Monkey Island

There's never been a JGB record without some R&B flavor, and that bill is filled here by the hypnotically funky "Surrender," a cover of The Marvelows' '60s hit "I Do," and a barroom revamp of Louis Armstrong's "I'm Not Rough." But from the pure pop chorus of the mellow, devotional "You're the Only One" to the arena-rock guitar riffs of "Somebody," this is the sound of a band expanding beyond their roots. And the wild ride that is the album's inscrutable nine-minute title suite shows they had no qualms about challenging their audience, even if it took a couple more years for the world at large to catch up.