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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Cousin
Wilco are a band who thrive on self-sufficiency -- they have their own recording studio, they run their own record label, and they're unusually hands-on in terms of ticketing, merch, and outreach to their fans. They've figured out how to do most of the big stuff themselves, and they like it that way. Not surprisingly, from 2007's Sky Blue Sky onward, they've also produced their own albums. 2023's Cousin represents a genuine shift for the band as they've ceded some control over their recording process for a change. Wilco invited expressive pop experimentalist Cate Le Bon to produce the sessions and sit in on keyboards, and it's a collaboration that flatters all parties involved. More than any other album in their catalog, Cousin recalls 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in its sturdy yet graceful melodies and the way they've dressed up the performances with clouds of carefully manicured noise (as in the opener "Infinite Surprise") and artful soundscapes (the ominous last act of "Ten Dead"), though never so much that the musicians are struggling for attention on their own album. Cousin never sounds like they're aiming to re-create YHF, but Le Bon adds a sense of adventure and an outsider's perspective that recalls what Jay Bennett brought to the group before his failings began to outweigh his strengths. Le Bon's ideas never threaten to dominate the music -- if anything, Cousin is a superb ensemble work from Wilco, with the various instrumental flavors combining to make a seamless whole, and while one might miss the wild card guitar soloing from Nels Cline (who is relatively subdued but in excellent form), this music is a reminder of just how good and keenly telepathic a band can become if they stick together long enough, and after nearly 20 years together, these players know how to make the whole more than the sum of the parts. Wilco fans have doubtless gotten used to hearing Jeff Tweedy's moody side by now, on Cousin he makes the most of his sadness on the heartsick "Evicted," the battle between numbness and rage in "Ten Dead," and the despairing uncertainty of "Pittsburgh." (And he does find some room for hope in "Meant to Be" and the title cut, a subtle embrace of the chosen family.) Wilco never quite pulls out all the stops and rocks on this album, and it's hard to imagine any of these songs immediately becoming crowd favorites, but as a carefully considered mood piece, Cousin is a powerful, affecting work that once again shows how many great things Wilco can do -- and how well they respond to the right kind of creative direction. ~ Mark Deming (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
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Emerald City nights: live at the Penthouse 1966-1968
The third volume of Jazz Detective's recordings of the Ahmad Jamal Trio, Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse (recorded between 1966 and 1968) is also the last. Like its companions, it was supervised for release by label boss Zev Feldman and Jamal, who passed away in April 2023. The entire series was taped on reel-to-reel by club owner Charlie Puzzo for DJ Jim Wilke's jazz-themed radio program. His son Charlie Puzzo, Jr. supervises the tape archive. Like its predecessors, this is a deluxe multi-disc package with copious liner notes from Feldman, critic Eugene Holley, Jr., and others, as well as personal reminiscences from pianists Monty Alexander, Joe Alterman, and comments from Marshall Chess of the Chess/Cadet/Argo family of labels. On this slate of appearances, Jamal was accompanied by bassist Jamil Nasser and drummer Frank Gant. The track list contains 11 unissued tunes, none duplicated from earlier volumes. Set-opener "Gloria" is elegant and languid. Jamal and Nasser duet in tandem on the melody. Gant enters with brushes as Jamal begins altering the harmony, scraping chords on the inside of the piano and juxtaposing gently applied modal dissonance on top of jazz balladry. The version of Errol Garner's "Misty" included here is nearly 13 minutes long. Gant establishes a Latin-inflected beat, double-timing the tempo with snare, cowbell, and hi-hat. Jamal moves across hard bop and weaves in traces of Herbie Nichols' expansive harmonic range while offering blocky chords in his solo that serve to further Gant's and Nasser's groove. It transforms midway into dynamic, cinematic jazz. Jamal pursues numerous directions with his breathtaking chord voicings. Speaking of film music, there is a glorious 15-minute read of Henry Mancini's "Mr. Luck" from the film of the same name. It finds Jamal acting the mischievous rascal as he takes that theme across bebop, hard bop, cool and modal jazz with an astonishing chromatic technique. It's followed by the standard "Autumn Leaves." Jamal's version is light, airy, and jaunty as Nasser walks the beat and Gant adds knotty syncopation and a groove. The read of "Corcovado" here is mournful -- it's a haunting ballad for the first two minutes before Jamal shifts it with gracefully dissonant chordal arpeggios. The tempo increases as the trio weds jazzy samba to hard bop. The film theme "Naked City" is an exercise in lithe, swinging hard bop underscored by Jamal's speed-demon solo. The set closer is a heartbreaking yet commanding take on the movie theme (and now jazz standard) "Alfie" from the film of the same title. While the rhythm section walks the beat like a limpid vamp, Jamal directly traces the lines of his influences from Art Tatum and Errol Garner to the hard and post-bop modernist soul-jazz of Herbie Hancock in all three registers. Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse, Vol. 3: 1966-1968 is a fitting send-off for this series, full of light, restless invention, lyric improvisation, and harmonic exploration in crystalline tones and nearly pristine sound. ~ Thom Jurek (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: In-library use only at this time
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Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO
The third in a series of tribute albums from Juliana Hatfield to her idols, Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO finds the singer/songwriter tackling the catalog of an artist that is known for their lush, layered arrangements -- the kind of recordings that are the opposite of Hatfield's largely handmade recordings. Part of the charm of her Sings series is how Hatfield addresses these kinds of challenges, finding ways to rearrange familiar records so they retain their original vibe while also bearing her own idiosyncratic imprint. With Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO, she achieves this by balancing classic rock radio staples with deep cuts -- she closes the proceedings with "Ordinary Dream," pulled from Electric Light Orchestra's excellent latter-day album Zoom -- then concentrating on the elements that give ELO a light, sweet airiness. That's a spirit that easily translates to the stripped-down surroundings Hatfield creates by herself, along with drums from Chris Anzalone and bass by Ed Valauskas. Choosing to transpose strings to guitar and voice helps Hatfield achieve a sense of intimacy while retaining a sense of romantic grandeur, a combination that gives Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO a distinctly warm and comforting feeling without succumbing to the pitfalls of nostalgia. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (syndetics)
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Evenings at the Village Gate
Recorded in 1961, Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy showcases the legendary saxophonist's quintet during their monthlong residency at the storied Greenwich Village nightclub. Along with Dolphy on alto saxophone, bass clarinet, and flute, Coltrane's group here features his classic lineup of pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Elvin Jones. This is the same group that would go on to record such landmark albums as 1961's Olé Coltrane, 1961's Africa/Brass, and appear together on 1961's Live! at the Village Vanguard. Recorded on a single ribbon microphone by future Nina Simone and Bob Dylan engineer Richard Alderson, the album was never intended to be released as a professional recording. Primarily, Alderson (who was in his early twenties at the time and working as a soundman for the club) wanted to check the room's sound and try out his new microphone. The recording would eventually make its way into the vast archive of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, where it would be largely forgotten before eventually being rediscovered. While the sound itself is not as robust as the later Vanguard recordings, it still delivers an exciting fly-on-the-wall atmosphere, capturing the group at the apex of their transition from hard-driving modal jazz to the more avant-garde, harmonically free approach Coltrane would embrace by the middle of the decade. Much of this transition was brought on by Dolphy, whose wide, intervallic style and adventurous harmonies had a strong influence on Coltrane, which can be heard from both players throughout the recording. Most interesting is their take on "My Favorite Things," which Coltrane recorded a year prior for his album of the same name and which became somewhat of a radio hit. Where that original recording found Coltrane interpolating the melody to a degree, here, he pushes the song to ever more bold heights, utilizing spiraling multi-note runs and throaty, atonal smears. Equally exploratory atmospheres mark the group's take on "Impressions," a regular song in Coltrane's live shows that he leaps into here with a wild abandon. It's also easy to imagine just how unusual and distinctive Dolphy must have sounded to audiences at the time. This is especially evident when he takes the bass clarinet lead on "When Lights Are Low," playing the melody with a stark soulfulness in a style reminiscent of Sonny Rollins before launching into a solo that quickly frays the harmonic edges of the lyrical standard. Tragically, within six years after this recording, both Dolphy and Coltrane would be gone. Despite the understated and lo-fi nature of the recording, Evenings at the Village Gate is a testament to their profound artistry and creative synergy. ~ Matt Collar (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
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Chrome Dreams
In the '70s, Neil Young got in the habit of creating some of his best work and keeping it to himself. In addition to projects like the long-shelved country-rock album Homegrown (recorded between 1974 and 1975 but not officially released until 2020) and the sublime 1976 solo sessions that were ultimately packaged as 2017 album The Hitchhiker, Young also tracked an album titled Chrome Dreams that would have a highly uncommon trajectory for the next 40-odd years. Made up of 12 songs recorded between 1974 and 1977, many of which became some of the most loved in Young's repertoire, Chrome Dreams was considered for release in 1977, but was instead reconfigured with different versions of some of the same tunes and many others for Young's eighth proper solo effort American Stars 'n Bars. The flow, atmosphere, and overall impact of Chrome Dreams was different, however, intimate and personally derived but still mysterious. Bootleggers got hold of the recordings and issued many different illicit versions of Chrome Dreams over the years, and Young even went so far as to make Chrome Dreams II in 2007, when the first chapter of the series was still living primarily as an obscure collector's item traded between the more obsessive of his fans. All of the songs from Chrome Dreams eventually surfaced in one form or another, but the first officially released version of the album is full of slight variations and differences in now-familiar songs, standing as one of the more famous "lost albums" in rock history. While the versions of classic Neil tunes like moody rocker "Like a Hurricane," "Captain Kennedy," and the beautifully searching "Look Out for My Love" are identical to the way they appeared on different albums in Young's catalog, the dream-like rumble of "Sedan Delivery" (which appeared in a different form on Rust Never Sleeps) and the wistful American Stars 'n Bars ballad "Hold Back the Tears" both appear in recordings unique to Chrome Dreams. Similarly, "Stringman," Young's soft-hearted ode to his former bandmate Stephen Stills, appeared in a different form on his 1993 Unplugged album than the thoughtful storytelling ballad here. There are subtle variations to other better-known songs as well, among them "Pocahontas" and "Powderfinger." While these subtleties might not register for the casual fan, Young devotees are probably already aware of the legacy and niche cultural importance of Chrome Dreams and will appreciate the specifics of the listening experience, even if the songs have become less obscured since they were first put to tape. ~ Fred Thomas (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
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The Diamond Collection
Global superstar Post Malone holds the record for most RIAA Diamond-certified singles in history. The Diamond Collection is a compilation of his top hits to date, including Congratulations; Sunflower with Swae Lee; White Iverson; and more. (syndetics)
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Eels So Good: Vol. 2, Essential Eels 2007-2020
Mark Oliver Everett is a man capable of writing an irresistible pop tune when he feels like it. He also seems to think that's a rather empty pursuit, and he prefers to twist his melodies and production into more challenging forms as he ponders his neuroses in song. Everett is the mastermind behind Eels, and much of the ad hoc group's catalog documents a tug of war between his tuneful side and his off-kilter world view, yin and yang chasing one another through his recording rig. With Eels So Good: Essential Eels, Vol. 2 (2007-2020), a collection that pulls highlights from his catalog from his 2008 score for the film Yes Man to the 2020 album Earth to Dora, Everett sets aside his essential duality and shares 20 tracks that, for the most part, focus on the gentler and more engaging side of his personality. Which is not to say Eels don't get weird or noisy here, and the rough-hewn "Fresh Blood" seems to have been chosen to lead off the album just to throw off listeners from this collection's true purpose. There are also tracks like "Little Bird," which sounds sweetly pastoral until the rasp of Everett's vocals and the dour contemplations of his lyrics make themselves heard; his off-the-cuff exclamation of "Goddamn" manages to sound annoyed and genuinely poignant at once. Some might argue if this material truly captures Eels at their best, which is half the fun of listening to a "best-of" compilation, though this certainly features an impressive array of fine songs and performances that make the most of Everett's clever, unguarded songwriting and his estimable studio technique. Very few love songs manage to sound wary and smitten at the same time like "I Like the Way This Is Going," which should be a Valentine's Day staple among those fearing commitment, while "Peach Blossom" is a noisy bellow you can dance to. If you're looking for a (relatively) user-friendly introduction to the odd but engaging world of Eels, Eels So Good: Essential Eels, Vol. 2 (2007-2020) is a good way to go, and it's a solid companion piece to 2008's Meet the Eels: Essential Eels 1996-2006, Vol. 1. Fans will want to know that the set includes three previously unreleased tracks, and the LP edition includes two songs that never made it to vinyl in their original release. ~ Mark Deming (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
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The Loveliest Time
The Loveliest Time is the follow-up to 2022's The Loneliest Time, which continues in Jepsen's tradition of coupled releases, but this time they're not so much B-sides as they are a second chapter. While The Loneliest Time was born from a period of isolation and self-discovery, The Loveliest Time is a celebration of that growth. Featuring shimmering lead single Shy Boy, The Loveliest Time is Jepsen at her most experimental and intimate to date. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
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