Gorillaz’s “Song Machine: Season One- Strange Timez” (Warner) is pure pop elixir for a pandemic. Frontman Damon Albarn must have a big head – he sure wears a lot of hats. He’s the live-wire frontman of Blur, the maestro behind the mayhem of the Good, the Bad & the Queen and the sparkplug of Africa Express’s frenetic impromptu jams. As kingpin of Gorillaz, his cartoon-pop project with artist Jamie Hewlett, Albarn likes to whip up guest artists, drop beats and watch what happens. This collection of tracks is made up of virtual singles that have been released episodically throughout the year. The A-list of guest vocalists includes The Cure’s Robert Smith on the trippy opening cut, “Strange Timez,” Beck on the swaggerful “The Valley of Lost Pagans,” and Sir Elton John and 6lack on water-drip ethereal cut, “The Pink Phantom.” Albarn’s Gorillaz are music oddballs, and “Strange Timez” is a varied affair, chock full of 12 songs which try to fit square pegs in round holes. “Aries” features Peter Hook, catchy and irresistible. It wreaks of pure ’80s nostalgia, New Order, and parachute pants. Gorillaz know how to throw a party. And while you can’t argue that we’re living in strange times, at least we can count Albarn to create the perfect soundtrack.

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You can imagine the tambourine and scarves in hand as Fleetwood Mac chanteuse Stevie Nicks returns with the dazzling “Live in Concert: The 24 Karat Gold Tour” (BMG). Nicks’ 2017 shows recorded in Indianapolis and Pittsburgh set the stage for this 17-track set. Heavy on her solo catalogue, “24” also draws from the Mac discography with versions of “Gypsy” and “Rhiannon.” A new song, “Show Them The Way” written by Nicks and ousted Lindsey Buckingham, was released in early October, featuring Dave Grohl on drums. A video for the song was helmed by famed director Cameron Crowe. At 72, the masterful Nicks still kicks. And to boot, Fleetwood Mac has gone viral in the past few weeks, as their song “Dreams” has been flitting all over Tik Tok. Younger listeners might not be familiar with Nicks’ legacy, but hearing Nicks caress a song like “Gold Dust Woman” can make a believer out of even the uninitiated.

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The last two years have seen a revival of interest in the Beastie Boys, starting with their freakishly good 2018 memoir, “Beastie Boys Book.” Now the companion soundtrack to that, “Beastie Boys Music” (Universal), intertwines the two like a ball cap and a trench coat. Over twenty songs, “Music” mostly avoids the trappings of being just another carbon copy collection of greatest hits. And while mega blockbuster hip-hop tracks like the cosmically spastic “Intergalactic,” the rap-rock thrashing “No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn,” and the party blaster “Fight For Your Right,” are included, the set also features lesser known deep cuts. “Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win,” featuring Santigold, and “Jimmy James,” the latter illustrating how experimental the boys could be. Beyond their goofiness, “Music” enthralls and easily surpasses 2005’s “Solid Gold Hits.” From dopey aspiring punk rockers to playful rap stars, Beastie Boys elevated a genre of music which Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz explained, “F’ing around became our creative process.” “Music” is both crass and hypnotic at the same time.

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Joni Mitchell is finally getting the vault treatment with “Archives Vol. 1: The Early Years,” (Rhino). The five-CD set includes 29 original Mitchell compositions that have never been released in any form. Once again, Cameron Crowe resurfaces, this time writing the liner notes containing conversations between he and Mitchell. With six hours of material that preceded her 1968 debut album, the boxed set oozes with nostalgia. Michell herself, who was intimately involved in the archives series (there are more sets to follow), said, “The early stuff, I shouldn’t be such a snob against. A lot of these songs, I just lost them. They fell away.” Beyond the previously unknown tracks, fans will drool over demo versions of songs that appeared on Mitchell’s first four studio albums, including “Michael From the Mountains,” “I Had A King,” “Chelsea Morning,” and “Both Sides Now.” A must for collectors and Joni connoisseurs, “Archives” lives up to any suspense.

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