Every Picture Tells A Story, one of Rod Stewart‘s great solo albums, is now available on MP3 format from Amazon this month for only $5.00.

A nice musical blend of rock, country, folk, and even some blue-eyed R&B, Every Picture Tells A Story, although it’s one of the earliest records in the salty-voiced singer’s career, still remains one of his best. Combing original songs like the title track, which has almost all of the aforementioned genre styles in its 6 minutes, the beautiful “Mandolin Wind,” and of course, the 1970s restless classic “Maggie May,” coupled with cover songs like Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow is a Long Time,” the early Elvis Sun Records period classic “That’s All Right,” and doing a complete 180 with the pumped-up cover of The Temptations hit “(I Know) I’m Losing You” and finally the musical morning dew on lush green leaves rendering of Tim Hardin’s “Reason to Believe,” there’s something here for everyone. For those listeners and fans of the long-time crooner who might only know of “Maggie May” and his later softer, ballads and disco hits, they’ll be pleasantly surprised the most at the sonic variety Every Picture Tells A Story has to offer. Many guest stars contribute to the album, Ronnie Wood (later and currently in The Rolling Stones), Kenney Jones, Ronnie Lane (both of whom played with Stewart in The Faces), and Martin Quittenton, whose lovely guitar work sets a presence over the entire album, and who remains, except to an armchair or otherwise musicologist, highly underrated.

Browse over 2000 albums on sale this month for only $5 each!

As part of Amazon’s monthly $5 MP3 album deals for January 2013, Yeasayer‘s Fragrant World is on sale for only $5.00.

If you’re someone who enjoys guessing what influences went into making a record, than listening to Fragrant World will be a lot of fun. Yeasayer is rightfully lumped into the Electronic genre, but their songs owe a debt to the worlds of pop, funk, folk, and psychedelia as well as more worldly African beats and Middle Eastern arrangements. Much of Fragrant World doesn’t stray from a mid-tempo bounce, but rather than get caught in a straight forward lulling monotony, the group chooses to create unique and engrossing soundscapes on each of the album’s eleven tracks. The vocal effects on “Longevity” give the tune a robotic Prince effect before giving way to swirling synths. Other tracks like “Devil And The Deed” and “No Bones” echo the work of Depeche Mode, but their fresh production and looped backing tracks keep the songs from feeling like previously trodden territory. The inclusion of the Dub influenced “Henrietta” gives the record that multi-genre balance that many of Yeasayer’s contemporaries fail to accomplish when assembling a full-length record. Fragrant World finds the group in a class all their own, and nowhere near what you may perceive as today’s Electronica.

Browse all 2,000 albums on sale this month for only $5 each.

As part of Amazon’s monthly $5 MP3 album deal for January 2013, Passion Pit‘s Gossamer is on sale for only $5.00.

Planning a psychedelic-funk themed dance party? Well if you weren’t before you will be after hearing just a few tracks off of this record from the exciting Indie-Electro-Pop rockers. The album’s strength is its ability to blend the conventional and the weird, all while jumping genre’s faster than a Now That’s What I Call… compilation. The spectacular “Constant Conversations” is a spaced-out soul jam, but at its core, it’s a wonderful R&B tune. The same goes for the insane indie-art-pop of “I’ll Be Alright.” You may recognize the delightful lead single “Take A Walk” either from its constant airplay this past summer, or from one of several TV ads it is featured in. Gossamer will receive a lot of deserved praise for its spot on production, but the tremendous songwriting is what will help the record stand the test of time.

Browse all 2,000 albums on sale this month for only $5 each.

As part of Amazon’s monthly $5 MP3 album deal for January 2013, Oingo Boingo‘s Dead Man’s Party is on sale for only $5.

If you would like a physical copy of Dead Man’s Party, the CD is available for only $5.99 (also, once you purchase the CD, you’ll also get a FREE MP3 version of this album).

Even if you didn’t come of age in the “˜80s, you’re probably familiar with Oingo Boingo’s “Dead Man’s Party”, the title track on this album. The song was used in the film Back to School and in the short-lived TV series Chuck. The song “Weird Science” even got its own movie. Other well-known tracks on Dead Man’s Party are “No One Lives Forever” and “Fool’s Paradise.” Even if you don’t know that Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman is also an award winning composer, you sure know his work. He created the theme song for TV’s The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives, and also scored the 1989 Batman movie as well as most of Tim Burton’s movies.

Also available this month is Oingo Boingo‘s Boi-Ngo for only $5.

Browse all 2,000 albums on sale this month for only $5 each.

As part of Amazon’s monthly $5 MP3 album deals for January 2013, Cat Power‘s Sun is on sale for only $5.

The songwriting on this record is just fantastic. If you were to come across any one of the album’s eleven tracks individually, they would immediately make you want to know more about the artist who created them. Sun is a labor of love from an immensely talented singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer, whose real name is Chan Marshall. With the exception of some mixing duties, Ms. Marshall handles every bit of Sun herself. Tunes like album opener “Cherokee,” the album’s title track, and the fantastic harmonies on “Ruin” are showcases for the passion she possesses for her craft. The 11-minute empowerment epic “Nothin’ But Time” swells and falls over shiny synths and thundering rhythms, and features background vocals by an almost Johnny Cash-sounding Iggy Pop. His gruff vocals offer an exhilarating counterpart to Marshall’s sweet breathy melody. By the time you reach the hip-hop-ish closer “Peace and Love,” you will have found that Sun is full of warm and welcome surprises.

Browse all 2,000 albums on sale this month for only $5 each.