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The Black Rider
Tom Waits
Rock - Released September 1, 1993 | Island Records (The Island Def Jam Music Group / Universal Music)
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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
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On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II
Donna Summer
R&B - Released October 15, 1979 | Island Def Jam
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On the Radio: Greatest Hits, Vols. 1-2 originally appeared as a double vinyl set in 1979 and was regarded well enough to make the transition to other formats. The release is an almost complete anthology of her popular '70s output, including the number one club singles "Love to Love You Baby," "Try Me, I Know We Can Make It," "I Remember Yesterday," "MacArthur Park," "Bad Girls," "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," and "Hot Stuff."© Andy Kellman /TiVo
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All Killer, No Filler
Sum 41
Rock - Released January 1, 2001 | Island Records (The Island Def Jam Music Group / Universal Music)
It would be a mistake to view Sum 41 as just another second-rate band cashing in on the early-'00s punk-pop boom, even if it did recruit Jerry Finn to produce All Killer No Filler. Just as Finn had done for both blink-182 and Green Day, he charges Sum 41's punk-pop with a razor-sharp edge, the sort of dynamic in-your-face sound that helps this music cross over to MTV and radio so well. Besides the notable production, a lot of credit should go to the band as well. Its songwriting is obviously more diverse here than it was a year earlier on its debut album, Half Hour of Power; for example, the group's rap and '80s metal influences rise to the surface more frequently here than on that first album and instill a fun sense of camp. "Fatlip" is perhaps the best example of how Sum 41 has made an effort to diversify the music with more than just power chords and melodic punk vocals. Judging from this album, Sum 41 still isn't quite on the same level as alt-rock peers such as Weezer or Green Day, but the band is obviously headed in the right direction. In the meantime, it's difficult not to enjoy this album for what it is, even if it's a bit derivative.© Jason Birchmeier /TiVo
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Love To Love You Baby
Donna Summer
Disco - Released August 27, 1975 | Island Def Jam
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"Love to Love You Baby"'s 16 minutes and 48 seconds of arousal and refill -- ticklishly sensitive rhythm and fusion -- threw disco into a tizzy overnight, but the tonally starved blues-of-isolation on the B-side isn't to be missed, either: the broken promises Donna Summer bemoans in "Full of Emptiness"; "Need-a-Man Blues," with its unrequitedly sexy guitar rhythm as out of range of Summer's voice as she of satisfaction; the imaginary seaside hold-me in "Whispering Waves"; and "Pandora's Box," where Summer and guitar scream icily at one another as they turn their backs on each other's body music. Hunger without recourse; essential disco.© Michael Freedberg /TiVo
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Bad Girls
Donna Summer
R&B - Released April 29, 1979 | Island Def Jam
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Bad Girls marked the high-water mark in Donna Summer's career, spending six weeks at Number One, going double platinum, and spinning off four Top 40 singles, including the chart-topping title song and "Hot Stuff," which sold two million copies each, and the million-selling, Number Two hit "Dim All the Lights." Producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte recognized that disco was going in different directions by the late '70s, and they gave the leadoff one-two punch of "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls" a rock edge derived from new wave. The two-LP set was divided into four musically consistent sides, with the rocksteady beat of the first side giving way to a more traditional disco sound on the second side, followed by a third side of ballads, and a fourth side with a more electronic, synthesizer-driven sound that recalled Summer's 1977 hit "I Feel Love." Though remembered for its hits, the album had depth and consistency, concluding with "Sunset People," one of Summer's best album-only tracks. The result was the artistic and commercial peak of her career and, arguably, of disco itself.© William Ruhlmann /TiVo
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contrebande 02. le disque de l'été
Flavien Berger
Alternative & Indie - Released February 9, 2024 | Pan European Recording - Vibrance
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The Bravery
The Bravery
Rock - Released March 14, 2005 | Island Records (The Island Def Jam Music Group / Universal Music)
The Bravery's self-titled debut is a slick twist on '80s new wave and post-millennium modern rock. Those who've followed the Killers, stellastarr*, and the like will surely pounce on the Bravery's luscious synth-driven pop. The 11-song set, produced by the band's frontman, Sam Endicott, is playful and confident, unlike the stressful production of the Killers' Hot Fuss. Sure, obvious influences (Duran Duran, the Smiths, the Cure) carry the weight of this album, but it's without haste. An overcast backdrop dresses the trashy hints of love and desire, and cocksure moments such as "Public Service Announcement" and "No Brakes" showcase the Bravery's swagger with style. Endicott goes from sounding like a Robert Smith copycat ("Tyrant") to a dirtier Julian Casablancas ("Out of Line") and maintains a focused, fashionable dance sound. "Unconditional" soars with a sly guitar/keyboard two-step while "An Honest Mistake" saunters like classic New Order with its dark-hued mechanical energy. The Bravery isn't sonically mind-blowing, but the new millennium new wave revival remains intriguing. This New York five-piece makes an interesting effort without it coming off contrived and dishonest. Get ready to shake your hips!© MacKenzie Wilson /TiVo
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Summer Jam
The Underdog Project
Dance - Released March 20, 2000 | Loop Dance Constructions
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Half Hour Of Power
Sum 41
Rock - Released January 1, 2000 | Island Records (The Island Def Jam Music Group / Universal Music)
The first track, "Grab the Devil by the Horns and Fuck Him up the Ass," is a time warp. For a minute and a half the group relives the new wave of British metal and cranks out an Iron Maiden style tune. After a brief trip down memory lane the album quickly morphs into pop punk. The songs are well crafted and the hooks are catchy on "Make No Difference" and "Summer." But in some respects that is problematic, there was a time in the pre-Green Day/Blink 182 years where punk defined itself by not being radio friendly. A good album, but essentially proof that turn of the millennium punk is just as much a corporate rock entity as adult contemporary.
© Curtis Zimmermann /TiVo
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Man Of The Woods
Justin Timberlake
Pop - Released February 2, 2018 | RCA Records Label
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Memphis, Tennessee. It’s there that Justin Timberlake was born, on January 31, 1981. A city that you cannot separate from numerous musical revelations, as is often the case in the rest of the South of the United States. This Southern DNA, the former leader of NSYNC claims it partly on Man Of Woods. For example by inviting Chris Stappleton, THE country songwriter of the moment, on Say Something, Justin Timberlake seems to want to take the urban R&B into the dirt and the wide-open spaces. It’s a two-headed approach symbolized by the album cover. Assisted by his old accomplices Timbaland and the tandem Pharrell Williams/Chad Hugo aka the Neptunes, he tries here to merge his synthetic pop full of soul with Southern country. On FutureSex/LoveSounds and The 20/20 Experience, Timberlake had already taken some risks and proved he wasn’t an empty pop icon of the times. Once again here, he intrigues, even if this fifth album seems on the whole calibrated for the charts with titles like Midnight Summer Jam, a disco trip that’s likely to become a hit. The work is probably less ambitious than The 20/20 Experience, but proves once more that the man never rests on his laurels. © CM/Qobuz
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Live And More
Donna Summer
Disco - Released August 31, 1978 | Island Def Jam
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After becoming the queen of disco thanks to orgasmathon hits like "Love to Love You Baby" and "I Feel Love," Donna Summer topped off her five-year rise to fame with this live set. Certainly not a contender for first-disc choice, Live and More still works quite well as a '70s sampler for the converted. And since disco was the party music par excellence, the album's feel is one of a all-nighter in action. Featuring her signature hits and a fat chunk of disco tracks from the Once Upon a Time record, sides one and three solidify Summer's reputation as one of the most exciting and slick singers on stage. Balancing out the requisite dance material, Summer spends side two waxing nostalgic via a pop standards medley ("The Man I Love," "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good," "Some of These Days") and some nice jazz and blues-imbued fare of her own. And ending the album on a very high note, Summer indulges in "McArthur Park Suite," a classic long-player that bookends two of Summer and producer Giorgio Moroder's pop disco numbers with a dance-friendly take on Jimmy Webb's monumental classic. Along with cloud-walking bouncers like "I Love You" and "Last Dance," this closing piece finds Summer at her sophisticated and tuneful best. There's nothing here to eclipse the original versions of these cuts -- save for the Webb cover, which is new -- but the Summer faithful will nonetheless want to pick up this very enjoyable concert recording.© Stephen Cook /TiVo
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Bad Girls
Donna Summer
Pop - Released April 25, 1979 | Island Def Jam
Bad Girls marked the high-water mark in Donna Summer's career, spending six weeks at Number One, going double platinum, and spinning off four Top 40 singles, including the chart-topping title song and "Hot Stuff," which sold two million copies each, and the million-selling, Number Two hit "Dim All the Lights." Producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte recognized that disco was going in different directions by the late '70s, and they gave the leadoff one-two punch of "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls" a rock edge derived from new wave. The two-LP set was divided into four musically consistent sides, with the rocksteady beat of the first side giving way to a more traditional disco sound on the second side, followed by a third side of ballads, and a fourth side with a more electronic, synthesizer-driven sound that recalled Summer's 1977 hit "I Feel Love." Though remembered for its hits, the album had depth and consistency, concluding with "Sunset People," one of Summer's best album-only tracks. The result was the artistic and commercial peak of her career and, arguably, of disco itself.© William Ruhlmann /TiVo
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Chilombo (Explicit)
Jhené Aiko
R&B - Released March 6, 2020 | Def Jam Recordings
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Jhené Aiko's flair for promoting emotional healing and exuding unfiltered eroticism reaches a new peak on her third album. Recorded mostly in Hawaii with more live instrumentation than her previous sessions, Chilombo also integrates vibrational sound bowls -- gently ringing frequencies only occasionally as loud as a lightly touched electric piano or kalimba -- for the additional purpose of fostering inner harmony. Healing in this case is sometimes achieved with outbursts. "Get your bitch ass off my phone" stands out from the sonically lullaby-like "None of Your Concern," where Aiko also wonders if she's being heard and real-life ex Big Sean responds with a labyrinthine verse of defensive maneuvers and boasts that essentially say "No." In the slinking slow jam "Triggered (Freestyle)," Aiko winds her neck as she threatens "Might f*ck around, have to pay me in blood," but isn't too proud to conceal her desire for sexual release with the confronted subject. (Not for nothing has Aiko likened herself to a volcano.) She's never been more seductive than she is in the frothy "Surrender," where the question "I'm a boss bitch, how you don't f*ck with me?" is more like a puzzled act of hypnosis than a display of insecurity. "P*$$Y Fairy (OTW)," one of her better X-rated quiet storm ballads, is as memorable for afterglow proclamations like "Now you feel like you can fly" as it is the title. The writing and recording are perhaps too unprocessed at times. "One-Way St." starts like a sketch for a potentially brilliant nod to Soulquarians-style hip-hop soul and ironically changes direction twice, first for a fine if clashing Ab-Soul guest verse and again for a stumble down a dark corridor that seems arbitrary. Some of the interludes have more to offer than the full-blown songs -- intermittently a patience-testing aspect across the hour-plus playing time of the standard edition. Still, this is Aiko's greatest achievement by a significant margin and indicates that even stronger work lies ahead.© Andy Kellman /TiVo
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She Works Hard For The Money
Donna Summer
R&B - Released March 15, 2024 | Island Def Jam
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Handwritten (Revisited)
Shawn Mendes
Pop - Released April 14, 2015 | Island Records (The Island Def Jam Music Group / Universal Music)
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Shawn Mendes circumvented traditional routes to a recording contract by posting short clips of himself singing other people's songs on the video-sharing service Vine. These were no more than a few seconds -- Vine's restrictions set the limit at six seconds, which is hardly enough time to cover a chorus -- but it was enough to set some teenage hearts aflutter, which led to a contract with Island, which led to an EP in 2014, which led to the full-length debut Handwritten in 2015. That was a two-year march to an album, which should've been enough time for Mendes to learn how to engage a listener for at least 60 seconds, but Handwritten is pretty thin gruel. Some of this is down to material, songs that feel like a laboratory-generated fusion of Jason Mraz's singsong loverman schtick and Ryan Tedder's icy adult contemporary. Although he has songwriting credits on two-thirds of Handwritten, he can't be blamed for the rinky-dink tunes: his producers could've sharpened the hooks so they all stuck like those on "Stitches" and "Kid in Love." What he can be blamed for is the fact that he can't hold the audience's attention for any longer than on Vine, relying on his puppy-dog eyes and croon to get him through a song. Cute he may be, but he has charisma that lasts no longer than a GIF, as Handwritten makes painfully clear.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
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Moonlight Ladies
Jenna Mammina
Vocal Jazz - Released October 26, 2019 | Blue Coast Records
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This Summer
Alessia Cara
Pop - Released September 6, 2019 | Def Jam Recordings
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FM!
Vince Staples
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released November 2, 2018 | Def Jam Recordings
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Just a year after the release of his sophomore effort, Big Fish Theory, Long Beach emcee Vince Staples returned with his third official full-length, FM! While the album contains 11 tracks, only eight of those clock in at more than a minute, giving this EP-length set roughly the same runtime as 2016's Prima Donna. That briskness works in favor of FM!, resulting in an urgent, taut listen that leaves listeners wanting more. As the title suggests, FM! is presented in a throwback radio format, turning the dial from Staples' hard-hitting tunes to special entries by guests Earl Sweatshirt and Tyga. A slew of other famous friends also make appearances, including Ty Dolla $ign, Jay Rock, E-40, Kamaiyah, Kehlani, Buddy, and more. Yet, despite the impressive roster, FM! remains the Staples' show, his head-spinning flow and twisting wordplay making every track he touches a must-listen. Unsurprisingly, he hits the same themes that he's known for -- including black pride, street violence, "Norf"side repping, and partying -- all with characteristic bite and wit. Without the harsh drill production of Big Fish Theory, FM! is slightly more accessible -- as summer-breezy as Staples can get -- and hypnotizes as effortlessly as it menaces. "Relay," "Outside!" and "FUN!" are the highlights on an album of standouts, but in reality, every track is worthy of attention. Despite FM!'s brevity, Staples jams so much into every bar that it fully satiates, all while still managing to end so abruptly that it comes as a surprise. The electrifying thrill of FM! is a triumph for the rapper who remains at the top of his game.© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo
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Gold
Barry White
R&B - Released January 1, 2006 | Island Def Jam
Gold follows a handful of major Barry White compilations released since the '70s, including Casablanca's two-volume Greatest Hits (released in 1975 and 1981, then on CD), the three-disc 1992 box set Just for You, 1995's All-Time Greatest Hits, and 2002's two-disc The Ultimate Collection. Many of the sets in Hip-O/Universal's Gold series amount to reissues of two-disc anthologies released during the early 2000s through labels distributed by Universal, and this one is not an exception -- it's exactly like The Ultimate Collection, albeit with different visual presentation. As any Barry White fan would be quick to tell you, White was so much more than a large, oversexed, deep-voiced novelty. He was a tremendously prolific and gifted songwriter, arranger, and producer. Even without all the albums released under his own name, he'd have quite a legacy with Love Unlimited and the Love Unlimited Orchestra, not to mention his stint in A&R and behind the scenes work with Gene Page, Gloria Scott, Danny Pearson, and Webster Lewis. Gold includes five Love Unlimited Orchestra tracks -- the big guns, like the number one pop single "Love's Theme" and the number one club single "My Suite Summer Suite," as well as the pleasant surprise of "Midnight and You" -- but otherwise concentrates on Barry White's solo-in-name releases, ranging from 1973's "I'm Gonna Love You, Just a Little More Baby" (number one R&B, number three pop) to 1979's "It Ain't Love, Babe (Until You Give It)" before picking back up with 1987's "Sho' You Right." (White released albums during the intervening years that are not represented, and Universal would've had to license roughly ten charting singles from them to be thorough). The extensive back catalog of his other ventures could use a whole lot of love, but Gold offers about as much lush and exquisitely arranged soul music as one could hope to get in two and a half hours.© Andy Kellman /TiVo
Suppose you have a more precise idea of what you want. If you are searching for the album "Bad" by Michael Jackson, type michael jackson bad. The album in question will be displayed at the top, as it is the most relevant.
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