Battle Creek Transit Authority: Live in Concert

Brass Band of Battle Creek

The “Transit Authority” part of this live recording’s title derives from the original name of the band whose hits constitute the program’s latter portion—Chicago. But, unlike the first portion’s “Funiculì, Funiculà,” “Jamaica Farewell,” or “Children of Sanchez,” all but one of the Chicago numbers feature a vocalist who, although up to the challenge of hitting Peter Cetera’s high notes, distracts from what his fellow Michiganders do best: namely, provide the thrills of a high-quality halftime show without requiring their audience to attend a football game.

The Singles

Can

Eleven of these 11½ oddball singles (23 tracks in all) first appeared between 1970 and 1979, the decade before the one in which the influence of Can and others of their ilk would become apparent. That ilk, by the way, was called “krautrock.” What better name for a playful, avant-garde pop originating in Germany? A better question: If after 40-plus years even the catchiest of these ditties sound ahead of their time, is it possible that their time might never come?

We’re All Alright (Deluxe Edition)

Cheap Trick

The deluxe edition in this case trumps the regular one because the bonus tracks (“Like a Fly,” the epilogue-providing “If You Still Want My Love,” a cover of the Move’s “Blackberry Way”) equal or surpass the best of the 10 on the regular edition. Not that those 10 lack for energy—the first six are almost nothing but. It’s the “pop,” however, rather than the “power” that has always set Cheap Trick’s power-pop apart. And it’s the pop element that the bonus tracks extend and sustain.

White Knight

Todd Rundgren

In the man-bites-dog department, Rundgren seems to have chosen the guests who stud this refreshingly pop-friendly album to serve their respective songs rather than to serve his ego or his bottom line. In the dog-bites-man department, there are an anti-Trump song (you know, lest folks assume that, as a rock star, Rundgren swings to the right) and two declarations of left-on-right culture war—three if Rundgren intends to fund the good intentions of “I Got Your Back” with other people’s taxes.

ENCORE

With every member aboard except the solo-careering Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie (East West/Warner) is a Non-Fleetwood Mac Album in Name Only. And although Nicks’ absence does decrease the variety quotient, almost every song holds its own, hookwise, among the group’s many hits. Admittedly, one expects dreamy pop singalongs from McVie (“Feel About You,” “Red Sun,” “Game of Pretend”), but with “Love Is Here to Stay” and “Lay Down for Free” [sic], even Buckingham gets in on the act. And, in a particularly interesting switcheroo, it’s McVie who provides the song with “Tusk”-y drums (“Too Far Gone”).

For those who prefer vintage Mac, there’s a newly expanded, 30th-anniversary edition of the band’s second-biggest-selling album, Tango in the Night. What almost justifies the extravagance is the disc containing extended mixes of the album’s five singles, at least three of which (“Everywhere,” “Little Lies,” “Big Love”) are strong enough to survive the repetition. —A.O.