Where Permanent Vacation seemed a little overwhelmed by its pop concessions, Pump revels in them without ever losing sight of Aerosmith's dirty hard rock core. Which doesn't mean the record is a sellout -- "What It Takes" has more emotion and grit than any of their other power ballads; "Janie's Got a Gun" tackles more complex territory than most previous songs; and "The Other Side" and "Love in an Elevator" rock relentlessly, no matter how many horns and synths fight with the guitars. Such ambition and successful musical eclecticism make Pump rank with Rocks and Toys in the Attic.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Boys for Pele is the harshest and most challenging work in Tori Amos' catalog. However, it also stands as the most cathartic, nourishing, and artistically thrilling of her career. Birthed in the wake of a devastating breakup, Pele is a sprawling ode to the feminine, conjured in a whirlwind of pain that forced Amos to embark on a quest into the dark unknown to find the fire within that had been snuffed out by the men in her life. After her breakthrough confessional Little Earthquakes and the delicate impressions of Under the Pink, Amos struck out on her own for the first time, unfettered and uncompromised. Pele would be her debut at the helm as sole producer, a control she would maintain for the rest of her career. With that power, Amos was free to exorcize the demons as she saw fit. She did so with new additions to her arsenal: a harpsichord, brass flourishes, a choir, labyrinthine lyrics, and a pantheon of spirits summoned in the Louisiana bayou and the Irish countryside. It was a jarring shift. While unflinching songs like "Me and a Gun," "God," "Icicle," and "The Waitress" flirted with what was to come, Pele delved directly into the darkness, cleansing both her and the listener in ways that she hadn't before attempted. Like hitting an exposed nerve or an open wound, the rawness was striking. Following the sparse opener "Beauty Queen/Horses," the discord on "Blood Roses" shocks Pele to life with medieval harpsichord magic. That electricity surges throughout, most notably on "Professional Widow," a powerful dose of industrial-piano ferocity that holds nothing back in its demands for peace, love, and a little something extra. When her rage is restrained, the pain seeps through in quiet moments of devastation like "Hey Jupiter," "Putting the Damage On," "Doughnut Song," and the utterly heartbreaking "Marianne." While the first half of Pele houses the more immediate numbers, the back end of the LP provides rewards for the patient listener. From the rousing "In the Springtime of His Voodoo" to the funky "Little Amsterdam," Amos slowly crawls out from the underworld, nourishing her spirit with a Southern gospel choir on "Way Down" and finding bittersweet solace on "Twinkle." Although the album runs long -- and is emotionally exhausting in scope -- the shared journey is part of the experience, as listeners play the Dante to Amos' Virgil. Boys for Pele remains one of her very best works, timeless in its examination of pain, self-discovery, and acceptance.© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo

The modern blues world has its share of artists who excel in some areas but fall short in others. For example, someone who excels as a guitarist might be merely adequate as a singer; or, someone who excels as a songwriter might be merely an average singer and not play an instrument particularly well. But Ana Popovic is a triple threat: she is an excellent singer, an excellent guitarist, and an excellent songwriter. And her strength in all of those areas is evident on Unconditional. The native of Belgrade, Serbia (formerly Belgrade, Yugoslavia) includes one instrumental on this 2011 release: the intense "Slideshow," which gives her a chance to really let it rip on her electric guitar and show just how strong her chops are on that instrument. Popovic rocks aggressively hard on "Slideshow," and there is also plenty of hard-rocking intensity on "Count Me In" (a Popovic original) and Cora Taylor's "Voodoo Woman." Meanwhile, Popovic's love of classic soul comes through loud and clear on "Your Love Ain't Real," "Reset Rewind," and "Summer Rain" (all of which she either wrote or co-wrote). She is blues-oriented, but she has never claimed to be a purist or made any secret of her passion for rock, soul, and jazz, and speaking of jazz, she gives us a very pleasant surprise on a burning performance of Nat Adderley's "Work Song." The Adderley standard has often been performed as instrumental soul-jazz/hard bop, but the lyrics that Oscar Brown, Jr. wrote for "Work Song" have been performed by quite a few jazz vocalists; Popovic's version is unusual in that it rocks so hard, and isn't without an awareness of jazz, but she definitely adds plenty of blues-rock muscle to an Adderley classic. Listeners who have enjoyed Popovic's previous releases will find that her high standards are very much intact on the consistently absorbing Unconditional. © Alex Henderson /TiVo

Jimmy Guiffre 3 features the first version of Giuffre's 3. With guitarist Jim Hall and either Ralph Pena or Jim Atlas on bass, Giuffre is heard on clarinet, tenor, and baritone. The generally introverted music is wistful, has a fair amount of variety, and is melodic while still sounding advanced. In addition to the nine original songs (including the earliest recording of Giuffre's classic folk song "The Train and the River"). An excellent introduction to Jimmy Giuffre's unique music.© Scott Yanow /TiVo

Look out, we've got a phenomenon on our hands! Naia Izumi is a young artist with a talent for pluralistic grooves; a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist who draws inspiration from the history of soul music as well as rock and jazz fusion. Diagnosed with autism at the age of 16, this Georgia native, now living in California, quickly focused his attention on culture, reading dozens of books and learning several instruments, the guitar first and foremost. Naia Izumi won the Tiny Desk Contest organised by NPR in 2018, attracting the attention of many different labels wanting to sign up this endearing and unique character. From the bass to the drums, the mandolin and even the koto (the plucked string instrument used in traditional Japanese music), Naia Izumi could do it all.Izumi's unique sound is very obviously influenced by Stevie Wonder, Lauryn Hill and Musiq Soulchild, but also by legends of progressive music such as King Crimson and, above all, jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, the mastermind behind Shakti and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. His powerful signature sound of elegant chordal constructions and arpeggiated melodies is entwined with his delicate, soulful voice. Naia Izumi’s main weapon of choice is his Fender Jazzmaster ’64, on which he favours a tapping technique over strumming or plucking. However, all of this stylistic and instrumental complexity never prevents his music from remaining organic and sensual. Everything flows perfectly on A Residency in the Los Angeles Area; deep and graceful. Here’s a tender, healing groove to soothe the wounds of the world. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

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