Classic Albums

Unknown Pleasures Inside Joy Division Peter Hook It Books: 416 pp., $27.99 In the three decades since he committed suicide, singer Ian Curtis has become both a symbol and a caricature. Curtis' seemingly tortured life as a member of the English post-punk band Joy Division and early death in 1980 have been transformed into myth and Curtis into a modern-day Thomas Chatterton or Sylvia Plath. His life offers a perfect narrative for disaffected, sun-averse souls the world over: a young genius too pure to live.

This is the start of a new monthly feature in which Times pop music critic Randall Roberts recommends essential new music and reissues.  William Tyler, Impossible Truth (Merge Records) Tyler is a solo acoustic guitarist whose 2010 album “Behold the Spirit” was a quiet but oft-menacing joy. A self-described “Nashville lifer” whose father, a music biz insider, was once chased down the street by a knife-brandishing David Allan Coe (but then who on Music Row hasn't been?

After a hearty "1, 2, 3, 4!" Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band dived into "Land of Hope of Dreams," in which the rocker opened "121212: The Concert for Sandy Relief" on an inspiring note, singing: Leave behind your sorrows Let this day be the last Tomorrow there'll be sunshine And all this darkness past As he's beein doing on his Wrecking Ball tour, Springsteen segued into a snippet of Curtis Mayfield's gospel-soaked...

Neil Young's new $25-million contract with Warner Bros. shows how much it can be worth for a veteran rock icon to be hailed as the godfather of today's young tastemakers. Will David Bowie be the next '70s rock star to benefit from similar acclaim? The man behind such classic albums as "Ziggy Stardust" and "Low" is suddenly being championed by a wide range of cutting-edge artists.

The celebration of trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's 70th birthday at Catalina Bar & Grill on Thursday night was a potent reminder of the significant role he played in the post-bebop '60s, '70s and beyond. Leading an ensemble that included such veterans as alto saxophonist James Spaulding, trombonist Slide Hampton and pianist George Cables, along with young tenor saxophonist Craig Handy, Hubbard offered a program recalling his most memorable work.

Ronald Muldrow, a guitarist who had been a fixture on the Los Angeles jazz scene for more than three decades, has died. He was 57. Muldrow was found dead Jan. 31 in his Los Angeles home, said his son, Stephen Muldrow. The cause of death is being determined. As an emerging jazz guitarist in the early 1970s, Muldrow connected with soul-jazz saxophonist Eddie Harris and was best known for his work with him, according to the website All About Jazz.

ERYKAH BADU had song ideas bursting into her brain at such a pace she could barely keep up. If it weren't for her 8-year-old son, in fact, a lot of that material might have been lost. "I was singing into my phone and recording things into the answering machine, and my son says, 'You don't have to do that, Ma,' " recalls Badu. "He says, 'All you have to do is blah blah blah with the computer. This is Garageband, and the jack is here, and click on this and write the lyrics and sing it.'

During his creative prime between 1966 to 1970, the late Jimi Hendrix did more for contemporary popular music than Panavision did for motion pictures or the Pentium chip did for home computers. His tripped-out flights of sonic genius established him as an innovator who opened up musical possibilities that are still being explored by such celebrated record producers as the Dust Brothers (Beck's "Odelay"), Flood (U2's "Pop") and Wu-Tang Clan's RZA.

The Mother Hips sounds as if it came straight out of 1969--one of the most fruitful and creative eras in rock. The vibe of such disparate influences as Moby Grape, Simon & Garfunkel, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Buffalo Springfield, Mountain, Cream and many others are apparent on the group's second album, the recently released "Part-Timer Goes Full." It's a gloriously authentic effort, unpolished but full of emotion, energy and the sheer joy of playing.