New and noteworthy

Andrea Faccioli Plays Pet Sounds

Andrea Faccioli

Lots of people consider Pet Sounds to be one of the greatest albums of the rock era. Others say that it can’t be because there’s not much rock on it. This sans-vocals, solo-acoustic-­guitar rendition should please both camps—the nay­sayers because it demonstrates how little bass, drums, and electricity had to do with the original version’s appeal, the yaysayers because it demonstrates how lovely Brian Wilson’s melodies were and are.

Queen II: Collector’s Edition

Queen

With Rick Beato’s recent YouTube diagnosis of what’s ailing most songs on Spotify’s Top 10 (“nothing interesting here,” “incredibly repetitive”), you’ll love this exemplar of how daring aspiring hitmakers used to be. As if they might never get another chance to strut their stuff, the members of Queen pull out all their “and nobody played synthesizer” stops, unleashing flights of fancy, thunderous metal, serene segues, and stacks of vocals. Do you need four bonus discs of demos, instrumentals, and live versions? Probably not. But finally getting all 46 seconds of “I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside” after all these years is nice.

Gospel Music

Joel Ross

At a time during which people can’t even distinguish AI music from the real thing, it’s doubtful whether anyone would connect these probing, vibraphone-centric jazz pieces to the arc of salvation if not for their titles (“Trinity,” “Protoevangelium,” “Repentance,” etc.). But Ross does include relevant Scriptures in the liner notes, so ultimately only the lazy will be without excuse. A bigger question is how easy it is to hear Ross’ connections once they’ve been made. Well, who said jazz should be easy? Or theology for that matter? That it’s rewarding is what matters. This music is. And not only that, but because it’s vibraphone centric, it twinkles.

Soul of the Machine: A Celebration of the Life & Legacy of ARP founder Alan R. Pearlman

Various Artists

What we have here are three discs totaling three hours and 20 minutes and containing one cut apiece by 36 artists (some well known [Martin Gore, Mark Isham, JG Thirwell], most not), all at the service of what the lengthy subtitle says. You can tell the weird songs by their titles (“Stochastic ARP,” “Seance [Vestiges]”) but not the outlier (Lamar “Kronick” Mitchell’s “Ode to Bernie,” which sounds like an early-’80s Al Jarreau single’s backing track). Most of the other 33 gently and beautifully evoke the cosmos and do not wear out their welcome quickly.

Encore

In 1977, nearly a decade after getting kicked out of Traffic, Dave Mason finally hit his solo stride with the platinum-selling Let It Flow and the single it rode in on, “We Just Disagree.” Exactly three minutes of rich vocal harmonies and ringing 12-string guitars, “We Just Disagree” was a breath of fresh air in an increasingly overproduced and disco-fied time. Columbia Records had every reason to expect Mason’s next album to capitalize on the momentum. It should’ve. Released in June ’78, Mariposa De Oro was easily the best album of Mason’s career.

It was still his best album when he died in April at the age of 79. Yet, for some ­reason, even though it went gold, yielded a minor hit (a lush cover of the Shirelles’ “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”), and boasted deep cuts worthy of heavy rotation, Mariposa didn’t embed itself in the public imagination. It’s the public’s loss. A better-sounding example of mainstream rock at its FM-radio-friendly finest you won’t find. —A.O.