DJ, musician and producer are just three of the artistic hats that Moby wears. On “Reprise” (Deutsche Grammophon), the multi-media master reimagines some of his biggest tracks through the lens of classical music. For fans or newbies of Moby, it was his fifth album, “Play,” released in 1999, that captured the world’s attention with its word-of-mouth making the slow-burner CD a must for any electronica lover. “Reprise” is his 19th studio album, and it’s a masterclass and overlook of his career thus far, with orchestral and acoustic arrangements of 14 songs from his impressive back catalogue. (In fact, half of the tracks on “Reprise” come from the hit-filled “Play,” as well as Moby’s other mainstream record, “18” released in 2002.) Also represented in this collection are 2005’s “Hotel,” 2013’s “Innocents,” 1992’s self-titled debut and 1995’s “Everything is Wrong.” It’s a minor representation of his work, but when presented with string instruments and supported by a cast of characters from well-known to emerging – “Reprise” feels like a complete collection. Highlights like “Go,” with its Afro-Caribbean rhythms is a pulsating reinterpretation of one of his first hits from 1992. While other “reimagined” records are true hits and misses, “Reprise” lives up to its name and artistic goals. It’s a shimmering and surprising return from the great Moby.

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Grammy-winning pop chanteuse Sara Bareilles never dreamed she’d play the Hollywood bowl at the start of her career. “Amid the Chaos: Live at the Hollywood Bowl” (Epic), a 2-CD set, proves otherwise. A whistle stop on her 2019 tour, Bareilles creates an intimate experience indicative of the coffee-shop folk of her most recent studio album, “Amidst the Chaos,” while paying homage to her pop mainstay tracks as well as other projects she has pursued in recent years. The title phrase comes from the album’s “Orpheus,” in which she sings, “Don’t stop/ Trying to find me here/ Amidst the chaos” to a distant lover.

Bareilles doesn’t skimp on bombastic hits – “Love Song,” “Brave,” “King of Anything” plus selections from her Tony-nominated Broadway show “Waitress” make the grade. The album is plush with deep cuts as well, and some banter from the singer/songwriter as art, as it frequently does, slips into social and cultural movements and erupts as symbols of reckoning and self-reflection. The live set welcomes several collaborators to sing renditions of material that featured Jason Mraz on the studio versions. For “You Matter To Me” and “Bad Idea,” Bareilles enlists Australian singer-songwriter Butterfly Boucher and classically trained musician Solomon Dorsey, and they too serve as testaments to Bareilles’ new indie persona. The girl can play show tunes at an arena concert that she opens with a song inspired by Greek mythology. And she’ll still attract a rowdy crowd of 17,000 doing it. Now that’s brave.

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A lot of live albums play like a greatest hits collections and Arctic Monkeys’ “Live at Royal Albert Hall” is no exception. Relying heavily on tracks from their last two albums. “Royal” captures a War Child charity gig that took place in 2018. Across 90 minutes and 20 tracks, this is for all intents and purposes, a “best of” set, but also a needed reminder that these guys have been kicking around for nearly two decades. The set features the band refreshing old favorites while they slide in some new material that they’re still working out. If you compare this to their last official live record, 2008’s “At the Apollo,” it’s glaringly obvious how much the Monkeys have grown in that time. They started the decade getting a little too “poppy” for their own good. But “Royal” captures everything rough, ready and beautiful about piling out of work and into what might just be one of the best nights of your life. Here, they end that pop-phase (for now) by taking a chance on conceptual songs about taco stands on the moon. From here on out, they’re free to pursue any musical direction that strikes their fancy.

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Dark and ominous, but still marching with that same bar-rock passion, the Hold Steady’s “Open Door Policy” (Thirty Tigers), is gruff and tumble with a cast of down-and-out-characters’ ugly heads popping up throughout the record. Craig Finn and company have been faithfully releasing albums as the Hold Steady since 2004, and those first few albums are masterpieces, with magazines hailing them as the best bar band in the world. It’s a notion that offers the key to understanding the band’s ultra-specific brand of rock ‘n’ roll. Sure, the arrangements feature rollicking piano and chugging guitars, but that serves only as a vehicle for Finn’s solid songwriting. At this stage, the HS has achieved what they needed- a necessary rebuttal to their shortcomings. Finn is conceptually strong as always, weaving these stories together to meld a greater work of art, and the band in turn works to create some genuinely new sounds for themselves. While the band may never return to the raw disorder of their earlier work, and Finn may not be at the highest highs he once operated at, both have plenty more to say before the HS calls it quits.

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