Reviews

Ten years ago, as Sonic Boom's new sleevenotes attest, he and Jason Pierce were "making hypno-monotony" and smoking a lot of grass. Spacemen 3 were a cult on the brink of brimming over, which soon happened with the spin-off of Pierce's Spiritualized. Their penultimate LP as a pairing was The Perfect Prescription, here stretched to a double with the addition of various demos and unreleased sessions. In two modes, hippie-trance riffery and hushed faux-religious reverence, it's love-it-or-hate it puritan-rock. The drugs, clearly, worked for them.

Punk compilation selected by Sniffin' Glue editor Mark Perry

Exclusive donations from the great and the good on behalf of Iraq's children

Holiday romances, French-style

Musical remake of The Philadelphia Story, with heiress Grace Kelly being romantically pursued on the eve of her wedding by ex-hubbie Bing Crosby and dashing reporter Frank Sinatra. If the casting somehow lacks the faultless pizzazz of the original, the score of dazzling Cole Porter tunes more than makes up for it.

This six-DVD set's total running time of 24 hours is enough in itself to set alarm bells ringing. Footage of northern soul in its '70s prime is almost non-existent. Cameras only ever went inside the legendary Wigan Casino once for a documentary (1977's This England), which isn't included. What does that leave us with? Talking heads padded out with the shittest home-made videos you've ever seen. And over a hundred northern soul artistes as they are now, miming to re-recordings of their hits. One star for unintentional comedy value.

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Efficient but imitative London post-rock