Millie Jackson · 1974 Spin it Again - Millie Jackson told an interviewer later that she wrote the dialogues because the songs alone couldn't carry what she needed to say. She was right.

Ray Charles · 1959 Spin it Again - The 1959 compilation that proved gospel and the blues could live together in one voice — engineering by Tom Dowd, songs that still define soul.

Otis Redding · Spin it Again - A timeless record from Otis Redding that rewards close listening.

Frank Ocean · 2011 Spin it Again - He released it on Tumblr without asking anyone's permission, and in doing so, changed what R&B could sound like.

Otis Redding · 1968 Spin it Again - Released four months after he died in a plane crash, this album is less about discovery than it is about the particular cruelty of hearing someone you've just lost.

Sam & Dave · 1967 Spin it Again - A 1967 record from Sam & Dave that rewards close listening.

Otis Redding · 1965 Spin it Again - A 1965 record from Otis Redding that rewards close listening.

Phyllis Hyman · 1983 Spin it Again - A 1983 record from Phyllis Hyman that rewards close listening.

Anita Baker · 1988 Spin it Again - A 1988 record from Anita Baker that rewards close listening.

Mariah Carey · 1995 Spin it Again - She'd already won five Grammys off one album; this time she decided to actually become the voice everyone claimed she was.

Evelyn 'Champagne' King · 1984 Spin it Again - Kashif produced this in 1984 and somehow made it sound like it was made in 1985 and will still sound right in 2035.

Boz Scaggs · 1976 Spin it Again - This album proved that soul-pop didn't need to scream, and that the session musicians of Los Angeles understood taste better than anyone else in 1976.

En Vogue · 1992 Spin it Again - En Vogue understood that New Jack Swing needed space, and they filled it with four voices that made the genre feel like it had just been invented.

Anita Baker · 1994 Spin it Again - Anita Baker walked away from the machine and made the album she actually wanted to hear.

Mariah Carey · 1991 Spin it Again - She made the debut at twenty-two and everyone thought that was the story. Emotions is what happens when she stops performing her own voice and starts directing it.

Bobby Brown · 1992 Spin it Again - Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis spent 1992 proving that R&B rhythm didn't have to choose between precision and soul.

Boyz II Men · 1992 Spin it Again - Four voices, three hit producers, and the exact moment a boy band proved they could actually sing.

Janet Jackson · 1989 Spin it Again - Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis built Janet Jackson a machine that sounded exactly like 1989 but could have been made for any year.

Bobby Brown · 1988 Spin it Again - New Jack Swing meets mainstream pop with no apologies, and a twenty-year-old who knew exactly what he wanted to prove.

LeVert · 1988 Spin it Again - Gerald Levert's voice wrapped in silk arrangements and synth-age luxury—stop treating this as background music and hear what the sequencing and production actually meant.