Album

Peggy Lee

This frustrating compilation trawls the archives from the early '40s to the late '80s to assemble 20 of the divine Miss Lee's greatest film and TV performances. While some clips are understandably washed-out, Lee's wide-ranging voice is black-coffee-and-honey throughout. What lets the set down is the decision to cut gushing tributes from celebrity fans into the performances. That aside, fine stuff.

Downtown Uproar

Legendary 'bootleg' recording of the Velvets on home turf, taped just before Lou Reed went home to mama and then became the godfather of gory glam

Outlaw Country

Roundup of Texan troubadour's seminal recordings

Soulwax – Any Minute Now

Multi-skilled Belgian brothers are not gonna work it out

…Bender – Run Aground

Dark, brooding venture featuring Uncut photographer Steve Gullick and Gallon Drunk's James Johnston

This Month In Americana

Monochrome minimalists go Technicolor, with startling results Anyone familiar with 2002's Everybody Makes Mistakes could be forgiven for thinking they'd stumbled on the wrong band here. If that album was austere—a kind of aural porcelain—then Shearwater's third is a riot of movement and colour. They remain, in parts, as sombre-still as American Music Club, but now add more than a dash of Spirit Of Eden-Talk Talk and a whole heap of '70s FM pop. Soft-rock chamber music, if you will.

Damien Dempsey – Seize The Day

Powerful observations on the Irish condition from the new Christy Moore

Billy Childish

Childish may well be a "genius" (just ask Jack White), but this DVD doesn't really do the Bard Of Chatham justice since it contains just two old gigs filmed on video. Admittedly, Thee Milkshakes twang up an impressive storm in 1984, but watching Thee Headcoats rock a crowd of about 10 in 1989 is much less gripping, even with cameos from Holly Golightly's Headcoatees. Shame.

Cheap Trick – The Essential…

36-track masterclass in larger-than-life rock

The Jacksons & The Jackson 5 – The Very Best Of

Blameless boogie from two distinct golden eras
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