Occasionally, an album comes bursting out of your speakers, and you know — just know — that it’s going to end up here, on your half-way best of list. And on the year-ending compendium, too. Steven Wilson put out that album. You May Also Like: Steve Lukather kept Toto’s legacyRead More

Over a period of ever-shifting lineups, Edgar Froese has remained the stalwart mastermind of Tangerine Dream — always pushing the envelope, always searching for that next sound. The latest ones come from deep, deep space You May Also Like: The folkiest moment on Queen’s Night at the Opera was stillRead More

A remastered reissue of the 2DVD/CD Tokyo Tapes — bolstered now with a new studio recording of Steve Hackett and John Wetton doing “All Along the Watchtower” — seeks to provide insights into both Genesis and King Crimson. You May Also Like: John Wetton + Robert Fripp, “Raised in Captivity”Read More

For a trio whose biggest single barely scratched the Top 40, Emerson Lake and Palmer still came to be associated with several key moments. Let’s go deeper.

This is, even more so than the title track hit from 1981’s Shake It Up, the exact midpoint between the harder-edged new wave of the Cars’ classic 1978 debut and the sleek MTV smash Heartbeat City still to come. You May Also Like: Todd Rundgren jumpstarted the New Cars’ surprisinglyRead More

This set represents an often-overlooked period, and one of intense experimentation, for Steve Earle — who couldn’t have been further removed (personally or professionally) from his earliest triumphs You May Also Like: Steve Earle, “Baby Baby Baby (Baby)” from Terraplane (2015): One Track Mind Steve Earle, “The Tennessee Kid” fromRead More

When digging through this massive new four-DVD set of concerts from across the storied career of Jethro Tull, “Aqualung” provides a series of revelations — working as a kind of road map for the way the band evolved. You May Also Like: Martin Barre – ’50 Years of Jethro Tull’Read More

What you’re struck first by is this new 10-album reissue box’s long-hoped-for restoration of the original mixes. Then, across 100 songs from two decades, by the wealth of worthy deep cuts from ZZ Top. You May Also Like: ZZ Top’s “El Diablo,” “Thunderbird,” “Rough Boy” + Others: Gimme Five RingoRead More

Just another of your basic 35-year overnight success stories here. A few months ago, Willie Nile was completing a pledge drive to fund his new album. Now, he’s a few days away from releasing his first album with major distribution since 1991. You May Also Like: Jeff Oster, featuring NileRead More

Friends, hold on to The Complete Stax/Volt Singers Collection. Squeeze it. Never leave it. After all, the best-known songs on Disc One alone are more than enough to make the case for Otis Redding You May Also Like: Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay” emerged out of crushing grief: ‘IRead More