Imagine Dragons give away the plot with the very title of Evolve, the 2017 sequel to 2015's sophomore set, Smoke + Mirrors. Not content to stay in one emotional or musical spot, Imagine Dragons consciously move forward on Evolve, pushing themselves into a positive place, a transition that mirrors lead singer Dan Reynolds working through a heavy depression. Some of that darkness seeped into Smoke + Mirrors, but it's not heard here. Opening with "I Don't Know Why," a glitzy dance-rock song that nods at a disco past but exists in an EDM present, the record often rides along to a neon pulse. It's not that Imagine Dragons have abandoned the heavy-footed stomp they patented on "Radioactive," but they've threaded in busy, percolating electronic beats and give plenty of space to gilded keyboards. When the tempo is quick, the results are festival-friendly electro-rockers. When the tempo is slow, the results feel like a hybrid of Coldplay and Mr. Mister -- power rock ballads spiked with laser drums. As throwback as that sensibility may be, the band strives to be thoroughly modern, emphasizing rhythms and gargantuan hooks to tightly constructed compositions. Whenever the group tries a new sound -- pumping up "Mouth of the River" with fuzz guitars or attempting a bit of rap-rock on "Start Over" -- it feels not like experimentation but like a quick scan through a new music playlist. And that means Evolve feels very much like the digital Zeitgeist of 2017.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Buoyed by the popularity of the hit contemporary pop ballad "Home," singer Michael Bublé's 2005 album, It's Time, clearly positioned the vocalist as the preeminent neo-crooner of his generation. Bublé's 2007 follow-up, Call Me Irresponsible, only further reinforced this notion. Not only had he come into his own as a lithe, swaggering stage performer with a knack for jazzing a crowd, but he had also grown into a virtuoso singer. Sure, he'd never drop nor deny the Sinatra comparisons, but now Bublé's voice -- breezy, tender, and controlled -- was his own. It didn't hurt, either, that he and his producers found the perfect balance of old-school popular song standards and more modern pop covers and originals that at once grounded his talent in tradition and pushed him toward the pop horizon. All of this is brought to bear on Bublé's 2009 effort, Crazy Love. Easily the singer's most stylistically wide-ranging album, it is also one of his brightest, poppiest, and most fun. Bublé kicks things off with the theatrical, epic ballad "Cry Me a River" and proceeds to milk the tune with burnished breath, eking out the drama line by line. It's over the top for sure, but Bublé takes you to the edge of the cliff, prepares to jump, and then gives you a knowing wink that says, not quite yet -- there's more fun to be had. And what fun it is with Bublé swinging through "All of Me," and killin' Van Morrison's classic "Crazy Love" with a light and yearning touch. And just as "Home" worked to showcase Bublé's own writing abilities, here we get the sunshine pop of "Haven't Met You Yet" -- a skippy, jaunty little song that brings to mind a mix of the Carpenters and Chicago. Throw in a rollicking and soulful duet with Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings on "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)," and a fabulously old-school close-harmony version of "Stardust" with Bublé backed by the vocal ensemble Naturally 7, and Crazy Love really starts to come together. All of this would be enough to fall in love with the album, but then Bublé goes and throws in a last minute overture by duetting with fellow Canadian singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith on Sexsmith's ballad "Whatever It Takes." A devastating, afterglow-ready paean for romance, the song is a modern-day classic that pairs one of the most underrated and ignored songwriters of his generation next to one of the most ballyhooed in Bublé -- a classy move for sure. The result, like the rest of Crazy Love, is pure magic.© Matt Collar /TiVo

Creation Rebel began in the late '70s, consisting of members of the legendary Prince Far I's backing band, the Arabs. Dennis Bovell engineered the group's first album, Dub from Creation, which was the very first production by Adrian Sherwood, and the debut release on his Hitrun label, the precursor to On-U Sound. The group's lineup shifted frequently, and they backed Prince Far I and other artists on-stage and in studio, playing gigs with the Clash, the Slits, and Don Cherry. Their most groundbreaking release, 1980's Starship Africa, is as futuristic as dub gets, and it remains a serious contender for best dub album of all time. The group attempted a more commercial sound afterwards, and after Prince Far I was murdered in his Jamaican home in 1983, Creation Rebel disbanded. Several decades later, Adrian Sherwood invited three of the group's members (guitarist Crucial Tony, drummer and vocalist Eskimo Fox, percussionist and vocalist Ranking Magoo) to join him for live dates, and they gradually worked on music together during the COVID-19 lockdown. The result, Hostile Environment, is the first Creation Rebel album in over 40 years.The album's title is a reference to one of the harshest immigration policies in U.K. history, introduced by former Prime Minister Theresa May, and it serves as a reminder of the oppression that refugees have consistently faced for ages. With all that in mind, the music is uplifting, acknowledging the daily struggle and pressure but still expressing joy and gratitude. The arrangements are tight, melodic, and groove-heavy, but Sherwood and company still go off the rails with crazy effects when inspiration strikes. The album is a well-rounded mixture of conscious lyrics, pop melodies, and far-out dub heaviness. Prince Far I remains the group's guiding spirit, and his ghostly baritone makes appearances on two tracks, including "This Thinking Feeling" with Daddy Freddy. "Stonebridge Warrior" is a gorgeous melodica showcase, and "That's More Like It" is a slow, mesmerizing wash-out in the vein of Starship Africa and other heavy dub excursions. "Whatever It Takes," a song about strength and perseverance with Adrian's daughter Denise Sherwood on harmony vocals, is the album's most traditional reggae-pop tune, and "The Peoples' Sound (Tribute to Daddy Vego)" is a more rousing celebration, paying respect to the late promoter and sound system legend. Rounding out the album are more sweet, spacy dub tracks like "Salutation Gardens" and "Off the Spectrum." Hostile Environment is a triumphant comeback effort, and it continues On-U Sound's run of late-career highlights from veterans like African Head Charge and Horace Andy.© Paul Simpson /TiVo

Overpower is the third album from German metal outfit Any Given Day and follows 2016's Everlasting. Their first release for Arising Empire sees the band deliver the hardest, yet most melodic album of brutal metal. Produced by lead guitarist Andy Posdziech, the album also includes the single "Loveless."© Rich Wilson /TiVo

In our ears, we’d swear that we’re hearing the avenging son of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Jackie Wilson! However, it’s a fifty-something Brit, and lily-white furthermore, who perfectly hollers in the mike. Oh, this voice! It is high time justice was done to James Hunter, who has been busying himself like no other for ages on the 100% organic rhythm ‘n’ blues and soul grounds, without GMOs or sweeteners. For Whatever It Takes, the former railroader from Colchester took off toward the Penrose studios in Riverside, California, with the crew from Daptone Records, to conceive one of his most astounding discs. Fat-free compositions, choruses to die for, brass section drawn in perfectly straight lines and over-active guitars, nothing is missing from this celebration of eternal soul music. Since the Brooklyn label of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Charles Bradley, Lee Fields et Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens hired him, James Hunter has felt ten feet tall. With the complicity of the boss of Daptone, Gabriel Roth aka Bosco Mann, at the console, he even found the ideal loud-hailer of his brilliantly retrograde ideas. It’s a real pleasure. © MZ/Qobuz

Imagine Dragons give away the plot with the very title of Evolve, the 2017 sequel to 2015's sophomore set, Smoke + Mirrors. Not content to stay in one emotional or musical spot, Imagine Dragons consciously move forward on Evolve, pushing themselves into a positive place, a transition that mirrors lead singer Dan Reynolds working through a heavy depression. Some of that darkness seeped into Smoke + Mirrors, but it's not heard here. Opening with "I Don't Know Why," a glitzy dance-rock song that nods at a disco past but exists in an EDM present, the record often rides along to a neon pulse. It's not that Imagine Dragons have abandoned the heavy-footed stomp they patented on "Radioactive," but they've threaded in busy, percolating electronic beats and give plenty of space to gilded keyboards. When the tempo is quick, the results are festival-friendly electro-rockers. When the tempo is slow, the results feel like a hybrid of Coldplay and Mr. Mister -- power rock ballads spiked with laser drums. As throwback as that sensibility may be, the band strives to be thoroughly modern, emphasizing rhythms and gargantuan hooks to tightly constructed compositions. Whenever the group tries a new sound -- pumping up "Mouth of the River" with fuzz guitars or attempting a bit of rap-rock on "Start Over" -- it feels not like experimentation but like a quick scan through a new music playlist. And that means Evolve feels very much like the digital Zeitgeist of 2017.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Questions of identity seem to loom large in Lifehouse's mind. On their third album, they titled it after themselves, and now on its 2007 follow-up, they state Who We Are -- a declaration that could easily be a question depending on the punctuation and emphasis. Does this fourth album add up to a statement or question? It's the former, but that doesn't necessarily provide a fulfilling answer for those doubters who can't tell Lifehouse apart from all the other polished post-grungers out there like, well, there aren't as many of them in 2007 as there were in 2000 when they released their debut, but the curious thing about Who We Are is that the trio still parties like we've just left Y2K. This is utterly untouched by any new-millennium trend -- there's no garage punk, no emo, no spacy precious pop, no electronic flourishes -- it's post-alternative guitar rock preserved in amber, all shallow angst and earnestness, communicated through music that surges without hooks. Since the band is starting to see the twilight of their twenties, this doesn't hit as hard as they used to -- despite guitarist/singer/songwriter Jason Wade's contention that he's battling inner demons by wresting angels on the opening "Disarray," it's hard to feel the toil and trouble here -- and they're starting to mellow, crossing over to soccer moms, either intentionally or not. And they do it as they always have: with sincerity but little melody. So, again, Lifehouse are pleasant enough, but hardly memorable, and hardly answering the question of who they are no matter how they try. Indeed, they only leave the lingering question: why does a band that cribbed its name from Pete Townshend's legendarily complex rock opera -- so confounding to its creator that it sent him into a nervous breakdown before he abandoned it -- choose to sound just a little bit tougher than the latter-day Goo Goo Dolls?© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo