Making The Grade (1984) Dorian Walker, Judd Nelson, Jonna Lee, Gordon Jump

There were intermittent soundtrack and score contributions of varying magnitudes, as well as a couple other low-key projects, but The Drift is Scott Walker's proper follow-up to 1995's Tilt, an album that also happened to trail its predecessor by 11 years. If 1984's Climate of Hunter put the MOR in morose, Tilt avoided the road completely and went straight toward the fractured, fraught images inside Walker's nightmares. It was entirely removed from anything that could've been classified as contemporary. The Drift isn't an equally severe leap from Tilt, but it is darker, less arranged, alternately more and less dense, and ultimately more frightening. Maybe it'll make your body temperature drop a few degrees. Working with what Walker has referred to as "blocks of sound," only a few of the album's 68 minutes have any connection to rock music, and many of those minutes are part of a harrowing 9/11 song that also obliquely references "Jailhouse Rock" as Elvis Presley cries out ("I'm the only one left alive!") to his stillborn twin brother. The songs swing from hovering drones to crushing jolts.

Nick Cave launched his solo career in style with From Her to Eternity, an accomplished album mixing the frenzy and power of his Birthday Party days with a dank, moody atmosphere that showed he was not interested in simply continuing what the older group had done. To be sure, Mick Harvey joined him from the Party days, as ever playing a variety of instruments, while one-time Party guest Blixa Bargeld now became a permanent Cave partner, splitting his time between the Bad Seeds and Einsturzende Neubaten ever since. The group took wing with a harrowing version of Leonard Cohen's "Avalanche," Cave's wracked, buried tones suiting the Canadian legend's words perfectly, and never looked back. From Her to Eternity is crammed with any number of doom-laden songs, with Cave the understandable center of attention, his commanding vocals turning the blues and rural music into theatrical exhibitionism unmatched since Jim Morrison stalked stages.

The solo debut of instrumental fusion rock from the former guitarist with The Dregs/Dixie Dregs, Introduction features an excellent mix of styles and top-notch playing. Guitarist Albert Lee guests on this effort. Highlights include the hyperdrive "Cruise Missile," "General Lee," and the anthemic title track.

Dorian Holley, backup singer for Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart, James Taylor, etc. Partners with his daughter Nayanna Holley, herself a veteran backup singer for Kelly Clarkson, The Weeknd, Cheryl Crow, et al, fully realizing a cross-generational musical legacy. This is the first album for the father-daughter singing tandem, a collection of favorite songs from the 70s and 80s, chosen at the height of the global pandemic to recall our ability to heal and to hope for better days ahead.