Reviews

Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Boulevard

Double-disc expanded edition of his best '70s solo album

Kevin Ayers – Didn’t Feel Lonely Till I Thought Of You: The Island Records Years

Hip record company attempts to thrust stardom upon unwilling recipient

Dusty Springfield – Classics & Collectibles

51-track double-disc comp gathering together hits and rarities

Roni Size – Return To V

Bristol drum'n'bass godfather goes hectic and eclectic

Nora O’Connor – Til The Dawn

Sometime bartender, midwife and reverend, O'Connor's true calling may lie as a remarkable interpreter of song. Though recent years have found her adding dewy vocal harmonies for Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire (and Mavis Staples), her solo debut is long overdue. A brace of impressive originals—"My Backyard", "Tonight"—are whispers of classic honky-tonk, but she truly shines on covers of James (Squirrel Nut Zippers) Mathus' "Bottoms" and "Nightingale", twisting each into the kind of lovelorn ballad Alison Krauss would kill for.

Stephen Fretwell – Magpie

Promising debut fresh out of Scunthorpe

Gravenhurst – Black Holes In The Sand

Young Bristol folk star shines on

Lydia Lunch – Smoke In The Shadows

Noirish return to form from veteran art-punk

Dances With Wolves: Special Edition

Costner's multi-Oscar winner recalls Ford and Lean in its epic sweep, as well as revisionist westerns like Run Of The Arrow in its portrayal of Native Americans. Costner's weary Civil War veteran is appointed commander of a remote army outpost, where he finds kinship with the Lakota Sioux. Rich characterisations are balanced by awesome widescreen backdrops.

Bus 174

This Brazilian documentary is based on live TV broadcasts from 12 June 2000, when a one gunman hijacked a commuter bus, enacting his own version of Dog Day Afternoon. Around this tense stand-off, director JoséPadhila interviews victims, eye-witnesses, media and police, probing the hijacker's motives, police vendettas against Brazil's homeless population, and a terminally unjust society.
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