it to unexpected places: First, Bridgers and Dacus thread a gossamer string of ethereal sweetness through Baker's earthiness; later, the three sing over each other in a glorious round robin of conversation until Bridgers, desperate to get her message across, shreds her throat raw yelling out "Can you give me $20?!" They trade lines on "Not Strong Enough," playing around with Cure guitars (acknowledged in Baker's verse: "Drag racing through the canyon/ Singing 'Boys Don't Cry'") and interpolating Sheryl Crow ("Not strong enough to be your man/ I tried, I can't"). That one builds to an excellent '80s anthemic bridge, with the three chanting "Always an angel, never a god." "Cool About It" summons a Simon & Garfunkel-style folk melody and layers on 2023 cleverness with thoughts like, "I took your medication to know what it's like/ Now I have to act like I can't read your mind." "Satanist" delights in off-kilter and herky-jerky chords à la early Weezer, before sliding sideways into a woozy dreamscape. Even a tossed-off lark like "Without You Without Them"—with sweet, a capella Andrews Sisters harmonies—charms. Bridgers' "Emily I'm Sorry" is particularly moody and moving, while stoic "We're in Love" is a stark portrait of Dacus and a guitar for nearly eight tear-jerking minutes before the others float in for support. Perhaps the most revealing is "Leonard Cohen," so intimate you can hear fingers sliding on strings. It's a true story about the trio's friendship and a time Bridgers was so excited to play an Iron and Wine song for her bandmates that she lost track of her surroundings. "On the on-ramp you said/ 'If you love me you will listen to this song'/ And I could tell you were serious/ So I didn't tell you you were driving the wrong way on the interstate/ Until the song was done," Dacus sings, before showing off their grateful love for each other: "Never thought you'd happen to me." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz 

Yello is above all the story of a hit: Oh Yeah. Released in 1985, Oh Yeah did extremely well thanks to its feature in a series of teen movies, from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to American Pie, and, of course, thanks to the Simpsons character, Duffman. The has always kept Dieter Meier and Boris Blank fresh in public memory and the Swiss duo shows no sign of fading as they release their sixteenth album dedicated to the sounds of the late 80s, but with a slightly modern twist. This is more or less the sole concept for this album which, as explained by the group, goes in multiple directions: “It’s part spy film, part Dali-painting, part strobe lit dance floor, part 4D car chase and part deep space torch song.” The twelve tracks sound very much like machines from the 1980s, from Way Down, a nod towards Funkadelic, to the flashy, pithy house explosion of Arthur Spark. Forty years later, Yello seem to still be with it.

It’s emancipation time for Romy Madley-Croft, guitarist of The xx, with the release of her first solo album, a “party album” that made her step a little outside her comfort zone. Penning for singers like Halsey and Dua Lipa, Romy began by working for others alongside Fred Again.., who has become one of England’s most in-demand producers over the past few years. Their collaboration began as a friendship, and one day, after having written “Loveher,” a story about loving a woman, Romy decided to take credit for it. And thus began the album, an homage to the queer club scene where Romy tells of having come into her own, and which now helps her come into her own as a solo artist. Fred Again.. produced eight tracks on the record, leaving behind his characteristic ethereal footprint, halfway between pop and dance music. On the album, we also find the single “Strong,” a true rave anthem produced by a man who knows how it’s done, Stuart Price, pioneer of the English electronic scene with his 90s project Les Rythmes Digitales. Between euphoria and melancholy, ecstasy and nostalgia, Romy delivers a particularly successful first album, 100% for the dance floor. © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz

Ezra Collective won well-deserved critical and commercial acclaim for 2019's You Can't Steal My Joy, a raucous debut long-player laced with elements of Afrobeat, jazz, hip-hop, and grime. However, before they could take it on tour globally, the COVID-19 pandemic set in. They introduce the same musical chemistry on Where I'm Meant to Be and still employ massive doses of jazz-funk layered inside swinging Afrobeat, salsa, grime, and soul.On "Life Goes On" (featuring Sampa the Great), party sounds meet James Mollison's honking tenor sax, Femi Koleoso's funky beats, and Sampa's rapid-fire delivery as T.J. Koleoso's insistent bassline and Ife Ogunjobi's trumpet solo above Joe Armon-Jones' organ and piano vamps before massive funk arrives with a trumpet solo to carry it out. "Victory Dance" commences as a triple-timed drum and percussion orgy atop shouted human voices. Afro-Cuban-styled horns and hand percussion bump and burn before the horns usher in an Afro-Cuban theme. Armon-Jones enters, then takes off with rapid montunos as the tune moves to intense salsa with soaring trumpet. They don't let up when Kojey Radical fronts the band on the single "No Confusion." Anchored by T.J.'s circular funk bassline, the horns pulse in driving Afrobeat style above Femi's breaking snares and hi-hat while Armon-Jones lays down sinister chord voicings, adding to the rhythm section's heft as Radical syncopates his incendiary delivery. "Welcome to My World" is all groove and grit as post-bop and Afrobeat horns meet dubwise rhythms in a strutting frenzy. "Ego Killah" is strictly dubwise steaminess with double-time bass and piano vamps; interlocking drums and percussion rub against and buoy one another. That track is followed by the R&B-centric "Smile" led by Armon-Jones' crystalline jazz piano harmonies supported by a rhythm section playing smooth, gentle, neo-'80s soul. "Live Strong" inserts grooving '70s-styled funk into shimmering contemporary jazz piano and swinging horns. Emeli Sande assists on the livelier sounding "Siesta," offering her heavenly yet assertive soprano atop Rhodes piano, congas, bongos, and bass. "Belonging" arrives as interstellar space jazz with glorious soloing from Mollison and martial snare from Koleoso. Armon-Jones opens a harmonic door in the bridge as the tune begins to assert itself, wedding spacious spiritual jazz to driving neo-electro and funk. His knotty acoustic piano solos with both Koleosos in trio. The set closes with a reading of Sun Ra's "Love in Outer Space" as a finger-popping, smooth, jazzy, neo-soul jam with Nao (Neo Jessica Jones) emoting in her wispy, reedy soprano as T.J. Koleoso guides her with a slippery, resonant bassline framed by ascendant horns and spectral keys. While Where I'm Meant to Be is a logical follow-up to Ezra Collective's debut, it's a soulful, musically advanced, rhythmically infectious one, too.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

The set that made Cray a pop star, despite its enduring blues base. Cray's smoldering stance on "Smoking Gun" and "Right Next Door" rendered him the first sex symbol to emerge from the blues field in decades, but it was his innovative expansion of the genre itself that makes this album a genuine 1980s classic. "Nothing but a Woman" boasts an irresistible groove pushed by the Memphis Horns and some metaphorically inspired lyrics, while "I Wonder" and "Guess I Showed Her" sizzle with sensuality.© Bill Dahl /TiVo

He may be in his seventies now, but there’s still no stopping Bruce Springsteen. In 2019, without the E Street Band, the Boss released Western Stars, an astonishing album which would see him transformed into the Glen Campbell of the third millennium, detaching himself from the present day by choosing an attitude of innocence and nonchalance over resistance or defiance. Letter to You came along a year later, where he gathered his favorite band—or rather, what was left of it after the passing of Danny Federici (2008) and Clarence Clemons (2011)— in his home studio in New Jersey to record 12 songs live in just 5 days. It was a reunion among old friends, rooted firmly in the '70s.With Only the Strong Survive, released in autumn 2022, Bruce Springsteen goes 100% soul. There is no doubting the quality of the goods on this 21st studio album. Comprised exclusively of covers, the album seeks to "do justice" to the Great American Songbook of the sixties and seventies. It’s a tasty tracklist, taken from the five-star catalogs of Motown, Stax, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International, alongside a few other soul and R&B labels. The Boss has always had good sense in this department, mixing such gold-plated legends as Jerry Butler, Arethra Franklin, the Temptations, Diana Ross with her Supremes, and forgotten geniuses like Tyrone Davis. Not everything is totally vintage, indeed, there’s the aptly named "Soul Days"—a nostalgic song by Jonnie Barnett recorded by Dobie Gray in 2000—and "When She Was My Girl," first recorded by the Four Tops in 1981. To strengthen his case, Springsteen even invited the great Sam Moore (of the legendary duo Sam & Dave). Overall, Only the Strong Survive radiates a sincere and infectious joy. This feeling dominates throughout, underpinned by a gang of powerful backing singers (Soozie Tyrell, Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore, Curtis King Jr., Dennis Collins and Fonzi Thornton). It's definitely a celebration. Whenever the Boss does add a personal touch—putting the spotlight on his own voice, for example—he never tries to transform these gems of the past into Born to Run-style stadium anthems. His approach is perhaps even a little educational, given that many of his younger fans will be discovering some of these songs for the first time. After all, he was a young fan himself once upon a time: a teenager glued to his AM radio, sputtering out wondrous "made in Motown"singles all night long. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

To the thousands of questions raised about themselves, the Arctic Monkeys answer Whatever People Say I Am, I Am Not. Their success story, born in bars and on the Internet, is as huge as it is dazzling. Smashing the British sales record – over 360,000 albums sold in a week −, they receive this memorable accolade from the Times: Bigger than the Beatles! In Great Britain, ever since the Libertines have burnt out, the horizon had turned dull grey. All until this fluorescent-adolescent quartet from Sheffield. Led by the timid Alex Turner, the Monkeys concocted for this perfect first album thirteen frantic tracks bordering on genius, that the NME ranked 19th in its 500 Greatest albums of all time list. It featured everything that had been missing from the rock landscape. Incisive guitar riffs for Turner’s scruffy compositions (The View From The Afternoon, I Bet You Look Better On The Dancefloor, Dancing Shoes) and Matt Helders’ cheeky drums. Andy Nicholson on the bass for the last time. They play, hard and fast. The whole thing is overflowing with extensive lyrics about the daily life of the English working class. Shiny but not polished, youthful but well formed. Recorded in the country side, in the Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire, this opus draws from the Strokes’ nonchalance (Riot Van), Franz Ferdinand’s dancing energy (Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured) and the Libertines’ phlegm (Mardy Bum), while also drawing inspiration from their idols, the Jam, the Smiths, and Oasis, already putting down their very own trademarks for years to come. © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz

Funny that the much-touted "reunion/comeback" album Steel Wheels followed Dirty Work by just three years, while it took the Stones five years to turn out its sequel, Voodoo Lounge -- a time frame that seems much more appropriate for a "comeback." To pile on the irony, Voodoo Lounge feels more like a return to form than its predecessor, even if it's every bit as calculated and Bill Wyman has flown the coup. With Don Was, a neo-classic rock producer who always attempts to reclaim his artist's original claim to greatness, helming the boards with the Glimmer Twins, the Stones strip their sound back to its spare, hard-rocking basics. The Stones act in kind, turning out a set of songs that are pretty traditionalist. There are no new twists or turns in either the rockers or ballads (apart maybe from the quiet menace of "Thru and Thru," later used to great effect on The Sopranos), even if they revive some of the English folk and acoustic country-blues that was on Beggars Banquet. Still, this approach works because they are turning out songs that may not be classics but are first-rate examples of the value of craft. If this was released ten years, even five years earlier, this would be a near-triumph of classicist rock, but since Voodoo Lounge came out in the CD age, it's padded out to 15 tracks, five of which could have been chopped to make the album much stronger. Instead, it runs on for nearly an hour, an ironically bloated length for an album whose greatest strengths are its lean, concentrated classic sound and songcraft. Still, it makes for a stronger record than its predecessor.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Time has been good to Bonnie Raitt. At 72, she sounds great—and as strong as ever. The California roots-rock queen has said she wanted to try new styles on her 21st album, but there are no wild U-turns here. When she adopts a little Lyle Lovett jazziness on "Something's Got a Hold of My Heart"—accented by Glenn Patscha's seesaw piano and her own slow-hand guitar—she sounds like Nick of Time era Bonnie Raitt. Ditto the sexy, funky blues rock number "Waitin' for You to Blow," with its cocksure rhythm and a killer Hammond solo by Patscha. The whole thing sashays, and Raitt delivers the title line in a whispered growl that really belies her years. She plays around with R&B—heavy on the blues guitar—on the terrific "Made Up Mind," and tries on a little New Orleans street jazz sass for "Love So Strong." Her voice is so perfectly suited for the Dylan-esque ballad "Just Like That," about a man who died too young but donated his heart to save someone else's life. Told from the stricken perspective of his parents as they meet the man with their son's heart, she brings incredibly rich empathy to the story: "They say Jesus brings you peace and grace/ but he ain't found me yet," Raitt sings at first. Then, "I spent so long in darkness/ I thought the night would never end/ But somehow grace has found me/ and I had to let him in." There's a similar feel to "Down the Hall," a John Prine-like story song with the narrator finding redemption and hoping for good karma by caring for hospice patients—taking care of a dying stranger who has no one, washing his feet, shaving his bony head. Raitt, who has been making records for more than 50 years, is unafraid to face mortality on Just LIke That; it's a running theme, but matter-of-fact and in no way depressing. In fact, "Livin' for the Ones"—"Keep livin' for the ones who didn't make it/ Cut down through no fault of their own"—is absolutely alive with spitfire energy, a juke-joint blues rocker led by Raitt's ferocious guitar. "Just remember the ones who won't ever feel the sun on their faces again," she sings, and it feels like a jubilant rallying cry. She even makes amends on the Sunday-morning gospel blues of "Blame it On Me," drawing it out like taffy before she finally hits a high note of salvation and shifts the blame: "Ooooh, gonna blame it on you!" (After all, the clock's not stopped yet.) Raitt also sounds completely relaxed and like she's having a ball on "Here Comes Love"— a little bit of funk, a little jazz piano, a little street percussion. "Chicken 'n' dumplings that's all it's gonna take/ Just to make you stay for the ice cream cake" are the words of a woman who hasn't lost a beat. ©Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

The follow-up to 2017's Under Stars, Human Demands is the fifth studio album from Scottish singer/songwriter Amy MacDonald. Described by the vocalist as covering ideas of life, love, and family, the project sees MacDonald team up with producer Jim Abbiss (Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys). Previewed by singles "Hudson" and "Crazy Shade of Blue," the album was released in October 2020.© David Crone /TiVo

With Part of the Light (2018), Ray LaMontagne returned to his roots with his mix of Nick Drake-style folk, southern soul, fat-free blues and classic rock. The psychedelic influences of old Pink Floyd albums that were noticeable on Ouroboros (2016) felt like a distant memory. With Monovision, the American songwriter cements his sound, confirming that it’s closer to Cat Stevens than David Gilmour. With this eighth album, he’s a little closer to sitting on the throne of Americana. When he presses down on the accelerator (Strong Enough), the virile toughness of Creedence Clearwater Revival doesn’t feel too far away. And when he starts daydreaming (We’ll Make It Through) it’s hard – especially with the harmonica – not to think of Neil Young. But at the age of 46 and having spent more than two decades on the scene, Ray LaMontagne has a sound of his own. Yes, he has rather typical voice though it never stops him venturing past the heavy shadows of his spiritual forefathers. So much so that this extremely purified 2020 vintage is perhaps the album that sounds most like Ray LaMontagne. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

In the '80s and '90s, England's dance music team Stock, Aitken & Waterman was often accused of being too slick for its own good, and favoring style over substance. But the producers/songwriters (also known for their work with Dead or Alive and Samantha Fox) should definitely be proud of their work on fellow Briton Rick Astley's often captivating debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody. While the high-tech production is very '80s, Astley's soul/pop/dance music approach is very much a production of the '70s -- sort of the Average White Band meets Philly soul/disco meets Tom Jones. The best dance music works both on and off the dancefloor, and this certainly holds true on such slick yet gritty fare as "Together Forever," "Never Gonna Give You Up," and "Don't Say Goodbye." There are a few weak moments -- the lackluster "No More Looking for Love" being a glaring example -- but overall, this CD proved Astley to be a welcome addition to the British R&B scene.© Alex Henderson /TiVo

In an art form such as the blues, there is a tug-of-war between adhering to the roots of the traditional sound and respecting the influences from the ancestors, and the need to create your own art that reflects your life experiences and the zeitgeist. Kevin Moore, also known as Keb' Mo', has straddled that tightrope amazingly well over his long career, and continues to do so on Good to Be—a diverse blues/Americana album with a lot of unique touches. The bulk of the album was written and recorded in Nashville, evident in the laid-back and sure tone of the production, from Vince Gill's hand on the mixing board, to guests such as Darius Rucker on "Good Strong Woman." "The Medicine Man," featuring Old Crow Medicine Show, will have you thinking back to The Band's Music from Big Pink. There's a great, mostly straight-ahead cover of Bill Withers' classic "Lean On Me". The mellow, acoustic opener "Good To Be (Home Again)" frames Keb's soulful voice in a poignant lyric about walking the streets of your youth and being revitalized by the familiar sights and sounds (prompted by Keb's purchase and renovation of his childhood home in Compton). Other nice brushstrokes include the jazzy, smoky horns and after-dark vibe of "All Dressed Up" and the heartfelt, moving lyrics about striving for social justice and young people speaking out for their rights of "Louder." Keb' Mo' is a consummate musician constantly striving to excel and be true to his vision, all the while building on the foundations of the blues and Americana music that fueled his passion in the first place. © Rick Banales/Qobuz

It's often unfair to compare the Rolling Stones to the Beatles but in the case of the group's mono mixes, it's instructive. Until the 2009 release of the box set The Beatles in Mono, all of the Fab Four's mono mixes were out of print. That's not the case with the Rolling Stones. Most of their '60s albums -- released on Decca in the U.K., London in the U.S. -- found mono mixes sneaking onto either the finished sequencing or various singles compilations, so the 2016 box The Rolling Stones in Mono only contains 56 heretofore unavailable mono mixes among its 186 tracks. To complicate things further, the box -- which runs 15 discs in its CD version, 16 LPs in its vinyl incarnation -- sometimes contains both the British and American releases of a particular title (Out of Our Heads and Aftermath), while others are available in only one iteration (Between the Buttons is only present in the U.K. version). All this is for the sake of expedience: this is the easiest way to get all the mono mixes onto the box with a minimal amount of repetition. To that end, there's a bonus disc called Stray Cats -- with artwork that plays off the censored plain white cover art for the initial pressing of Beggars Banquet -- collecting the singles that never showed up on an official album, or at least any of the albums that made the box. Along with the odd decision to have the CD sleeves be slightly larger than a mini-LP replica (they're as big as a jewel box, so they're larger than a shrunk vinyl sleeve, a size that's rarely seen in other releases), this is the only quibble on what is otherwise an excellent set. The sound -- remastered again after the 2002 overhaul for hybrid SACDs -- is bold and colorful, with the earliest albums carrying a wallop and the latter records feeling like they're fighting to be heard in two separate channels and all the better for it. If nothing here provides a revelation -- none of the mixes are radically different, the way that some Beatles mono sides are -- this nevertheless is the best the Rolling Stones have sounded on disc (or on vinyl) and there's considerable care in this package, from the replications of the sleeves to the extensive notes from David Fricke. Plus, hearing the Stones in mono winds up being a hot wire back toward the '60s: this feels raw and vibrant, as alive as the band was in the '60s.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

After Matador (2015) and World’s Strongest Man (2018), Gaz Coombes has finally completed his trilogy with Turn the Car Around, and the former Supergrass frontman doesn’t deviate from his tried-and-tested path. Many a good tune is played on an old fiddle, and so he has once again worked with producer Ian Davenport in his Oxford studio to create this recent studio album. Seven years in the making, he states that the record ‘captures the highs and lows of modern life and all the fine print in between’. On this compact 37-minute long record (a real boredom buster, save for the closing track, ‘Sonny the Strong, Dance On’, which is a little dull), the Englishman uses music to paint vivid, lyrical and contemporary pictures. ‘Overnight Trains’, whose slow piano intro precedes a beautiful crescendo, and ‘Don’t Say It’s Over’, with its rich orchestration and synth loops, are two incredible tracks that can be found on this release. ‘Long Live the Strange’, which has a slight Arctic Monkeys vibe to it, also deserves a special mention, as does the stunning title track. It’s a hat-trick for Gaz Coombes! © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz