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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Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings
Seventy years on from the legendary 1953 concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, featuring jazz legends Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach on stage together, comes this complete two-CD set. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
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The Dark Side of the Moon Redux
Roger Waters begins his reinterpretation of Dark Side of the Moon -- the 1973 Pink Floyd album that became so big it eclipsed the band itself, as well as its author -- by reciting the lyrics to "Free Four," a song from Floyd's 1972 LP Obscured by Clouds, a record released while they were working on Dark Side. "Free Four" is loose, even shambling, its jauntiness countering the gloom of Waters' obsession with creeping death. Here, it's heard in favor of the table-setting instrumental "Speak to Me," one of many instances on The Dark Side of the Moon Redux where Waters relies on words, not music. Such a shift in emphasis is correlated with Waters' shift in perspective. Revisiting his meditation on mortality as he nears 80, Waters isn't interested in masking his meaning: He wants his words to be heard clearly and correctly, unencumbered by such frills as guitar solos, wordless vocals, rumbling rhythms, shifting tempos, or excursions into the ether fueled by sound effects and aural snippets. The Dark Side of the Moon Redux doesn't offer uninterrupted talk but the stress is placed firmly on the words, to the point that "The Great Gig in the Sky" doesn't float weightlessly: It's now about a letter Waters wrote to the assistant of Donald Hall when the poet was in his last days. It's a subtle change but it's a substantial one, turning Dark Side of the Moon into a voyage inward, not outward. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
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Hadsel
The first new full-length record since Beirut's 2019 release, "Gallipoli," and the first on Zach Condon's own label, Pompeii Records. Recorded in the Norwegian island of Hadsel shortly after a physical and mental break forced Condon to cancel is 2019 tour, Condon was looking for a place to recover after being left in a state of shock and self-doubt. The resulting collection of songs beautifully reflect that vulnerability, sense of self-determination and belief that after collapse, one can learn to manage on their own again. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
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Danse Macabre
Future Past not only revived Duran Duran's critical and commercial fortunes, it helped get the band inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, so when faced with the task of delivering a sequel, the group made the logical decision to have a laugh. Throwing aside any notion of sobriety or importance, Duran Duran instead dedicate themselves to conjuring the ideal soundtrack to a Halloween party. The "party" part of the equation is important. Danse Macabre may be filled with creepy sounds -- indeed, it opens with a revival of the band's early masterwork "Nightboat" -- but this isn't a belated excursion into goth, it's a collection of after-hours fun that flirts with high camp. At times, that flirtation is blatant, as when the group interpolates Rick James' funk classic as "Super Lonely Freak." Generally, Danse Macabre nimbly walks the line separating the spooky and the silly, opting for black-lit dance-pop instead of chilly atmosphere, balancing covers of Talking Heads and Siouxsie & the Banshees with songs by the Rolling Stones and disco legends Cerrone, adding a credible cover of Billie Eilish's "Bury a Friend" for good measure. Between these familiar songs lie a bunch of new ones, including the slow-burning "Secret Oktober 31st," which was written with original guitarist Andy Taylor, who plays throughout the record, marking his first recorded appearance with the group in roughly 20 years. This is a momentous occasion, but the charm of Danse Macabre lies in how Duran Duran seem unencumbered by expectations: they're lying back and having a good time, resulting in a record that captures their silly and serious sides in equal measure. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
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Greatest Hits
In our continuing celebration of Willie Nelson turning 90 this year we are excited to announce a brand-new career spanning hits compilation. Comprised of 22 tracks on one CD, this new collection contains classics like "On The Road Again;" "Always On My Mind;" and "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain" along with more recent gems "Ride Me Back Home" and "Roll Me Up." Coinciding with his induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in November 2023, this piece is timed perfectly for the holiday season. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
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World Music Radio
Pianist and singer Jon Batiste has always wanted to try and heal people with his music, bridging musical, cultural, and political divides. It was the modus operandi of his long-running Stay Human ensemble, who later brought their message of unity and love to a wider audience via their time as the house band on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. It was also the underlying ethos at work on Batiste's Grammy-winning 2021 album We Are, a genre-crossing pop production informed by his deep jazz and New Orleans R&B roots. With 2023's World Music Radio, he again seeks to heal across boundaries, crafting a soul- and dance-infused album that feels like something Stevie Wonder might have made in the 1980s, but colored by his own distinctive blend of contemporary pop and jazz harmonies. Loosely conceptual, World Music Radio is designed to play as the broadcast of interstellar radio DJ Billy Bob Bo (voiced by Batiste), whose message of global unity bookends the album. Particularly Wonder-esque is the adult-contempo-ish "Calling Your Name," replete with a harmonica solo and fuzzy synth backgrounds. Equally evocative is the '70s roller disco vibe of "Call Now (504-305-8269)," which finds the pianist's father, Michael Batiste, laying down a funky bass line. Also lending their voices are a handful of guests, including JID, NewJeans, and Camilo, who jump on board for the pop-reggae number "Be Who You Are," and Jon Bellion and Nigerian rapper Fireboy DML, who bring an uplifting soulfulness to the Afro-beat-inflected "Drink Water." More high-profile collaborators pop up, including Lana Del Rey, who duets on the emotive album closer "Life Lesson," Lil Wayne on "Uneasy," and even saxophone icon Kenny G, who brings his smooth sound to a brief version of "Clair de Lune." Despite all of these guests and shifting stylistic moods, World Music Radio holds together nicely. The production has an organic, musically experimental vibe that feels like Batiste is really bridging his jazz and pop influences. There's also a sense that he is digging deeper emotionally after a tough few years. In 2021, his wife, writer Suleika Jaouad, battled a recurrence of leukemia that eventually led to her undergoing a bone marrow transplant. During her hospitalization, Batiste wrote her lullabies as a way of offering comfort. One of them, "Butterfly," a spare piano ballad in the Paul McCartney tradition, is included on World Music Radio and proves one of the most indelible songs on the album. There are other candid tracks, like the gospel-inflected "Wherever You Are" (which sounds like it was recorded live at church) and "White Space" (a lilting, impressionistic piano ballad where Batiste coos through a vocoder). It's in these intimate moments on World Music Radio, when Batiste sounds like he's jamming out at home or singing directly to a loved one, that you can truly feel that his desire to heal the world comes from a deeply personal place. ~ Matt Collar (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
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Diamonds and Pearls
Prince spent the latter half of the '80s courting the pop audience, and by the time of Graffiti Bridge, he had lost much of his R&B fan base. As a response, he formed the New Power Generation and recorded Diamonds and Pearls, his first record to reconnect with the urban audience since 1999, as well as his first to acknowledge the hip-hop revolution. Although he still has a problem with rap -- "Jughead" is simply embarrassing -- he manages to skillfully reinvent himself as an urban soulman without sacrificing his musical innovation. The New Power Generation is a more skilled band than the Revolution, and they are able to make Prince's funk jazzier, particularly on "Willing and Able," the breezy "Strollin'" and "Walk Don't Walk." It's clear that these subtly textured songs are where his heart is at, but the songs designed to win back his audience -- the slamming dancefloor rallying cry "Gett Off," the sexy T. Rex groove "Cream," the extraordinary Philly soul of the neglected masterpiece "Money Don't Matter 2 Night," and the drippy mainstream ballad "Diamonds and Pearls" -- are all terrific pop singles. However, much of the rest of Diamonds and Pearls is comprised of middling funk and R&B that sounds less like inspired workouts than stylistic exercises. Even with such weak moments, Diamonds and Pearls is a fine record, even though it's only marginally better than Lovesexy and Graffiti Bridge. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
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Jenny From Thebes
John Darnielle is as much if a storyteller as he is a songwriter. As the leader of the Mountain Goats, he writes a lot of songs, and very good ones, but instead of penning three-verse meditations on love, the weather, or the state of the world, he writes brief episodes in the lives of his characters, which often cohere into a larger narrative on his albums. It makes sense that Darnielle is also a successful novelist, and just as many novelists of note feature recurring characters in their tales. For 2023's Jenny from Thebes, he's taken another look at someone who first popped up on 2002's All Hail West Texas. Jenny is a woman with a checkered past who lives in the American Southwest in a single-story house that's become a way station for other troubled souls, most of whom are in various degrees of danger or suffering the consequences of bad choices. Darnielle only tells us so much about Jenny's past and why she's opened her home to these characters, but the vignettes are compelling and feel honest -- from a guy whose tattoo reminds him too much of what happened the day he got his ink, to someone on the run after a dead body is found in a city's water tower. As a lyricist, Darnielle's greatest gift is not his narrative sense, but how he lets his characters reveal themselves and their view of the world, and if Jenny from Thebes is a bit more cryptic than his best work, every song contains a yarn worth hearing, and his quietly bold, ordinary-guy delivery is surprisingly flexible, adjusting itself to fit any situation he presents. The music often suggests a nervy variant on '70s soft rock (complete with mellow saxophones on "Great Pirates" and slick string charts on "Jenny III"), and his musicians -- Alicia Bognanno on guitar, Matt Douglas on guitar and keyboards, Peter Hughes on bass, and Jon Wurster on drums and percussion -- execute the material brilliantly, skillfully adjusting their attack to suit each chapter in the story. It's an open question: Are we going to encounter Jenny and her rogues' gallery again on a future Mountain Goats album? In the meantime, Jenny from Thebes suggests her house still has a few stories worth hearing. ~ Mark Deming (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
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Christmas
The pop icon's first-ever holiday-themed album, 2023's Christmas, finds Cher putting her distinctive stamp on both originals and a handful of yuletide favorites. The record follows 2013's Closer to the Truth and features several newly penned anthems, including the dance-oriented lead-off single "DJ Play a Christmas Song." More club-ready tracks arrive with the EDM-infused "Angels in the Snow" and the hip-hop-influenced "Drop Top Sleigh Ride," the latter of which features a guest appearance by rapper Tyga. Other guest spots include Michael Bublé and Cyndi Lauper on "Home" and "Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart," respectively. Thanks to a little holiday studio magic, we also get Cher dueting with Stevie Wonder on his 1967 hit "What Christmas Means to Me" and Darlene Love on her 1963 classic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," both of which nicely balance an upbeat contemporary energy with the storied Motown sound of the original recordings. ~ Matt Collar (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
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Jon Savage's 1977-1979: Symbols Clashing Everywhere
(syndetics)
Format: Music CD
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