Jethro Tull took the stage 55 years ago this month with a guitarist wearing a floppy, decidedly un-metal white hat. Turns out, that was Tony Iommi.

Preston Frazier’s Best of 2023 Rock and Pop list includes Steve Lukather, Yes, Downes Braide Association, Derek Sherinian and Simon Phillips, and others.

Ivo Perelman and cohorts prove that sax, trumpet, vibes and stringed instruments can coalesce around spontaneous ideas, if you get the right guys together.

Madlen Keys’ ‘Event Horizon’ is a very modern French progressive (for want of a better term) rock album, infused with pop sensitivities.

Let’s take one more warped spin through ‘Back to the Bars,’ an album Todd Rundgren released 45 years ago that still feels brand new.

I have been struck by how long the accolades have continued after the passing of Norman Lear. It made me realize that I have a story, too.

A conceptual album that draws on many influences, ‘Reaching In’ demonstrates James McGowan’s skill at looking beyond genre definitions.

Released 50 years ago this week, Emerson Lake and Palmer’s ‘Brain Salad Surgery’ featured a cover image by the then largely unknown H.R. Giger.

By erasing lines of distinction between immediate and contemplated, natural and processed, Joseph Branciforte and Theo Bleckmann crafted something that’s truly novel, yet truly inviting with ‘LP2.’

‘Life Love and Hope’ arrived 10 years ago this week with what appears to be Boston’s last studio recordings featuring late frontman Brad Delp.