Album

Alejandro Escovedo – With These Hands

Given Escovedo's current fate (stricken with Hepatitis C), this 1996 reissue is particularly welcome. Remastered with an extra disc of live recordings from that year, With These Hands was a rocking departure from the ex-Rank And File man's solo predecessors. With Willie Nelson, brother Pete (ex-Santana) and niece Sheila E on board, it's a suitably raucous affair, though the full band tends to swamp Escovedo's dusky timbre occasionally. The spare "Pissed Off 2am" and "Tired Skin" (vox/piano only) are more affecting, as is the title track's percussive Latino snap.

Back Street Crawley

Four-CD box of Fat Bob's bits and bobs

Shiva Burlesque

Grant Lee Phillips and Jeffrey Clark, natives of California's San Joaquim Valley, formed Shiva Burlesque in what is now Santa Clarita, 30 miles north of Los Angeles, in 1986. As you can hear from their eponymous debut album, released in 1988 to howls of approval from an enthusiastic fanbase at what used to be Melody Maker, Shiva were in thrall to the looming psychedelia of The Doors and Love.

Paul McCartney – Put It There

Macca talks with his usual earnest charm in this documentary about 1989's Flowers In The Dirt. Casting Elvis Costello as the sarcastic Lennon figure during sessions for "My Brave Face", McCartney leads his band through selections from the album, The Beatles and classic rock'n' roll.

Stew – Something Deeper Than These Changes

Frontman of LA's The Negro Problem takes another solo splurge

Spouse Anthems

K7! Given her wonderfully insolent and vital contributions to Matthew Herbert's previous musical endeavours (most notably on 2001's Bodily Functions), this debut album from singer Dani Siciliano is long overdue. Indeed, the record has taken some three years to come together, Siciliano having invested in a basic home studio and learnt from scratch how to assemble the 11 performances featured here. And how do they sound?

The Flaming Lips – Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell

Seven-track EP with four brand new Wayne Coyne compositions

Tangerine Dream – Tangents

Re-release of '94 box with extra material

Counting Crows – Films About Ghosts: The Best Of Counting Crows

Best-of, plus two new recordings

Easyworld – Kill The Last Romantic

Second album from Top 40-scraping UK trio
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