The Atlantic September 2024

One of the greatest stars of the rock & roll era, Elton John exploded like a supernova in the early 1970s and sustained a career that kept him at the top of the charts for the next five decades. He had a Billboard Top 40 hit single every year between 1970 and 1996, a sign that he knew how to both change with the times and mold the times to fit him. John's earliest records were part of the moody, introspective post-'60s singer/songwriter movement, but once he had a hit with "Your Song," the pianist revealed he could also craft Beatles-like pop and pound out rockers with equal aplomb. As "Rocket Man," "Crocodile Rock," "Daniel," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," and "Bennie and the Jets" – songs John wrote with his lifelong collaborator Bernie Taupin – climbed into the Top Ten on either side of the Atlantic, John was inescapable during the first half of the '70s. His versatility, combined with his effortless melodic skills, and flamboyant stage shows, became his calling cards, sustaining him through shifts in fame and fortune. Eventually, John reached outside of pop music, writing songs for Disney's The Lion King and collaborating with Tim Rice on Aida, yet he never abandoned the form: during the 2010s and 2020s, he balanced fashionable collaborations with emerging stars with albums that hearkened back to his moody records of the early '70s. In 2024, he joined the elite group of EGOT winners after earning an Emmy Award for his concert special Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium.

Jazz from The Pacific Northwest combines two previously unissued concert recordings from one of the greatest jazz drummers of all-time, Shelly Manne. The first recording features Monty Budwig on bass, Russ Freeman on piano, Stu Williamson on trumpet, and Herb Geller on flute and alto saxophone recorded at the Monterey Jazz Festival on October 4, 1958. The second recording features Hampton Hawes on piano, Frank Strozier on flute and alto saxophone, Conte Condoli on trumpet and guest vocalist Ruth Price on two tracks recorded at the Penthouse jazz club in Seattle on September 7 and 15, 1966.

Ocean is an ambitious history of the pre-Columbian Atlantic Ocean, a story that begins with the formation of the mid-Atlantic ridge some 200 million years ago and ends with the Castilian conquest of the Canary Islands in the fifteenth century, which provided a template for the methods used by the Spanish in their colonisation of the New World.

The three-CD box set The Chrome Collection doesn't miss anything that might be considered essential by virtually any Spinners fan, including as it does the major and minor chart hits from the early '60s through the mid-'80s, as well as numerous album tracks. To be honest, even if you're a big Spinners fan, you're not going to be missing much if you opt for the two-CD One of a Kind Love Affair. And if you're a general Spinners fan, Rhino's more basic single-disc The Very Best of the Spinners should satisfy.

Ten Days is the upcoming fourth studio album from British producer Fred Gibson under the stage name Fred Again. It is set to be released on 6 September 2024, through Atlantic Records, and features guest appearances by Obongjayar, Jozzy, Jim Legxacy, Sampha, Soak, Anderson .Paak, Chika, Duskus, Four Tet, Skrillex, Emmylou Harris, Joy Anonymous, the Japanese House and Scott Hardkiss.

"…somehow until this reissue the recording's true sonic excellence was well hidden. This reissue cut by Ryan Smith using the original master tapes puts you in the studio with Prine and much Southern instrumental talent, or Prine in your room, or however you wish your head to arrange it. Definitely a fitting title for the Atlantic 75th Anniversary celebration, musically and sonically. Like the label, it's a record that stands the test of time." — Music = 9/11; Sound = 9/11 — Michael Fremer

Blues at Carnegie Hall is a live album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1966 at a benefit concert presented by The Manhattan School of Music and released on the Atlantic label.