Oh Mercy was hailed as a comeback, not just because it had songs noticeably more meaningful than anything Bob Dylan had recently released, but because Daniel Lanois’ production gave it cohesion.

The quirky, orchestrated folk-rock of Nico's 1968 debut album, Chelsea Girl, in no way prepared listeners for the stark, almost avant-garde flavor of her 1969 follow-up, The Marble Index.

Instead of settling down in front of the mixing board for another dance album (a lá Technique or Republic), New Order returned in 2001 with a sound and style they hadn't played with for over a decade.

Features Szabo where he shone brightest — live. Good performances of reliable staples: “People,” “Stormy” and, of course, “Spellbinder.” “Sombrero Sam” features a brief, welcome reunion with Charles Lloyd. Not available on CD.

Three weeks after completing his meeting with Luiz Bonfá and only two days after the epochal Getz/Gilberto sessions, Stan Getz was back in the studio recording more bossa nova.

After Karma was issued and Sanders had established himself — to himself — as a musician who had something valuable and of use to say, he was on what this critic considers to be a divinely inspired tear.

This is a major set, “new” music from John Coltrane that was recorded February 15, 1967 (five months before his death) but not released for the first time until 1995.

After some abortive collaborations, Reilly hooked up with a regular drummer, talented fellow Mancunian Bruce Mitchell, to create LC, Durutti's second full release.

Escalay: The Water Wheel is not only the most popular album by the Nubian-born soloist Hamza El Din, it's arguably the best-known album of traditional Egyptian folk music in the west.

It is the album where this group drops its masks and speaks directly to the audience about themselves and each other.

Once again displaying an uncanny ability to mix pop culture with the avant-garde, Sonic Youth conjure their earliest no wave days and their later experimental works on the soundtrack to the French teen thriller Simon Werner a Disparu.

This album and "Unit Structures" were the first recordings of the fully matured Cecil Taylor. The pianist/composer finally mastered the art of mixing composed and improvised music into a dense, powerful soundscape and found musicians who understood his concept.

Recorded in the South of France with producers Fred Jimenez and Stephane Reynaud, enigmatic French singer/songwriter Jean-Louis Murat's 21st studio album, Grand Lièvre, eschews the blues-rock of its 2009 predecessor, Le Cours Ordinaire des Choses, in favor of a more alternative direction inspired by American indie bands Swell and Silver Jews.

Pete Townshend's first solo album was a homespun, charming forum for low-key, personal songs that weren't deemed suitable for the Who, as well as spiritual paeans (direct and indirect) to his spiritual guru Meher Baba.

More cinematic, melodic, and mellow than their usual experimental indie pop output, Keep You Close is the sixth studio album from one of Belgium's biggest musical exports, dEUS.