Lee “Scratch” Perry, “King Perry”
The final musical testament from the incalculably influential Jamaican iconoclast, “King Perry” features collaborations with everyone from the Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder to Tricky, with the former offering his inimitable Mancunian musings on the infectious “Green Banana.” But it’s the closer, “Goodbye” that really tugs the heartstrings, with Perry delivering his own cheerful eulogy over a soundscape that’s both mournful and full of life. -- Andrew Barker
Wings, "Band on the Run (Underdubbed)"
Released in December 1973 and for decades a fixture on countless "best of" lists, this 50th Anniversary version of Wings' third LP includes the original nine songs (in the order they were found in Paul McCartney’s archives) newly labeled as "underdubbed," by McCartney. As he explained: “This is Band on the Run in a way you’ve never heard before. When you are making a song and putting on additional parts, like an extra guitar, that’s an overdub. Well, this version of the album is the opposite, underdubbed.” -- Amy Hughes
The Last Dinner Party, "Prelude to Ecstasy"
One of the buzziest bands to emerge out of the U.K. in some time, the Last Dinner Party have been so busy picking up "rising star" awards, garnering excitable press coverage and booking enviable festival gigs over the last half year that it must have come as a surprise to many to realize they had yet to release an actual album. Well, now they have, and they haven't disappointed. "Nothing Matters" may have sucked up all the radio play so far, but there's plenty of sonic and stylistic diversity on display here, with the wonderfully catchy, darkly ironic "The Feminine Urge" somehow turning the lyric "I am a dark red liver stretched out on the rocks" into an earworm hook. -- A.B.
Goo Goo Dolls, “Beautiful Lie”
Yes, you heard that right. “Beautiful Lie” from the Goo Goo Dolls may not be your first pick in 2024, but you should listen. Standing apart from the 2022 Chaos In Bloom album, frontman John Rzeznick accurately describes the new project's sound as “very chill.” With a simple backbeat and dreamy guitars, his vocas are familiar and comforting, recontextualized as something brand new that may surprise old-guard followers. -- A.H.
