Popular Music CDs for Adults
Hundreds of CDs are added to the Library's collection each month. Here are the most popular Music CDs for adults.
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REBEL DIAMONDS (CD)
Entitled Rebel Diamonds, the album of highlights features 20 tracks, including the modern-day classics "Mr. Brightside," "When You Were Young," "All These Things That I've Done," "Human," "Read My Mind" and at least one song from each of the band's seven studio albums. The album also carries through to the band's most recently released, critically lauded single, "Your Side of Town," and includes a brand-new anthem ready to be sung at festivals across the world called "Spirit." The album is a curated dive into an impressive catalog of songwriting and musicianship, one that has solidified the band as one of the most important voices in rock n' roll over the last two decades.
Format: Music CD
Availability: On order
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Folklore
On her eighth studio album, Taylor Swift poured all her whims, dreams, fears, and musings into the seventeen tracks. She collaborated with some of her musical heroes: Aaron Dessner, Bon Iver, William Bowery, and Jack Antonoff. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
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Chronicles of A Diamond
Arriving four years after the Austin duo's eponymous debut -- a period of time when they were repeatedly nominated for Grammys, including nods for a Deluxe Edition reissue of Black Pumas and the concert set Capitol Cuts - Live from Studio A -- Chronicles of a Diamond finds Black Pumas orbiting the same sonic sun they created their first time around. Drawing equally from vintage psychedelia, producer/multi-instrumentalist Adrian Quesada and vocalist Eric Burton do achieve a certain kind of cinematic swirl, one that drifts in and out of focus due to shifts in textures and chords, not the melody. Often, Burton appears to be riding waves created by Quesada, murmuring, crooning, and testifying according to how the kaleidoscope shifts. Burton's falsetto feels like part of the tapestry masterminded by Quesada, never quite pulling attention to either his words or melodies. While this ultimately means that Chronicles of a Diamond doesn't leave enough hooks behind to linger in the memory, the pulsating, colorful vibrations it creates as its spins are certainly an enjoyable way to get lost in the ether for a half hour or so. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
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TANGK (CD)
TANGK is, at its core, a love album. Open to anyone who requires something to shout out loud to fend off any encroaching sense of the void, now or forever. TANGK is a bona fide pop record in a way we've never heard from IDLES before, that is, something for everyone to pass around and share, communal anthems intended for overcoming our grievances. The word - pronounced "tank" with a whiff of the "g" - began as an onomatopoeic reference in-studio for the sound of a guitar tone but has grown into a sigil for living in love. Joe sings on TANGK in a way we've never heard before, completing his transformation from a post-punk firebrand into a soul-singing evangelist. TANGK was co-produced by Nigel Godrich, Kenny Beats, and IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen.
Format: Music CD
Availability: On order
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Madres
Active as a producer and DJ for more than a decade, Sofia Kourtesis broke through with the release of her acclaimed 2021 EP Fresia Magdalena, which featured two sublime, bittersweet singles, "La Perla" (dedicated to her late father) and "By Your Side." Madres, her 2023 full-length debut, is a vibrant set of house tracks that serve as poignant reflections, celebrations, and peaceful protests. Originally from Peru, Kourtesis left at age 17 in order to escape the conservatism of her home community -- she was bullied and sent to conversion therapy after kissing a girl. She fled to Berlin, where she was able to embrace the freedom of club culture, and she became a staunch activist for gender equality. Her music is equally informed by European nightlife and her South American upbringing, incorporating personal recordings and lyrics inspired by her family. Compared to her earlier EPs, Madres feels more refined and less quirky and glitchy, with strong vocal hooks in line with contemporaries like Peggy Gou and Jayda G. "Si Te Portas Bonito" is one of her most memorable songs to date, thanks to its irresistible vocal melody and creative sampled rhythmic chants in the background. The heart-stirring "Vajkoczy" is named after Peter Vajkoczy, the renowned neurosurgeon who performed a life-saving operation on Kourtesis' mother, who was diagnosed with cancer. Kourtesis remained friends with Vajkoczy, bonding with him over the healing power of music, and she even took him out clubbing. Songs like the knocking garage rush of "How Music Makes You Feel Better" and the subtler "Funkhaus" (named after the club venue where Kourtesis first began working when she moved to Berlin) channel the ecstatic feelings of dancing and being accepted by the club community. While much of the album is based on personal experiences, it still contains a heavy subtext of political and social activism, particularly on the previously issued single "Estación Esperanza," which incorporates samples of chanting from an anti-homophobia protest as well as looped and re-sung lyrics from Manu Chao's signature hit "Me Gustas Tú." Album closer "El Carmen" is dedicated to the joy and livelihood of Afro-Peruvian culture, sampling gleeful vocal chants, percussion, and horns. Madres deals with serious subject matter, but ultimately it's an abundantly thankful, joyous, and celebratory record. ~ Paul Simpson (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
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Lessons in Chemistry
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with, of all things, her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.
Format: Audiobook CD
Availability: All copies in use
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Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
Polachek's first album release since her 2019 experimental pop masterpiece PANG, which cemented her as a generational talent. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
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Archives: Vol. 3, The Asylum Years (1972-1975)
The third volume in Joni Mitchell's ongoing Archives series covers her especially transformative phase between 1972 and 1975, when she was shedding some of her folk background and venturing into territory simultaneously more accessible and more unprecedented. This fruitful era produced the soul-searching soft rock of 1972's For the Roses, 1974 pop breakthrough Court and Spark, and 1975's pivot to more experimental, jazz-influenced songwriting on The Hissing of Summer Lawns. As with previous volumes of the series, Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) offers an exhaustively complete window into Mitchell's creative process from its particular era, this time with 96 tracks that include previously unshared demos, alternate studio versions, live performances from the time, and the like. Impressively, the collection begins with early versions of two For the Roses tunes cut at an impromptu 1971 studio session with David Crosby and Graham Nash. These stripped-down versions of "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire" and "For the Roses" are even more intimate than the album versions, highlighting the urgency and passion in Mitchell's voice and lyrics. A series of For the Roses demos played on piano are similarly effective, clearing away everything except the rawest components of the songwriting. Amid an abundance of fairly standard concert recordings and alternate versions of album tracks, this volume of Archives includes some of the most interesting Mitchell artifacts of the series up until this point. Among them are especially otherworldly demos of Summer Lawns tracks such as "In France They Kiss On Main Street," most of them with the liquid jazz instrumentation of the album boiled away, leaving just Mitchell's bright acoustic guitars and several layers of self-harmonizing vocals. In addition to some curious collaborations with James Taylor, the compilation includes multiple tracks made with Neil Young and different versions of his backing bands. An especially loose and rambling take on Mitchell's first Top 40 hit "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio" plays up the country undercurrents that got smoothed out in its official version, but it's a version of Court and Spark's "Raised on Robbery" recorded during the same sessions that gave birth to Young's depraved masterpiece Tonight's the Night that's especially head-turning. If the Court and Spark version aimed for rip-roaring excitement, this performance peels away all of the polish and production, rocking out in a gloriously unhinged way that transposes the song's inherent fun into a reckless euphoria. Joni Mitchell's powers as a songwriter and creative spirit are unparalleled at every step of her journey, but her output in the '70s was on a higher plane, even for her. Archives, Vol. 3 reflects this with behind-the-scenes material just as storied and worthy as the music that Mitchell was making during one of her finest hours. ~ Fred Thomas (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
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THE BEATLES 1962-1966 (CD)
This landmark compilation has introduced generations of fans to the incredible history of the most storied band in music. For its 50th anniversary, the collection has been expanded with twelve additional tracks added chronologically, including for the first time some of George Harrison's earliest songs and some classic Beatles versions of R&B and rock 'n' roll hits that were so influential on the band. The two disc collection now contains 38 tracks, 30 of which have new mixes for 2023. For current fans and future generations alike, the new 1962-1966 collection is a joyous celebration of The Beatles' timeless musical legacy.
Format: Music CD
Availability: On order
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Outside problems
Andrew Bird's latest album features a combination of casual recordings made during the pandemic and a selection of outdoor recordings. (syndetics)
Format: Music CD
Availability: All copies in use
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