Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Dynamite is right. With a voice that channels Pasty Cline and Peggy Lee in equal measure, this Canadian torch singer has exploded since emigrating to New Zealand, where she’s become a country music star. From the plaintive twang of “Cry Over You” to the defiant sass of “Walk (Back To Your Arms),” her talent is on full display.

Rock’s most famous chameleon has changed personas countless times during his career, from Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke. With each mask comes a new sound. For his 25th album, Blackstar (stylized as a symbol), the icon threw out the rulebook. His longtime producer, Tony Visconti, says the goal was to avoid rock ’n’ roll and create a new fusion sound. Released to coincide with the singer-actor’s 69th birthday, the seven-song album includes the unsettling title track, a shape-shifting, apocalyptic torch song that runs nearly 10 minutes, and “Lazarus,” the horn-drenched title number from Bowie's current off-Broadway musical, based on The Man Who Fell to Earth (he starred in the...

Neko Case’s extraordinary journey from punk drummer and country torch singer to avant pop icon is well documented in this box set, which gathers her entire discography of eight titles on remastered vinyl and includes an 80-page book of photography. The collection features the American-born, Canadian-bred musician’s 1997 solo debut The Virginian, on vinyl for the first time, and her excellent 2004 live album The Tigers Have Spoken, recorded with Toronto’s The Sadies. There are a wealth of inspired covers, including the Everly Brothers’ “Bowling Green” and Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Soulful Shade of Blue,” and such stunning originals as “Hold On, Hold On” and “Near Midnight, Honolulu...