Screen cap from The First Time I Ran Away.
Music
Essential tracks: Five new songs worth a listen
Brad Wheeler
Globe and Mail Update
Published
Last updated
Bonnie Raitt, Whitney Houston, Grimes, the Strumbellas, and M. Ward
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Bonnie Raitt performs during the 54th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 in Los Angeles.— Matt Sayles / AP
REGGAE ROCK
Right Down the Line
Bonnie Raitt, from the forthcoming Slipstream; streaming here.
Did Gerry Rafferty get a Grammy tribute? Perhaps it was last year, but he certainly gets one here from the come-backing Raitt, who honours the late singer-songwriter the easy-going palm-tree way, with a marvellously bluesy guitar solo thrown in.
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POP
How Will I Know (a cappella)
Whitney Houston, from Whitney Houston: Deluxe Anniversary Edition (Sony); streaming here.
Not sure if Whitney Houston was one of the gifted singers of our time? This is how you’ll know for sure. Churchy, unadorned and giving of goose bumps.
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Grimes' new album, Visions, comes out Feb. 21 in North America.
ELECTRO-POP
Oblivion
Grimes, from Visions (4AD); streaming here.
A dreamy, blippy swirl of spongy beats, synths and floating high voices, from Montreal’s DJ and producer Claire Boucher, who, it appears, wa-wa-wa wonders about Del Shannon’s Runaway.
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ROOTS ROCK
The Sheriff
The Strumbellas, from the forthcoming My Father and the Hunter; streaming here.
The population of Lindsay, Ont., dropped by seven when this crew relocated to Toronto. The first track released from their debut album is hearty, shout-y and catchy – bluegrass at a jubilee of Elliott Brood and Mumford & Sons.
The Strumbellas (handout)— Heather Pollock
