#allmusic staff picks

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AllMusic Staff Pick Frank Sinatra Songs for Swingin' Lovers!

Songs for Swingin' Lovers almost feels like a greatest hits album, with each song perfectly executed at the height of Sinatra's ring-a-ding-ding popularity. Nelson Riddle's orchestration matches Sinatra's bravado note for note, and while his previous masterpiece, In the Wee Small Hours, was downbeat and wonderfully melancholy, this album soars off the runway into the blue skies, perfect for a romantic evening of cocktails and hijinks.

- Zac Johnson

#allmusic staff picks #frank sinatra #happy valentine's day

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AllMusic Staff Pick: Dorothy Ashby Hip Harp

Released in 1958, the second album from groundbreaking jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby is a mellow, grooving affair. Along with a sturdy rhythm section and flutist Frank Wess, Ashby uses her deftly controlled harp to steer the album's seven laid-back selections. Ashby would later venture into psychedelic soul jazz, but on Hip Harp the moods are strictly cool.

- Fred Thomas

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AllMusic Staff Pick: Brian Eno Another Green World

Brian Eno's third album was where he arguably invented ambient pop, turning away from the oddball glam rock songs of his first two (very good) solo outings in favor of calm, pictorial instrumentals and only the occasional vocal tune. Another Green World is more of a playful sound environment than a traditional album, and was especially groundbreaking upon its arrival in 1975.

- Fred Thomas

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AllMusic Staff Pick: Marvin Gaye Let's Get It On

After brilliantly surveying the social, political, and spiritual landscape with What's Going On, Marvin Gaye turned to more intimate matters with Let's Get It On, a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy. This album was released 50 years ago today.

-Jason Ankeny

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AllMusic Staff Pick: Stevie Wonder Innervisions

When Stevie Wonder applied his tremendous songwriting talents to the unsettled social morass that was the early '70s, he produced one of his greatest, most important works, a rich panoply of songs addressing drugs, spirituality, political ethics, the unnecessary perils of urban life, and what looked to be the failure of the '60s dream -- all set within a collection of charts as funky and catchy as any he'd written before. Innervisions was released 50 years ago today. - John Bush

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AllMusic Staff Picks Original Soundtrack Lost in Translation

Sofia Coppola's impressionistic 2003 cityscape of a film was made all the more dreamlike by its soundtrack, which is heavy on textural electronics and liminal rock from My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields. Along with incidental sounds and the MBV-esque song "City Girl" from Shields, the perfectly sequenced soundtrack includes moments from Death in Vegas, the Jesus & Mary Chain, Air, and other big names in ambient pop.

- Fred Thomas

#allmusic staff picks #my bloody valentine #kevin sheilds #lost in translation

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AllMusic Staff Pick: The Isley Brothers 3 + 3

Turning 50 years old today, 3 + 3 proved to be a turning point in the Isley Brothers' creative direction. Moving from a trio to a sextet would be enough to change the sound of any group, but the addition of the supremely funky bassist Marvin Isley and particularly the Hendrix-infused guitar work of Ernie Isley hustled the band into a heavier, funkier, and slinkier direction. - Zac Johnson

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AllMusic Staff Pick: Backstreet Boys Millennium

Celebrating its 25th anniversary today, Millennium has no pretense of being anything other than an album for the moment, delivering more of everything that made Backstreet's Back a blockbuster. There's a familiar blend of ballads and dance-pop, a similar shiny production, a reliance on the Boys' charisma that brings to mind the debut. If Millennium were anything other than big, glossy mainstream pop, such calculation may be a little unseemly, but in this context, it can be rather fun.

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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AllMusic Staff Pick: Kylie Minogue X

Hindsight favors the pop icon's tenth LP, which closed out her wildly successful 2000s era. Though not as well-received upon release as its two predecessors, it's aged incredibly well. Packed with timely electro-inspired dance-pop similar to contemporary releases by Madonna, Gwen, Gaga, and Britney, it's pure dancefloor filler. Everything here is great, but start with the sweaty "Like a Drug" and the euphoric trio of "In My Arms," "No More Rain," and "The One."

- Neil Z. Yeung

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AllMusic Staff Pick Low Secret Name

Secret Name, released 25 years ago today, is unadulterated lo-fi/sadcore, semi-orchestrated pop/rock par excellence. What Low do particularly well is stay grounded, close to the earth and real. The music is so warm it's a literal caress from the speakers -- and that's no mean feat in their notoriously chilly genre.

- Denise Sullivan

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AllMusic Staff Pick: Sonic Youth Dirty

Even at the peak of their popularity, Sonic Youth defied expectations. Dirty arrived at the height of the grunge revolution they helped usher in, but the album's mix of reflective interludes ("JC," "Theresa's Sound World") and charged rock ("100%," "Sugar Kane") once again set them apart from the crowd.

- Heather Phares

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AllMusic Staff Pick: INXS Kick

By crystallizing all of the band's influences -- Stones-y rock & roll, pop, funk, contemporary dance-pop -- into a cool, stylish dance/rock hybrid, the Aussies' sixth studio album spawned no less than four Top Ten singles, including their only U.S. number one, "Need You Tonight." Even without the band's MTV-endorsed sense of style, the flawless songcraft is intoxicating, and it's what makes this one of the best mainstream pop albums of the '80s.

- Steve Huey

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AllMusic Staff Pick: New York Dolls Too Much Too Soon

After the clatter of their first album failed to bring them a wide audience, the New York Dolls hired producer Shadow Morton to work on the follow-up, Too Much Too Soon (released 50 years ago today). The differences are apparent right from the start of the ferocious opener, "Babylon." Not only are the guitars cleaner, but the mix is dominated by waves of studio sound effects and female backing vocals. Ironically, instead of making the Dolls sound safer, all the added frills emphasize their gleeful sleaziness and reckless sound.

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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AllMusic Staff Pick:Sinéad O'Connor The Lion and the Cobra

Sinéad O'Connor's debut was a sensation upon its 1987 release, and it remains a distinctive record, finding a major talent striving to achieve her own voice. Like many debuts, it's entirely possible to hear her influences, from Peter Gabriel to Prince and contemporary rap, but what's striking about the record is how she synthesizes these into her own sound -- an eerie, expansive sound heavy on atmosphere and tortured passion. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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AllMusic Staff Pick Sparks Kimono My House

Arguably one of Sparks' best albums, 1974's Kimono My House (released 50 years ago today) finds the brothers Mael (Ron wrote most the songs and played keyboards, while Russell was the singing frontman) ingeniously playing their guitar- and keyboard-heavy pop mix on 12 consistently fine tracks.

- Stephen Cook

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AllMusic Staff Pick Bears in Trees And Everybody Else Smiled Back

On this album, Bears in Trees sound more polished and expansive than in their earlier ventures, but they maintain the unique flavor of an indie “dirtbag boyband” drawing from a wide variety of inspirations. Singers Callum Litchfield and Iain Gillespie’s differing voices complement each other well, touching on themes of mental health and love earnestly and with a sense of humor. The album smoothly blends styles ranging from sentimental strings to defiant electric guitar to bright ukulele into a heartwarmingly honest production.

- Hannah Schwartz

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