It's one thing to hear others echo John Lennon, but quite another to hear his son Sean do it. Recorded in the couple's home studio, this set of duets by Lennon and his model girlfriend, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, recalls other forebears too, such as the damaged beauty of Elliott Smith. But the songs have a sunny, psychedelic side. "We'll make kites from our bones," the couple sing on "The World Was Made for Men," culling playfulness from deep darkness.

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“Too Close”

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'"