\n<\/p>\n
The music video for \u201cYes, And?,\u201d<\/a> Ariana Grande<\/strong>\u2019s first new solo single in more than three years, opens with a tight shot of a ruby-red business card bearing the phrase \u201cag7.\u201d In modern pop parlance, this is a way of hinting that her seventh album is coming soon.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve long felt that the seventh album \u2014 if an artist is lucky enough to get that far \u2014 is a pivotal moment. Sometimes it\u2019s the perfect time for a sonic and aesthetic reinvention, \u00e0 la U2<\/strong>\u2019s glammy 1991 album (and my favorite in its discography) \u201cAchtung Baby.\u201d It can also be an opportunity for a pop star to show off newfound maturity, as Madonna<\/strong> did on her great seventh studio album, \u201cRay of Light.\u201d The seventh album is often when the most brilliant artists shift gears into a level of mastery that seems newly effortless: Consider Bob Dylan<\/strong>\u2019s seventh album, none other than \u201cBlonde on Blonde.\u201d<\/p>\n Will Grande\u2019s seventh LP deserve mention among those classics? Who can say? All I know for now is that the thought of one of our major pop stars preparing to join the Septet Club got me thinking about some of my all time favorite seventh albums. Naturally, this called for a seven-track playlist.<\/p>\n The aforementioned legends each make an appearance, along with a few of my indie darlings, Guided by Voices<\/strong> and Sleater-Kinney<\/strong>. Plus, one of pop\u2019s reigning superstars, who released a particularly imperial seventh album in 2022 \u2014 everybody\u2019s on mute until you guess who.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Listen along on Spotify while you read.<\/a><\/p>\n After its polarizing sixth album, \u201cRattle & Hum,\u201d U2 retreated from \u201980s overexposure and re-emerged with a fresh \u201990s rebrand on \u201cAchtung Baby,\u201d a Brian Eno-produced triumph that added some needed irony to the band\u2019s outlook and made the Edge\u2019s guitar glisten like a newly invented form of synthetic crystal. It is my professional opinion that this song rules. (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n Madonna was a new mother about to turn 40 when she released \u201cRay of Light,\u201d a midcareer commercial smash that got her back on the radio (alongside devotees half her age), and also netted her (somehow) her first Grammy in a music category. \u201cRay of Light\u201d is a deeper, stranger album than its titular hit suggests; this underappreciated sixth single is more representative of its searching electro-pop sound. (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n Dylan\u2019s 72-minute double album from 1966, \u201cBlonde on Blonde,\u201d is one long, continuous outpouring of greatness \u2014 a songwriter who had come comfortably into his own voice, making the English language bend to his will while backed by a band of Nashville session musicians who evinced an easy expertise. A line from this one that never fails to make me chuckle: \u201cHe just smoked my eyelids, and punched my cigarette.\u201d (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n The superhumanly prolific indie-rock band Guided by Voices is now racing toward releasing its 40th album \u2014 the 39th, \u201cNowhere to Go but Up,\u201d came out in November 2023 \u2014 but it took seven tries to break through with the gloriously scrappy \u201cBee Thousand,\u201d arguably the first of several \u201990s masterpieces. (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n Lately I\u2019ve found myself listening to a lot of older Sleater-Kinney records, in anticipation of the group\u2019s 11th album, \u201cLittle Rope,\u201d which comes out next Friday. My favorite is still the group\u2019s seventh, \u201cThe Woods,\u201d from 2005, on which Corin Tucker\u2019s towering voice, Carrie Brownstein\u2019s caustic wit and Janet Weiss\u2019s quaking drumming all sound monumental. (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Three albums after \u201c4,\u201d Beyonc\u00e9 outdid herself once again on \u201cRenaissance,\u201d her sprawling 2022 odyssey through the history of Black dance music. Since seeing her Renaissance World Tour<\/a>, I can only imagine her singing this particular song while dressed as a haute couture bee<\/a>. (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n Is the wildly inventive, boundlessly ambitious \u201cRevolver\u201d the greatest seventh album of all time? Discuss. All I know is that Don Draper wasn\u2019t ready<\/a> for this one. (Listen on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n Oh, Mama, could this really be the end?<\/p>\n Lindsay<\/p>\n Listen on Spotify.<\/em><\/a> We update this playlist with each new newsletter.<\/p>\n \u201c7 Great Songs From Great 7th Albums\u201d track list<\/strong> The Clash<\/strong> only made it to album six, but let\u2019s spin \u201cThe Magnificent Seven\u201d<\/a> anyway.<\/p>\n Also, it\u2019s a big week for new music in our Friday Playlist<\/a>. Hear fresh songs from the aforementioned Ariana Grande, Lil Nas X, Waxahatchee and more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n1. U2: \u201cUntil the End of the World\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
2. Madonna: \u201cNothing Really Matters\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
3. Bob Dylan: \u201cStuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
4. Guided by Voices: \u201cGold Star for Robot Boy\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
5. Sleater-Kinney: \u201cEntertain\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
6. Beyonc\u00e9: \u201cAmerica Has a Problem\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
7. The Beatles: \u201cTomorrow Never Knows\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\nThe Amplifier Playlist<\/h2>\n
Track 1: U2, \u201cUntil the End of the World\u201d
Track 2: Madonna, \u201cNothing Really Matters\u201d
Track 3: Bob Dylan, \u201cStuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again\u201d
Track 4: Guided by Voices, \u201cGold Star for Robot Boy\u201d
Track 5: Sleater-Kinney, \u201cEntertain\u201d
Track 6: Beyonc\u00e9, \u201cAmerica Has a Problem\u201d
Track 7: The Beatles, \u201cTomorrow Never Knows\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBonus Tracks<\/h2>\n