Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Outside of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” there is no single this summer as hot as the title track from this r&b star’s sixth studio album. Over a funky beat, Robin Thicke’s falsetto alternates with Pharrell’s squeals to create an irresistible sound. The song and a video featuring topless models have sparked criticism, to which Thicke has replied, “If my videos are sexist, then so are the paintings at the Louvre.” Questionable lyrics and video aside, the song is swaggering dance-pop at its best and has topped charts in 17 countries for good reason. While nothing else on the album quite matches the can’t-miss quality of “Blurred Lines,” Thicke, the American-born son of Canadian actor Alan Thick...

Breakup albums are a mainstay of pop music, from Marvin Gaye’s Here, My Dear to Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black. The “Blurred Lines” singer latest disc certainly fits the mold, detailing as it does his estrangement from actress-wife Paula Patton. What’s different about Thicke’s album is just how far he goes in apologizing for his marital misdemeanors and begging for Patton’s return. “I’m sorry you had to suffer my lack of self-control,” he sings on “Still Madly Deeply.” “Pretty, pretty please come home to me,” he implores on “You’re My Fantasy.” On the spare funk of “Black Tar Cloud,” he even admits to being “face down in a puddle of shame” and “desperately crying for help.” Musically, the alb...