Prepare to raise a glass and stomp your feet as The Pogues' seminal album, 'Rum Sodomy & The Lash,' celebrates its 40th anniversary. Originally released on August 5th 1985, the album captured the raw energy and poetic lyricism that defined The Pogues, solidifying their place as one of the most influential bands of their generation.Today (August 5th) marks the 40th anniversary of that original release date.

Cécile McLorin Salvant presents Oh Snap, which features twelve very personal songs along with a cover of a verse from the Commodores’ 1977 hit “Brick House”. The album was mostly recorded outside of a traditional studio environment, showcasing her genre-spanning tastes and influences. The album includes appearances by longtime collaborators Sullivan Fortner, Yasushi Nakamura, and Kyle Poole, as well as cameos from singers June McDoom and Kate Davis.

Drummer Johnathan Blake presents his powerful third Blue Note album My Life Matters, a suite of music that he composed as a commission for The Jazz Gallery that serves as a dual treatise on the importance of family values and the social imperative to stand up in the face of injustice. Co-produced by Derrick Hodge, the album features saxophonist Dayne Stephens, vibraphonist Jalen Baker, pianist Fabian Almazan, and bassist Dezron Douglas plus special guests DJ Jahi Sundance and vocalist Bilal.

Their storied 1978 album produced by Chuck Plotkin (Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan) makes its “official” debut.

Mike Campbell knocked on the dressing room door and brought in a friend to meet Los Straitjackets. It was the late 1990s and through a chance encounter with Campbell, the band found themselves opening a series of shows for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Mike introduced his friend: “You gotta meet these guys. They sound like the early Beatles… if they didn’t sing.”

The legendary debut studio album from Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham. Buckingham Nicks is the only studio album by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks as a duo, prior to them joining Fleetwood Mac. Originally released in 1973 and unavailable for decades, the album has been sourced from the original analog master tapes for its long-awaited return to vinyl. Released on September 5, 1973, Buckingham Nicks quickly faded from commercial view but never disappeared from the cultural conversation. Recorded at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles and produced by Keith Olsen, the album introduced Nicks and Buckingham’s tightly wound harmonies and sharply contrasting songwriting voices across 10 tracks—ranging from the folk-rock shimmer of “Crystal” to the sunbaked strut of “Don’t Let Me Down Again.”

Sarah McLachlan first emerged as a global phenomenon over three decades ago, introducing an unprecedented new voice into the pop canon: soulful, spellbinding, and supremely capable of transforming pain into transcendence. On her first album of new material in 11 years, Better Broken finds the Canadian singer/songwriter widening her creative circle and furthering her legacy with songs that speak an uncompromising but radically illuminating truth about the state of the human condition.

Recorded live in Birmingham during a Contemporary Music Network tour in 2002, Tramonto finds UK pianist John Taylor (1942-2015) in celebratory, outgoing mood, fronting one of his most dynamic and quick-witted groups, with US musicians Marc Johnson and Joey Baron – the energetic team that would later collaborate on the critically-lauded ECM recording Rosslyn. Here the repertoire features the well-known Taylor tunes “Pure and Simple”, “Between Moons” and “Ambleside” (heard in an epic 15 minute version), as well as the Ralph Towner-composed title track and Steve Swallow’s “Up Too Late”, which swirls from bop phrasing to free playing, and includes high arco soloing from Johnson, and skittering drums from Baron. In all, a welcome reminder of what a creative force John Taylor could be, as leader of an outstanding piano trio.

This edition of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers is an unusual one. The personnel includes Blakey veterans Lee Morgan (returning to the band after some success as a leader), Curtis Fuller, and Victor Sproles, along with John Hicks (who appeared on three other Blakey records) and the tenor saxophonist John Gilmore (of Sun Ra fame) in his only appearance with the band. As was typical of Blakey-led groups, the emphasis is on original material by its members; the one Broadway show tune included, "Faith," is from a long since forgotten I Had a Ball. Morgan's driving blues "'S Make It" is easily the highlight of the session, though Hicks' richly voiced "Waltz for Ruth" and Fuller's Latin-flavored "Little Hughie" also deserve to be better known than they are. It's a shame that this was the only recording by this particular lineup of the Jazz Messengers, as Gilmore's strong blowing complements Morgan very well.

Ray Barretto's Carnaval combines two 1962 sessions, Pachanga with Barretto (his Milestone label debut as a leader) and Latino!. Both sets feature Barretto's first band, Charanga Moderna, with trumpeter El Negro Vivar and tenor saxophonist Jose Chombo Silva added to the front line for the latter LP. The first album is very much Latin jazz of its time, with all ten tracks designed for dancing the briefly popular pachanga, a dance that was simply too manic and difficult to catch on widely. The pachanga-friendly tempos on these ten brief cuts (most under three minutes) make the album sound rushed and nervous to ears unfamiliar with the dance fad. The far-better Latino!, recorded in nearly the same session, is a good old-fashioned jam session, with more leisurely tempos and extended playing times that give all the soloists – especially Vivar, Silva, and flutist Jose Canoura – plenty of room to stretch out. These two albums are very different, but hearing both of them in proximity reveals much about the state of the New York City Latin jazz scene in the early '60s.