This year’s best music books offers a mix of fascinating memoir, adventurous criticism and rich historical investigation. Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968,Ryan H. Walsh Van Morrison‘s1968 LP Astral Weeks was a landmark fusion of jazz, folk, rock and meditative soul. But its creation is as mysterious as the …
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ALBUM OF THE WEEK:Janelle Monáe, Dirty ComputerA genre-dodging, pop-funk-rock-rap-avant-R&B tour de force, the Wondaland leader delivers a masterpiece that feels both of-the-moment and enduring. The anthems are empowered, the politics both sexual and intersectional – and impressively, she evinces no significant disconnect between preaching and partying. “You fucked the world …
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