Generation Y's version of Rush, these New York prog-rockers have used their yowling albums to chronicle the Amory Wars saga, an epic sci-fi fantasia involving a 78-planet solar system called Heaven's Fence and . . . oh, never mind. Storywise, Album Five is as labyrinthine as ever: A deluxe version comes with a 352-page novel co-written by frontman Claudio Sanchez. Musically, though, it's the same old mix of impressive musicianship and arena-size agita. Coheed sometimes write a fetching tune — see the tender ballad "Far" — but Rainbow feels both silly and retrograde.

“The A Team”

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.