Listen along with our 
Top 15 Rock Albums, February 2012 playlist.Full disclosure: This latest Rock Roundup creeps oh so slightly into the waning weeks of 2011. It's a minor indiscretion when weighed against the number of killer albums dropped over the last month and a half. Now, I know what you're saying: "Good new music this time of year?" Valid skepticism for sure. The December-to-February stretch is traditionally a kind of Phantom Zone, during which most labels and artists fall particularly silent in terms of new product, as well as live performances and touring.
But 2012 has proven to be different. We've already received excellent albums from a pair of icons: Leonard Cohen and Van Halen. Though Cohen titled his record Old Ideas, his finely honed skills as a songwriter and singer feel fresh and vital. Van Halen sound equally potent. A Different Kind of Truth, the group's first album with Diamond Dave on vocals since 1984, contains some seriously hard boogie.
Another key release comes in the form of the Mark Lanegan Band's Blues Funeral. Funny thing, the grunge icon and his raspy croak sound older than Cohen and Van Halen combined, but that's always been his m.o.: moody hard rock and rickety folk from a guy who sounds like one of them ancient souls passing from body to body through the millennia. Blues Funeral is cool because it finds him incorporating touches of electronica, an aesthetic he previously explored on the Soulsavers' 2007 collaborative effort It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land.
The last month or so has also seen the release of several notable reissues and archival collections. Alex Chilton's Free Again is a gem of a document, containing as it does a slew of recordings the young artist made in and around 1970, when The Box Tops were just about kaput but before he had met Chris Bell and subsequently formed the immortal Big Star. Another couple of treats are the expanded editions of The Doors' L.A. Woman (totally rocking) and Elvis Country (arguably the last truly great record of Presley's career). A loose concept album from 1971, the latter is a stunning panorama of the Southern music experience: country, gospel, soul, rockabilly, bluegrass, blues and so on.
1. Van HalenA Different Kind of Truth
A Different Kind of Truth isn't quite on par with classic Van Halen: Fair Warning, II, 1984, et al. But it's an excellent album nonetheless, even when the band is obviously tweaking previously established templates. "As Is" is more or less a cross between "Hot for Teacher" and "Ice Cream Man," but that doesn't diminish its hard-rocking potency. Eddie sounds ferocious on just about every track, but particularly "Honeybabysweetiedoll" and "The Trouble with Never," both of which are slyly eccentric takes on the kind of over-amped boogie Van Halen perfected as a bar band back in the mid-1970s. [Justin Farrar]
2. Leonard CohenOld Ideas
So much has been made of Cohen's poetics, philosophical insights and charismatic genius that what's often overlooked is his instrument. When staring down age's barrel, a great crooner makes the physical frailties creeping into his vocal cords work for him, and Cohen does this well on Old Ideas. Listen to him on "Amen," the way he grinds each word into dust, then gently blows that dust into the air. On the relaxed country-blues number "Banjo," Cohen flirts with his mortality; as he does, he turns every phrase ("It's coming for me, darling/ No matter where I go") into slowly bubbling lava. [J.F.]
3. Mark Lanegan BandBlues Funeral
Ever since his Screaming Trees days, Mark Lanegan's ability to pass his love of vintage rock 'n' roll, blues and folk through modern sonic filters has felt unforced and organic. Blues Funeral recalls the grizzled crooner's 2007 collaboration with the production team Soulsavers in the way each track is a richly woven, downtempo reimagining of the hard rock template. Fuzzy guitars dissolve in vaporous electronica and synths; sweaty backbeats, meanwhile, weave their way through all manner of sequenced percolations. Lanegan is as moody as ever, a fallen angel tormented by sin and salvation. [J.F.]
4. Alex ChiltonFree Again: The 1970 Sessions
Free Again is a crucial document, shedding as it does light on that shadowy phase in young Alex Chilton's career when The Box Tops were drawing to a close but before he had teamed up with Chris Bell. These passionately loose, some would say almost tossed-off recordings are closest in spirit to his post-Big Star solo effort Like Flies on Sherbert. This is Chilton filtering roots music (soul, blues, country) through his eccentric rock 'n' roll fantasy. The Stones might've written "Jumpin' Jack Flash," but with the menacing version herein, Chilton makes it his own: pure dark energy. [J.F.]
5. The DoorsL.A. Woman
Boozing and drugging, run-ins with the law, their producer splitting, not a substantial hit single since 1968 -- The Doors were drowning in irrelevancy by the early '70s. Yet they believed they had another great record inside them. And they did. Packed with great pop and desperate blues, L.A. Woman is dirty and audacious and aces through and through. It peaks with "Riders on the Storm," an atmospheric nightmare that finds Morrison making uneasy peace with the paranoia and existential despair that gripped Nixon's America: "If you give this man a ride/ Sweet memory will die/ Killer on the road." [J.F.]
6. Foxy ShazamThe Church of Rock and Roll
The Church of Rock and Roll is yet another trip through retro-glitter absurdity from Foxy Shazam: screaming guitars, pounding pianos, massive choruses and Eric Sean Nally's operatic wail. The Cincinnati act wears their influences on their sleeves with pride: Queen, Sparks, Jobriath, AC/DC and Mott the Hoople, all filtered through The Darkness and Andrew W.K. The one noticeable difference is to be found in the mania department. Though the band is definitely amped up, they seem to be focusing more on songwriting and arranging than on tearing listeners' heads off with high-energy madness. [J.F.]
7. The MoveLive at the Fillmore 1969
The sound quality on Live at the Fillmore 1969 is raw. The vocals are too far in front, while the rhythm section is buried in muffle. Nevertheless, this two-disc collection offers fans of 1960s rock a good taste of just how awesome The Move could be in the live setting. The best evidence is "I Can Hear the Grass Grow." On record it's a fuzzy slice of psychedelic power pop, catchy and propulsive. Onstage, The Move transformed the tune into a 10-minute exercise in hard rock aggression. Another keeper is the Disc 1 version of "Don't Make My Baby Blue." What a potent chunk of soul sludge! [J.F.]
8. DionTank Full of Blues
Outside of Heroes: Giants of Early Guitar Rock, Dion's past few albums, including the aptly titled Tank Full of Blues, have been steeped in the American idiom. The singer's mid-'60s sides for Columbia represent some of the very best blues of that decade. But his relationship with the music has transformed with age. Where the Columbia material was brash and cocky, Tank Full of Blues is wise and knowing. The grooves don't explode; they smolder. Dion's voice no longer soars; it creeps along, close to the ground. But as "Two Train" proves, he can still pull a switchblade at any moment. [J.F.]
9. ScorpionsComeblack
With two venerable members both 62 -- and Kentucky drum and Polish bass recruits well into their 40s -- Germany's eternal hurricane-rockers opt for an easy way out of retirement: re-recording seven classics, from 1980's sleazy night on the town "The Zoo" to 1991's perestroika anthem "Wind of Change," then covering six songs made famous by British bands from the Stones to Soft Cell. Klaus Meine can't shriek so high anymore, but Rudolf Schenker can still punch out riffs. And judging from the news sample in the T. Rex "Children of the Revolution" remake, they were watching in 2011 when England rioted. [Chuck Eddy]
10. The HolliesAt Abbey Road 1966-1970
At Abbey Road 1966-1970 charts the Graham Nash-era Hollies' peak as studio artists. By 1967 they were producing one wonderfully crafted song after another: "Dear Eloise," "King Midas in Reverse," "Carrie Anne." This volume of the At Abbey Road series also captures the band's unlikely transition into '70s chart toppers. Though Nash was an integral member of the group, his acrimonious departure didn't slow The Hollies down at all. The hits just kept on coming, including one of the most overplayed supermarket standards of all time. Ladies and gentlemen: "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother." [J.F.]
11. Joe CockerHard Knocks
Joe Cocker is the kind of Woodstock-era artist ripe for a Starbucks-funded comeback album, something tasteful, organic and produced by T-Bone Burnett. Hard Knocks is the exact opposite. This is the kind of album the singer would've released back in the '80s -- the music is sleek like a Ferrari zipping down a Miami highway. The horns on "Runaway Train" are pure "Sussudio" in their punchy efficiency, but the song goes a step further, boasting synthesizers that would sound right at home at Eurovision. Underneath all the gloss, however, Cocker's voice is still as gruff as it has ever been. [J.F.]
12. Jessie BaylinLittle Spark
On Little Spark, singer-songwriter Jessie Baylin rides the songbird zeitgeist (everybody from KT Tunstall to Adele) by crafting dreamy acoustic pop dipped in a vaguely nostalgic feel. "Love Is Wasted on Lovers" is sweet like early 1960s Brill Building magic. The following track, "The Greatest Thing That Never Happened," contains some nicely swaying horn work that really pushes the Carole King comparisons to the fore. The melancholic closer "Seasick" is an instrumental, oddly enough, one that sounds like vintage Fleetwood Mac meets modern Nashville (minus Stevie Nicks' vocals, of course). [J.F.]
13. Ringo StarrRingo 2012
A master of the pleasant and charming three-star album, Starr drops yet another in Ringo 2012. This represents the legendary Fab's second stab at self-production; his skills have definitely evolved. Compared to 2010's Y Not, his first turn behind the board, everything here is significantly more detailed, crunchy and sparkling. Bouncy power pop numbers such as "Think It Over" and a reworking of "Rock Island Line" are filled with all manner of sonic treats. As usual, Starr has surrounded himself with a team of ace musicians and songwriters, including Van Dyke Parks, Joe Walsh and Dave Stewart. [J.F.]
14. Elvis PresleyElvis Country
Released at the beginning of 1971, Elvis Country is a misleading title. Elvis Tackles the Entirety of the Southern Music Experience in One Fell Swoop would've been more accurate. Country music might serve as Presley's backdrop for these vital recordings, but being a master "synthesist," he manages to incorporate elements of bluegrass, soul, rockabilly, blues, Western swing, gospel and even old-time. What's amazing is the fact that he and his band (a who's who of Southern legends, including James Burton, Eddie Hinton and David Briggs) committed this music to tape live in the studio. Amazing! [J.F.]
15. The Little WilliesFor the Good Times
This clutch of covers -- songs originally done by such icons as Willie, Loretta and Kristofferson -- has been given a modern yet old-timey face-lift. Track by track, heartache is reflected in ultra-sharp harmonies that resonate across twanging guitars and shuffling beats. Led by Norah Jones, The Little Willies transform "Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves" -- a somewhat gimmicky blue-collar trucking song, originally sung by Burl Ives -- into a gritty slice of country noir that feels dangerous indeed. Other highlights include the slow-waltzing "I Worship You," the stunning "Lovesick Blues" and the cat-fight throw-down "Fist City." [Linda Ryan]
Honorable Mentions
Dwight Twilley, Scuba Divers
The Hollies, At Abbey Road 1963-1966
moe., What Happened to The La Las
Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Best of Gerry & the Pacemakers
Ani DiFranco, Which Side Are You On?
Notable singles and EPs
Train, "Drive By"
Van Halen, "Tattoo"
Halestorm, Hello, It's Mz Hyde EP
My Darkest Days, "Casual Sex"
Seether, Remix EP