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Reviews

Tangerine Dream

Recorded in Seattle in October 1992, this concert performance by Edgar Froese's Krautrock pioneers is less dull than it may sound, with the live footage intercut with the films and graphics used for the band's dramatic backdrop projections. There's a dynamite version of "Purple Haze", but at times the music veers too far into jazz-rock noodling. And, at 45 minutes, it's hardly value for money.

Bobby Womack

Ten albums recorded over a decade from the understandably erratic soul legend's solo years

Various Artists – The Leiber & Stoller Story: Vol 1—Hard Times

Legendary rock'n'roll songwriters' early years

Talking Heads – The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads

Expanded two-disc edition of classic live document

Danny The Dog – Virgin

There's a dark rumble to Massive Attack's instrumental score for this Luc Besson-produced martial arts movie, arranged by Robert Del Naja and Neil Davidge in 21 miniature sequences. Many of these are a minute or so long, so it's hard to cite them as anything special, and the nagging feeling persists that there's been an element of smoke and mirrors about this outfit's fashionable misery since their heyday. Those pieces that are allowed time to breathe suggest greater depths, like "One Thought At A Time", which clocks in at a whopping four minutes plus.

Duran Duran – Astronaut

Back in the studio after 21 years apart

This Month In Americana

Fifth solo outing for fiftysomething Nashville maestro MILLER'S MORE ILLUSTRIOUS work as guitarist/musical director with Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle has sometimes put his solo output in the shade. A pity, because there's much to discover in the Ohio native's back pages. Earle swears he's "the best country singer working today", while Robbie Fulks calls him country's only living auteur.

Bill Frisell – Unspeakable

Versatile jazz guitarist's sample-based outing, produced by the eclectic Hal Willner

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – The Royal Society

At a time when much British alternative rock is hobbled by the demands of 'authenticity', Brighton's Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster strike a rowdy, triumphantly rulebook-flouting note. Clearly, they have their heroes—The Cramps, Dead Kennedys, Melvins and Kyuss among them—but the band's wide-ranging vision suggests they couldn't churn out copies of the music they love even if they tried. The Royal Society explores themes of mental derailment and the black arts against a backdrop of the heaviest psychobilly, grunge-metal and stoner rock.

Piney Gir – Peakahokahoo

Folktronic delight from Kansas-born Londoner
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