Just when it feels like the earth is spinning backwards as we’re trapped inside various stages of pandemic quarantine, a number of music’s most gifted songwriters, from Taylor Swift to Bruce Springsteen, have used their downtime and in-home studios, to get through the humdrums of a lockdown. Now, Paul McCartney has joined the fray, completing a trilogy of one-man band, one-name albums with “McCartney III” (Capitol). The former Beatle wrote, recorded, and produced the album on his own at his estate in Sussex, with vintage equipment that included a double bass once played by Elvis Presley sideman Bill Black, a mellotron from Abbey Road Studios, and-of course-his own Hofner violin bass. “III” sizzles and soars midway through – especially when Macca isn’t pouring his heart out into silly love songs. In the stormy “Slidin’,” McCartney effectively rants, “I know there must be other ways of feeling free / But this is what I wanna do / who I wanna be.” That track is followed by “The Kiss Of Venus,” a romantic acoustic number that evokes the delicacy of “Yesterday” or “Blackbird”– “The kiss of Venus has got me on the go / She’s put a bullseye in the early morning glow”-and it sure sounds like that historic mellotron comes into play. McCartney is 78 but he proves that he still has the chops to cut an album, quietly detailing his legendary life. Live and let dice.

•••

Frank Zappa’s highly anticipated authorized documentary bio won’t be out until next year, but rabid fans get their hands on the ultra-expansive official soundtrack to “Zappa” (UME/Zappa Records), a mammoth five-LP/three CD collection that features interview clips and highlights from Zappa’s entire career. Spanning 68 tracks, that range from the Mothers of Invention’s “Freak Out,” to the musician’s final orchestral work, “The Yellow Shark,” “Zappa” also includes a dozen unreleased tracks from the vaults. The deluxe edition of the soundtrack also includes offerings from Zappa’s Bizarre Records – Alice Cooper’s “No Longer Umpire,” the GTO’s “The Captain’s Fat Theresa Shoes” – as well as pieces by Edgard Varese and Igor Stravinsky and 26 original “Zappa” score cues by John Frizzell. Zappa’s non-comformity, free-form expression, sound explosions and satire of pop culture are rampant on this set.

And while Zappa was an acquired taste, “PUMPKINS” and newbies alike will thrill as the soundtrack ebbs and flows through R&B, classical modernism and even some doo-wop music. The prolific artist practically defies description but this hefty set does it’s damnedest to substantiate Zappa’s cause.

•••

Green Day fans expecting fresh music from frontman Billie Joe Armstrong may be dismayed at first by his solo outing, “No Fun Mondays” (Reprise), but this collection of quarantine covers puts the veteran rocker’s signature melodic punk-spin on songs that have formed the soundtrack of his life. The album itself was launched in March on Green Day’s YouTube channel and a like a lot of musicians, Armstrong expected to spend much of the year on the road touring. “Mondays” has a bit of zip to it, including a spot-on cover of Tommy James and the Shondell’s “I Think We’re Alone Now.” Elsewhere, he pays respect to his punk rock forefathers (The Avengers’ “Corpus Christi,” “Dead Boy Stiy Bator’s “Not That Way Anymore“), as well as songs from a couple of working-class heroes (John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth,” and Billy Bragg’s “A New England”).

While this project’s inspiration seems solemn at times, the songs are meant to uplift. Younger Green Day fans may have never heard Kim Wilde’s 1981 hit, “Kids in America” but thanks to Armstrong’s cover, a new wave of faithful punkers can ride along.

•••

“Blue Note Reimagined” (Decca) is the perfect album for a year of reimagining things. Blue Note was one of the most important American jazz record labels of the ’60s and ’70s with a roster of stellar talents including Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Grant Green, and Wayne Shorter. They were known for releasing avant-garde records as well as in more popular crossover jazz productions. The records had a clean sound compared to the smoky nightclub discs from the previous decade and featured striking modern art covers. This two-disc set presents classics Blue Note tracks, reworked and newly recorded by U.K. artists and represents a bridge between the label’s past and future. Featuring a roster of internationally acclaimed jazz, soul and R&B acts – Shabaka Hutchings, Ezra Collective and Alfa Mist among them – “Reimagined” is a funk rollercoaster tribute to the artists that carved their names on Blue Note redwood. It’s today’s jazz leaders paying their dues to the New York label with some phat chat and trip-hop elements. Varying in moods and approaches, this weaves an intricate zig-zag pattern, from Joe Henderson’s “A Shade of Jade,” by Nubya Garcia, who bottles Henderson’s hard-bop-attitude and slows the tempo to half the pace. McCoy Turner’s “Search for Peace” gets the treatment by Ishmael Ensemble, who elevates the track to a cut above. The album ebbs and flows between rave and fire. What makes this collection excel is that it encompasses decades of music by artists of many styles and backgrounds, but never sounds disjointed. This set unifies modern production and features great playing on some of the most iconic jazz standards in history. It’s worthy of Blue Note’s esteemed tradition.

Newsletter