One Direction

Midnight Memories

Sony Music Entertainment / Syco Music

Pop/Rock

The group's third album is undeniably catchy and fun, this time with more folk-pop and rock & roll in the mix.

— Tim Sendra

Billie Joe Armstrong / Norah Jones

Foreverly

Reprise

Pop/Rock

A full-album cover of the Everly Brothers' 1958 classic Songs Our Daddy Taught Us.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Kimberly Burke / Danny Reisch / Thor Harris / Jonathan Meiburg / Lucas Oswald / Shearwater / Cully Symington

Fellow Travelers

Sub Pop

Pop/Rock

An evocative set of offbeat covers steeped in the group's signature blend of dusky ambience and heady melodrama.

— James Christopher Monger

Thelonious Monk

Paris 1969

Blue Note / Capitol

Jazz

This live date from late in his career finds the pianist undiminished, with Charlie Rouse and a young rhythm section.

— Thom Jurek

Lee Hazlewood

There's a Dream I've Been Saving: 1966-1971

Light in the Attic Records

Country, Pop/Rock

Obsessively packaged and seven years in the making, this is most exhaustive history of the artist's LHI label ever released.

— Thom Jurek

Glen Hansard

Drive All Night

Anti- / Epitaph

Pop/Rock

Built around a faithful Boss cover, this four-song EP raises money for music education charity Little Kids Rock.

— James Christopher Monger

Destroyer

Five Spanish Songs

Merge

Pop/Rock

A stopgap EP of covers of songs composed by the frontman for goth-tinged Spanish alt-rock outfit Sr. Chinarro.

— James Christopher Monger

Sonny Smith

I Need You Bad

Polyvinyl

Pop/Rock

Excellent collection of noisy pop and weird psych folk bands from the Bay Area, expertly curated by Sonny Smith.

— Tim Sendra

Thee Oh Sees

Singles Collection, Vol. 3

Castle Face / Revolver USA

Pop/Rock

Catch up on those hard-to-find Oh Sees singles with this collection, which also features two extended live tracks.

— Mark Deming

Beachwood Sparks / Chris Gunst / Pete Kinne / Brent Rademaker / Tom Sanford / Farmer Dave Scher / Josh Schwartz

Desert Skies

Alive / Alive Naturalsound Records / Alive Records

Pop/Rock

Previously unreleased debut album from the California neo-hippie country-rock outfit.

— Matt Collar

Egyptrixx

A/B Til Infinity

Last Gang Records

Electronic

A darker alternative to the 2011 LP Bible Eyes, Egyptrixx’s 2013 effort is still a genre-jumping journey across electronica.

— David Jeffries

Bill Cosby

Far from Finished

Comedy Central Records

Comedy/Spoken

The strife and bliss of married life inspires the comedian's first comedy album in 27 years.

— David Jeffries

Syd Arthur

On and On

Harvest

Pop/Rock

Britain's young heirs to the Canterbury scene deliver an impressive debut rife with prog-influenced pop and psychedelia.

— Timothy Monger

Alsarah / Débruit

Aljawal

Soundway

Electronic

The French producer and Sudanese singer collaborate on songs that are traditional, futuristic, and continually fascinating.

— Heather Phares

Eric Clapton

Give Me Strength: The '74/'75 Studio Recordings

Polydor / Universal

Pop/Rock

Exhaustive five-disc retrospective of Clapton's jam-heavy mid-'70s work.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Milosh / Michael Milosh

Jet Lag

Deadly

Electronic

A romantic, bittersweet album of nuanced electronic pop from the Canadian half of Rhye.

— Andy Kellman

The Animals

The Mickie Most Years and More [Box Set]

Real Gone Music

Pop/Rock, Blues

The first four U.S. albums from one of the very best blues-based bands of the British Invasion era, now remastered and expanded.

— Mark Deming

Teengirl Fantasy

Nun

This Is Music

Electronic, Pop/Rock

Teengirl Fantasy's first EP blends the passion and restraint of the duo's albums in dynamic ways.

— Heather Phares

Pinkunoizu

The Drop

Full Time Hobby / Universal Music

Pop/Rock

The Danish quartet's second album delivers expansive jams that are more focused, and more transporting, than its previous music.

— Heather Phares

Sparks

New Music for Amnesiacs: The Ultimate Collection

Lil Beethoven

Pop/Rock

Sparks deliver a best-of compilation in the only way they know how: with a sprawling, four-disc set packed with memorabilia.

— Gregory Heaney

Florida Georgia Line

Here's to the Good Times [CD/DVD]

Republic

Country

Expanded edition of an aptly named album about drinking beer, driving back roads, and the romance of endless summer nights.

— Steve Leggett

Barbra Streisand

Back to Brooklyn

Columbia

Pop/Rock, Stage & Screen, Vocal

The legendary vocal diva's first ever concert in her hometown of Brooklyn, New York.

— Matt Collar

Kevin Morby

Harlem River

Woodsist

Pop/Rock

Debut record from Babies singer and Woods bassist echoes the classic Greenwich Village era with a love letter to New York.

— Timothy Monger

The Gories

The Shaw Tapes: Live in Detroit 5/27/88

Third Man Records

Pop/Rock

A raw live document of an early gig from one of the most influential garage acts in its most unpolished state.

— Fred Thomas

The KVB

Minus One

A Records

Pop/Rock

U.K. darkwave duo break up their dour goth drones with blasts of shoegaze guitar and unexpectedly hooky pop undercurrents.

— Fred Thomas

Peter Walker

Has Anybody Seen Our Freedoms?

Delmore / Delmore Recording Society / Light in the Attic Records

Folk, International

Kept in a bread truck for over 40 years, these unreleased, live-in-studio solo tapes should have been the guitarist's third Vanguard album.

— Thom Jurek

Magic Theatre

The Long Way Home

Elefant

Pop/Rock

Invokes the sunshine pop of the Left Banke, the music box melodrama of Edward Scissorhands, and the breezy lunacy of Twiggy.

— James Christopher Monger

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath Live: Gathered in Their Masses

Virgin EMI

Pop/Rock

A live CD/DVD from the band's 2013 tour, taped in Melbourne, Australia.

Cheap Time

Exit Smiles

In the Red Records

Pop/Rock

Fourth album from this garage-punk band finds them evoking a sneering, '70s-influenced sound.

— Mark Deming

Various Artists

Dance Mania

Boys Noize

Electronic

More respectable for its concept than its content, this compilation of new tracks emulates the output of a leading '80s/'90s house label.

— Andy Kellman

NOFX

Stoke Extinguisher

Fat Wreck Chords

Pop/Rock

Punk mainstays NOFX gather up their Self Entitled B-sides along with a pair of new tracks for their latest single.

— Gregory Heaney

The Warlocks

Skull Worship

Zap Banana

Pop/Rock

Another stellar exercise in doomy psychedelic guitar exploration from Bobby Hecksher's long-running Los Angeles project.

— Mark Deming

Tom Stoppard

Darkside: A BBC Play for Radio by Tom Stoppard, Incorporating "The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd

Parlophone

Comedy/Spoken, Pop/Rock

This radio play draws on the themes of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon; the music provides the soundtrack.

— Thom Jurek

Tower of Power

Hipper Than Hip: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

Real Gone Music

R&B

Belated release of a 1974 radio broadcast from the pride of Oakland, giving up the funk with style and stamina.

— Mark Deming

Gary Barlow

Since I Saw You Last

Polydor

Pop/Rock

An unintentional -- and quite enjoyable -- throwback to the heyday of post-McCartney '70s singer/songwriter pop.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Trio Wanderer

Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio, Op. 50; Arensky: Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 32

Harmonia Mundi

Classical

Arensky's melodic gift is fully in evidence in the trio here, and Trio Wanderer makes it sing.

— James Manheim

Patricia Petibon / Paavo Järvi / Choeur de l'Orchestre de Paris / Orchestre de Paris

Poulenc: Stabat Mater; Gloria; Litanies à la Vierge noire

Deutsche Grammophon

Classical

French soprano Patricia Petibon joins Paavo Järvi and the Choir and Orchestra of Paris in sacred works by Francis Poulenc.

— Blair Sanderson

Julian Lloyd Webber / Jiaxin Lloyd Webber

A Tale of Two Cellos

Naxos

Classical

This Naxos release gives an idea of why this performer is so well loved on his home turf.

— James Manheim

Michael Tilson Thomas / San Francisco Symphony

Beethoven: Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II; Symphony No. 2

SFS Media

Classical

Tilson Thomas presents Beethoven's Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II with the Second Symphony, an interesting programming choice.

— Blair Sanderson

Choir of Merton College, Oxford / Peter Phillips / Benjamin Nicholas

Advent at Merton

Delphian

Classical

The exceptional Choir of Merton College, Oxford, presents its second album, a collection of hymns, antiphons, and motets celebrating Advent.

— Blair Sanderson

Janine Jansen

Bach: Concertos

Decca

Classical

Janine Jansen plays Bach's violin concertos and sonatas with an intimate circle of friends and family.

— Blair Sanderson

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