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Review: Billy Idol's Rebel Yell reissue for its 40th Anniversary offers this 2CD set includes 13 bonus tracks, including the impressive 'Poolside Remix' of 'Eyes Without A Face' and the previously unreleased 'Best Way Out of Here'. Besides the other mega hits like 'Flesh For Fantasy', 'Catch My Fall', 'Rebel Yell' you have the amazing cover version of 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore' featured which is a big cult fan favourite for Billy. For fans eager to delve deeper into Billy Idol's iconic album, the reissue offers a chance to rediscover its timeless tracks and explore some hidden gems. Demo versions and remixes highlight the release on the second disc for those looking for unique versions of the songs.

Review: Mark Knopfler's 2023 album, One Deep River, is a written diary through the heartland of Americana. Demonstrating his mastery of storytelling, Knopfler intricately weaves tales of life's trials and triumphs, evoking a poignant reflection on the human experience. Each track showcases Knopfler's signature guitar work and soulful vocals, transporting listeners to dusty highways and riverbanks at twilight. From the introspective 'Beneath a Prairie Moon' to the bluesy swagger of 'Ride On Across,' Knopfler's ability to paint vivid landscapes through music is unparalleled. 'One Deep River' resonates with timeless allure, embodying Knopfler's status as a guitar troubadour of the modern era.

Review: Bad Boy Troy is the musical moniker of one Troy Tipton, whose ambition to make rollicking guitar music extends back to the age of six, at which point he began to take after famous guitarists such as Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck and Paul Rogers. A lifelong stint of touring with the likes of Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick, Whitesnake and Ozark Mountain Daredevils has led up to this moment, at which the headstock heartthrob now releases this globetrotting new album on CD. Huge guitar sludge-waves are heard in full swing on cover versions like 'Another Brick In The Wall' (Pink Floyd) and 'Bad Ass Boy', as the seasoned axe daredevil swears his dread oath to never sleeping, always shredding.

Review: It's fairly bold to call your album The Legendary Sessions but few could argue that this album certainly does capture some legendary sessions. They are previously unreleased recordings that stem from the iconic Jimi Hendrix and Traffic becoming friends in 1967. They were both innovates, both technical, and both progressive with what they did and that bares out across this fascinating album. It was captured between 1968 and 1970 and is full of freeform jams with atonal structures and shifting tempos as well as great complementary interplay between Jimi and Chris Wood.

Review: The Rolling Stones is the band that never dies, seemingly. All the members are truly ancient by now but - Charlie Watts aside - they keep on keeping on and after 18 years since the last they recently announced their new album. Hackney Diamonds came with its own playful viral marketing campaign and lead single 'Angry' which won plenty of plaudits. The full album is now here on CD with a note from front man Mick Jagger who said "we wouldn't have put this record out if we hadn't really liked it." It's a full on album full of very Rolling Stones sounding cuts that will get you up and playing along to the huge riffs.

Review: As we travel back through Prince's monumental legacy from album to album, the abundant revelations contained within the deluxe editions take us deeper into his genius than any fan dared to dream. Now it's the turn of Diamonds & Pearls, the 1991 opus which brought us such massive hits as the title track, 'Cream' and 'Gett Off'. There's not a single miss on the original album which fills out disc one of this double CD version, while disc two takes us on a wild ride through extended versions, B-sides and remixes aplenty. It's the sound of Prince fully embracing the 90s, from guest raps to house beats and beyond, but as ever it could only come from the mind of one particularly purple man.

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: 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: Oftentimes those albums that people say are the best ever are not even close but one we think actually deserves its place amongst such polls is this one. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon took prog rock to its logical conclusion and remains an epic listen decades later. Fans will always soak up a newly remastered or extra deluxe version and, of course, any live recordings of their favourite records. And that's what we have here from a legendary show at the building now known as Wembley Arena in 1974, on CD, and magnificent to get lost in.

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: Ace Records continue their series of compilations from Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, tapping into unique niches of British music culture under titles like English Weather and The Tears Of Technology to arrive at this latest joint, Fell From The Sun. This is a specific trip into the downtempo, after hours sounds prevalent in 1990-1991, as the acid house wave broke and Balearic selector ethics seeped into studio practice. The selections are absolutely on point, from The Orb's majestic remix of Primal Scream's 'Higher Than The Sun' to Saint Etienne's own moody roller, 'Speedwell'. It's bouncy and boundlessly optimistic as well as being supremely chill, absolutely of its time but still ringing with an eternal charm that feels ready for a revival. Let this compilation be your guide.

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: Now you've stopped shouting "there's a new Nick Cave album" at everyone who walks past, comes near or might possibly be in earshot it's about time we dived into the contents of the legendary troubadour's 17th studio album. Be warned, though, what lies beneath is deep and immersive enough to drown in, and even the most effective divers wouldn't find a body. A suitably morose introduction, we think. Digressions aside, "Ghosteen" is a majestic, powerful, operatic experience that will change nobody's opinion of Cave and his band, The Bad Seeds. The works are just as innovative, poignant, graceful, melancholic, euphoric and inescapable as ever. Too many adjectives? We're making no apologies. Consider the title number, if that's not too obvious a focal point. Sparse yet grandiose, narrative driven but metaphorical, organic and earthy yet making incredible use of a theremin. Almost impossibly good, sit back and let it wash over your mind.

Review: There's a chance this Liverpudlian four piece will be familiar by now. This, their 11th studio outing, first unveiled as the 1960s slipped into the 70s, is a bonafide epic from an outfit that weren't lacking in epics; in many ways a culmination of their time together, marking the end of their active years and beginning of their legacy. By this stage, then, they've emerged from years spent on the inner journey and time on the outer, space cadeting to the hallucinogenic fuelled tones of "Sgt. Peppers" and "Revolver". Of course, there's still plenty of explorations happening, but the gritty blues rock of opening track "Come Together" really sets the tone. Five decades on, it still sounds great and maybe even better than you remember. Even if you own the original, this anniversary edition is worth having.