Reviews

Cabin Fever – La-La Land Records

Generic horror film, scored by Nathan Barr with contributions from the man who ups the eerie ante for David Lynch Angelo Badalamenti. Also has spooky-in-context songs from The Turtlenecks and Your Mom. Deliberately nerve-jangling: when I wanted to take it off, I couldn't. Most entertaining are Barr's sleevenotes: "After the score was completed I checked myself into the local psychiatric facility for various tests and shock therapy. They released me after a month with an electronic monitoring bracelet.

Show Of Hands – Country Life

Long-serving English roots band unmasked

Air – Talkie Walkie

French duo return to form on third album proper

Stevie Wonder – The Definitive Collection

Two-CD compilation full of little wonders

Dead End

Smart, shocking B-movie thrills

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Utterly predictable slapstick-laden festive fare as Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) prepares to spend an old-fashioned non-stop domestic disaster of a Christmas with his extended family (including Randy Quaid and an extremely young Juliette Lewis). If you'd like to see Mr Chase being hit repeatedly over the head, this could be the movie for you.

Cool World

From 1992, good guy Brad Pitt and bad guy Gabriel Byrne are transported to another dimension (which just happens to be a Ralph Bakshi cartoon) where they vie for the affections of an animated version of Kim Basinger. It's Roger Rabbit without the jokes: dumb, dull, dire, and a criminal waste of money.

Exorcist II: The Heretic

William Friedkin's original was dazzling, intelligent and scary; John Boorman's train wreck of a sequel is none of the above. Richard Burton is at his hammiest as the priest investigating the death of Father Merrin at the end of the first movie, Louise Fletcher plays Regan's psychiatrist, and the screenplay is one of the worst ever committed to paper. Avoid.

E.S.T. – Seven Days Of Falling

Marvellous third album from Swedish jazz trio

Albert Lee – Heartbreak Hill

Affectionate Emmylou Harris tribute from her former guitarist
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