In the 1970s, ZZ Top broke through with a regional sound – simmering Texas blues – and then, in the next decade, reimagined their sound as global beer-joint pop. On their first album in nine years, the trio (along with producer Rick Rubin) place their bets on a sort of masterly skronk: sharp tunes ("Chartreuse," "Consumption") done with deceptively high-tech guitar distortions and rhythmic crunches. The results – from a crackling swampification of "I Gotsta Get Paid," a 1990s hip-hop track by Houston's DJ DMD with Lil' Keke and Fat Pat, to the soaring choruses of "Flyin' High" – prove these guys are still bad, speeding along and with warmth, humor, mystery and funk.

Listen to 'La Futura':

“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."