Popular Music CDs for Adults
Hundreds of CDs are added to the Library's collection each month. Here are the most popular Music CDs for adults.
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The Complete Scepter Singles, 1962-1973
The Complete Scepter Singles 1962-1973 falls into place beside The Complete Warner Bros. Singles (1972-1977) with a thorough supply of Dionne Warwick's earliest A-sides and B-sides. (As of 2023, the singer's post-Warner 1979-1994 singles for Arista, the third label for which she recorded, had yet to be similarly compiled.) This three-disc anthology was previously issued in 2018 under another title, The Complete 1960s Singles Plus, as part of a PBS pledge drive that coincided with a Warwick special. It's without doubt a necessary and long-overdue wider release -- if limited to 3,000 CD copies -- as it offers an exploration of Warwick's early solo work more satisfying than a straightforward hits anthology. Further, all of the material originally issued in mono mixes are presented as such. Almost all of the A-sides here entered the Hot 100. While none topped the chart, many of them are everlasting pop classics -- "Anyone Who Had a Heart," "Walk On By," "I Say a Little Prayer," and "This Girl's in Love with You" account for some of the Top Ten hits among a total of 20 that went Top 40. Like no other team before or after them, Warwick and primary collaborators Burt Bacharach and Hal David combined masterful pop songcraft with impeccably expressive and understated vocal performances. The trio's advanced creativity spilled over to the B-sides, many of which are well-chosen album cuts such as the eyelash-batting "Any Old Time of Day," the exquisitely crushing "Walk Little Dolly," and the powerful title theme to the Warwick-starring film Slaves (written by Bobby Scott and Bob Kessler, and produced by Bacharach/David). For good measure, this also includes "Only Love Can Break a Heart" and "If I Ruled the World," Scepter-era recordings the Musicor label paired on a 7" in 1977. ~ Andy Kellman (syndetics)
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RökFlöte
Hot off the heels of their 2022 album The Zealot Gene, the legendary Jethro Tull returns with their 23rd album. Twelve tracks showcase the iconic sound that has become the band's calling card. (syndetics)
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Higher Than Heaven
For anyone who prefers Ellie Goulding on the dancefloor, Higher than Heaven is a welcome return to that space. Her fifth full-length and follow-up to 2020's Brightest Blue, this tightly packed set of synth-washed, neon bangers eschews the deep introspection and personal slant of its predecessor, barreling headlong into the club in search of healing through euphoria and release. Described by the artist as her "least personal" album to date, Heaven focuses on pure thrills and escapism like similarly reactive COVID-era energizers from Dua Lipa, Kylie Minogue, and Ava Max. The album's catchiest moments are produced by Koz (Dua Lipa, Lykke Li, Lights), who plucks the most addictive textures from across the decades -- disco, '80s pop, and '90s house -- for highlights such as "Midnight Dreams," "Cure for Love," the throbbing "Like a Saviour," and the shimmering title track. Meanwhile, "By the End of the Night" strikes an ideal balance between Goulding's fun and melancholy sides, delivering a yearning yet uncertain early peak. Elsewhere, both the hazy "Love Goes On" and the strutting "Easy Lover" with Big Sean benefit from warm R&B smoothness courtesy of co-writer/producer Greg Kurstin, just as the sensual "Waiting for It" dives deeper into sweaty slow jam territory. Heaven's most intense moment arrives in the second half with the standout single "Let It Die," an urgent earworm about a tragic split that finds the resolve to move on atop an infectious beat and Goulding's most impassioned, anguished performance here. One of her strongest albums to date, Higher than Heaven falls somewhere between the commercial blitz of Delirium and the fearless, electronic heart of Halcyon. While it may not cull from her deep well of personal experiences, Heaven still ends up being one of the most immediate and compulsively listenable efforts in her catalog. ~ Neil Z. Yeung (syndetics)
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Moving on Skiffle
After two albums where Van Morrison spent a great deal of time griping about the modern world, it's hard not to interpret the title of Moving On Skiffle as "moving on from the political unpleasantness of the last few years to skiffle, the music of my childhood." Morrison has returned to skiffle before, cutting a dynamite live album with Chris Barber and Lonnie Donegan at the tail-end of the 2000s, but Moving On Skiffle is a different beast. Where The Skiffle Sessions: Live in Belfast 1998 benefitted from its live setting, Moving On Skiffle is clearly a studio album, a record so relaxed and unhurried it takes over 90 minutes to reach its conclusion. That's not to say it doesn't have its share of sprightly tempos: the band often kick up dust to a train-track rhythm, yet they never seem on the verge of descending into a frenzied rave-up or hoedown. The music's easy touch allows Morrison to be a bit playful, juxtaposing familiar melodies and lyrics in a surprising fashion; for instance, "Worried Man Blues" has him riffing upon words from "Mystery Train." This same attitude leads Morrison to reworking "Mama Don't Allow" into "Gov Don't Allow," giving him a place to grouse about how the government is shutting down free speech and skiffle. It's the one time on Moving On Skiffle where Van Morrison allows his inner curmudgeon to take the reins; otherwise, Moving On Skiffle is light and lively, an easy record to enjoy. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (syndetics)
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What It Is!: Funky Soul and Rare Grooves, 1967-1977
A righteous undertaking of great magnitude, What It Is! Funky Soul and Rare Grooves trawls through a decade-long stretch of the Warner-distributed archive -- taking in the catalogs of Warner Bros., Atlantic, Reprise, Atco, and smaller nodes like Cotillion, Curtom, Alston, and Jonie -- and pulls up 80 soul/funk truffles, almost all of which were left for dead shortly after release. While many of these cuts have been repurposed as vital ingredients of hip-hop tracks, which has in turn fostered a voracious collector's market (it would cost a fortune to collect these songs in their original formats of release), the box is a leagues-deep trawl through an otherwise forgotten past. There are few well-known names on these four discs, but even they tend to be represented by selections that are not obvious. Curtis Mayfield's "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go" is likely the best-known inclusion, and after a substantial number of cuts that can't be considered truly rare, there's a sudden drop into (sweet, sweet) oblivion -- unless you're of the small minority whose spines tingle at the sight of names like Grassella Oliphant and Rasputin's Stash. The chicken-scratch guitars, wild Hammond B-3 runs, group chants, and blaring horn punches are served by the dozens, but the box also illustrates an evolution that took place through the '70s. Since the sequencing is, for the most part, chronological, those changes are all the more perceptible. Funk Factory's "Rien Ne Va Plus" and Faze-O's "Riding High" churn and float slowly, steeped in synthesizers, electric pianos, and studio effects, while legions of artists have attempted to replicate the sound and spirit of Stanga's "Little Sister" and 6ix's "I'm Just Like You" -- two songs graced by the hands of Sly Stone in tripped-out, otherworldly There's a Riot Goin' On mode. It's not one big party, either. Check Baby Huey & the Baby Sitters' harrowing "Hard Times" (written and produced by Mayfield), where the poor and paranoid protagonist subsists on Spam and Oreos and keeps his curtains drawn so he won't see those who peer in on him. The themed playlists and imaginary compilations hiding within this compact box are innumerable, bound to take the average overthinking funk freak to new levels of nerd-dom. There are region-specific sets to be made, as well as sets with possible titles like Latin Funk and Flute Funk and The Early Arrangement and Production Work of the Late Arif Mardin, in addition to a remarkable batch of covers, a tight collection of instrumentals, and a not-very-exclusive list of tracks that have been sampled throughout the years. The accompanying booklet could be sold separately, as it contains scads of seldom-seen photos and scholarly track-by-track notes. Rhino also deserves applause for resisting the urge to house these discs in a massive synthetic afro or an oversized wah-wah pedal. You can snugly tuck this thing between your arm and chest and sense its power run through your whole body. Bring on a second set that extends past the disco era and involves the likes of Slave, Mass Production, Brides of Funkenstein, and Dinosaur. ~ Andy Kellman (syndetics)
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The Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection
While this three-CD, 75-song box set only has a half-dozen tracks actually credited to Burt Bacharach, it's certainly the best representation of his music likely to ever be assembled. Spanning the late '50s through a 1996 duet with Elvis Costello, this is the cream of his work as a composer (and, frequently, producer), properly concentrating mostly on the 1960s hit versions of his songs (usually, though not always, co-written with Hal David) by Dionne Warwick, Gene Pitney, Jackie DeShannon, Dusty Springfield, the Drifters, Chuck Jackson, and many others. Classics like "Baby It's You," "Walk On By," "What the World Needs Now Is Love," and "Wishin' and Hopin'" are here, of course. What really makes this exceptional by box set standards, however, is the deft intermingling of familiar smash hits with interesting minor hits and rarities. There are four cuts by the unknown Lou Johnson, who has been described as the male counterpart to Dionne Warwick; intriguing obscurities by Gene Pitney ("Fool Killer"), Jackie DeShannon ("So Long Johnny"), and others that even fans of the artists might not have heard; rare original versions of familiar classics (Tommy Hunt's "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself," for instance); hits by artists who only benefited grandly from the magic Bacharach/David touch once (Bobby Vinton's "Blue on Blue," Jack Jones' "Wives and Lovers"); and just plain off-the-wall things like the Five Blobs' novelty "The Blob," Manfred Mann's "My Little Red Book," Bobby Goldsboro's "Me Japanese Boy I Love You," and TV actor Richard Chamberlain's "Blue Guitar." Thankfully only a little of his subpar work from the '80s is included. Aficionados may find some things to carp about, particularly the absence of some small hits (quantity and licensing would have made it difficult to bring everything together) and the track choice when several singers made worthy versions; sometimes the big hit is used, sometimes it's a rare original version, sometimes it's a rare rendition that was neither the original nor the biggest hit. Certainly there's more Bacharach/David worth hearing; the first places to start after getting through this are vintage Dionne Warwick compilations. For a rich but manageable anthology of his best work, though, it could hardly be bettered, enhanced by nearly 100 pages of liner notes and track annotations. ~ Richie Unterberger (syndetics)
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Linger Awhile
With her sophomore album, 2022's Linger Awhile, Samara Joy achieved an uncommon feat, winning the Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best New Artist. While Joy is no stranger to accolades, having emerged to acclaim as the winner of the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Jazz Competition, her double success at the Grammys was a surprise for a jazz singer, especially one whose impressive style harks back to icons like the aforementioned Vaughan, Betty Carter, and Dinah Washington. Produced by Matt Pierson, Linger Awhile nicely showcases Joy's verdant tone and adept vocalese skills. Part of the album's charm is how straightforward it is, with Joy framed by her acoustic ensemble featuring longtime guitarist Pasquale Grasso, pianist Ben Paterson, bassist David Wong, and drummer Kenny Washington. There are also tasteful contributions by saxophonist Kendric McCallister, trombonist Donovan Austin, and trumpeter Terrell Stafford. Joy brings a dusky warmth to standards like "Guess Who I Saw Today," "Misty," and an achingly slow rendition of "I'm Confessin' (That I Love You)." Particularly notable is her vocalese take on trumpeter Fats Navarro's "Nostalgia," for which she wrote her own romantic lyrics, including some for the legendary bebop trumpeter's original 1947 solo. While Joy isn't the first jazz singer to sing a transcribed solo with lyrics, her artful attention to detail speaks to her maturity and deep feeling for the music -- aspects redolent throughout Linger Awhile. ~ Matt Collar (syndetics)
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Bless This Mess
The threads of disco and funk that fused with conceptual art rock on previous U.S. Girls songs move into the spotlight on Bless This Mess, the eighth studio album from the ever-morphing project led by mastermind Meg Remy. Remy's output as U.S. Girls has never settled in one stylistic direction, and moments of her wonderful 2020 effort Heavy Light found her leading a large cast of backup vocalists through relaxed and danceable disco-soul tunes, among various other approaches. Bless This Mess amplifies the danceability factor, beginning with the simmering groove of "Only Daedalus," a sleek assemblage of '80s synths, airtight rhythms, and powerful vocals delivering lyrics that envision figures of Greek mythology in a late-night lover's argument outside of the club. "So Typically Now" is similar, with stomping but skeletal rhythms and infectious synth lines that crisscross tough vocal melodies while backing vocalists belt out performances that recall the best early house tracks. Remy's ability to adapt her distinctive songwriting voice to whatever style she chooses remains one of her main strengths on Bless This Mess, with glittery disco-pop burners like "Tux (Your Body Fills Me, Boo)" sitting nicely alongside the acoustic guitars and airy textures of "St. James Way" or the cinematic balladry of the title track. No U.S. Girls album is limited to mere musical presentation, however, and the conceptualism that's touched all of Remy's discography continues here. Bless This Mess was written and recorded at the same time Remy was pregnant with and eventually gave birth to twins, so themes of motherhood are intrinsic to the album. The most explicit example of this is closing track "Pump," where a sample of a breast pump joins a fluid funk bass to build up the backing rhythm while the lyrics center on the intensity of delivering babies and keeping them fed once they're born. Elsewhere, "Screen Face" depicts a remote digital date over a bubbly soft rock instrumental and "Futures Bet" quotes the National Anthem on a very heavy metal guitar before evolving into a complex patchwork of catchy sounds and lyrics about accepting the fact that life invariably presents many unanswerable questions. Bless This Mess is another chapter of U.S. Girls' consistent evolution marked by pristine production and a deft balance of hooks and soul-baring beauty, with Remy pulling off the feat of intertwining some of her most emotionally complex material with what might be her most accessible sounds yet. ~ Fred Thomas (syndetics)
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Bebe
On her third solo effort, pop singer/songwriter Bebe Rexha looks to the past for inspiration, turning her attention to the dancefloor with the good vibes of Bebe. Self-titling the effort suggests that this is the most authentic representation of self that Rexha has presented thus far, resulting in a noticeable improvement in quality and her most sonically cohesive and focused statement to date. Joining the pack of nostalgic, pandemic-era dance escapism attempted by contemporaries like Miley Cyrus, Rexha pulls off throwback fare -- '70s touches such as elastic funk, shimmering disco, and groovy rock -- quite well, creating an ideal setting for her soulful rasp and playfully defiant attitude. The auras of Stevie Nicks and Dolly Parton loom large over much of the set: both the familiar riff from the former's "Edge of Seventeen" and her work with Fleetwood Mac inform a handful of highlights ("Blue Moon," "I Am," "Heart Wants What It Wants," "Call On Me"), while the latter country icon actually appears on the acoustic closer "Seasons." Additional guests include Snoop Dogg on the irresistible disco jam "Satellite," an effervescent ode to pot that's packed with a popping bassline and sparkling ABBA-esque strings, and David Guetta on the multi-platinum, chart-topping EDM anthem "I'm Good (Blue)," the Eiffel 65-interpolating smash that marks the pair's sixth collaboration together. Although the album is a change from the tougher, more hardened fare that fans might expect, Bebe makes a stronger impression than its predecessors and has enough high points to further support Rexha's position as a masterful pop songwriter capable of churning out the hits. With Bebe, she comes another step closer to a fully realized vision that could pull her into her own true spotlight moment. ~ Neil Z. Yeung (syndetics)
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If I Could Only Remember My Name
David Crosby's debut solo album was the second release in a trilogy of albums (the others being Paul Kantner's Blows Against the Empire and Mickey Hart's Rolling Thunder) involving the indefinite aggregation of Bay Area friends and musical peers that informally christened itself the Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra. Everyone from the members of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane to Crosby's mates in CSNY, Neil Young and Graham Nash, dropped by the studio to make significant contributions to the proceedings. (Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzman, primarily, act as the ad hoc studio band, with other notables adding bits of flavor to other individual tracks.) Crosby, however, is the obvious captain of this ship. With his ringing, velvety voice -- the epitome of hippie crooning -- and inspired songwriting, he turns If I Could Only Remember My Name into a one-shot wonder of dreamy but ominous California ambience. The songs range from brief snapshots of inspiration (the angelic chorale-vocal showcase on "Orleans" and the a cappella closer, "I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here") to the full-blown, rambling Western epic "Cowboy Movie," and there are absolutely no false notes struck or missteps taken. No one before or since has gotten as much mileage out of a wordless vocal as Crosby does on "Tamalpais High (At About 3)" and "Song with No Words (Tree with No Leaves)," and because the music is so relaxed, each song turns into its own panoramic vista. Those who don't go for trippy Aquarian sentiment, however, may be slightly put off by the obscure, cosmic storytelling of the gorgeous "Laughing" or the ambiguous (but pointed) social questioning of "What Are Their Names," but in actuality it is an incredibly focused album. There is little or no fat despite the general looseness of the undertaking, while a countercultural intensity runs taut through the entire album, and ultimately there is no denying the excellence of the melodies and the messy beauty of the languid, loping instrumental backing. Even when a song as pretty as "Traction in the Rain" shimmers with its picked guitars and autoharp, the album is coated in a distinct, persistent menace that is impossible to shake. It is a shame that Crosby would continue to descend throughout the remainder of the decade and the beginning of the next into aimless drug addiction, and that he would not issue another solo album until 18 years later. As it is, If I Could Only Remember My Name is a shambolic masterpiece, meandering but transcendently so, full of frayed threads. Not only is it among the finest splinter albums out of the CSNY diaspora, it is one of the defining moments of hung-over spirituality from the era. ~ Stanton Swihart (syndetics)
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