Reviews

The definitive Hollywood western, George Stevens' Shane has inimitable narrative momentum, rolling effortlessly from the introduction of Alan Ladd's buckskin dandy to the initial saloon tensions ("You talking to me?") and the epic punch-up, through the homesteader murder and the final confrontation with Jack Palance's beguiling assassin. Magnificent.

Second album from Philadelphia roots poet and nu-soul star

NYC singer-songwriter covered by Ronnie Spector and Laura Cantrell

Stadium punk from ambitious LA quartet

Japanese import, recorded in Tokyo last November

Rare unplugged outing for leading Chicago bluesman

Gorgeous, ethereal folk, recommended to Uncut by Devendra Banhart

James Ivory saunters into the 21st century. In Paris

Dodgy reality TV satire featuring Jerry Springer

Seven years in the making, this is Anup Singh's dreamy cinematic tone poem (lots of kites and rivers) based on the life and work of acclaimed Indian film-maker Ritwik Ghatak. Adopting a brave, artistic, and not entirely successful motif, Singh follows two symbolic protagonists, male and female, as they re-enact scenes and themes from Ghatak's seemingly sacred canon.