Maybe it was his time in prison, or maybe it was simply his signing with Suge Knight's Death Row label. Whatever the case, 2Pac re-emerged hardened and hungry with All Eyez on Me, the first double-disc album of original material in hip-hop history. With all the controversy surrounding him, 2Pac seemingly wanted to throw down a monumental epic whose sheer scope would make it an achievement of itself. But more than that, it's also an unabashed embrace of the gangsta lifestyle, backing off the sober self-recognition of Me Against the World. Sure, there are a few reflective numbers and dead-homiez tributes, but they're much more romanticized this time around. All Eyez on Me is 2Pac the thug icon in all his brazen excess, throwing off all self-control and letting it all hang out -- even if some of it would have been better kept to himself. In that sense, it's an accurate depiction of what made him such a volatile and compelling personality, despite some undeniable filler. On the plus side, this is easily the best production he's ever had on record, handled mostly by Johnny J (notably on the smash "How Do U Want It") and Dat Nigga Daz; Dr. Dre also contributes another surefire single in "California Love" (which, unfortunately, is present only as a remix, not the original hit version). Both hits are on the front-loaded first disc, which would be a gangsta classic in itself; other highlights include the anthemic Snoop Dogg duet "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted," "All About U" (with the required Nate Dogg-sung hook), and "I Ain't Mad at Cha," a tribute to old friends who've gotten off the streets. Despite some good moments, the second disc is slowed by filler and countless guest appearances, plus a few too many thug-lovin' divas crooning their loyalty. Erratic though it may be, All Eyez on Me is nonetheless carried off with the assurance of a legend in his own time, and it stands as 2Pac's magnum opus.© Steve Huey /TiVo

War's third album as an act separate from Eric Burdon was also far and away their most popular, the group's only long-player to top the pop charts. The culmination of everything they'd been shooting for creatively on their two prior albums, it featured work in both succinct pop-accessible idioms ("The Cisco Kid," etc.) as well as challenging extended pieces such as the 13-minute "City, Country, City" -- which offered featured spots to all seven members without ever seeming disjointed -- and the title track, and encompass not only soul and funk but elements of blues and psychedelia on works such as the exquisite "Four Cornered Room." "The Cisco Kid" and "The World Is a Ghetto" understandably dominated the album's exposure, but there's much more to enjoy here, even decades on. Beyond the quality of the musicianship, the classy, forward-looking production has held up remarkably well, and not just on the most famous cuts here; indeed, The World Is a Ghetto is of a piece with Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Curtis Mayfield's Curtis, utilizing the most sophisticated studio techniques of the era. Not only does it sound great, but there are important touches such as the phasing in "Four Cornered Room," not only on the percussion but also on the vocals, guitars, and other instruments, and the overall effect is a seemingly contradictory (yet eminently workable) shimmering blues, even working in a mournful and unadorned harmonica amid the more complex sounds.© Bruce Eder /TiVo

Formed in 1999, The National is composed of Matt Berninger, the Dessnet brothers and the Devendorf brothers. In 2007, the band from Ohio released one of their greatest albums, the fourth: Boxer. Eleven years later, they bring it back into the spotlight with this live recorded in Brussels and perform the entirety of the disc. But yielding to increasing demands, The National also opted for an official release. Faithful to the first version, the band keeps almost the same visual for the cover, a picture of them on stage at the wedding of producer Peter Katis. The quintet perfectly perform here from beginning to end, for a faithful and responsive audience. Opening with Fake Empire, a small musical prowess of which we like the destructured aspect, mainly in the association of pop keyboards playing off-beat with Berninger’s voice. An obvious alchemy with Brainy on which the guitars, the bass and the drum perfectly harmonize in some kind of musical discussion. Up to the last track Gospel, there is some sort of hypnotic charm at play, notably thanks to the contrast of this deep voice on a light and intense melody. © Anna Coluthe/Qobuz

Montreal's Arcade Fire successfully avoided the sophomore slump with 2007's apocalyptic Neon Bible. Heavier and more uncertain than their nearly perfect, darkly optimistic 2004 debut, the album aimed for the nosebleed section and left a red mess. Having already fled the cold comforts of suburbia on Funeral and suffered beneath the weight of the world on Neon Bible, it seems fitting that a band once so consumed with spiritual and social middle-class fury should find peace "under the overpass in the parking lot." If nostalgia is just pain recalled, repaired, and resold, then The Suburbs is its sales manual. Inspired by brothers Win and William Butler's suburban Houston, Texas upbringing, the 16-track record plays out like a long lost summer weekend, with the jaunty but melancholy Kinks/Bowie-esque title cut serving as its bookends. Meticulously paced and conservatively grand, fans looking for the instant gratification of past anthems like "Wake Up" and "Intervention" will find themselves reluctantly defending The Suburbs upon first listen, but anyone who remembers excitedly jumping into a friend's car on a sleepy Friday night armed with heartache, hope, and no agenda knows that patience is key. Multiple spins reveal a work that's as triumphant and soul-slamming as it is sentimental and mature. At its most spirited, like on "Empty Room," "Rococo," "City with No Children," "Half Light II (No Celebration)," "We Used to Wait," and the glorious Régine Chassagne-led "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)," the latter of which threatens to break into Blondie's "Heart of Glass" at any moment, Arcade Fire make the suburbs feel positively electric. Quieter moments reveal a changing of the guard, as Win trades in the Springsteen-isms of Neon Bible for Neil Young on "Wasted Hours," and the ornate rage of Funeral for the simplicity of a line like "Let's go for a drive and see the town tonight/There's nothing to do, but I don't mind when I'm with you," from album highlight "Suburban War." The Suburbs feels like Richard Linklater's Dazed & Confused for the Y generation. It's serious without being preachy, cynical without dissolving into apathy, and whimsical enough to keep both sentiments in line, and of all of their records, it may be the one that ages the best.© James Christopher Monger /TiVo

In 2010, Arcade Fire surprised everyone with The Suburbs. This third studio album was released in a Deluxe edition with two previously unreleased tracks: Culture War and Speaking In Tongues. Although the Canadian band caught the attention of audiences in the early 2000s with a slightly dark first album (Funeral), they avoided locking themselves into this macabre atmosphere. The Suburbs offer much different colours, as Win Butler went through his predecessors’ records to get inspired by influences ready to be modernised. With great affection for music rich in instrumentals and an undeniable gift for highlighting different musical phrases, The Suburbs marked a turning point. Arcade Fire matured, without turning to elitist and inaccessible music. Proof that their pop-coloured rock has far surpassed what their early days might have suggested. There is an English quality to their style, in the vein of Paul Weller or David Bowie, but also elements from T-Rex’s glam rock, particularly in the lyrics and the energy Butler brings. Rococo or Ready To Start look at childhood and give credit to what we may have experienced and thought in our younger years… Are Arcade Fire a little nostalgic of the good old days? It’s often what happens when one takes a new maturity leap and looks back to compare the past with the present. This Deluxe edition offers an arranged version of Wasted Hours and a cover of the Talking Heads’ Speaking In Tongues with David Byrne under the influence. An album inspired by the Butler brothers’ youth that will make you want to watch a Spike Jonze short, Scenes From The Suburbs, made for the first version of The Suburbs in 2011. © Clara Bismuth/Qobuz

Like the epochal Police & Thieves by Junior Murvin, which also originated at Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Ark Studio and thus shares with this album Perry's trademark dark, swampy ambience, War ina Babylon is something of a mountain on the reggae landscape. But what makes it so remarkable is not just the consistently high quality of the music -- indeed, by 1976 one had come to expect nothing but the finest and heaviest grooves from Perry and his studio band, the Upsetters -- rather, it's the fact that Max Romeo had proved to be such a convincing singer of cultural (or "conscious") reggae after several years of raking it in as a purveyor of the most abject slackness. (His "Wet Dream" had been a huge hit in England several years earlier, and had been followed by such other delicacies as "Wine Her Goosie" and "Pussy Watch Man.") But there's no denying the authority of his admonishing voice here, and the title track (which describes the violent mood during Jamaica's 1972 general election) has remained a standard for decades. Other highlights include "One Step Forward" and "Smile Out a Style." Essential to any reggae collection.© Rick Anderson /TiVo

Billie Joe Armstrong, frontman of Green Day, could not keep quiet during the pandemic and from Monday 23 March 2020 began to make himself heard by posting, on the group's YouTube channel, a cover of I Think We’re Alone Now, by Tommy James and the Shondells. It was a first, fairly convincing effort in a series of covers done in the spirit of plain and simple pop rock which has become the hallmark of Green Day and its charismatic, eternally-adolescent singer. And so, every Monday, Billie Joe – with the help of a few friends – has been offering us a new pearl from among his favourite songs. They include some very popular songs, and others which are less obvious. In 2013, he had already had fun with a whole album (Foreverly) which revisited the legendary 1958 album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us by the Everly Brothers, as a duet with Norah Jones... This time, in terms of hits, we have a cover of Manic Monday written by Prince for The Bangles, with involvement from Susanna Hoffs, or Kim Wilde's essential eighties hit, Kids in America, which fits like a glove with Billie Joe's punk pop aesthetic, as is also the case for John Lennon's Gimme Some Truth, which, he explains he knows above all from the cover by Generation X, Billy Idol's former outfit. That means that the latter's influence makes itself felt, if anything more than that of the original artist... That's also the case with Police on my Back by the Equals, which is best known from its 1980 version performed by the Clash. In terms of lesser-known material, we have Avengers (Corpus Christi), The Starjets (War Stories) and The Wonders (That Thing You Do!), with tracks that offer plenty of material for Billie Joe to cut and shape as he pleases... In the end, the concept proves to have been a beautiful idea, and it allows the artist to introduce his fans to the influences and points of reference that contributed to the creation of the Green Day style. © Yan Céh/Qobuz

Brooklyn drill rapper Pop Smoke picked up on the momentum of his 2019 debut Meet the Woo with second mixtape Meet the Woo, Vol. 2 just a few months later. The project is defined by Smoke's puffed-up confidence and deep, husky vocals that teeter between sinister charisma and all-out menace. Production is handled by Yoz Beatz, 808Melo, and several others, and the instrumentals match Smoke's dark-edged persona with room-shaking bass that leaves just enough room for moody samples. Lil Tjay shows up on both the lurching and trappy ode to wealth "War" and "Mannequin," and other guests include Quavo, Fivio Foreign, and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie on the grimy album standout "Foreigner." When Pop Smoke goes it alone, his no-holds-barred style feels relentless and unstoppable. "Dior" is Smoke at the height of his powers, throwing bars effortlessly and riding an explosive beat typical to the blunt, aggressive feel that flows through the entire mixtape. This unrelentingly raw energy is what makes Meet the Woo, Vol. 2 some of Pop Smoke's best material. Every song walks a razor-thin line between fun and danger, thick with the same tension that fills the room right before a fight breaks out. Pop Smoke keeps this tension hanging for the entire duration of the tape, creating something that's exhilaratingly bleak and always ready to explode.© Fred Thomas /TiVo

On the soundtrack to Solo: A Star Wars Story, John Powell became just the third person to compose a score for a live-action Star Wars film, following in the footsteps of John Williams and Rogue One's Michael Giacchino. Without the burden of the official episode saga installments, Powell took the liberty to experiment with fresh sounds (for the Star Wars universe), delivering the most intriguing and nontraditional Star Wars music to date. Powell employs non-orchestral instrumentation, exciting and unexpected rhythmic percussion, and a choir to great effect (especially as a motif for the newly introduced band of Marauders). After Williams puts his trademark stamp on the project with a lone contribution ("The Adventures of Han"), Powell launches into hyperspace, adapting Williams' familiar leitmotifs ("Meet Han," "L3 & Millennium Falcon," "Break Out," "Reminiscence Therapy," "Into the Maw," and "Dice & Roll") and injecting each composition with flair. The rousing "Corellia Chase" and "Flying with Chewie" swoop and sweep, but it's not until "Train Heist" that Powell truly claims Solo as his own. Funky and primal, "Train Heist" pumps the coaxium hyperfuel into Solo and doesn't look back. The sole pop track on the album belongs to vocalist Baraka May, whose slinky and sultry "Chicken in the Pot" sounds more like a trip-hop Bond theme than a Star Wars cantina tune. It's one of many surprises that make Solo a fun, exciting, and engaging experience. Tasked with filling Williams' iconic shoes, Powell didn't simply mimic the master -- as in Giacchino's case -- but instead charted his own course, capturing the outlaw spirit of the roguish Han Solo himself in the process. © Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo

Suzanne Vega is a beautiful example of an artist excelling despite her limitations. While the singer-songwriter doesn't have much of a voice, she has no problem being incredibly expressive. Subtlety is the quality that defines Days of Open Hand, an album every bit as compelling as the superb Solitude Standing. Vega doesn't need to shout or preach in order to get her points across. On "Men in a War," the folk-pop-rock explorer examines the plight of disabled veterans without expressing the type of anger that Bruce Cockburn would when addressing such a subject. Restrained and understated, treasures like "Those Whole Girls (Run in Grace)," "Rusted Pipe" and "Room Off the Street" and the unsettling "Institution Green" show that for all their delicacy, Vega's songs can be quite meaty and give listeners a great deal to think about. © Alex Henderson /TiVo

Trevor Morris writes in his notes for his score for the first season of the Showtime series The Tudors that his challenge was to create music that was both evocative of the era and that expressed the very modern sensibilities of the director's and actors' conception of the project. His score does manage to capture both of those sound worlds, although the contemporary predominates (some sections use drum tracks). The world of Renaissance and folk music is rarely presented unaltered; it's effectively filtered through modern orchestrations, harmonizations, and collage-like juxtapositions. Morris doesn't attempt to be a purist in selecting his source materials, either -- he includes the sounds of world music, including the didgeridoo and Taiko drumming. He makes somewhat too much use of Celtic folk music and instruments; for all the attractiveness of the songs and instruments, they tend to skew the geographical locus with too much specificity toward Ireland. Morris is a skillful and colorful orchestrator and manipulator of sound, with a strong sense of drama, and the music is frequently fully effective even separated from the visual context for which it was created. The sound quality is exemplary -- full and present.© TiVo

The foreboding crawl of the Hammond organ is what made Van Der Graaf Generator one of the darkest and most engrossing of all the early progressive bands. On H to He Who Am the Only One, the brooding tones of synthesizer and oscillator along with Peter Hammil's distinct and overly ominous voice make it one of this British band's best efforts. Kicking off with the prog classic "Killer," an eight minute synthesized feast of menacing tones and threatening lyrics, the album slowly becomes shadowed with Van Der Graaf's sinister instrumental moodiness. With superb percussion work via Guy Evans, who utilizes the tympani drum to its full extent, tracks like "The Emperor in His War-Room" and "Lost" are embraced with a blackened texture that never fades. The effective use of saxophone (both alto and tenor) and baritone from David Jackson gives the somberness some life without taking away any of the instrumental petulance. H to He is carpeted with a science fiction theme, bolstered by the bleak but extremely compelling use of heavy tones and the absence of rhythms and flighty pulsations. This album, which represents Van Der Graaf in their most illustrious stage, is a pristine example of how dark progressive rock should sound.© Mike DeGagne /TiVo

The Silver Jews' 1996 recording, The Natural Bridge continues the band's shift from their early, sprawling racket into a smooth foil for David Berman's laid-back vocals and evocative lyrics. When sessions with original Jews Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich and with members of the Scud Mountain Boys didn't work out the way Berman hoped, they were scrapped; the final version of The Natural Bridge was recorded in the summer of 1996 at Hartford, CT's Studio .45, which was originally a gun factory. New Radiant Storm King's Peyton Pinkerton and Matt Hunter, Drag City producer/sessionman Rian Murphy, and keyboardist Michael Deming joined Berman in this version of the Jews' lineup, resulting in a more spacious sound than on any of the group's previous recordings. The Natural Bridge is also darker than the band's previous work, with lyrics like "I think we may be losing now/Please guard my bed" from "Pet Politics" and "Burnout tramp/Waits by the ramp/For one more car" from "Ballad of Reverend War Character." However, this darkness blends and contrasts with the wry, wistful "Dallas" and "Pretty Eyes." "The Frontier Index" combines jokes and a beautiful, descending guitar line for a really nice mix of ideas and emotion. Though The Natural Bridge lacks some of the immediacy of the Jews' earlier work, and Berman's voice slips into a monotone occasionally, this album offers some of the Silver Jews' finest moments.© Heather Phares /TiVo