Album

Treasure-trove of dirge and lullaby over three CDs and one DVD

By 1967, rock'n'roll's voracious appetite for new sounds had drawn it unexpectedly close to another countercultural phenomenon: the classical avant-garde. John Cale, a former student of LaMonte Young, was introducing minimalist drone to The Velvet Underground. Paul McCartney was becoming diverted by the musique concrète and collagist techniques that would eventually result in "Revolution 9".

Typically unadorned, quirky new album from cult hero

Seventh outing from Toronto troub, with Ed Harcourt on piano

Master guitarist with all-star guests

A labour of love for Jonathan Demme who spent seven years following Haitian human rights activist and broadcaster Jean Dominique. An agronomist by background on an island run by bandits, Dominique's struggle to bring justice to his homeland ended in a hail of bullets outside Radio Haiti in 2000. For all Demme's efforts, you never feel the film quite cracks its subject, but it does throw a grim spotlight on Haiti's interminable agonies.

Bluegrass pioneers' LPs 3-5 on two CDs

Early reissue programme for monarchs of mournfulness

Tamla titan revisits his hallowed past

Fragrant second album from the new Girl From Ipanema