Look for these in our music CD collection.

CD HALL DARYL 
BeforeAfter / Daryl Hall 

Singer-songwriter and national treasure Daryl Hall has hand-selected and sequenced material from his solo oeuvre for an anthology named BeforeAfter. This two-disc set spans 1977 to 2011 and includes early material that wasn’t released commercially until 1980, mostly due to its direction (markedly different from his hits with longtime partner John Oates). From there, fans are treated to tracks from all of Hall’s sporadically released solo efforts, but most are likely to be interested in the live recordings from his fan favorite “Live from Daryl’s House” series, which spans over eighty episodes. Choice cuts: “Dreamtime,” a cover of Todd Rundgren’s “Can We Still Be Friends” (a duet with Rundgren himself), and “Foolish Pride.” 

CD MURDER BY 
Spell/Bound / Murder By Death 

According to a press release for this album (their tenth), frontperson Adam Turla describes Murder by Death’s discography as a “series of novels.” Their newest “novel” was written during the forced downtime of the pandemic, but Turla states he has never enjoyed writing or recording a project more than Spell/Bound. MBD’s work often pulls from several, sometimes unexpected directions (rock, country, punk, gothic), and yet opts to stretch their already darkly imaginative sound further, adding musical flourishes or arrangements that serve as odes to artists as diverse as Portishead and Massive Attack, Mazzy Star, and the late Serge Gainsbourg. Includes “Everything Must Rest,” “Sandy” and “I’ll Go.” 

CD SALVANT CE 
Ghost Song / Cécile McLorin Salvant 

Grammy- and MacArthur “Genius” Grant-winning vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant shares her first project since signing with the Nonesuch label—an incredible suite she calls Ghost Song. She describes (in a statement shared by Pitchfork) as  “…unlike anything I’ve done before—It’s getting to closer to reflecting my personality as an eclectic curator. I’m embracing my weirdness!” It is a dive deep in the throes of loss: lost loves, lost dreams, and the ghosts that materialize in their wake. The album contains seven original recordings and five covers, standouts of which are “Optimistic Voices/No Love Dying” (the latter a Gregory Porter cover), a take on Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights,” and “I Lost My Mind.”  
Also available on Hoopla. 

CD JACKSON BR 
This is Brian Jackson / Brian Jackson 

Longtime collaborator of the late, great Gil Scott-Heron delivers his first solo album in over 20 years (the obscure Gotta Play was released in 2000) and only his second in history. Surprisingly, it’s as if not much time has passed at all. In fact, this album could be considered a companion piece of sorts to Scott-Heron’s final studio album I’m New Here. This Is… highlights much of what Jackson is known for: warm grooves and melodies created in part with synthesizers, guitars, flutes, the iconic Fender Rhodes piano, not to mention Jackson’s own vocals. Jackson told The New York Times, “Our mission was to make that album I would have done back in ’77 or ’78, now.” Mission accomplished. Standouts include “Little Orphan Boy,” “Force of Will,” and “Path to Macondo/Those Kind of Blues.” 

DF: 11/22