New and noteworthy

Walkin’ After Midnight

Eva Cassidy

For some reason, one version of this 1995 live recording ends with Cassidy’s cover of the Aretha Franklin deep cut “Won’t Be Long,” another with her cover of the Eagles’ “Desperado.” In another words, one ends with a bang, the other with a—well, “whimper” isn’t fair to “Desperado” or to Cassidy’s big-but-not-only-big voice. But you get the idea. The other 11 jazz, country, and pop covers simply add exclamation points to what the rest of Cassidy’s substantial posthumous discography has long made clear: The lady sure could sing.

Strangers No More, Volume Two 

Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

In a field (let’s call it “popular music”) in which tenors still rule, the ability of Drew Holcomb to make his baritone go every which way one song at a time is refreshing. From the upbeat country of “Green Light” to the sweet soul of “Easy Together” to the heartstrings-­tugging, singer-songwriter wisdom of “The Sound of Moving Water” and “Way Back When,” he’s a one-man radio playlist. Or he would be if his four Neighbors, who prove every bit as adaptable as he does, weren’t carrying their weight too.

Indoor Safari

Nick Lowe

“Powered by Los Straitjackets,” says the cover, a reference to the lucha-libre-masked surf rockers who’ve backed Nick Lowe since 2015 and inspired him to start writing lively songs again. The caveat is that Lowe has already recorded eight of these 12 for his EPs Tokyo Bay/Crying Inside, Love Starvation/Trombone, and Lay It on Me, while another he first readied for release in 2001. These re-recordings sparkle, the songs are so nice you’ll enjoy them twice, and the three new ones will make you smile and possibly dance. Just prepare for déjà vu.

When We Were Kings

Stryper

How rare is it for a band to make as strong an album as it has ever made 40 years after its debut? The Who didn’t (and couldn’t have). Aerosmith and U2 didn’t (but maybe could’ve). The Stones didn’t (but came close). OK, so maybe razor-sharp, hard-as-nails Christian metal is easier to come up with than classic classic rock, but the same could be said of reggae, and people still lionize Bob Marley. “Seasons change,” goes the title cut, “and so did we. / Now we long for what we used to be.” No need to long for it, fellas. We’d have been grateful for “Grateful” even in the ’80s. (About the cover art: That’s Jesus in the middle.)

Encore

As the former Byrd and Flying Burrito Brother Chris Hillman tells it in his 2020 autobiography Time Between, the Desert Rose Band was the smoothest, most well-oiled machine to which he’d ever belonged and would’ve been a bigger deal if it had had better management and if that ol’ paradigm shifter Garth Brooks hadn’t come along. Still, placing eight singles in the country Top 10 from 1987 to 1990 isn’t exactly chopped liver. And the new digital DRB collection The Singles (Curb) contains every one.

It also contains the Top 40 “Will This Be the Day,” the Top 30 “Ashes of Love,” and the Top 20 “In Another Lifetime” and “Hello Trouble.” But what really sets this collection apart is its inclusion of the five songs that, whether because of bad management or Garth Brooks, met with radio indifference. As smooth and well oiled as anything else bearing the DRB stamp, they deserved better, especially the lovely “Twilight Is Gone,” which gets to shine for all three minutes and 40 seconds of its unedited, album-­length glory. —A.O.