The Black Crowes - Before the Frost/Until the Freeze
Revitalized by their 2008 reunion, the Black Crowes decided to take a genuine risk, recording a double-album’s worth of new material in front of a live audience at Levon Helm’s barn in upstate New York…and then release the second half, Until the Freeze, as a free download-only. To a certain extent, such formal experiments are where the Crowes can really stretch, as they’re so devoted to rock & roll roots from Southern England to South Georgia, they can’t add new wrinkles to old traditions. But that’s not exactly right: they’re willing to stretch until at least the late ’70s, offering their spin on a Rolling Stones’ disco on the album’s first single, “I Ain’t Hiding.” As true as that may be, it’s too snide and easy, and does a disservice to what the Crowes pull off with aplomb on this rather remarkable record, a record that has all the easy interplay of a road-tested band but none of the weariness.

Drive-By Truckers - Fine Print: A Collection of Oddities and Rarities 2003-2008
Eleven years after releasing their first album and eight years after redefining themselves with Southern Rock Opera, the rare concept album whose execution was just as impressive as its ambitions, the Drive-By Truckers have gained a richly deserved reputation as one of the hardest-working and most rewarding rock bands at work today. Having cranked out five great albums in seven years, they presumably felt bad about not having a new studio effort for 2009, so they’ve offered fans not one but two time-honored stopgaps — a live album (actually an installment in New West’s Live from Austin, TX series of live discs drawn from the archives of Austin City Limits), and a collection of outtakes and rare tracks.

Whitney Houston - I Look to You
It’s only been seven years between Just Whitney and 2009’s I Look to You, not even Houston’s longest time between albums, but it feels much, much longer, her glory days obscured in hazy memories of lost luster chiefly deriving from a bad marriage with Bobby Brown, chronicled in an embarrassing reality show for Bravo in 2004. I Look to You attempts to wash this all away with something of a return to roots — a celebration of Houston’s deep disco beginnings, tempered with a few skyscraping ballads designed to showcase her soaring voice.

The Apples in Stereo - #1 Hits Explosion
Susana Baca - Seis Poemas
Banner Pilot - Collapser
A.A. Bondy - When the Devil’s Loose
Chevelle - Sci-Fi Crimes
Rick Danko - Live at Dylan’s Cafe, Washington D.C., December 1987
Rick Danko & Richard Manuel - Live at O’Toole’s Tavern, Scranton, PA, December 1985
Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy
Dr. Dre - The Chronic (Re-Lit and From the Vault)
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - The Essential Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Limited Edition 3.0)
Emmy the Great - First Love
Liam Finn + Eliza Jane - Champagne in Seashells
Robin Guthrie - Carousel
John Lee Hooker - Live at Soledad Prison/Never Get Out of These Blues Alive
Insane Clown Posse - Bang! Pow! Boom! (Blue)
Juliette Lewis - Terra Incognita
Richard Lloyd - The Jamie Neverts Story
Lullabye Arkestra - Threats/Worship
Deborah Lurie/Danny Elfman - 9 (Soundtrack)
The Marshall Tucker Band - The Essential Marshall Tucker Band (Limited Edition 3.0)
Mr. Scruff - Keep It Unreal (10th Anniversary Edition)
Ozzy Osbourne - Essential Ozzy Osbourne (Limited Edition 3.0)
Pitbull - Rebelution
Reverend Horton Heat - Laughin’ & Cryin’ with Reverend Horton Heat
Brandi Shearer - Love Don’t Make You Juliet
Susanna & the Magical Orchestra - 3
These United States - Everything Touches Everything
Those Bastard Souls - Twentieth Century Chemical (Bonus Tracks)
The Used - Artwork (Limited Edition) (CD/DVD)
Derek Webb - Stockholm Syndrome
Chris Young - The Man I Want to Be
Various Artists - Definitive Jux Presents, Vol. 4
Various Artists - The Roots of Led Zeppelin
Original Soundtrack - Sorority Row (Soundtrack)