All four members are gifted musicians, but they sacrifice virtuosity over a rough-hewn spiritedness which makes Between The Earth a thrilling listen.

In short, if you collect Jansch you won’t regret investing in these for a second. If you’re new to him, you’ll find a musical universe opening before you.

The lust for life evident on the streets of Havana is reflected enthrallingly in an album that looks set to take the Daptone ethos to the world at large.

The cumulative effect of the 81 tracks that make up Retrospective’s five themed discs – The Best Of Bryan Ferry, Compositions, Interpretations, The Bryan Ferry Orchestra, Rare And Unreleased – is to create less a timelessness than a no-time in which Ferry hangs suspended, a woman hovering over his shoulder… leaving, staying, it’s all the same to the man who’s observing the “in” crowd even as he stands within it, replaying its antics in the projection room of his mind. [Nov 2024, p.89]

A hard bop masterclass, that's for sure. [Nov 2025, p.95]

Mind-blowing on any level. Colossally vital.

An album that embodies the punk energy his Tuareg band are able to marshal in a live setting. [Jun 2024, p.103]

Constant throughout is the storytelling flair that sets them apart from peers such as The Smiths and The Cure; there’s an introverted literary stand-offishness to The Go-Betweens’ lyrics.... Meanwhile the four CDs’ worth of rarities and live cuts contain as many riches as the albums proper: a testimony to the strength of the material here. Roll on Volume 2.

It's a 17-song trip into beautifully strange music. [Nov 2025, p.103]

A painstaking labour of love for all concerned, Savage Young Dü is--at last--the kind of archival release fans of these transcendent punk-pop pioneers have long since craved.

Extra tracks aside, the three parent albums are all remarkable realisations of the Captain’s fertile imagination.

These albums aren’t grand artistic statements, nor do they need to be. Nothing’s gonna touch him in these silver years (wah wah wah), and he’s tossing them out there for fun alone. He also sounds like he’s enjoying himself, chatting and joking, on the much-seen Montreux Jazz Festival gig from 2002, preserved here (and featuring a near-complete performance of Low). Montreux isn’t the only extra: Reality Live is also here, as well as Re:Call 6. .... His next two albums were grand artistic statements. [Oct 2025, p.116]

Their first since Ghosteen is rich in the singer’s blend of archness and romantic yearning, while his simpatico cohorts’ dynamics throb and tingle. [Oct 2024, p.100]

The one-time folkie’s fourth album exorcises romantic demons by taking another bold leap forward.

Musically speaking it’s a marvel.

This one challenges in its immediacy, with an emphasis on melody that twists into more muscular signatures so that listeners are never quite sure of the ground they’re on. Meanwhile, in the words and music, there is spellbinding poignancy and aching beauty.

Leftism is dance music history and so deserves the big reissue treatment. Leftfield have addressed the passage of time with an up-to-the-minute roster of remixers for the bonuses. Still, the results are generally pretty disappointing – they all put their own mark on things and leave enough of the original versions in to make the connection, but not many come close to the originals.

Another crack compilation from Analog Africa. [May 2024, p.99]

This wide-ranging collection is a reminder of why Kim deal remains such a powerful inspiration. [Dec 2024, p.106]

Stylishly crafted. Manchester has an exciting new voice. [Mar 2025, p.105]

Back in 1970, this must have sounded like music from the future--over 40 year later, it still does.

For all its musical sophistication and all its lyrical heart, Ignorance is a confident, almost bolshy statement of intent.

Golden Hour is a bedazzled, wide-eyed rush.

It’s a master-stroke on a landmark record of staggering intelligence, depth and musicality.

At 70 minutes, False Lankum is definitely a demanding listen, but an extraordinary one.

Improbably, they've pulled off the rarest of feats: a middle-aged rock band who remain interesting and invigorated, going from strength to strength. [Sep 2025, p.101]

Not her best, but never dull. [Jun 2024, p.103]

On transferring the original tapes band archivist Cliph Schurlock realised that the original mastering had shaved off the mid-range frequencies, which he promptly restored, along with previously edited intros. So what we have here is a much warmer-sounding, fuller album, along with the contemporary B-sides, revealing demos and a raucous live set from Phoenix festival. It’s a psych-dipped, surreal set of infectious, concise pop gems.

Once you’ve finished playing spot the difference it’s a blast. .... And the mono mixes have a vitality and punch often lacking from recent remixes. [Christmas 2024, p.120]

Yep, that good. It's obvious we're in the presence of greatness, and the rest of the album doesn't disappoint. [Sep 2025, p.103]

Some of their best, most expansive music yet. [Sep 2024, p.132]

This welcome vinyl salutation probably won’t introduce the group to a wider audience, but it deserves to--these are lost treasures from a lost treasure.

It’s by no means intended as a “greatest hits” package--you may rue the absence of ringers such as Warm Leatherette or Do The Mussolini (Headkick) – but as a snapshot, you can’t fault its clarity.

Truly, this is the gift that keeps on giving. Aural aphrodisia.

Throughout the curation of his archives, all but two of these recordings – that slower Sedan Delivery and the regretful Too Far Gone – have already been released elsewhere, across original albums and newly restored collections, making this official Chrome Dreams an exercise in fan service that would have been a worthy Record Store Day title – or, we hope, an indication that the Archives Vol III box set is approaching.

The Venezuela-born, Indiana-based Rui has plenty to say here and delivers it with a compelling, articulate set. [Oct 2024, p.101]

At 121 tracks, a running time of nearly nine (NINE!) hours and 55 unreleased songs, it’s somewhat redundant to say this seven-disc boxset documenting the first decade of Fairport Convention’s life is strictly for the hardcore. Sadly – and herein lies the lament of the wallet-destroying boxset--in Come All Ye are songs that would convert a non-believer at 10 paces.

Song For Our Daughter is, well, so uncannily, unreasonably and astutely beautiful that it meticulously sets aside every last one of your emotional checks and balances to wrap your core in a firm embrace.

Divers is another meticulous masterpiece from one of the songwriters of her time, an album that’ll still be spellbinding generations from now.

The depth and breadth of this astonishing career compendium, comprising a colossal 189 tracks, will certainly surprise the uninitiated, but for long-time fans it’s a beautifully realised monument to a versatile musician whose genius is largely unsung.

A Moon Shaped Pool represents a return to the ambition and perfectionism that has characterised their best work.

One suspects Gibbons agonised over every word and note on Lives Outgrown, but the result is an album to fall deeply in love with. If you allow them to, these songs will envelope your soul.

Fans of the last LP will not be disappointed--yes, even with the ones that sound (whisper it) a bit too much like Muse. But there’s so much more here than artful innovation.

This is one of the most confident and charismatic debuts in years.

My Light, My Destroyer is the work of a master storyteller, capable of inhabiting characters with real empathy and noticing evocative details. [Aug 2024, p.104]

Never less than compelling, it confirms im as one of hip hop's most compelling stylists. [Aug 2025, p.105]

Those wanting a more authentic experience (whatever that means) will be glad to know the band’s psychedelic groove is still very much present (see the swirling Gabi or Assadja) while those wanting less retroisms should head to Pour Toi with its insane disco trucker’s shift. But at its heart, Optimisme deals in the same joyous protest music Songhoy Blues are known for, only now bolstered with a grit that matches the multi-lingual lyrics.

Michelangelo Dying, her seventh, is her most refined accomplishment yet. [Oct 2025, p.130]

The result is her finest work yet. [Jul 2025, p.103]

His most compelling album in almost a decade. [Oct 2025, p.131]

Finding inspiration in the current climate, Taylor has created a modern blues masterpiece for troubled times.

With its cohesive vision, it also proves that, properly curated, the material in Prince’s Vault contains a body of work that would rival Dylan’s Bootleg Series for both quality control and cultural importance. The next volume can’t come quick enough.

Painful itself remains essential listening. The extra tracks add context and plenty of magical moments; fans will be beside themselves.

An official release of lost song Sunshine Woman will please completists, but it’s difficult to escape the niggling doubt that this is little more than a cash-in opportunity, with lost versions tacked on the end of what was a perfectly good record first time around.

While there’s plenty of thrilling rock’n’roll here, his faith also gives us some flat-out gorgeous moments.

If music that sounds as if it might come off the rails at any moment is your cup of tea, this album is for you. [Oct 2024, p.103]

Mbongwana Star concoct an abrasive sound barrage of heavily distorted rumba grooves, here accompanied by post-punk guitar slashings. Channelled through Farrell’s electro blender on the likes of Nganshe, Masobele and the jaw-droppingly brilliant single Malukayi, it becomes a modernised, starkly original strain of dub that suggests fresh tributaries for a rapidly evolving music.

Might be his best effort yet. [Oct 2024, p.102]

Mavis Staples is an international musical treasure, and here you’ll find the recordings that cemented her standing as a living legend.

The Irish singer's third album smartly juxtaposes the traditional and the modern. [Sep 2025, p.103]

Throughout the album, vibrant melodies and guitars come accompanied by gnawing doubts and dense, agitated settings. Even the dreamy Capricorn wears its soundscape like a shroud, while Hope's plea for release evokes The National at their most elegantly fraught. [May 2024, p.105]

If you only buy one multi-disc set by soul legends whose work spans seven decades, make it this one.

Testing her vocals as much as her songwriting, Howard emerges as one of the boldest talents around. [Feb 2024, p.101]

Although Alex Farrar's production is slightly more refined, that only means vocalist Karly Hartzman's conspiratorial storytelling is crystal clear and the North Carolina band's musicianship is thrown in sharp relief. [Oct 2025, p.133]

Making up for lost time, Strut have produced a collection that’s broad in scope, detailed in its sleevenotes and packed with a raft of outstanding music.

All in all, it’s an exhaustive trawl through this proud provincial stronghold’s extraordinary creative archive and arguably the definitive guide to our trends in the north.

Sorrows Away is a landmark album by an extraordinary band, full of brutal truths, hope, and moments of musical transcendence that will resonate for generations to come.

Handled with a care the world has refused them, these characters' tales make for devastatingly immersive listening. [Feb 2025, p. 103]

Led by Paul Janeway's dramatic vocals, the Birmingham band's material is more hook-laden, partly due to their collaboration with Eg White. [Nov 2025, p.105]

They’ve created an album that manages to combine grief, self-loathing and a realisation that life’s better played honest, with a fine-tuned, brutal sound: something like bent sheet metal being hammered straight. Yet it remains listenable, so very listenable.

It finds House on spine-chilling form with clear vocals and stunning slide guitar on tracks such as Pony Blues, Preachin’ Blues and Death Letter. The re-mastering, courtesy of The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, is also superb.

Songs reflect on his outsider past (The Ballad Of The Hulk, Young Icarus), deal directly with the writer’s block he feared happiness would bring (Writing) but now boast a welcome immediacy and intimacy as he lays his new life proudly bare. ... It sure took a while, but the Smog has finally lifted.

12 is a bright, fresh joy, lovingly tooled for pure uplift. [Christmas 2024, p.133]

Between fleeting romances and the railroad, the result serves robust snapshots of self-discovery in resilient motion: nodding to the climax of Titanic in closer Ogallala, The Past ... clings to life in the face of loss. [Feb 2024, p.101]

It’s a record to fall in love with.

The passion in ANOHNI’s voice lifts meandering mid-album cuts Can’t and Scapegoat. But the Marvin Gaye-indebted Why Am I Alive Now is the standout.

From Wanna Sip’s opening videogame blitzkrieg to the Blade Runner drones of Mustn’t Hurry, Plunge is a complete thrill.

i/o is an impeccable reawakening.

It's clear that the lines so easily drawn between this and the Fleetwood Mac epics to come give this not only a familiarity but a slightly spurious contemporary feel. [Nov 2025, p.90]

While it’s certainly not as upbeat as 2020’s Gold Record, the directness cuts through in a way that 2019’s Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest didn’t. It’s an album that finds Callahan in great form.

This is no stop-gap, contract filler of a record but rather a perfectionist giving a great album the full workout it deserved.

The Bowie that his fans love most--the unpredictable, courageous and cutting-edge enthusiast-- is properly back, and while this kind of intense listening experience might not trouble the current crop of massive-selling rock stars, he’s somehow a damn sight more vital than the lot of them.

A profound and poised third album, UFOF makes digging deeper seem like a natural calling.

My Woman is an odd, somewhat mismatched collection of good and then great songs that could have been more ghostly.

High-octane strutters You Call This A Good Time and Profane Prophecy reconnect with the classic Crowes of their earliest albums, while the bluesy back-porch strum of Pharmacy Chronicles and the laconic testifying of Eros Blues remind us that Chris has one of the best white soul voices in the business. [Apr 2026, p.105]

[An] emotionally open and exploratory shapeshift.

The intensity with which she details her local ecosystem is something to behold. .... On this evidence, the cult of Mitski isn't about to die down anytime soon. [Feb 2026, p.102]

The six songs that make up Terminal hit the sweet spot between glorious pomposity and roughshod urgency, all underpinned by the sheer delight in maximalist sonic attack.

This most genuine version of herself is more than good enough to stand on its own.

The 10CD version is a patchy collection of familiar highlights and sometimes enjoyable outtakes.

Everything here is on point; every single element is executed with a stupefying mastery. Soaring strings, luxurious French horn, jangled distortion and purgative, unhinged vocals; all these things fuse together with glorious consequences. Utterly exceptional.

Serious Miles and Coltrane aficionados will already be familiar with these recordings, no doubt, though the incentive to acquire this fresh iteration sanctioned by the Miles Davis estate is the superlative quality of Mark Wilder’s audio restoration, which makes it hands down the best version to own.

Fragments: Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997) serves the showman well, making this era sing, one of The Bootleg Series’ most intriguing investigations so far into Bob Dylan’s working practices and mindset.

All this is a must-have for fans, and a relatively inexpensive way of accessing an erratic but always intriguing body of work.

With less musical improvisation - though the impenetrable lyrics are invariably off-hand - but boasting more cohesion, its sonic expansion makes for a fuller record. [Jul 2025, p.103]

The quality doesn't let up. [Dec 2024, p.109]

It’s a record that her late father would have been enormously proud of, and the first essential country album of 2014.

The result, which she deemed an "experiment in collaboration", is Lenker's most relatable to date. [Apr 2024, p.103]