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Having started out releasing lo-fi cassettes under the moniker Girly Sounds before going on to unleash her breakthrough debut album Exile In Guyville Liz Phair has always divided opinion. Peppered, as it is, with her often very blunt and occasionally sexually explicit lyrics - all delivered in her anti-singer, semi-detached vocal style - Exile In Guyville went on to receive a whole raft of rave reviews (in fact it’s debateable whether she has yet managed to top this astonishing debut), and if you don’t have it now is the time to remedy that as this re-issue comes complete with a very entertaining ‘making of...’ DVD .
Ruby Palmer

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Hot on the heels of the late ‘80s acid house phenomenon came the even more bug-eyed UK rave scene, mashing hi speed breakbeats with hardcore techno and looped vocals and pioneered by bands like Altern-8, Utah Saints, The Shamen and of course The Prodigy, the only band to escape the rave ghetto and go onto even greater success (their equally fine follow up Music For The Jilted Generation is also re-released in expanded form) but in 1992 this was about as cutting edge as it got, and it still sounds bloody great today, even more so with the extra disc of remixes, b-sides and rarities.
Drew Bass

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Ever since the Mars Volta made it alright to admit you liked prog-rock again, without having to hang your head in shame, bands who had been beavering away at this most un-cool of musical styles - regardless of pubic perceptions - have begun to pop their heads above the battlements again and, in the case of TPT, delivering excellent albums. Not a million miles removed from Oceansize in style (although with a more melodic edge) Tightly Unwound weaves gently undulating acoustica, through high speed riff driven rockers and onto sprawling fifteen minute magnum opus’s, never once sounding anything other than totally coherent.
Ray Harper

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Picking your way through the massive Porcupine Tree back catalogue – nine studio albums, four live albums and twenty plus self released or limited edition releases - is no easy task. Indeed you may not have even heard of the band (even though they have sold hundreds of thousands of albums), and if so this is as good a place as any to start a very worthwhile journey through the Tree's hugely varied, prog infused back catalogue. For fans the carrot to re-purchase is the additional DVD-A disc mixed in 5.1 with three bonus tracks, but do be warned, if you don’t have any way of playing 5.1 you won’t get to hear the extra material.
Ray Harper

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Doubtless most of you will recall that before ‘there were three’ Steve Hackett and Peter Gabriel were also members of Genesis, but how many of you remember Anthony Phillips? Before he was crippled by stage fright and quit Phillips input was integral to the bands sound so fans of the bands first two albums will find much to love here (including appearances by Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins). Phillips has since mainly concentrated on soundtrack work, including wildlife television programmes like Survival and the Natural World, but this, his debut solo album, shows what might have been had he continued down this path.
Ray Harper

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Exceptionally fine ska fuelled set which will appeal to anyone who loves their reggae rootsy and their lyrics to actually mean something. Pama International are the brainchild of Sean Flowerdew, Finny and ex-Special Lynval Golding and Love Filled Dub Band could easily have been passed off as newly discovered ‘70s era tapes found covered with dust in King Tubby’s garden shed (if not for the bang up to date lyrics), which might sound far too retro if it wasn’t for the fact that only a handful of people have managed to make dub music sound this great in the last thirty years. Yup it really is that good.
Drew Bass

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Hot on the heels of Chan Marshall’s critically acclaimed The Greatest comes this collection of (mainly) cover versions which fans of her earlier covers album, The Covers Record, will be happy to hear throws up as many delights as the first collection – if you have never heard her version of ‘Satisfaction’, you really should. Lending songs by, amongst others, Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, James Brown and a couple of her own (a remodelled ‘Metal Heart’ and brand new ode to Dylan ‘Song To Bobby’) her sensuous croon and left-field delivery. It doesn’t all work but her singular approach ensures nothing here is less than listenable.
Ruby Palmer

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Bristolian label owner and dubstep mainstay Rob Ellis takes time out from Tectonic’s hectic release schedule to slip in his own collection of grime-y urban vibrations featuring an A-list of vocal talent and a real ear for melody. As good as the vocal cuts are however it’s actually the instrumental version of the album that’s been glued to the player here, positively oozing menace and attitude – recalling, to this reviewers ears at least, the work of another Bristol based institution the, sadly missed, Third Eye Foundation. Dub is clearly alive and well in the UK, and Pinch are right up there at the pointy end leading the way.
Drew Bass

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It’s rare these days to encounter an album that sustains one compelling mood from the moment the disc drops into the player to the very last bars, but such is the feat achieved on this beautiful set of covers by the Led Zep legend and modern bluegrass’ greatest talent. Sublimely produced by T Bone Burnett, Raising Sand spotlights two very different voices that somehow complement each other perfectly. Mixing straight- forward duets (‘Gone Gone Gone’) with solo showcases (a haunting take on Tom Waits’ ‘Trampled Rose’ for Alison, the Marc Ribot-enlivened ‘Fortune Teller’ for Robert), the end-result is never less than captivating. David Davies

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This 40th anniversary edition of the debut album by Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd comes beautifully packaged - a cloth bound box and picture laden booklet designed by Floyd collaborator Storm Thorgerson, including an 8 page reproduction of one of Syd Barrett’s notebooks - and contains stereo and mono mixes of the album alongside a third disc of singles, B-sides and unreleased rarities. This is pretty much year zero for British psychedelia, and like the Beatles Sgt Pepper (released the same year), still sounds incredibly fresh. Roger Waters nowadays dismisses this as rubbish but, as in many things relating to his old band, he is wrong.


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Another treasure trove of roots cuts from the prolific Lee Perry, this double CD set collecting his final work as the featured artist, rather than producer, before the demise of his legendary Black Ark home studio (more here). Although Super Ape is the better known work it’s the second CD most collectors will head for featuring the madly experimental Return Of The Super Ape, which Island Records chose not to release, and two impossible to find bonus cuts, ‘From Creation’ (plus three dub cuts) used as source material on Super Ape and ‘OK Corral’ – featuring U Roy – used as source material on Return...


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Genesis P Orridge may have turned into a goth version of Michael Jackson of late (have a quick trawl around the net to find pictures of his recent efforts to turn into a woman courtesy of the wonders of plastic surgery) and, via his industrial clatter merchants Throbbing Gristle, he may be responsible for some pretty duff noise, but there’s little doubting his huge influence in the outsider music community and even less doubting that the latest Psychic TV album is actually a snarling, bloodshot-eyed, drooling animal experiment of an album as droning, unsettling electronica tumbles headlong into warped Doors/Stones blues rock.


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Carlton Patterson may not be the most widely known reggae producer but having created cuts with Barrington Levy, Horace Andy, Sugar Minott, Eek-A-Mouse, I Roy, Dillinger and U Brown he was undoubtedly a major player from the mid ‘70s to the early ‘80s, which co-incidentally was just about when King Tubby was at his peak as these b-side instrumental cuts he mixed for Paterson’s Black & White label prove (if indeed any further proof were needed). The vast majority of these ‘versions’ have never seen the light of day outside of their original 7” releases making this a real treasure trove.


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“A conscious exploration of the unconscious” surmises the remarkably florid press release accompanying the one-time Grant Lee Buffalo honcho’s fifth solo album. And, in all honesty, there is a consistently intimate quality to these 12 songs that often also hint at a newfound desire to branch out, highlighted by the judicious use of LA string outfit The Section Quartet (particularly on ‘Dream In Color’). Meanwhile, several songs – ‘Runaway’, ‘So Much’ – find the lately-acoustic favouring Phillips rediscovering the joys of electricity, rounding out a collection that is probably his strongest since GLB’s mid ‘90s delight Mighty Joe Moon.


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Originally released in 1995 Wowee Zowee was a typically Pavement-esque step back from the brink of popularity after their almost mainstream success with previous album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and a return to the gloriously chaotic scattershot approach found on debut album Slanted And Enchanted. Not universally loved on its release the album nevertheless went on to become a fan (and critics') favourite and this superbly packaged re-issue comes with an additional 32 tracks (18 of ‘em previously unreleased), a surprising number of which leave you wondering just why they were left languishing in limbo in the first place.


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A 5.1 surround sound CD + DVD double pack proving that the days of simply popping forty minutes of music on a shiny disc is failing to make the best use of our current multi-media technologies, and unsurprisingly it’s an act like Plaid (on a label like Warp), which are amongst the first to take up the baton. All of the music here was written specifically for surround sound, the music and images continually passed back and forth for the best part of four years resulting in a truly integrated whole – indeed it is almost impossible to listen to this fascinating album, after watching the DVD, without mentally referencing the images.


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Don’t be thrown by the amount of effort they have put into the title (you’d have thought they could have come up with something given they had four years to think about it wouldn’t you?) this is Pearl Jam in righteous anti-war mode, noisy, brash, ragged and furiously aggressive. "Now you got both sides, claiming killing in God's name, but God is nowhere to be found" spits Vedder on ‘Marker In The Sand’ one of five gloriously upbeat rackets that kick the album into gear, and one misplaced ballad aside things just continue to impress as the album progresses right up until the peak scaling seven minute wind up ‘Inside Job’.


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Their ninth studio album and, after flirtations with stage and screen soundtracks, a no nonsense return to what they do best, club music (helped by everything-but-the-kitchen-sink producer Trevor Horn) with smart lyrics, and what lyrics, unless of course you are a member of the Government who get something of a kicking – ‘I’m With Stupid’ inspired by the Blair/Bush relationship, ‘Integral’ attacks the ID Card scheme ‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’ looks at asylum seekers etc. Not sure why they felt the need to include Diane Warren’s awful ‘Numb’, but just the one duffer per album these days is a something very special indeed.


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The rebirth of prog continues apace (daft track names, ‘The Twyncyn’, ‘Bullitts Dominae’, reprised themes and multi-part sections all present and correct) with this very impressive effort by Pure Reason Revolution - their name may, or may not, relate to Immanuel Kant’s 1781 masterwork Critique of Pure Reason. Compared by some cloth eared reviewers to Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin, PRR are in fact far closer in style to Yes or Rush if they were fronted by Rumours era Stevie Nicks the contemporary edge provided by far more muscular guitar sounds, on occasion bordering on the all out six string assaults of Mogwai.


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Kicking off with the machine shudder of ‘Wake The Fuck Up’ (a Prodigy track exclusive to this collection) before slamming headlong into the QOTSA ‘Feel Good Hit Of The Summer’ and PE’s ‘Welcome To The Terrordrome’ it’s immediately obvious Liam Howlett ain’t home to laid back chill out sessions back at his pad. Got the plot? Now lose it as you factor in Dolly Parton rubbing up against P.I.L or the Jam’s ‘In The City’ setting up ELO’s ‘Living Thing’. In fact any collection where the M section includes Max Romeo, Meat Beat Manifesto and Method Man is a collection worth investigating. As Howlett says, ‘diversity is the key’.


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The Prodigy
Their Law – The Singles (XL)

Having lobbed the baby (that would be Keith Flint) out with the bath-water after the sessions constructed around the lacklustre 'Baby's Got a Temper' proved unsatisfactory and then received less than rave reviews for the sessions which comprised, the actually pretty good, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned it seems Liam Howlett (or his record company?), felt the need to remind us all of the constant reinvention the Prodigy has undergone over the years by lobbing out a singles collection tracing their creative arc from acid rave nutters via old skool hip-hop, electro and break beats to bug eyed punk rockers. Write ‘em off at your peril.


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Pearls & Brass
The Indian Towers (Drag City)

Do you ever find yourself bemoaning the lack of a genuinely heavy rock’n’blues driven power trio? Do you spend way too much time with your old Mountain, Budgie and Groundhogs albums? Was the last album you purchased Cream’s Royal Albert Hall Live reformation show? Then you pal, are an old fogey. You are also in luck as this wonderful heavyweight blunderbuss of an album, which sounds like it’s been exhumed straight out of the late ‘60s, is just what you need to update your collection without ever having to get your head around any of that new-fangled noise (even if the band are pesky youngsters).


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Iggy Pop
A Million In Prizes - The Anthology (Virgin)

The next time someone tells you a life of drink, drugs and debauchery will leave you looking like Shaun Ryder aim ‘em in the direction of James ‘Iggy Pop’ Osterberg. Look at that cover image! (left) two years short of sixty and he looks better than most people half his age, and then there’s the music. From the year zero, punk holy grail of No Fun or I Wanna Be Your Dog (’69), via his own blanker than blank generation efforts like The Passenger (’77) or I’m Bored (’79), his seedy, back-street ramalama may have negotiated several changes of producer over the years (most notably David Bowie), but he’s never been anything other than his own man


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Robert Plant
Mighty Rearranger (Sanctuary)

Yet another legacy artist snapped up by the increasingly prolific Sanctuary, and once again it seems the parent companies obvious enthusiasm for their rapidly increasing roster has rubbed off as this is without doubt the best thing ‘Percy’ has released in an age. Zep fans will find much to clutch lovingly to their collective bosom here, but unlike the vast majority of his peers Plant has always had an ear cocked to new and diverting sounds as electronic and Middle Eastern vibes abound, woven into the fabric of huge lurching riffs, mammoth drums and that soaring voice. Mighty Rearranger indeed.


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Pajo
Pajo (Domino)

You may already be aware of David Pajo’s work under a series of guises whether as a former member of Slint, Tortoise and, very briefly, Zwan, or as head honcho of Ariel M, Papa M or indeed just plain M. This time around, having decided to record straight to laptop, he then promptly considered scrapping the whole project, which would have been a horrible mistake as this simple spare approach positively glows with immediacy. The songs are pushed forward to stand or fall on their own merits, the solitary late night atmospherics drawing the listener into Pajo’s occasionally inviting, often uncomfortable but never less than fascinating world


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Jean-Luc Ponty
Electric Connection/King Kong (Gott Discs)

One of several fine twofers released by Gott Discs recently, this one featuring jazz violin genius Jean-Luc Ponty, the first album being the most straightforward in approach, Ponty sounding not unlike Stefan Grappelli in big band mode. King Kong however, recorded in collaboration with Frank Zappa, is something else again, in particular on the frankly astonishing Music For Electric Violin And Low Budget Orchestra where classical strings judder into gorgeous melodies before tumbling headlong down stairs marked avante garde jazz. In fact, with Ponty’s help, this is quite possibly the best instrumental album Frank Zappa never made.


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Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley (RCA)

Re-released to coincide with yet another anniversary of some kind Elvis’s first (released alongside his second and third, all in re-mastered and expanded formats) album still sounds remarkable – although certainly not as remarkable as it must have sounded when it first appeared. This is the Presley responsible for kick-starting a whole generation, a Presley that would subsequently sell many, many millions of records and a Presley that inspired thousands of, some might argue far more important, artists. It is also a Presley a thousand miles removed from the huge great sweating fraud that traded on the name in later years.


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