Reviews

The reissue of Cantrell's 2000 debut is timely following the critical success of last year's When The Roses Bloom Again, and a major US tour with Elvis Costello. John Peel deemed this his "favourite record of the last 10 years and possibly my life", while Costello describes her sound as "if Kitty Wells made Rubber Soul". Nashville-bred, NYC-based Cantrell is steeped in country and bluegrass, but brings a strident grace all her own. Set atop guitars both acoustic and twangy—and soft squeals of steel—her voice is cut-glass pure.

Ny Stalwart Champions Power Pop

Farrell & co are back with a vengeance

Long-lost experiment with, yes, our perceptions of sound

Dizzee Rascal is the best rapper this country's ever produced, period. His words are as sharp as prime Tricky, his delivery sharper; he's got bags more personality than anybody in the British rap scene. These local comparisons add up to faint praise, though, so how about this: 18-year-old, East London-bred Dizzee Rascal is as good as any MC currently active on Earth. Every UK garage MC brags about how his style's unique, and virtually every MC does it using the same flow and timbre.

Karaoke homages from punk's fourth division

Aussie's 'difficult' period with help from Manics, McAloon and Neil Tennant; plus extra remix/rarities CDs

Consummate, witty and wicked conmen caper

King Lear re-enacted in modern-day Liverpool as crime boss Richard Harris, broken by the senseless murder of wife Lynn Redgrave, splits his empire between his two black-hearted daughters. The dialogue's got a touch of the Guy Ritchies and the violence is silly, but Harris—cunning, lean, leonine—commands the screen.

Handsome widescreen digital transfer for one of Sam Peckinpah's most underestimated films, 1975's angrily prescient satire on corporate America, whose ultra-cool surface belies the roiling fury at its bleak and bitter heart. James Caan and Robert Duvall are cynical operatives for a San Francisco-based intelligence agency, doing jobs too dirty even for the CIA. Early on, Caan is crippled by gunfire in a bloody double-cross and 'retired' from the company.