What a complex experience this is, modern poetry set in the back seat of a roaring rock ‘n’ roll muscle car. The effect, as Cavalcade unfolds, is at first very visceral and then deeply illuminating.

With a smart assist from Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Mavis Staples transforms Funkadelic’s “Can You Get To That” from a sing-along slab of greasy-good uplift into this Americana-inflected groover.

Guitarist Steve Morse joined us as Deep Purple released both deluxe and vinyl editions of their new album Now What?!, a comeback which has already topped the charts in four countries — and gone Top 20 in 13 more.

James McCartney, a musician with a blessing/curse of a last name, tries to come to terms with the strength needed to overcome such strokes of luck/misery on “Strong as You”

Looking back, it seemed preordained. Stevie Nicks met Dave Stewart years ago, and had a good feeling about him. “Maybe,” Stevie Nicks says toward the end of the film In Your Dreams, “this played out for a reason.”

Guitarist Steve Hackett, with an assist from criminally underrated fellow Genesis alum Ray Wilson, has finally found the emotional centerpoint within one of their old band’s signature tunes, “Carpet Crawlers.”

The last recordings of an early rock legend had none of the crunchy grit of “Dizzy Miss Lizzy.” Instead, Larry Williams reimagined his sound (and with “Bony Moronie,” one of his most famous songs) as ass-shaking 1970s funk bombs.

This imminently listenable brand of no-frills rock might have sold in any decade. But only in the 1980s, a period marked by a steep swing rightward after the polyester era’s excesses, could Huey Lewis and the News have been such big stars.

Taking a page from Cannonball Adderley, who had a remarkable ability to take the complex and make it feel approachable, Christian McBride’s new album is as relatable as it is intense, as ebullient as it is substantive.

If 1987′s Document heralded the moment when R.E.M. started to get away from us, the follow up Green confirmed things: This wasn’t going to be our little secret anymore.