Reviews

Sleazy dub'n'declamation from unsung NY legend, the former Annie Anxiety

Former trip hoppers broaden range

Skinny-tied power pop with a whiff of Mersey, Zombies and Chuck Berry

Hard times can't drag down the Zipper

Deeply disappointing follow-up to Gold, Uncut's 2001 album of the year

Lush, underappreciated gem from Simone's wilderness years

Overdue reappraisal of mid-'60s Monk

Dark, character-driven tale told from three angles

The 1961 multiple Oscar-winner may have stagey settings, Natalie Wood's singing dubbed, and a well-meant but muffed 'message', yet it crackles with wit and panache. The Jets fight The Sharks while pirouetting, Romeo and Juliet (Tony and Maria) coo amid the washing lines, and every Bernstein song's a humdinger with sizzling Sondheim lyrical gags. Cosily cool.

You can't move these days for quality American TV dramas—Six Feet Under, The Badge, Boomtown, 24, the increasingly amazing Alias—so it says a lot for the enduring genius of David Chase's Mob epic that it remains the most compelling of the current generation of TV imports. Series Four was as frightening and funny as anything that preceded it, and was especially notable for its treatment of the darkening relationship between James Gandolfini and Edie Falco. The episode where Tony snuffs Ralphy is unbelievable.