This year is shaping up to be an impressive one for rock albums, with titles by Beyoncé, Radiohead, Paul Simon, and the late David Bowie among those to win acclaim so far. But the best may be yet to come, with some highly anticipated releases lined up for the next few months.Bruce Springsteen is due to present some of his earliest recordings as companions to his long-awaited autobiography. Australian artist Nick Cave will also return with a mixed-media offering, placing his 16th album with the Bad Seeds alongside a new film. Sting will issue his first rock album in 13 years. British rapper M.I.A. is working on what she hints will be her last album. The quirky and acclaimed Regina Spektor has a seventh studio release, and will be looking to add more commercial success to her usual critical plaudits. And just for something completely different and very likely with much bigger sales, Britney Spears has sprung the surprise of “Glory” — a collection that has been in the works for so long that some fans had despaired of it ever showing up. It is an album that Spears promises will be her best in years. The vintage years in rock often have an overarching theme: the class of 1967 gave us hippiedom, the summer of love and Sgt. Pepper. The year 1976 heralded the birth of British punk – London has been celebrating its 40th anniversary all year in 2016. Though it’s true that this year has no defining, overarching theme to make it a classic or watershed 12 months for new music, there are a lot of exciting releases to look forward to.Bruce Springsteen, “Chapter & Verse,” Sony | Release date: September 23Springsteen has been methodically mining his archives. Here, “The Boss” offers a few early rarities in a chronological collection that starts in 1966 and goes up to 2015. The first five tracks are previously unreleased, including songs with his early bands The Castiles and Steel Mill. After a song from the “Tracks” set, the rest of the album is comprised of some of his greatest hits and favorites, making the case for gems like “Brilliant Disguise” on the 1987 collection “Tunnel of Love.”Fans will lap up the early tracks for their historic value alone. The excuse, as far as one is needed, is that these act as a trailer to the book “Born to Run,” Springsteen’s autobiography, which will follow the album into stores. Both book and CD have the same cover image, showing the young star leaning on his Chevrolet Corvette parked on a snowy residential street in New Jersey. Springsteen bought the 1960 car after the success of the “Born to Run” album in 1975.Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Skeleton Tree,” Bad Seed Records | Release date: September 9Nick Cave’s latest record is more than music, for it comes with a much-vaunted companion movie. “Skeleton Tree” is the 16th studio release by the Bad Seeds. The film, titled “Once More Time with Feeling,” will be in cinemas the night before the launch of the album. Cave’s career now has more twists than a gothic novel — maybe one of those he has written already. The Bad Seeds exist alongside his other projects, such as Grinderman, and much more.M.I.A., “A.I.M.,” Interscope | Release date: September 9At one point, it seemed that Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam could go down in musical history as just the spiky rapper who made a middle-finger gesture during the 2012 Super Bowl Halftime Show. This would be unfortunate, because M.I.A. has a reputation for visual arts, and all her albums are inventive. While she is claiming that this next, “A.I.M.,” is her last, M.I.A. is also known for outrageous statements. Expect more on the theme of the provocative refugee-crisis protest song “Borders,” released last year, with opinionated rap mixed with urban rhythms of every kind.Regina Spektor, “Remember Us to Life,” Warner/Sire | Release date: September 30The writer of this report was giving Spektor top-star ratings as long ago as 2006, for her “Begin to Hope” album. The Soviet-born, US-based musician actually has a career dating back to 2001, and was a well-kept secret at first. Spektor has often been compared to Björk, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, and Neko Case, all of whom have unusual voices and experimental tendencies — but there the comparisons end. Spektor’s new album is trailed by a single, “Bleeding Heart,” which starts off charmingly, whimsically, and probably non-commercially before veering into a sweet chorus. The last Spektor album four years ago, “What We Saw From the Cheap Seats,” got plenty of four-star reviews. The planned 2016 release is potentially better: it has been longer in the gestation, with Spektor now a mother and taking time out for family life. Here’s hoping she is at breakthrough point with wider recognition. Some positive signs: as her star has risen, she recently covered “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by the Beatles for the soundtrack of the fantasy action movie “Kubo and the Two Strings.” She also recently did well for streams after her song “Better” was used in the finale of the TV series “The Good Wife.”Sting, “57th and 9th,” Polydor | Release date: November 11Sting’s “Brand New Day” in 1999 won Grammys and critical acclaim for its rock. Since then, apart from the Police reunion, Sting has had a lot of time away from guitar-based rock. “Sacred Love,” back in 2003, had much mood music; the classical “Songs From the Labyrinth” in 2006 showcased the lute. The Christmassy “If on a Winter’s Night” followed in 2009, the orchestral “Symphonicities” in 2010, and “The Last Ship” stage musical in 2013.This leaves a lot of bated-breath interest in his return to rock, with Sting, now 64, drawing inspiration from the sad deaths this year of Prince, David Bowie, Lemmy, and Glenn Frey of the Eagles. Sting wrote the lyrics of “50,000” in the week of Prince’s death. His concerns about emigration and the environment are also on display. The album, his 12th solo release, is named after the New York street intersection address of the studio where it was recorded.Britney Spears, “Glory,” RCA | Release date: August 26The album is highly anticipated in that it will be the first Spears album in three years. The singer has said that she is trying something “really different,” and thinks it her best in a long time. Still, the new album will need to be good, given that her last — “Britney Jean” in late 2013 — did not sell particularly well and got some lukewarm reviews. There is hope in the first single: “Make Me…” has an urban sound and raw guitar that lifts it beyond a mid-tempo ballad. For all this, the song is a subtle progression, more safe than a commercial risk. It is sensuous enough to catch the attention, and it will not have escaped the notice of her fans that its follow-up, “Private Show,” shares its name with the latest fragrance for Elizabeth Arden by Spears.
↧