Best Possible Place

Being the quintessential album rock band, Pink Floyd hasn't had much luck with "best-of" and "greatest-hits" compilations, like A Collection of Great Dance Songs and the bizarro follow-up, Works. Since both of those were released in the early '80s (and time travel being unavailable even to Pink Floyd), they obviously left out any tracks from the post-Roger Waters era albums…

Being the quintessential album rock band, Pink Floyd hasn't had much luck with "best-of" and "greatest-hits" compilations, like A Collection of Great Dance Songs and the bizarro follow-up, Works. Since both of those were released in the early '80s (and time travel being unavailable even to Pink Floyd), they obviously left out any tracks from the post-Roger Waters era albums. While countless hours in dorm rooms have been spent laboring over whether or not the post-Waters recordings should even be considered the "real Floyd," the later albums nonetheless stand as a further progression in the band's evolution and warrant recognition…

Pop music careers move so quickly that by the time Mika released No Place in Heaven, he was essentially a veteran performer. Between this album and 2012's The Origin of Love, he turned 30 and served as a judge on X Factor Italy and France's The Voice: La Plus Belle Voix, adding to the feel that he was a more adult voice in the pop world. No Place in Heaven confirms this feeling in the best possible way. While most pop music is all about youth and "mature" is often a euphemism for safe and boring, Mika's version of maturity emphasizes what has always been best about his music – memorable words and melodies served up with a theatrical flair. Where The Origin of Love focused too much on trendy dance-pop, here Mika steps away from the mainstream with songs…