Reviews

First album from cult band since 1967

Ex-Swell Map recruits famous mates for career-topping set

You'd have to be Scrooge (or rather Mr Potter) not to recognise Capra as a film-maker whose delight in the human spirit produced some of the finest, sharpest comedies of vintage Hollywood. Here's four of'em-Jimmy Stewart in You Can't Take it With You, Mr Smith Goes To Washington and everyone's festive favourite, It's A Wonderful Life, plus 1934's It Happened One Night. Heart-melting brilliance.

Hollywood remake of great French action-comedy

Demme knowing, nerve-shredding take on iconic conspiracy thriller pulls off the improbable

As a rule of thumb, most of those vertigo albums that didn't sell in the early '70s now go for silly money on eBay. The reason they didn't sell is that most of them were crap. Jade Warrior were a cut above. True, they couldn't make up their minds whether they wanted to be Cream or Jethro Tull, so they settled for a drum-free combination of both. The swirling flutes and abrasive guitars bring a certain restless beauty to "Dragonfly Day", "Psychiatric Sergeant" and "Sundial Song", although the carefully crafted textures are often let down by mediocre lyrics

Post-punk vets prove their staying power with self-selected best-of

Mixed bag from the leading man of manic MOR

More party-rocking heartbreak from the Shangri-Las of retro-punk

Anti-Bush manifesto from perennial protest singer