Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Deadlines can be lifelines. Faced with the prospect of bassist Dougie Payne becoming a first-time father, Travis wrote and recorded 11 songs in just seven weeks. The result is the Scottish band’s most invigorating album to date. Where the four Glaswegians, led by singer Fran Healy, once opted for polished melodic pop, their latest bristles with edgy guitars, rugged percussion and a heightened energy that suggests a band reborn. Speaking of births, Payne’s son was born just six days after completing the boisterous new album. Nov. 4   

This band’s last CD, 2004’s Video Sound, was rich in Beatlesque melodies and Stooges-style riffs. In other words, the Winnipeg youngsters did their homework and crafted a tuneful sophomore album that deserved a B+ grade. But nothing quite prepares the listener for what awaits on the Waking Eyes’ latest assignment. Not content to recycle garage and psych-rock, the group has gone wildly kaleidoscopic with an inspired mix of styles that includes thrilling rock, dance, Latin and electronica elements. Top of the class. Nov. 4   

It’s been 20 years since Chapman shocked the world with the stark realism of her hit “Fast Car,” as powerful in its grim depiction of dead-end inner-city life as classic Bob Dylan protest songs. Although she’s written other Dylan-like numbers, including “Talkin’ ‘bout a Revolution,” Chapman has never really lived up to her early promise. Still, her voice and story songs continue to express a deep conviction. Here, she even strikes a humorous note on “I Did It All,” a jazzy satirical number about celebrity culture. Nov. 11

The long-hoped for reunion of England’s seminal mope-poppers remains unlikely, but this package should give Smiths obsessives a much-needed fix. Featuring all of the band’s singles plus numerous rarities and live recordings, the collection—also available in a double disc version—was overseen by both Morrissey and Johnny Marr, who also worked on the remastering. As a comprehensive retrospective, it proves the Smiths were the ultimate miserabilists, but also, at their best, one of the ’80s most influential bands. Nov. 11

His voice, once as well-worn as a warm saddle, is now as craggy as his beloved Alberta foothills. But Tyson, the grand old man of Canadian song, still sounds more authentic than a ponderosa full of today’s cowboy pretenders. His latest album features his usual mix of loving tributes to mythic buckaroos and evocative tales of the land, of deep canyons, rolling hills and vast horizons. And, because he’s also suffered personal setbacks of late, some of his most moving songs deal with his own palpable heartache. Nov. 11

Mali’s blind husband-and-wife duo is a true phenomenon. Their first album, produced by Manu Chao, sold more than half a million copies in France alone. They’ve toured with Scissor Sisters and appeared at Lollapalooza. Their latest album features one track produced by Gorillaz maestro Damon Albarn and guest appearances by Toumani Diabate and Somali-Canadian MC K’naan. Whether singing over Diabate’s entrancing kora, K’naan’s playful rap or Albarn’s futuristic keyboards, they perform, hypnotically, as one. Nov. 18

There’s a scene in the movie High Fidelity where record store clerk Dick (Todd Louiso) is ridiculed by musical fascist Barry (Jack Black) for wearing a Belle & Sebastian t-shirt because it shows Dick’s appreciation of nerdy, twee pop. The Scottish group has certainly attracted fans like Dick—for good reason: its precious indie-rock chamber music features some of the smartest songs around. This collection, taped between 1996 and 2001, includes some of the last recordings made with cellist-singer Isobel Campbell. Nov. 18

Nothing rivals the zany theatrics and extravagant stagecraft of the cosmic tribe known simply as P-Funk. Led by George Clinton, the sprawling collective was outrageously costumed and undeniably funkified. This DVD captures Clinton and crew in a Halloween concert, together with guests Bootsy Collins and Sly Stone and the legendary spacecraft itself, for a performance that tears the roof off the Houston Summit. As Clinton liked to say: “Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come up to the Mothership.” Nov. 18

His career took off in the mid-1960s, when the former Welsh bricklayer began belting out songs dressed in tight breeches and billowy shirts. Before long, women everywhere were tossing their panties at him. Now 68, a knight and worth a reported $350 million, Jones is proving he’s still a bankable sex bomb. Signed to the same label as Joss Stone, Sir Tom gets soulful with drum ’n’ bass outfit Future Cut and producers S*A*M and Sluggo on personal songs like “I’m Alive” and “Sugar Daddy,” penned by U2’s Bono and the Edge. Nov. 25    

The latest CD-DVD in Young’s Archives series comes from a November appearance at a Michigan coffeehouse just five days shy of his 23rd birthday and six months after he left Buffalo Springfield. Like Live at Massey Hall 1971, what stands out is the warm intimacy of the performance and the unadorned brilliance of those early, now-classic songs. And Young’s between-song raps, including one hilarious tale about getting fired from Toronto’s Cole’s Bookstore for his pep-pill “irregularity,” are an insightful bonus. Nov. 25