Notable CDs

Brown had nearly five months to enjoy the considerable acclaim that greeted this January release before succumbing to lung cancer at 81. Wherefore the acclaim? Because, stylistically, he was largely bypassing the calculated sentimentality of his 1970s-80s duets with Helen Cornelius and supplanting it with the golden glow of his 1950s-60s recordings as one third of the Browns. Verbally, he was looking back on and savoring a life full of blessings. Vocally, he was sounding as if he could’ve gone on singing until he was 100.

Can‘t forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour

Like the other live albums that Cohen has released since 2009, this collection’s existence emphasizes his commitment to recouping the wealth his former manager swindled from him. Unlike those other live albums, most of these tracks were recorded not during concerts but during pre-show sound checks. Hence the welcome absence of “Hallelujah” and the welcome presence of “Night Comes On” and the George Jones–minted “Choices”—and “Stages,” which begins with the most hilariously droll monologue Cohen has ever committed to tape.

Collected: 1976-2009

Seizing the moment, Universal released this three-disc compilation just one month after Bob Dylan told an interviewer that Willy DeVille belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And, given the skill with which it separates DeVille’s wheat from his all-too-abundant chaff, someone was serious about proving Dylan right. Disc Three is mainly miscellany for collectors. But Discs One and Two could have fans of Tom Waits, the Texas Tornados, and maybe even Bruce Springsteen wondering whether they’ve been barking up the wrong trees.

Lands & Peoples

Mallonee releases so much music that all but the best of it blurs together. But this album has an identity. Its hooks are worth humming, its verbal details worth pondering, its singing that of someone only four or five albums into his pilgrimage instead of 50-something. He’s still driven, in other words, to bring his considerable folk-rock gifts to bear upon the states of the various unions (Church, State, etc.) of which he remains a sincere but conflicted part. And bring them to bear he does.

Spotlight

Tyler Joseph (lyrics, vocals, keyboards) and Josh Dun (drums) have been recording as Twenty One Pilots since 2009, and somehow neither their Christian faith (about which they’re not shy) nor their songs’ allusions to it have clipped their commercial wings—their new album, Blurryface (Fueled by Ramen) debuted at No. 1 atop the Billboard 200. A concept album of sorts, it uses a hard-hitting combination of rap, singing, and glitch-hoppy pop-rock to trace the ricochet emotions of a uniquely 21st-century Everyman through sloughs of despond and, occasionally, delectable mountains.

And it’s catchy. Long before the lyrics kick in, the rhythms, melodies, and instrumentation establish a subliminal flow. Earlier Twenty One Pilots albums and EPs did too, but they did so less effectively, sometimes making Joseph’s delivery sound more smart-alecky than he (probably) intended. This time he and Dun achieve a winsome balance. And the lyrics, which are intelligible whether rapped or sung, do kick in.