Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

“Disco music is alive and well,” said Gloria Gaynor a few years ago. “It simply changed its name to dance music to protect the innocent.” The “I Will Survive” singer was right: the sound of the glitter-ball era never really went away—it just moved into gyms as workout music. Now disco is back. One of last year’s biggest albums was Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, which featured contributions from disco legends Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder. Rodgers, the front man of Chic, recently announced that his “Le Freak” group will release its first new album in more than 20 years this summer. Moroder, who produced such massive dance hits as Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You, Baby,” is also releas...

Last year, Trainor topped the charts with her body-positive smash “All About That Bass,” a reference to her derriere. “Yeah, it’s pretty clear, I ain’t no size 2,” she half-raps on the doo-wop inspired, Grammy-nominated hit, “I’m bringing booty back.” When asked if she was afraid of being a one-hit wonder, the 21-year-old Nantucket, Mass. native answered confidently, “No—I’m a songwriter. That’s not even my best one.” True enough, she scored again with her followup single “Lips Are Movin.’” Now Trainor has an album’s worth of sassy, self-empowerment songs, from “Dear Future Husband” and “Mr. Almost” to “No Good for You.” There’s plenty of ukulele, handclaps, finger-snaps, retro harmonies and...

The indie folk-rockers came to prominence when their last album, The King is Dead, topped the Billboard charts. Known for literate, historically based songs, the band comes by its bookishness honestly: frontman Colin Meloy is the author of young fantasy novels, all illustrated by his wife, Carson Ellis. Now on tour with a stop in Toronto Mar. 30, the Decemberists keep up their storytelling ways on their seventh album. Along with the hit “Make You Better,” it features the horn-fueled “Calvary Captain” and the string-laden “Philomena.” The album takes its title from the stark “12-17-12,” a response to the Newtown school shootings. “I was hit by a sense of helplessness,” explains Colin, “but al...