To overly analyse the motives or intentions behind any of these revelatory tracks (87 in all) is to risk missing out on their more implicit, primal joys. This is Dylan at one with his domain; explorative, inventive, persuasive and, as is almost always the case, enigmatic.

While the music collected here has ultimately been Hooker’s ticket to prosperity, awards, and the good life, its real value is its cultural and historical significance. The music that he created 60 years ago, even today in the 21st century, remains an essential part of the DNA of rock music. It’s (yep) a veritable boogie wonderland.

This new remix of the album’s original 11 songs is subtle rather than headline-grabbing, thanks to the sympathetic diligence of triple Grammy-winner Paul Hicks, a longtime friend of the Harrison family. That’s borne out by the softly-softly handling of the previously unheard outtakes, polished for public consumption but never at the expense of their embryonic intimacy. [Christmas 2024, p.123]

They still throw molotovs at the tabloid milieu's toxic rhetoric, decisiveness and xenophobia. Yet the music is, generally, more pensive and poetic and, thus, more powerful. [May 2025, p.103]

A fluid, fully felt album of artfully crafted confessionals and catharsis. [Apr 2025, p.103]

The album’s immediacy is impossible to escape.

Kouyate has recorded more consistent albums than this but, as a statement of defiance, Jama Ko could be his most important work.

75 Dollar Bill are blending elements from the past to create a stunning future.

Iechyd Da is his masterpiece, start to finish.

It still shows signs of the snotty punk remnants that Nevermind had buffed from its paintwork. And yet here it is, neatly repackaged and served up with memorabilia shots in a bid to get us on board once more.

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]