Randall Roberts, Pop Music Critic

Over the last three years, the composer, violinist and singer Andrew Bird, his wife and their 4-year-old son have endured their share of trials.

Call this reunion what you want — cynical cash-in, celebration of musical resiliency or a nostalgia trip — but few rock returns have arrived with as much ballyhoo and drama as that of Guns N’ Roses.

Producer George Martin, who died Tuesday at age 90, was best known for his work bringing the Beatles to the masses.

Neko Case, k.d. lang and Laura Veirs, “Atomic Number” (Anti- Records).

The entertainment world is focused on the Academy Awards, but the hits just keep on coming.

Various artists, “Star Wars Headspace” (Hollywood Records). How’s this for a dream gig?

Regardless of how scripted the Grammy Awards telecast is, it remains a live event.

When Kendrick Lamar arrives at the Grammy Awards to accept applause for his album of the year-nominated “To Pimp a Butterfly,” the Compton-born rapper, lyricist and producer will be representing not only himself and his city: He’ll also be carrying a community’s worth of creators who contributed to his platinum-selling album.

Over the past decade, Justin Gage’s ear for talent has earned him both acclaim and a career.

This installment of Essential Tracks directs its microphone toward Grammy-nominated artists who are unlikely to receive prime-time ceremony shout-outs but whose recorded achievements will likely endure long after the telecast ends.

Those paying attention to the sound of contemporary Los Angeles as imagined by Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly,” nominated for an album of the year Grammy, might have noted a mysterious musician named Thundercat lurking in the background.

Buyepongo, “Todo Mundo” (Buyepongo).

Anderson .Paak, “Malibu” (Empire / OBE / Steel Wool / Art Club).

PJ Harvey, “The Wheel” (Island/Universal).

For those of us whose passion or work leads us to follow the machinery and magic of recorded music, there are infinite avenues for education.

David Bowie, “Blackstar” (Sony Music).

Few bands were better at distilling the vibe of Los Angeles in the 1970s than the Eagles, and as its singer and guitarist, Glenn Frey served as a sort of mellow ambassador of our city.

Each listener’s search habits are as unique as fingerprints.

Here’s a subjective rundown of five of the most popular services available in America, based on the experiences of one full-time listener. ------------ For the Record Jan. 18, 10:18 a.m.: This article misspells singer Tanel Padar’s first name as Tanal and incorrectly gives the name of the band Austrian Death Machine as Australian Death Machine. ------------ Spotify $9.99 per month; $14.99 family plan; free ad-supported version Grade: B+ Pros: Premium service offers noticeably better fidelity than Apple Music.

Call 2015 the Choose Your Own Adventure year in music.

Each year thousands of Grammy-eligible works flood the marketplace.

Roy Orbison, “One of the Lonely Ones” (Roy Orbison Records).

Earl Sweatshirt, “I Don’t Like … I Don’t Go Outside” (Tan Cressida/Sony): A meditation on the life of a 21-year-old rapper who earned fame while he was still in high school, Earl Sweatshirt’s album rumbles with claustrophobic bass while midrange melodies and plunked piano tones guide tracks forward.

David Bowie, “Blackstar” (ISO/Columbia). We’ve come to expect curious things from David Bowie.

About five years ago the DJ, record producer and music supervisor Zach Cowie decided to commemorate his friends’ newborn with a melodic greeting.

Fuzz, “Fuzz II” (In the Red).

Joanna Newsom will issue her fourth album, “Divers,” on Friday, and since releasing her previous one in 2010 she’s experienced a series of life changes.

Chilly Gonzales’ “Pop Music Masterclass” featuring Lana Del Rey (YouTube video).

Helena Hauff, “Discreet Desires” (Werkdiscs/Ninja Tune).

The inspiration for “Gentle & Soft: The Story of the Blue Jean Committee,” the two-part season finale of the IFC comedy series “Documentary Now!

Velvet Underground, “Loaded: Re-loaded 45th Anniversary Edition” (Rhino/Warner Music).

When Alexis Rivera, a music manager who lives and works in the northeast Los Angeles enclave of Highland Park, exits his little storefront office, he has on occasion witnessed a culture collision between a famous comedian and a reclusive hip-hop producer that to him typifies the thriving state of the neighborhood.

Julia Holter, “Have You in My Wilderness” (Domino).

Joan Shelley, “Over and Even” (No Quarter).

Wand, “1000 Days” (Drag City).

Yo La Tengo, “Stuff Like That There” (Matador).

DJDS, “You Don’t Have to Be Alone” (Body High/Loma Vista).

There are few groups better suited to score music for the documentary “On Two Fronts: Latinos & Vietnam” than the Los Angeles quartet Chicano Batman.

In the months before N.W.A’s album “Straight Outta Compton” was released in the summer of 1988, a team of teenage female rappers from the Inland Empire called J.J.

“Compton,” the new album from Dr.

Iris DeMent, “The Trackless Woods” (Flariella Records).

In a new interview with The Times, former Runaways member Jackie Fuchs further explains the rape allegations she made recently against the band’s former manager, Kim Fowley.

Deradoorian, “The Expanding Flower Planet” (Anticon).

Jason Isbell, “Something More Than Free” (Southeastern Records).

Watkins Family Hour, “Watkins Family Hour” (Family Hour Records).

In the 1960s and ‘70s, Sly Stone was one of funk and soul music’s most hopeful figures.

Laura Marling is much better known in London than in Highland Park, where until early December she’d been living for some of the last few years spent in Los Angeles.

Labor Day isn’t just the unofficial end of summer.

There are many ways one could greet the arrival of rapper-singer Azealia Banks’ long-gestating debut album, “Broke With Expensive Taste.”

Critic’s Notebook: More music programming on prime-time TV is a good thing, but the manufactured drama of things like the I Heart Radio Music Awards on NBC isn’t.

In ‘Do Not Sell at Any Price,’ Amanda Petrusich takes a thoughtful, entertaining spin through the world of obsessed collectors hunting rare records. She knows the topic well — she’s one of them.

Critic’s Notebook: Lorde, Chance the Rapper, Zedd and Carbon Airways move Coachella away from legacy acts.

The opening bars of Led Zeppelin’s first song outline much of what followed: A mean series of Jimmy Page riffs introduces “Good Times, Bad Times,” from its self-titled 1969 debut, followed by a typically wild John Bonham drum-bang, replete with the clang of a cowbell, to set the pace.

Courtney Barnett, “The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas” (Mom + Pop Music) Courtney Barnett writes assured, smart songs packed with detail and delivered through the voice of a writer who seems to have discovered some sort of hidden secret.

After seven years apart, a reunion of the boundary-pushing hip-hop duo calls for a recap.

The Compton artist is candid about jail, running the streets and collaborators DJ Mustard and Ty Dolla Sign as he releases his new album.

Catching up on essential tracks by the Knife, Future Islands and Motorhead before the Coachella music festival.

Critic’s Notebook: Those relentless thumps in electronic dance music and works by Jay Z, Timbaland and even Katy Perry trace to ‘Tran Europe Express’ by Kraftwerk.

With volumes of wit, bounce and flow and a buoyant way around the Shrine Auditorium’s expansive stage, the rapper Childish Gambino and his band rolled through downtown Los Angeles as part of what he dubbed “The Deep Web Tour,” which has consumed much of his spring.

‘A Man Called Destruction’ by Holly George Warren delves into the odd life of Box Tops and Big Star singer and pop music visionary Alex Chilton and his troubled career and relationships.

Revisiting ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ for its 40th anniversary deluxe re-release was ‘very beautiful,’ Elton John says. In it, he hears a band ‘full of confidence, full of joy, full of positivity.’

Critic’s Notebook: Lady Gaga and the rest of the music-marketing crowd are the losers at South by Southwest, while the indie showcases, the coolly uncool and the Lou Reed saluters are the winners.

Critic’s Notebook: Bombino, Cajmere, OutKast, Haim, Neutral Milk Hotel and Bryan Ferry are some of the performers you must see at Coachella this year.

Critic’s Notebook: Coachella’s 166 acts come from all over, in various genres and fusions (though EDM seems king). Some will thrill, others will bore. In the end, it’s all about that musical spirit.

Big names behind the service can curate sound combinations, yet musical data, images and information are still sadly lacking.

‘Grass Punks,’ the latest album from Tom Brosseau, insinuates itself with wit, honesty and simple, perfect lyrics that linger long afterward.

Critic’s Notebook: The Grammy nominations and other symptoms suggest rock ‘n’ roll might be near the end. With hip-hop and more fulfilling rock’s old roles, what’s the merciful thing to do?

South L.A. singers ‘took it to the church’ when they made a devotional recording of nine songs by the mercurial Bob Dylan.

Critic’s Notebook: L.A. acts hitting the stage at the South by Southwest festival include Kelela, YG, Cherry Glazerr and Zig Zags. Then there’s Burgermania III and the Innovative Leisure showcase.

Beck stripped down the songs of ‘Morning Phase,’ his first album in his 40s. It dwells on loneliness, with pearls of hope, and has drawn early raves.

An Appreciation: The late folk singer and activist Pete Seeger understood like few other musicians the power of song to steer and stir his fellow citizens.

Picks include Billy Joel at Hollywood Bowl, Schoolboy Q at Club Nokia, Lykke Li at Theatre at the Ace Hotel, Nickel Creek at Wiltern.

‘High Hopes,’ featuring a decade’s worth of unreleased material, suggests a past threatening to overtake Bruce Springsteen.

Archival recordings in 2013 burst forth with an energy that left nostalgia far behind.

On ‘Girl,’ the first album by Pharrell Williams in eight years, the beats are modern and catchy. But the song lyrics are flimsy.

Critic’s notebook: Let’s hope the renovation of the Los Angeles Forum brings a better concert experience in the digital age — paying attention to the music, not chatting, taking photos and recording videos.

Essential Tracks: Her latest, self-titled album crosses from pop to R&B and back in daring and notable ways.

Music royalty like Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake take a backstage to Lorde, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Kacey Musgraves in a night of the underdogs.

Critic’s Notebook: A furniture factory became a wide-ranging purveyor of music, especially by African American artists — sounds shared on ‘The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records 1917-1932, Volume 1.’

Essential Tracks: Album recommendations of Howe Gelb’s ‘The Coincidentalist,’ White Night’s ‘Prophets of Templum CDXX,’ Brandy Clark’s ’12 Stories’ and Nick Lowe’s ‘Quality Street.’

The man behind Nancy Sinatra’s ‘These Boots Were Made for Walkin’’ never quite fit anywhere, but his music still stands up.

Daft Punk, Earl Sweatshirt, North Mississippi Allstars, Brandy Clark, Queens of the Stone Age, Arcade Fire, Laura Marling, more.

Katy Perry’s ‘Prism’ cherry-picks sounds from pop music history to present an album packed with sonic surprise and solid hits.

Critic’s Notebook: Like most Coen brothers films, the songs play an integral part of the story. But T Bone Burnett’s work levitates ‘Inside Llewyn Davis.’

The expert touch of John and longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin shines throughout a reflective new album.

An Appreciation: Lou Reed, who died Sunday at 71, broached a lot of taboo topics with the Velvet Underground and in his solo career. He spurned at boundaries and broke through to something new.