Reviews

Starry Vaults

Second serving of highlights and blunders from seminal TV rock slot as it catches up with punk

A Short Film About Killing

One of the most revered of Krzysztof Kieslowski's "10 commandments" series, the late director's determinedly bleak parable investigates a pointless murder and a lawyer's subsequent near-existential defence. Out the same year ('88) as A Short Film About Love, its intensity made the Polish maestro a global name.

Jeff Beck – Jeff

Axeman of distinction returns with 14th solo album

Elvis Costello – North

Tin Pan Alley revisited by Mr Diana Krall

Lea DeLaria – Double Standards

Given the parlous state of contemporary jazz singing (Diana Krall? Elvis, how could you?), Lea DeLaria, a butch dyke from St Louis with a dirty mouth and a deliciously wicked sense of humour, is all the more remarkable. Growing up with jazz in her veins, she was previously best known as a comic (she's also been a Broadway star), but singing is clearly her vocation.

Rufus Wainwright – Want One

Brilliant third album produced by Marius deVries

Shanghai Knights – Hollywood

Not a film many people outside the Jackie Chan Completists Society will be urging you to see, but a nifty set of British '60s sounds, avoiding the usual chestnuts and instead dredging up memories you never knew you had, like "Winchester Cathedral" by The New Vaudeville Band, possibly the oddest pop song ever conceived. Although it's given a run for its pottiness by Roger Miller's "England Swings".

Bobby Womack – Looking For A Love: The Best Of Bobby Womack 1968-76

Fine compilation from influential soul legend who wrote "It's All Over Now"

Various Artists – Strawberry Bubblegum

What 10cc did before they became 10cc

Le Chignon D’Olga

Exquisite Rohmer-style romantic drama
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