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.
-
Music From Big Pink
The debut album from the Band was a landmark release that brought together elements of rock, country, and other forms of American roots music. This expanded edition offers more insight into one of rock's greatest albums. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
View Music From Big Pink -
Lahai
Sampha's U.K. Top Ten, Mercury Prize-winning Process capped several years of studio work primarily in service to other artists, underground and mainstream alike. The all-around collaborator -- most audibly the go-to singer for any musician wanting to make their song cry -- didn't so much respond to his debut's accolades as he continued to amass dozens of background and featured roles spanning Actress' "Walking Flames" to Kendrick Lamar's "Father Time." Parenthood and the passing of time, subjects of those two songs, happen to be two major themes of Sampha's second LP, released six years after the first. Where Process saw Sampha projecting nightmarish visions and grieving his mother's death, Lahai, named after his paternal grandfather (and also Sampha's middle name), comes from a different perspective, one informed by the birth of his daughter and a fascination with both Kodwo Eshun's genius More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction and physicist Brian Cox's theories on time travel. While this is far less downcast, the joy, wonderment, and fond reminiscences in the songs are complicated by worry, uncertainty, and longing. In "Suspended," "I've been lifted by her love" at first comes across as exultant, then Sampha's piano starts to take on an anxious quality intensified by Kwake Bass' fidgety drums, and there's a sense that the singer is being elevated to a perilous height, his voice fraught and distorted at the highest point. "Evidence," mostly lullaby-like piano, lapping bongos, and layers of Sampha's voice, is radiant with parental delight yet haunted by thoughts of self-doubt. Two of the brightest songs were inspired by Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The fable is name-checked in the jittering "Spirit 2.0," where Sampha pursues freedom and self-realization with Yussef Dayes' intricate rhythmic propulsion in support. And then there's "Jonathan L Seagull (JLS)," acceptance of a separation communicated with choral folk-soul containing a lively hip-hop section. The number of background singers on that song alone outnumbers the sum of collaborators on Process. It's emblematic of Lahai's collaborative makeup, involving a lineup of producers, singers, and players -- El Guincho, Ibeyi, Yaeji, Laura Groves, Léa Sen, Ben Reed, Mansur Brown, and on and on -- that is almost as impressive as the varied group that has enlisted Sampha. Lahai ends appropriately enough with a scene of communal unity, if on the occasion of a homecoming after a long absence: "Everybody speaking loud, everybody in one house." ~ Andy Kellman (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
View Lahai -
Black Rainbows
Corinne Bailey Rae's latest is a musical project inspired by the objects and artworks collected by Theaster Gates at the Stoney Island Arts Bank in Chicago. She attended The Black Artists Retreat there in 2017 and performed in the space. The wide ranging themes takes listeners from the rock hewn churches of Ethopia, to the journey of Black Pioneers Westward, from Miss New York Transit Queen 1957, to how the sunset appears from Harriet Jacobs' loophole. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
View Black Rainbows -
Buhloone Mind State
The group's third studio release released on September 21, 1993, saw the group evolve into a new sound as they continued to grow stylistically and musically. There were several moments on the album which proved the band had matured. I Be Blowin was a departure as the track was an instrumental featuring saxophone playing by Maceo Parker. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
View Buhloone Mind State -
Studio One 007: Licensed to Ska : James Bond and Other Film Soundtracks & TV Themes
(syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
View Studio One 007: Licensed to Ska : James Bond and Other Film Soundtracks & TV Themes -
Retrospective: The '90s
The best songs recorded in the 1990s. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
View Retrospective: The '90s -
Miami Sound: Rare Funk & Soul From Florida 1967-1974
Like other releases from the U.K.-based Soul Jazz label -- such as Philadelphia Roots or New Orleans Funk -- the 17-track Miami Sound: Rare Funk & Soul from Miami Florida 1967-1974 prides itself on its obscurity, digging out tracks that have been lost to all but the fanatically dedicated collector. That's Soul Jazz's stock in trade: They occasionally feature hits, but they're regional hits, and none of the material on any of their collections is readily available on CD. While there's the occasional feeling that sides are chosen for obscurity's sake, it's often overshadowed by the consistency of the material; it all sounds of a piece, due to the compilers' expert ears and their desire to hold the groove above all other considerations. This is appropriate especially for Miami Sound, since the city's soul was as groove-oriented as New Orleans, but considerably more splashy, stylish, streamlined, hard, and sleek -- the kind of grooves that work really well as recordings, which is why this may be the best installment yet of Soul Jazz's soul-oriented compilations. Each cut here has a bright neon glow and deep danceability that point the way to disco, and while that can sometimes get a little samey on the instrumentals -- with the notable exception of Timmy Thomas' rampaging "Funky Me," whose beat even points the way toward electro -- what makes this collection a real delight is the abundance of great songs. Little Beaver is deservedly a respected cult figure and George and Gwen McCrae are both represented with good early cuts, but the real finds are Joey Gilmore's deep soul, Frank Williams & the Rocketeers' vocal sides, and especially James Knight & the Butlers, whose two tracks, "Save Me" and "Fantasy World," are pure dynamite, a pair of the best unheard soul of the '70s and reason enough to get this collection. Make no mistake, no matter how good those Knight songs are (or much of the rest of this compilation is), nothing here would have been a national hit: They're too idiosyncratic and quirky, too concerned with the overall sound and groove to appeal to a wider audience. But that's why Miami Sound is worthwhile -- it captures a regional sound in all of its strengths and flaws, and it's all the more compelling a compilation for it. It's one of Soul Jazz's best releases to date. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
View Miami Sound: Rare Funk & Soul From Florida 1967-1974 -
The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
In this album, which is sonically Mitski's most expansive, epic, and wise, the songs seem to be introducing wounds and then actively healing them. It plays like a tiny epic. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
View The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We -
Taylor Swift
All of 16 when she recorded this debut album, country-pop singer Taylor Swift's considerably strong voice straddles that precarious edge that both suggests experience far beyond her years and simultaneously leaves no doubt that she's still got a lot of life to live. It's a fresh, still girlish voice, full of hope and naïveté, but it's also a confident and mature one. That Swift is a talent to be reckoned with is never in doubt: her delivery on tracks like the uptempo "The Outside," the spare acoustic ballad "Mary's Song (Oh My My My)," and especially the leadoff track, "Tim McGraw," which was the first single from the album, is that of a seasoned pro, despite Swift's newcomer status. "Tim McGraw" may also be the album's highlight -- not a teenager's tribute to the country superstar, it instead uses McGraw as a marker in a lover's time line: "When you think Tim McGraw/I hope you think my favorite song." It's a device that's been used countless times in as many ways, that of associating a failed affair with items, places, and people, yet it works as a hook here and manages to come off as an original idea. Swift wrote or co-wrote every song on the record, a fairly remarkable feat considering the sophisticated manner in which she treats matters near and dear to the heart of one her age ("Now that I'm sitting here thinking it through/I've never been anywhere cold as you"). Producer/mentor Nathan Chapman has applied a gloss to some of Swift's songs that not all of them really require and in some cases would do better to shed. But Swift has no trouble overcoming any blandness taking place around her. She's come up with a commendable starter album that's as accomplished as any by a ten-year veteran who's seen a lot more road and felt a lot more emotion. Swift's young age may be a major point of interest in bringing listeners in, but by the end of the record she's succeeded in keeping them. ~ Jeff Tamarkin (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
View Taylor Swift -
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)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
View What It Is!: Funky Soul and Rare Grooves, 1967-1977