Uncut

Too many cooks mar debut by backing vocalist turned singer-songwriter

Generation-bridging blues-gospel collaboration

More elegant chamber-pop from Tindersticks' kindred spirits

Delicately apocalyptic suite of Scandinavian avant chamber-jazz

Rock purists derided Costello when he first flirted with classical forms 11 years ago, but his Brodsky Quartet collaboration The Juliet Letters still sounds like a bold career swerve. It could even be considered a punk statement in its bare-faced arrogance (stop sniggering at the back). Countless eclectic excursions later, Costello returned to Shakespeare in 2000 when an Italian dance troupe commissioned him to score a ballet based on A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Elvis has flattened the building...

S Club, Lush and others get droll Humberside makeover

Bootleg-quality live recordings from '96

Third solo LP from Posies co-founder

Mississippi bluesman remixed for the hip hop generation