Rock

Jenny Lewis achieved musical fame as part of the indie band Rilo Kiley, which broke up in 2011. Her third solo album announces a new chapter in her career — and perhaps her life.

In 2012, the band became another rock group that was celebrating its 50th anniversary. This year, it released Made in California, an eight-hour, six-disc retrospective of their career that, perhaps inadvertently, shows how this once-great force in American popular music faded from public view.

When record producer and songwriter George "Shadow" Morton died on Valentine's Day this year, he left behind a legacy as murky as his nickname, which he got from disappearing on long benders. A new compilation collects Morton's hits for The Shangri-Las, Iron Butterfly and Janis Ian.

The long-running rock band's latest album is driven by themes of loss and grief, set against ferocious guitars and soaring vocals. Fresh Air critic Ken Tucker says the provocatively titled I Hate Music is full of typically superlative moments.

Isbell is a singer-songwriter who came to prominence as a member of the Southern rock group Derive-By Truckers. He left that band in 2007, in part because of the substance-abuse problems he describes on his new solo album, Southeastern.

The debut album from the New York trio Guards is big on atmospherics, but also features a grandness of intent that connects the group to acts as varied as U2, Arcade Fire and The Beach Boys

The singer-songwriter often writes songs about his complex relationships with women. On his new Electric, Thompson is still coming to terms with the sources of his frustrations which out to give him material for many years to come.

The indie-rock favorite's new album, Fade, demonstrates that the group is all grown up but not at all study. The album's music and words add up to our affirmation of life and living.

A new documentary on PBS about the making of the Beatles' 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour features outtakes from the original and new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. TV critic David Bianculli call the film "wonderfully thorough."

Ken Tucker says that Charmer is a song cycle about getting rid of a cynical frame of mind; about distancing yourself from people who are dragging you down.