Carter bo

Shimmering performance by the Mother Superior of country rock

Life-affirming swan song from Carter Family matriarch

Also released this month... Shining like a beacon in the depressing pre-Christmas landscape of mouldy old video collections and dodgy concert films is Jane's Addiction's Three Days SANCTUARY Filmed by Carter Smith and Kevin Ford on the band's 1997 Relapse tour, it's a fully-realised piece of rock cinema that dramatically transcends the limitations of your average tour documentary.

Soul-searching partners on a trip to Dreamland

Last hurrah from cancer-stricken Uncut hero. Released in the US on August 26

First three albums from alt.country pioneers remastered with bonus tracks

Californian country-folk belle lets the sunshine through on excellent fourth album

Steve Martin darkens his usual screwball comic persona for Novocaine, playing a suburban dentist implicated in drugs and murder charges in a noir-tinged comedy thriller which turns increasingly Hitchcockian as it unfolds. Helena Bonham Carter's femme fatale, Laura Dern's dental assistant and Kevin Bacon's hilarious cameo appearance lend extra clout to a patchy but commendably accomplished feature debut from writer-director David Atkins.

An exploration of rock'n'roll's roots, spanning 1926 to 1955

New Yorker Carter Burwell scored Velvet Goldmine, which would be a coincidence (see above) if I didn't diligently plan these things ahead. He's also done most of the Coens' movies and, as he beautified Being John Malkovich, lands the return gig on the new Jonze-Kaufman headfuck. His new-school, indie sensibilities show from the dark opening title piece (remixed by Fatboy Slim), and he relishes working with titles like "The Slough Pit Of Creation" and "The Unexpressed Expressed" (who wouldn't?).