One of the most ambitious debuts in rock history, Freak Out! was a seminal concept album that somehow foreshadowed both art rock and punk at the same time. Its four LP sides deconstruct rock conventions right and left, eventually pushing into territory inspired by avant-garde classical composers. Yet the album is sequenced in an accessibly logical progression; the first half is dedicated to catchy, satirical pop/rock songs that question assumptions about pop music, setting the tone for the radical new directions of the second half. Opening with the nonconformist call to arms "Hungry Freaks, Daddy," Freak Out! quickly posits the Mothers of Invention as the antithesis of teen-idol bands, often with sneering mockeries of the teen-romance songs that had long been rock's commercial stock-in-trade. Despite his genuine emotional alienation and dissatisfaction with pop conventions, though, Frank Zappa was actually a skilled pop composer; even with the raw performances and his stinging guitar work, there's a subtle sophistication apparent in his unorthodox arrangements and tight, unpredictable melodicism. After returning to social criticism on the first song of the second half, the perceptive Watts riot protest "Trouble Every Day," Zappa exchanges pop song structure for experiments with musique concrète, amelodic dissonance, shifting time signatures, and studio effects. It's the first salvo in his career-long project of synthesizing popular and art music, high and low culture; while these pieces can meander, they virtually explode the limits of what can appear on a rock album, and effectively illustrate Freak Out!'s underlying principles: acceptance of differences and free individual expression. Zappa would spend much of his career developing and exploring ideas -- both musical and conceptual -- first put forth here; while his myriad directions often produced more sophisticated work, Freak Out! contains at least the rudiments of almost everything that followed, and few of Zappa's records can match its excitement over its own sense of possibility.© Steve Huey /TiVo

This third solo album by George Michael is dedicated to Anselmo Feleppa (his Brazilian friend who died in 1993) as well as to the legendary carioca composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. The guitars in the opening track ('Jesus To A Child') have a bewitching Latin flavour, as does the rhythm of 'To Be Forgiven'. George has not swapped out his soulful, R&B infused pop for bossa nova or samba, as he demonstrates in 'I Want Your Love'. This sensual release is undoubtedly rooted in pop, but there are some fleeting forays into jazz (the piano and muted trumpet in 'Older') and the addition of some sounds that are rather unusual for the British singer, such as the layered strings that accompany the tender melody of 'You Have Been Loved', a ballad written in honour of Feleppa. Released in 1996 after five years of silence, Older celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2021. After a year-long delay due to the pandemic, Sony has decided to celebrate this anniversary in style, with a five-CD Expanded Edition. In addition to the original remastered album, this edition includes his 1997 album Upper, which was essentially the sequel to Older. As for the 3rd, 4th and 5th CDs, they feature an impressive number of remixes, radio edits and unplugged versions. There’s also a cover of Jobim’s Desafinado, featuring a duet with Astrud Gilberto herself. Long live Brazil! ©Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz

Released for the British market, Hits and Rarities combines a good basic Sheryl Crow hits compilation with a collection of rarities that are either not that rare or interesting. The first disc is the stronger of the two, containing almost all of her big hits, not presented chronologically but presented entertainingly and not leaning too heavily on any particular era. Here, there are a few minor rarities -- the alternate Corrs version of "C'mon C'mon," soundtrack contributions to the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, the film Home of the Brave ("Try Not to Remember"), and her unfortunate cover of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" from Adam Sandler's Big Daddy -- which actually seem rarer than the stuff on the second disc. Seven of the 12 tracks there are live, many taken from the 2003 Live at Budokan, then there are two alternate takes, the B-sides "Chances Are," "Subway Ride," and a 1996 cover of Derek & the Dominos' "Keep on Growing." Nothing bad here, but hardly a worthy collection of Crow's stray tracks and certainly not worth seeking out, as it's neither complete nor really compelling. But the hits disc is good and if you're in the home territory, or find this at a bargain price, it's a nice -- if not necessary -- package overall. [A single-disc edition of Hits and Rarities was also released.]© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

A mere three years after Boats to Build, Guy Clark offered Dublin Blues, a record filled with sizzle, inspiration, and his best batch of songs in years. Teaming with Miles Wilkinson for the third time and using in the studio for the first time his road band -- which includes über guitarist and singer Darrell Scott -- Clark delivers a batch of searing portraits, intimate observations, first-person narratives, and one dumb throwaway cut ("Baby Went to Memphis in a Limo"). As usual, some old friends return to the fold -- Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Sam Bush, Verlon Thompson, Kenny Malone, and Suzy Ragsdale -- but there are new faces as well like Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Nanci Griffith, and Kathy Mattea. The magic begins with the title track. Haunted Celtic melodies played on the fiddle and a mandolin with an acoustic guitar usher in a country song that could be from the countryside of Ireland. With Mattea on the backing vocals, the listener is transported between worlds in time and space. "Black Diamond Strings" is a friendly little number about what else: guitar strings! Its catchy hook and singalong chorus make it a Clark winner. "Shut Up and Talk to Me" features Scott playing the swinging blues as Clark counts off the music like a fierce memory. "Stuff That Works" is another of Clark's quiet observation tunes, where his words speak volumes and the instruments underline their meanings. It's a workingman's anthem sung seemingly from the workshop bench. But "Hank Williams Said It Best," "Tryin' to Try," "Cape," and "Hangin' Your Life on the Wall" are all tremendous in their scope and intimacy. They are full of dimension and depth, and Wilkinson gives them textures. The set ends with a re-recording of the spooky yet shattering elegy "The Randall Knife" Clark cut on Better Days. The difference here is age. The view Clark sings from is one of distance and age. "The Randall Knife" doesn't feel quite so spooky this time out, but it does resonate with empathy and even tenderness. As it winds to a close, the listener is left not in bewildered silence but in awe that such a bond exists at all. © Thom Jurek /TiVo

James Brown is featured here with the then newly formed J.B.'s -- the maestro's second great band, including Bootsy Collins, Phelps Collins, Jabo Starks, Bobby Byrd, and Fred Wesley. Live at the Apollo had caught James Brown the '50s gospel/R&B singer; Love Power Peace captures James Brown the funkster. In the early '70s Brown turned up the funk, recording such litanies for Black America as "Ain't It Funky Now," "Sex Machine," "Give It Up or Turn It Loose," "Super Bad," "Get Up, Get into It, Get Involved," and "Soul Power." They're all here, along with revved-up, white-hot versions of the early- and middle-period classics. Brown had planned to release this as a triple album in 1971. When several bandmembers left shortly after it was recorded, Brown switched from King to Polydor Records, leading him to scrap it and record a new studio album instead. In 1992, Polygram decided to make the recording available for the first time.© Rob Bowman /TiVo

"Eve of Destruction" was so present on the airwaves at its height in 1965 that as it ended play on one station, it would start up on another, a dominating hit single which charted higher than any protest song written by Bob Dylan, the man whose own "Masters of War" must have inspired P.F. Sloan's classic protest song. Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" came close, stalling under the upper reaches of the Top 40 two weeks before McGuire grabbed the brass ring. McGuire even cut "Master's of War," appearing on his 1994 One Way Records Anthology album and evidence of the typecasting which decimated what should have been a huge radio presence beyond this title track and first and only hit. Five years before Ricky Nelson would chart with Dylan's "She Belongs to Me," McGuire makes it the first of two Dylan covers, throwing the similarities right in the listener's face. A Steve Barri/P.F. Sloan title, "You Never Had It So Good," follows that, and the theme and model becomes a bit redundant. Sure, people had commercialized the songs of Bob Zimmerman, but not to the extent where the man behind Carole King's eventual solo success, Lou Adler, along with the Grass Roots' initial production team of Sloan and Barri, would take a former New Christy Minstrel and turn him into a radio-friendly copy of the world-famous protest singer. Engineer Bones Howe, P.F. Sloan, Barri, and McGuire redesign the traditional "Sloop John B," a version that is much different from the Beach Boys', and it's a wise move which backslides and is eradicated as they go after Dylan's "Baby Blue," truly branding the innovative soul that is Barry McGuire. At least his reading of Sylvia Fricker's "You Were on My Mind" is original enough, though McGuire can't hit the notes the We Five's Beverly Bivens easily reached. The pulsating cover of the Ian & Sylvia tune doesn't come close to the We Five's arrangement and majesty which charted simultaneous with "Eve of Destruction," but it works so much better than the "imitation Bob" which permeates this package. The Beach Boys took the traditional "Sloop John B" Top Three in 1966, but McGuire did it first, and he also pre-dated Gladys Knight with a version of the standard "Try to Remember" ten years before she brought the title to popular radio. It is these three notable other covers which succeeded for Barry McGuire and indicated his potential. The man has tons of talent, as witnessed on his Christian albums like Lighten Up, and the dark sounds of his classic moment in the sun and gravelly voice (which probably influenced Alex Chilton) deserved much more success.© Joe Viglione /TiVo

About half of this two-record set features Janis Joplin with Big Brother & the Holding Company in 1968, performing songs like "Down on Me" and "Piece of My Heart." The rest, recorded in 1970, finds her with her backup group, Full Tilt Boogie, mostly performing songs from I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! Joplin puts herself out on-stage, both in terms of singing until her voice is raw and describing her life to her audiences. Parts of this album are moving, parts are heartbreaking, and the rest is just great rock & roll.© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

"Business," the second song on Brian May's third solo album, finds the guitarist recording the type of ferocious hard rock that he became known for with Queen in the early '70s. With a great pop hook and churning heavy guitars, it's arguably the best thing he's done as a solo artist. The rest of the album doesn't quite live up to its opening, but it shows May has grown more confident in his singing and in playing balls-to-the-wall hard rock than on 1992's Back to the Light. Songs like "China Belle" and "The Guv'nor" contain enough '70s-styled bombastic rock to satisfy May's many fans, while "On My Way Up," with its catchy groove and gospel-like backup singers, is irresistible in its optimism. Unfortunately, May does get lost at times. His ballads tend to come off as bland compared to the ones he wrote while in Queen, while the over-the-top metal exercise, "Cyborg," with its processed vocals, doesn't work at all. May is much better sticking to what he knows best, catchy but eccentric hard rock. The album draws near a close with three covers, and while two of them, including Jimi Hendrix's "One Rainy Wish," do come off as clunky, May's spirited live version of Mott the Hoople's "All the Way From Memphis" is absolutely riveting.© Geoff Orens /TiVo

Jennifer Lopez's debut album, On the 6, showcases the actress' sultry, versatile voice in a number of settings, including pop ballads, Latin pop, and R&B. Star producers like Sean "Puffy" Combs, Trackmasters, and Emilio Estefan, Jr. lend their talents to the album, making On the 6 a perfectly polished and varied album, which features a musical blend Lopez calls "Latin soul." Smooth ballads such as "Should've Never," "Too Late," "Could This Be Love," and "No Me Ames," a duet with Latin superstar Marc Anthony, dominate the album's first half; while these songs show off the gentler side of Lopez's vocal gifts, they tend to sound too similar. It's on the R&B and Latin-tinged tracks where Lopez really shines. Along with the insistent first single "If You Had My Love," cuts like "Feelin' So Good" and "Let's Get Loud" have a fiery, soulful sound more in keeping with Lopez's public persona. On the 6's second half capitalizes on this spicy, upbeat side, particularly on "Waiting for Tonight" and "Open off My Love," which draws inspiration from rap, R&B, and Latin styles with its sparse arrangement of horns, keyboards, and beats. The tropical remix of "No Me Ames" and "Una Noche Mas," the Spanish version of "Waiting for Tonight," emphasize Lopez's distinctive heritage, which elevates On the 6 from a star's vanity project to an individual but accessible work of pop songcraft by a widely talented performer.© Heather Phares /TiVo

James Brown was arguably the most important African-American artist of his generation, a musician whose work helped define his time and place while creating a sound that was his and his alone. Brown's sharp, percussive style upended R&B, gave birth to funk, and would provide the blueprint for hip-hop, while echoes of his innovative music could be heard in free jazz, new wave, electronic, and many other musical avenues. If anyone in popular music deserves a big-screen biopic, it's James Brown, and the soundtrack to Get On Up, a feature film based on Brown's life starring Chadwick Boseman as the Godfather of Soul, is a reminder that Brown was a pathbreaker in the studio and a supreme showman on the stage. Opening with the taut groove of 1970's "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine," this album is dominated by Brown's sinewy, hard funk from the late '60s and '70s, such as the ferocious "Mother Popcorn," the tough but passionate "Cold Sweat," and the ominous "The Payback, Pt. 1," though there are reminders of earlier and more soulful hits like "Please Please Please," "Try Me," and "Caldonia." Along with the familiar studio recordings of several of Brown's biggest hits, Get On Up also folds in a number of vintage live recordings (including a ferocious take of "Night Train" from 1963's justifiably legendary Live at the Apollo), and if the studio was where he hatched the ideas to take his music in new and exciting directions, the stage was where he most effectively put his theories into practice, and the triple-play of 1971 live takes of "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine," "Super Bad," and "Soul Power" is devastating, especially considering they were performed in real time into open mikes while some of the players were doing dance steps. With the exception of a heavily overdubbed version of "Try Me," most of these tracks appear in versions that are recognizable to fans, and while some of this material may have been tricked up for use onscreen, the bulk of the album sounds like pure James Brown, delivered in potent form. 1991's 20 All-Time Greatest Hits is still the best one-disc overview of Brown's most vital work, and Star Time remains that rare box set that's practically devoid of filler, but if a new generation of music fans is going to be introduced to the Hardest Working Man In Show Business by the movie Get On Up, at least the soundtrack album delivers a satisfying taste of what made him a legend.© Mark Deming /TiVo

In an era when Brown went on to make three studio doubles, Get on the Good Foot was the first. This 1972 album finds Brown having great chemistry with both his newer J.B.'s and the New York session players. The title track is particularly stunning. "Get on the Good Foot" was so off-the-cuff and nonpareil, he couldn't have replicated the formula even if he wanted to. "I Got a Bag of My Own," on the other hand, sounds forced and synthetic. Although Brown was known for his new product, this album has him recycling some of his King singles. Doing so-so remakes of "Cold Sweat" and "Ain't It a Groove" could be taken as an attempt to ease some of his old catalog into his new label. Not surprisingly, Get on the Good Foot does have its share of throwaway cuts. "Recitation by Hank Ballard" is a spoken-word effort with Ballard extolling his buddy's virtues, as well as giving unsolicited advice about the perils of show biz. "Dirty Harri," a lukewarm instrumental, goes nowhere fast for all of its six-plus minutes. Although Get on the Good Foot only managed to yield two hits, the album is one of his more varied and fun efforts. © Jason Elias /TiVo