If there’s such a thing as the perfect pop song, Ervin Drake’s “It Was a Very Good Year” is it. The evocatively elliptical lyrics are so exactingly tailored that they’d hold up as poetry if it were possible to read them without simultaneously hearing their accompanying melody—which is also evocatively elliptical and exactingly tailored.

Hips sway. Hands clap. Arms wave in the air, heels bounce, and faces lift up wide smiles as the choir belts out, “You are good, and Your mercy endures forever.” The audience smiles as it listens. Irresistibly, a toe starts tapping along to the beat, shoulders begin loosening, and heads begin bopping.

That’s the magic of gospel music. A synergy of vocals, facial language, and body movement, a genre of Christian music dating back to the late 19th century, when African-American churches in the U.S. South fused classic hymns with traditional African-American spirituals and beats.

Kaleidoscope

Cyrus Chestnut

Since new rules went into effect to make prisons safer for prisoners, reports of sexual assault behind bars have increased 180 percent, according to a recent report by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. The numbers point to increased reporting of prison rapes—a positive sign—but concerns remain about how corrections officials handle the growing number of abuse allegations.

The posthumous careers of Tom Petty and Prince have begun.   

Petty’s began on Sept. 28 with the release of An American Treasure (Reprise), four CDs’ worth of meticulously curated outtakes, live performances, alternate versions, early takes, remastered “deep cuts,” and other esoterica culled from Petty’s solo, Heartbreakers, and Mudcrutch recordings. It has everything, in other words, but the Traveling Wilburys (and the singles—those are what Geffen’s forthcoming The Best of Everything is for).   

With the November midterm congressional elections fast approaching, a number of entertainment icons are hefting their star status and huge social-media reach to rally their fans to storm the polls.

Road to Ruin (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

Ramones