Released 30 years ago this week, ‘All Night Long’ unfortunately arrived too close to the end for Junior Kimbrough.

Tom Shotton’s 10-track debut sounds like Billy Joel interacting with Rupert Holmes, supported by occasional input from Steely Dan.

For anyone who’s had their fill of the sea shanty craze, don’t quit it until you’ve had a chance to hear Shane Parish’s evocative take on these nautical songs. You don’t even have to like sea shanties to really enjoy ‘Liverpool.’

Tomas Fujiwara’s twin trios double the chops and double the fun with the welcome Triple Double followup, ‘March.’

Neo-progressive rocker Joe Bailey continues his take-no-prisoners charge ahead with this self-produced and engineered concept album of eight songs.

‘Enemies With Benefits’ projects a great sound and feel, with a trio of Thift Store Halo tunes primed to make your day.

Released 45 years ago this month, the powerful and pleasantly pompous ‘Next’ is Journey’s best pre-Steve Perry album.

‘Peacemaker’ probably would have been fun without the interesting musical choices, but its glam-metal soundtrack makes the HBO Max series so much better.

Extraordinary music usually results when extraordinary musicians like Nels Cline and Ben Monder step out of their comfort zones and put themselves in challenging situations that gives them no other out but to lean on their innate sense of creativity.

In 2021, my vinyl collection grew substantially — and for me, it’s evolved into a bit of an addiction.