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Review: Tropical rock and "Island escapism" hero Jimmy Buffett passed away in September, a few weeks after finishing recording on Equal Strain on All Parts, his 32nd and final studio album. As final hurrahs go, it's quietly impressive, with the American singer-songwriter - backed by the Coral Reefer Band and a smattering of high-profile guest performers - delivering a jaunty, All-American blend of horn-sporting blues-rock, psych-country, semi-acoustic sing-alongs and tropical swamp-funk. Highlights include the humid, steel pan-sporting dance-rock of 'My Gummie Just Kicked In' (featuring fellow celebrity stoner and all-round legend Paul McCartney on bass), the fiddle-sporting hoedown that is 'Close Calls', the cheery 'Like My Dog' and Emylou Harris collaboration 'Mozambique'.

Review: With Elton John having played his final gig in the UK - that celebrated appearance at Glastonbury back in June 2023 - there will no doubt be increased interest in the few live albums he has released. This one, which stretches out an entire performance (complete with audience interaction and oddball banter) across two CDs, hails from 1972, when he was just becoming the iconic artist we know and love today. That means a mix of early, glam-rock era favourites as well as a clutch of cuts that still get masses of plays today - think 'Daniel', 'Your Song' and the riotous 'Honky Cat'. There's also a killer cover of 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On' that shows Elton at his barnstorming showman best.

Review: Confounding critics (and, to a lesser extent, fans) has long been one of Dexy's calling cards, though even by Kevin Rowland and company's standards The Feminine Divine is a surprising set. The surprise lies not in the fact that it exists at all (Rowland publicly exclaimed that he was "done with music" back in 2016), but the sound of the music on show. Alongside the kind of horn-heavy 1970s soul that delighted fans in their early 80s heyday, The Feminine Divine also includes Serge Gainsbourg-esque spoken word vocals, Prince-inspired electrofunk, slow-motion breakbeats, hands-in-the-air house pianos and nods towards the kaleidoscopic, saucer-eyed rush of Ibiza-inspired Balearica. It's hugely entertaining and, for all the welcome musical surprises, still very much a Dexys album.

Review: Buoyed by the international success of the band's unique blend of psychedelic Latin rock and jazz fusion, Santana landed in the UK in 1976 for a series of concerts. One of these, at London's Hammersmith Odeon, was captured on tape for broadcast on British radio. It's this incendiary and freewheeling set - or at least a big portion of it - that's presented on this fantastic live album. Starting with a rendition of their heavy, funked-up, Latin-tinged take on Fleetwood Mac's 'Black Magic Woman', Carlos Santana - whose expressive, stretched-out guitar solos take centre stage throughout - and his band-mates laid down exceptional, extended and partly improvised versions of such classics as 'Gypsy Queen', 'Revelations' and - most explosively - 'Soul Sacrifice'.

Review: Although it's only appearing now, Bob Dylan's 40th album was recorded back in 2021 and formed the soundtrack to Alma Ha'rel's intimate concert film, Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan. The concert depicted in the film, in which Dylan ran through songs from the first part of his career on a sound stage in Los Angeles, was something of a fiction, with the actual recordings featured being captured in a West Hollywood studio. That's what we get here: Dylan delivering decidedly bluesy folk and Americana interpretations of songs from the formative years of his career, ably supported by a cast of musician friends including Don Was (up-tight bass) and country legend T-Bone Burnett (guitar). Dylan's superb songs have never sounded better.

Review: Just in time for the latest leg of Roger Waters' contested and controversial world tour, the grumpy former Pink Floyd front man has released a CD edition of The Lockdown Sessions, a mini-album of performances recorded at home (with the aid of many members of his live backing band) during the COVID-19 pandemic. It features Waters and company delivering gravel-voiced interpretations of The Wall favourites 'Mother' and 'Vera' (the latter segueing into 'Bring The Boys Back Home'), two tracks from Floyd's 1983 set The Final Cut, and Waters solo favourite 'The Bravery of Being Out of Range'. Most significantly, it also includes his re-imagining of 'Comfortably Numb', which Waters has re-framed as a slow, droning, trippy and ultra-atmospheric treat. As you'd expect, there are no Dave Gilmour style guitar solos in sight!

Review: It's been 17 years since we were last treated to a live album from Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and that was a recording of a legendary performance at Filimore East from 1970. This set, which features the band's later line-up, was recorded on the main stage at the Phoenix Festival (remember that) back in 1996 and first broadcast on UK radio shortly afterwards. It's a typically dynamic performance, captured with full crowd reaction for added atmosphere, with the legendary Canadian-American musician and his band-mates laying down terrific versions of favourites including 'Heart of Gold', 'Rockin' In The Free World', 'Cinnamon Girl' and 'Like a Hurricane'.

Review: A month before he passed away in December 2002, Joe Strummer delivered what turned out to be his final performance - a benefit gig for striking firefighters at Acton Town Hall, where he was backed by his then band the Mescaleros. This must-have CD presents that performance in its entirety, including the infamous ending - where Strummer's former Clash bandmate Mick Jones emerged from the audience to join him on stage for performances of 'Bank Robber', 'White Riot' and 'London's Burning' (it was the first time the two had performed together since 1983). Recorded for a radio broadcast, the gig was undoubtedly special, with Strummer and his bandmates powering through classics including 'Police & Thieves', '(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais' and 'I Fought The Law'.

Review: Since 2019, Fleetwood Mac has used Record Store Day to deliver "alternate" versions of the band's most famous albums. These are comprised of demos, early recordings and alternative mixes from the period that have laid dormant in the archives for decades.
This box set - which weirdly drops just as the band's Christine McVie is widely mourned - brings together these 'alternative' albums - the bluesy 'Fleetwood Mac', gazillion-seller 'Rumours', the rambling and epic 'Tusk', 'Mirage' and 80s power-pop-goes-AOR masterpiece 'Tango In The Night' - alongside a disc of rare live recordings of various fan favourites. As you'd expect, many of the versions are either stripped-back, laidback or more acoustic, though there are some genuinely revelatory alternative arrangements -not least an even deeper, warmer and dream-like early take on 'Mystified' whose effects-laden drums are mesmerising.

Review: A new, exhaustive four disc collection of rarities and demos from Bowie's Hunky Dory era, providing a plethora of alternative takes on his early 70s flaxen haired initial heyday. A mixture of originals, alternative versions and covers, this is hippie Bowie in full lo-fi glory, sure to be lapped up by his still-growing legion of fans.

Review: 'Moonage Daydream' is the latest addition to the Bowie franchise; an epic film of never-seen-before Bowie footage, recolourised and repackaged to form an experimental cinematic odyssey for today's generation of art rock lovers. The soundtrack sees an insta-release to complement the launch of Parlophone's new digital streaming service; it's got an exclusive early version of 'Hunky Dory' in there, as well as a live version of 'Rock n' Roll With Me'. A kaleidoscopic LP from the master of reinvention, posthumously reinventing himself once more.

Review: Beatles fans have been waiting for this one for a while and now it is finally here. It was the legendary Liverpool band's seventh album and it came in August 1966. As ever it was an experimental and cutting-edge work of pop rock, indie and psychedelic sounds that was a critical and commercial success. Some of the awards it won include Grammy Award for Best Album Cover as well as being admitted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The album features classic singles 'Eleanor Rigby' and 'Yellow Submarine' which sound as fresh and new today as ever.

Review: Kazuki Tomokawa is one of the most enigmatic figures in Japan's modern musical history. Not only a poet and a singer, he's also a bicycle race commentator and a self-described vagabond, and in the 70s he set his poems to music as Japan enjoyed something of a folk music boom. It was 1975 when he recorded his first album, in particular teaming up with percussionist Toshiaki Ishizuka for a fruitful musical partnership. Blank Forms has been diligently reissuing much of Tomokawa's music, and now they're turning their attention to this deluxe three CD boxed set comprised of Finally, His First Album, Straight from the Throat, and A String of Paper Cranes Clenched between My Teeth.

Review: Back in 2005, Depeche Mode recorded a special live set for broadcast on US radio that - much to most people's surprise at the time - featured fewer synthesizer sounds. Instead, it saw the Essex outfit reproduce many of their classics hits and fan favourites using traditional rock instrumentation (think electric guitars, drums, bass guitar and electric piano), with the addition of more electronics as the set progressed. Now finally released on CD, the set is genuinely excellent, despite the pared-down, altered musical set-up. Highlights include fine renditions of 'Personal Jesus', 'Behind The Wheel' (which here sounds like a post-punk disco throwdown) , 'Enjoy The Silence' and - after a partial take ruined by sound problems - 'I Feel You'.

Review: Paul McCartney gets a lot of (arguably unwarranted) stick, but the former Beatle has always been open to trying new things and allowing people to reinterpret his work. It's for this reason that he's allowed an interesting mixture of artists to remix his solo lockdown album, McCartney III. After opening with a pleasingly funk-some, low slung Beck hook-up (the excellent 'Find My Way'), we're treated to a mixture of collaborations (the stellar, laidback and psychedelic 'Pretty Boys' with Khruangbin), new cover versions by hand-picked artists (see the contributions by Dominic Fike and Phoebe Bridgers) and largely impressive remixes. In the latter category, we're particularly enjoying Damon Albarn's woozy, downtempo take on 'Long Tailed Winter Bird' and 3D RDN's 'Temporary Secretary'-esque version of 'Deep Deep Feeling'

Review: NYC quartet Body Meta is an interesting proposition. The Work is Slow, their debut album, is tricky to pigeonhole, with the band drawing on their disparate pasts as musicians within the experimental, post-rock, jazz-rock and fusion scenes to deliver winding, unfurling instrumentals that flit between fuzzy, freewheeling intensity and glistening, slow-burn beauty. There's much to enjoy amongst the six tracks on show, from the discordant alt-rock experimentation of 'Horse Flower Storm/Fabuloso', and the squally riffs/mind-altering heaviness of 'Bullitt', to the jazz-flecked, groove-laden psychedelia of 'Rice Tea' and the sun-bright loveliness of 'Ribbon'.

Review: Six years is ages for a band to go without releasing an album or doing very much. But for AC/DC, whose work rate has always been ridiculously high, it's a very, very long time. Between then and now, the band lost their lead singer, Brian Johnson, to hearing difficulties in the middle of their last tour, and saw drummer Paul Rudd arrested in New Zealand for 'attempting to procure a murder'. Talk about impetus to finally call time.

But then these are the guys responsible for one of history's greatest heavy rock triumphs, 1980s's Back In Black, released just months after formative frontman Bon Scott tragically passed. So it's no surprise Power Up, another post-traumatic release albeit an act of reunification with now (relatively) healthy Johnson and innocent Rudd returning, is among their best in the 40 years since. A comeback record that sounds exactly like AC/DC should - ballsy, bluesy, boozy riffs.

Review: "In Rainbows", Radiohead's seventh album, finally gets a physical release! It's one thing downloading this landmark album, but to actually hold this is something special. Not only do you get increased sound quality, but you also get the amazing artwork from Stanley Donwood. This album includes "Nude", a live favourite for many years that was originally written during the "OK Computer" sessions. More minimal that their "Kid A" period, "In Rainbows" does something that very few albums have done - its sound is distinct from previous Radiohead albums, but is still clearly Radiohead. Hail to the kings, they are back on top form.