In the Nineties, Alice in Chains wentmultiplatinum on a grunge-metal sound that was like the soundtrack to singer Layne Staley's heroin addiction, which killed him in 2002. On the band's first album in 14 years, sludgy guitars are back, and they'recoupled with vocals by guitarist Jerry Cantrell and new addition William DuVall, each of whom approximates Staley's tortured-zombie crooning. Thehard-charging "Check My Brain" is as hooky as the old hits, and the title track — a Staley tribute featuring Elton John on piano — is pretty in a calm-after-the-storm way. What Black lacks aregreat tunes and a sense of can't-look-away drama.

“Tonight's the Night”

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."