LYLE LOVETT  Release Me [Lost Highway/Curb] Release Me marks the end of Lyle Lovett’s career-long run with Curb Records—he first signed with the label in 1985, at age 28. While its hodgepodge of holiday songs, covers, duets, ballads, rockers, swing, bluegrass and even an instrumental initially smacks of randomness, it also points toward the open-minded eclecticism that has sustained Lovett throughout his career. He has never been a conventional... 

GUIDED BY VOICES Let’s Go Eat the Factory [Guided by Voices] This is Guided by Voices’ 16th studio album, but it might as well be their 160th. It’s also their first since 2004, but thanks to comically prolific bandleader Robert Pollard, who spent the interim years releasing solo records and leading various similar-sounding bands, it’s as if they never really went away. The twist here is that Let’s Go marks the reunion of the beloved... 

LEONARD COHEN Old Ideas [Columbia]  It’s a funny thing to say about a septuagenarian, but Leonard Cohen has really grown into his voice. What was always a distinctive instrument has deepened on his new album into a resonant purr capable of insinuating itself into the deepest part of you. Old Ideas is only the 12th studio album in a musical career stretching back to 1967, but Cohen chooses his words with considerable care. He’s become more... 

INGRID MICHAELSON Human Again [Mom+Pop]  “I’ve got to say goodbye to the pieces of me that have already died,” sings Ingrid Michaelson on the moody new single “Ghost.” Eschewing the lighthearted sound of her earlier albums, Michaelson has indeed made her most mature and expansive work to date with the deeply personal Human Again. Her albums have become progressively slicker as she’s transformed from coffee-shop singer-songwriter to... 

JOE COCKER Hard Knocks [429 Records] Joe Cocker’s latest marks a 180-degree turn from his rough-and-ready previous record, 2007’s Hymn for My Soul. Produced by Matt Serletic, best known for his work with Matchbox Twenty, Hard Knocks is spit-shined and glossy to a fault. Comprised mostly of pop-flavored R&B, the album emits an ’80s vibe, and often brings to mind Robert Palmer’s broad-strokes discs of that era. Typical is “Stay the... 

HUGH MASEKELA Jabulani [Razor & Tie] As far as most Americans are concerned, Hugh Masekela was a one-hit wonder who scored a fluke pop chart-topper in 1968 with his jazzy take on the grooving “Grazing in the Grass,” and hasn’t done much since. In truth, the South African trumpeter, flugelhornist and vocalist has been recording and performing steadily for some five decades now—and if his public profile isn’t as high as it once was,... 

DIERKS BENTLEY Home [Capitol Nashville] Contemporary country success is often about establishing a persona and then reiterating it at every turn. Become the “I’m from the country” guy, the “I love America” guy, the “I love to party” guy or the “I’m free to party in the country ’cause I live in America” guy and hammer that home. Dierks Bentley is a big-tent, big-idea exception to all that. He’s comfortable on stages with... 

SHARON VAN ETTEN Tramp [Jagjaguwar] It’s not like she carried her stuff around in a bindle, but Sharon Van Etten did do some couch surfing while recording her third album. Fortunately, the fluctuations of her life outside the studio only seemed to underpin her consistency inside it. Tramp is a masterful collection that broadens the gripping sound of Van Etten’s understated 2010 album Epic. Produced by the National’s Aaron Dessner, these songs... 

THE DOORS  L.A. Woman: 40th Anniversary Edition  [Elektra/Rhino] Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek idly runs through the chords of his band’s evocative new number, “Riders on the Storm,” a brooding meditation on the inherent madness of humanity, as drummer John Densmore quietly gets a feel for the groove. As Jim Morrison steps up to the mic to prepare for a take, Manzarek’s pattern triggers an unexpected synapse in the young singer and poet’s... 

CRAIG FINN Clear Heart Full Eyes [Vagrant] After five albums with Brooklyn indie rockers the Hold Steady, frontman Craig Finn has made his first foray into solo territory. While Clear Heart Full Eyes is a down-tempo, alt-country departure from Finn’s usual classic-rock oeuvre, this is no throwaway acoustic cop-out. In lieu of electric guitar we find pedal steel warbling to fill in the negative space. The album’s production sounds thin and almost... 

SNOW PATROL Fallen Empires [Interscope] Despite considerable success in the U.K. and Ireland, Snow Patrol’s popularity in America lags behind fellow Brit-rockers like Coldplay. But while Coldplay’s albums have come to feel increasingly hollow in their grandiosity, Snow Patrol’s latest continues to hone the cinematic, downhearted sound that has yielded a string of platinum albums abroad. The band experiments a little here with pounding drums... 

CANDI STATON Who’s Hurting Now? [Honest Jon’s] Candi Staton earned the title “first lady of Southern soul” for the sides she recorded 40 years ago before turning to disco and then forsaking the secular for gospel music. Her sublime 2006 comeback record, His Hands, begged for a follow-up. Who’s Hurting Now? came out overseas in 2009, but label and licensing complications prevented its release stateside until now. Better late than never—it’s... 

TODD RUNDGREN Todd [S’More Entertainment] Last year Todd Rundgren delighted fans by performing a series of shows featuring three of his most beloved albums—1973’s A Wizard, A True Star, 1974’s Todd and 1981’s Healing—in their entirety. This DVD captures a run-through of Todd staged in September at the historic Keswick Theater in Rundgren’s hometown of Philadelphia, and it sizzles with the same progressive spirit the original double-LP... 

RHETT MILLER The Interpreter: Live at Largo [Maximum Sunshine]  Covers albums and live records both tend to be mixed bags, so it follows that making a quality album of live covers would be difficult. Rhett Miller, however, is largely successful on The Interpreter, an intimate collection recorded over two nights in 2008 at Largo, before the Los Angeles club changed locations (there are also two studio bonus tracks). Miller plays solo for much of... 

MITCH RYDER The Promise [Michigan Broadcasting Corporation] Detroit’s Mitch Ryder lays down old-school grooves with a vengeance on his first American album in nearly 30 years, singing the blue-collar blues over catchy bass and guitar riffs. Ryder lets out the Motor City funk on numbers such as “The Way We Were” and “Junkie Love,” aided by producer and fellow Detroiter Don Was. Ryder addresses the personal and political with equal ease.... 

THE BIG PINK Future This [4AD] Hyping this follow-up to their stunner of a debut, A Brief History of Love, U.K. duo Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell have talked a lot about the influence of pop and hip-hop. Indeed, synths and samples here fill space once reserved for fuzz guitar and live drums, but the Big Pink was never a traditional rock band. Like its predecessor, Future This points back to 1991, when groups like EMF, Jesus Jones and most notably... 

MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO Weather [Naïve] Meshell Ndegeocello has been pushing the limits of her genre-bending ambition for 20 years, and in the process the agile bassist has gained a reputation as a must-have session player and a solo artist whose skills are matched only by her daring. Produced by the ever-eclectic Joe Henry, Ndegeocello’s ninth album (and first since 2009’s Devil’s Halo) blends pulsating rhythms, atmospheric arrangements and... 

VARIOUS ARTISTS Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International [Shangri-La] Featuring 76 Bob Dylan covers from more than 80 artists to celebrate Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary, the four-disc Chimes of Freedom is a compilation whose intimidating breadth manages to bring unexpected acts like Ke$ha (“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”) and Miley Cyrus (“You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When... 

LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO Ladysmith Black Mambazo & Friends [Razor & Tie] Following quickly on the heels of their last studio album, Songs from a Zulu Farm, this exceptional two-disc anthology finds South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo rounding up many of its stellar collaborations with other artists. After reaping international acclaim for its performances on Paul Simon’s 1986 landmark Graceland, the group continued to stretch... 

THE WHITE BUFFALO Once Upon a Time in the West [Unison Music Group] Given his ramshackle narratives and sober sentiments, Jake Smith (a.k.a. the White Buffalo) seems to fit comfortably into the alt-country lineage of Uncle Tupelo and its offspring, Wilco and Son Volt. But if the album title suggests an Ennio Morricone film score, it’s also true that the dark characters Smith imagines are not unlike Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name—fueled... 

JAMES McCARTNEY The Complete EP Collection [Engine Room] There’s something funny about packaging two EPs and calling it the “complete” collection, though it’s accurate in James McCartney’s case. The English singer and songwriter has released two digital EPs, and this compilation is the first time they’re available in physical form. McCartney plays with a jittery seat-of-his-pants sensibility that sets him apart from his famous father,... 

MIKE VIOLA Electro de Perfecto [RED] Fifteen years have passed since Mike Viola lent his voice to the That Thing You Do! soundtrack, and he still sounds like the boy next door who dreams of being best buds with Paul McCartney. His writing, though, has gotten dark enough to prevent him from busting the adorability scale. Using phrases like “midlife crisis” to describe Electro de Perfecto would be unfair, if only because some of the subject matter... 

PEGI YOUNG & THE SURVIVORS Bracing for Impact [Vapor Records] Pegi Young’s late-blooming musical career continues to evolve apace, as her third solo release features a rootsier, bluesier sound than earlier efforts. “Flatline Mama” is a lively tune done up in a ’50s rock ’n’ roll vein, while the gritty, bluesy edge on tunes like “Med Line” and “Gonna Walk Away” recalls Bonnie Raitt. Young convincingly serves up the soul on “Trouble... 

THE MONKEES  Instant Replay  [Rhino Handmade] In February 1986 MTV ran a marathon of episodes from the Monkees’ 1960s television show, instantly igniting a wave of new interest in an act known during its heyday as a fabricated cash-in on the appeal of the Beatles. But if MTV started the second wave of Monkeemania, the folks at reissue label Rhino made sure it stuck. The next several years saw a series of loving re-releases of the Monkees’ original... 

ADELE Live at the Royal Albert Hall [Columbia] After issuing two mega-selling albums before the tender age of 21, Adele Adkins has had fans raving about her as the second coming of Dusty Springfield. And she makes a pretty good case for that opinion on this full-length concert DVD recorded at London’s most venerable venue. Adele displays expert pitch and control, and a rare ability to wring visceral emotion out of a simple lyric like “I won’t... 

MARK YARM  Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge [Crown Archetype] Never have the people responsible for starting a musical movement been so quick to tear down their own myth. From the moment the sound known as “grunge” emerged from the Pacific Northwest, the sobriquet was universally rejected by the artists to whom it was applied. From well before the moment major record labels began making their way up to Seattle, smelling money... 

AMY WINEHOUSE  Lioness: Hidden Treasures  [Island] We know the drill here, right? After endless posthumous releases from Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, 2Pac and countless others, the pattern is set: A singer-songwriter in his or her 20s dies, and somehow a few spare tracks can always be found in the vaults to justify one more new piece of product. Lioness is with us less than six months after British songbird Amy Winehouse’s premature... 

THE ROOTS Undun [Def Jam] The latest from hip-hop’s hippest band is a concept album that tells the fictional—although all too believable—story of Redford Stephens, a low-level street hustler who makes all the wrong choices on his way to an early end. That’s not giving anything away: The Roots tell this story in reverse, rewinding Stephens’ life through songs carefully constructed to avoid glorifying his brief and unfortunate time in the... 

KATE BUSH 50 Words for Snow [Fish People/Anti] This is Bush’s first recording of all new music since the double-disc Aerial in 2005, although earlier in 2011 she released Director’s Cut, which included slightly reworked versions of some previously released songs. Not so much a holiday album as a soft, meditative and lush rumination on winter, 50 Words for Snow will remind listeners of a time when musical artists were more intent on creating unified... 

THE BLACK KEYS El Camino [Nonesuch Records] Prior to its release, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney proclaimed El Camino the first “all rock ’n’ roll album” of the duo’s decade-long career. Point taken, but the Keys have hardly forsaken the retro-soul vibe that’s underpinned previous discs. Kicking off with the raging, surf-guitar-driven “Lonely Boy” (think the Cramps with a touch of Memphis R&B), Carney and guitarist Dan Auerbach... 

DRAKE Take Care [Young Money] Every movie about fame has a scene in which the rising star ducks out of the party and stares through the penthouse window, weighing what they’ve gained against what they’ve given up. Stretch that moment into an entire album and you get Take Care, the sophomore effort from Canadian hip-hop phenom Drake. With his confessional lyrics and sing-rap-chat vocal style, Drake follows in the footsteps of Kanye West. While... 

DAVID NAIL The Sound of a Million Dreams [Universal Nashville] With his third album, 32-year-old David Nail proves that he is a cut above contemporaries whose songs often rely on a slapdash collection of tired, countrier-than-thou stereotypes. Nail shows a knack for songcraft, most notably on “Catherine,” a tune written for his wife. But his supple, soulful tenor elevates the album’s outside material, too, as he tackles everything from frenetic... 

RICH ROBINSON Through a Crooked Sun [Circle Sound/Thirty Tigers] This second solo album from Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson finds him drawing from the usual sources—the Stones and Faces, in particular—but more dominant are some old-school rock influences that rarely surface in the Crowes’ music. The strummy “I Don’t Hear the Sound of You” evokes the breezy shimmer of the Hollies, but mostly Robinson works in darker colors. “Follow... 

GORILLAZ The Singles Collection 2001–2011 [Virgin] Straight out of the cage, Gorillaz promised to be more than merely a high-concept art project. The “cartoon” rock band formed by Blur frontman Damon Albarn and animator Jamie Hewlett broke through in 2001 with “Clint Eastwood,” a heavy helping of spaghetti-western dub and meaty old-school hip-hop. Albarn sang with quintessentially British melancholy, but he couldn’t help but dream of the... 

NILS LOFGREN Old School [Vision Music] Among his fine work in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, stewardship of Grin and work alongside Neil Young on classics like Tonight’s the Night, Nils Lofgren once simultaneously enjoyed a prolific solo career. But as his day job as an E Streeter has taken up increasingly more of his time, devotees have been left hoping he’d step out more on his own—and Old School should satisfy those Lofgren loyalists.... 

MEDESKI, SCOFIELD, MARTIN & WOOD Live: In Case the World Changes Its Mind [Indirecto] Medeski, Martin & Wood, who’ve been redefining the jazz keyboard trio for a remarkable two decades now, first collaborated with guitar dynamo John Scofield in 1997 on the latter’s A Go Go album. Even then the match was ideal: Scofield’s probing, groove-infused licks and MMW’s future-funk worship made one another whole. Nearly a decade later, MSMW... 

THE DECEMBERISTS Long Live the King [Capitol] Even as they fail to hold together in one piece quite like this year’s full-length The King Is Dead, most of the songs on this six-track EP strike a fine balance between frontman Colin Meloy’s literary depth and some easily accessible tunes. The real keeper here is “Foregone,” on which Meloy’s love poetry is driven forward by a homey steel-guitar lick. Also on the simpler side are the Prince-ly... 

R.E.M. Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011 [Warner Bros.] With R.E.M.’s demise last fall the timing is perfect for this double-disc, chronologically arranged retrospective that makes a valiant, if lopsided, attempt to put the group’s three-decade run into perspective. Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage is the first R.E.M. compendium that surveys the full breadth of that career, from the mumbly, jangly early innovations... 

KELLY CLARKSON Stronger [RCA] Unlike most American Idol alumni, Kelly Clarkson has always set herself apart by generally placing artistry over histrionics. The pattern continues on her latest pop-rock collection, on which she wisely lends her impressive pipes to address purely emotional matters of the heart. On the opening “Mr. Know It All” she reminds us why she’s the queen of the kiss-off with a gritty delivery reminiscent of Melissa Etheridge... 

RYAN ADAMS Ashes & Fire [Pax-Am/Capitol] Ryan Adams recently took a two-year break from releasing new music, an eternity for a prolific singer and songwriter who put out 10 albums in the preceding eight years. Apparently refreshed, Adams returns with 11 songs that are among the best he’s written. That’s saying something given the sheer volume of Adams’ catalog, but he’s rarely equaled the poignant feeling of these tunes. His vivid lyrics... 

PATRICK STUMP Soul Punk [Island] If ever you needed proof that Fall Out Boy was primarily a vehicle for bass player Pete Wentz, one listen to the solo debut from lead singer Patrick Stump should convince you. Largely eschewing FOB’s driving power-pop, Stump lets his funk flag fly right away on the opening “Explode,” its propulsive electro-pop resembling some of his outside work with Cobra Starship or the Roots. Likewise, “This City” shows... 

REID PALEY AND BLACK FRANCIS Paley & Francis [Sonic Unyon Records] “I’ll bring down my foot on your daisy chain/I’ll have a drink from your jugular vein…” Given Black Francis’ reputation as a dark character, those lyrical musings from opening entry “Curse” would seem to affirm his ability to shock the heck out of his listeners. Joining forces with frequent collaborator Reid Paley, the former Frank Black (born Charles Thompson)... 

DARYL HALL Laughing Down Crying [Verve Forecast] When Daryl Hall tackles a solo project, it’s always interesting to hear how far he’ll stray from the sounds that made him and partner John Oates staples of pop radio. Hall’s fifth solo disc hews pretty closely to those styles. With production help from Greg Bieck (Jennifer Lopez, Destiny’s Child) and guitarist Paul Pesco, Laughing is an update, not a departure, despite the loping Americana beat... 

JANE’S ADDICTION The Great Escape Artist [Capitol] Two decades have passed since the first time pioneering alt-rock band Jane’s Addiction broke up, imploding from within via a variety of personality conflicts. Since 1997 the group has reunited in fits and starts with a series of bass players filling in for reluctant original member Eric Avery, including Flea, Martyn LeNoble, Duff McKagan and Chris Chaney. Avery finally rejoined the band in 2008,... 

FEIST Metals [Cherrytree/Interscope] What’s Leslie Feist been up to since her 2007 album The Reminder? Breaking up, from the sound of things on her latest. These songs play like letters from a broken heart, delivered in the Canadian singer’s typically understated style. Her drowsy voice—which works so well on the lovely offhand pop numbers for which she’s become known (“Mushaboom,” “1234”)—requires only a slight adjustment to sound... 

SUPERHEAVY SuperHeavy [Universal Republic] Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, Damian Marley and A.R. Rahman are billing themselves collectively as SuperHeavy, but the all-star quintet’s debut doesn’t quite earn them the label of supergroup. That criticism isn’t a knock on any of the album’s individual tracks. The first half could be the foundation for a perfectly fine, guest-heavy Marley record, and the last half would be adequate filler... 

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH Hysterical [Red General] For a band whose very name implies hyperactivity, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have been surprisingly inactive for the last few years. Following a self-released 2005 debut that became an indie-rock sensation, the band released a hurried sophomore LP in 2007 before entering a self-imposed hibernation. That break led to the usual flurry of forgettable side projects, but now it’s back to business. Frontman... 

WILCO The Whole Love [dBpm/ANTI] Although its first seven minutes and last 12 minutes help to make The Whole Love Wilco’s boldest record since 2001’s landmark Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, those opening and closing marathons are also familiar reminders of leader Jeff Tweedy’s wide emotional range. Amid the gloom of the opening “Art of Almost,” Tweedy is the dark-clothed loner with his head down. Yet he’s the same man who, on the closing “One... 

THE BEACH BOYS The SMiLE Sessions [Capitol] In a scene from the classic movie Citizen Kane, the character of Mr. Bernstein (played by Everett Sloane) rhapsodizes about a comely stranger he briefly spied from a distance some 45 years earlier. “I only saw her for one second,” he says. “She didn’t see me at all, but I’ll bet a month hasn’t gone by since that I haven’t thought of that girl.” There is no beauty quite so radiant as that... 

BJÖRK Biophilia [Nonesuch] Björk’s eighth solo release is not so much an album as the foundation of an ambitious multimedia project. Partly recorded on an iPad and released (in addition to traditional outlets) through 10 interactive apps, Biophilia boasts a lyrical thread drawing from biologist Edward O. Wilson’s ideas about the connections that humans subconsciously seek with the life that surrounds them. By fusing African-derived rhythms,...