Pin Ups stands not only as a symbol for the retirement of Ziggy Stardust but also as an homage—and, perhaps, a farewell—to the inspirations and ambitions of Bowie’s youth.

By the fifth Loud Family LP, noise subsides into nuance.

Katorz doesn't make for easy listening, but within the run of Voivod's catalog, it may provide the simplest entry point for curious listeners.

Despite its radio-friendly hooks, this isn’t soul music as celebration but the blues as fatalism, the genre’s signature torment dressed up in skinny ties and ‘80s production values.

Aladdin Sane is many things at once, such was the result of the different directions that Bowie was being pulled in at the time.

While clearly battered by the machinery of the music industry, the spark that burns through all of Johnson’s work remains with us, as clearly articulated in NakedSelf as in any of The The’s albums and now as vital as it ever was.

Candy Apple Grey’s legacy seems to be that it doesn’t have much of a legacy.

Semi-serious, semi-silly, Deakin and Franglen are never less than totally intriguing, charging their soundscapes with a sense of naturalistic color often lacking from the dance floor.

Reinvention is a form of immortality, and Bowie seemed to crack the code.

Coldplay would never again record an album quite as humble and charming as Parachutes.