He’s just a diehard rock and roller with a cool voice and an itchy pen slamming out another pretty great album because that’s what he has always done.

Typical of many timeless albums, the whole of The Exodus Suite is greater than its impressive parts. Carve 50 minutes out of your life and spend time reveling in its thought provoking, often mesmerizing and riveting pleasures.

Fans who have stuck with Morrison for any length of time will eagerly welcome his recent spurt of creativity with You’re Driving Me Crazy (the title song has been covered by everyone from Billie Holiday to Frank Sinatra, Big Joe Turner and Louis Armstrong) as another worthy notch in Van Morrison’s remarkable and ever-expanding career belt.

Nothing quite tops those two selections but there is enough strong Bonamassa playing and diverse material (like the lovely, Allman Brothers Band “Midnight Rider” lope of “Savannah” featuring Bonamassa’s rarely heard mandolin work), to make this album a highlight of his bulging, and ever expanding, catalog.

Tigers Jaw bites down hard and also gives devotees plenty to chew on.

The best moments on Faster find a reasonable niche between Fish pushing her boundaries and including enough roots music to keep earlier followers from abandoning ship.

Neal Francis’ balancing act of meshing a retro mindset with a modern sensibility doesn’t always work, but when it does, his music reflects a fresh, if not always compelling, perspective.

Granted, they haven’t hit the heights they climbed courtesy of such early mega milestones as Don’t You (Forget About Me),” “Glittering Prize,” “Somewhere in Summertime,” “Waterfront,” and “Alive and Kicking.” No matter, Kerr, Burchill and their newer recruits still manage to stay true to the band’s overarched intents, but do so based on premise rather than pretense.

his is as organic, honest, and powerful as soul gets. Between Roth’s guidance and Lee Fields’ riveting performance, this is a contemporary/retro-tinged classic, one that any lover of the genre will find timeless and inspirational.

The end result is an album that demands a concerted listen in order to fully appreciate all the tones and textures it has to offer. With Spectral Lines, Josh Ritter continues to blur the boundary between melody and mystique.

Supernatural Thing veers in a decidedly different direction. His cast of characters has a lot to do with that, due to the fact that he frequently cedes them the spotlight, but here again, his mood is clearly brighter all around. And that ensures Supernatural Thing doesn’t remain so ominous after all.

On Death Song, their greatest strength is harnessing the aesthetic they’ve worked for more than a decade to refine, and it’s as rich and powerful as they’ve ever sounded.

For the all the bang of "Saturday Sun," "Elephants," with its slow-paced piano, closes out Intriguer, drowsily, though perhaps fittingly so.

The retro inferences of this one male/two female trio's name appear prominently in their spunky, punky, fuzzed out, garage rock.

A perfectly pleasant, largely successful return to form that’s a delight for existing fans yet ultimately missing a bit of the “je ne sais quoi” that made the best ELO music so timeless and classic.

Even after over a decade away from the solo focus, Back Being Blue feels less like a return than a natural progression. That’s not to knock Willis’ two fine collaborations with Robison, but it’s a pleasure to have her talent front and center and not sharing the spotlight.

Even though this is unlikely to appeal to hard core Black Keys or Arcs fans, the songwriting effort (the sweet, sensitive “Never In My Wildest Dreams” could have come from Burt Bacharach’s pen) and detailed creativity of the arrangements is impressive.

It’s impossible not to be enchanted by one of this year’s freshest, most delightful and all around grooviest releases.

The total effect of Thrashing Thru The Passion is that of The Hold Steady at their most casual and confident, tossing off these songs that would be tour de forces for anyone else as if they have a bushelful of them just hanging around the studio.

Good stuff all around from a band that makes it look easy by keeping true to what got it here in the first place.

Tinkling pianos, vibes, tablas, brushed drums, string quartets and the singer’s innocent, laid back vocals all make this wistful gem perfect for lazy Sunday mornings. But thankfully these meditative songs never feel dreary, mopey or self-pitying due to Stamey’s sheer joy and enthusiasm.

This is a fun listen but also feels like a way for Hatfield to amuse herself, romping through a dozen interesting, far from essential interpretations of the Police’s music in 45 minutes as she works on new material.

Social Cues shows the group maturing musically without losing its grip on their ability to craft haunting, accessible tunes ready for the larger venues they have rightfully graduated to.

The Warren Haynes fronted quartet’s first studio album in four years and its Blue Note label debut is a typically gritty eleven song set of gutsy Southern blues rock.

Even though they were assembled from different years and with other artists’ input, Back Roads And Abandoned Motels feels as cohesive and organic as the best Jayhawks releases.

Another classy, sublime entry in the group’s expansive resume, one that has remarkably few missteps.

Existing fans will appreciate the uptick in sheer moodiness and offbeat experimental tendencies matched with fluid, often hypnotic melodies the quartet displays on the majority of Strange Little Birds. Newcomers to the Garbage experience can start here and work themselves backwards through an impressively edgy catalog brimming with more of the same.

Somehow simultaneously edgy yet soothing, these songs may not display the type of unbridled, jagged joy that these members’ main bands provide, but there is depth and complexity here, inviting immersive exploration.