Northern rock alliance have Love on their minds

Budget-priced samplers of clubland's hot new microscene

Also released this month...

Handy two-CD career retrospective of ill-starred singer who happened in Monterey

Deep baroque pop from '60s stalwarts and psych-pop from Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Glaswegians

Much lamented Irish guitar hero's roots exposed

For a man so steeped in the honeyed hickory grit of Gram Parsons, newcomers to Bruntnell could be forgiven for mistaking his English 'burb origins for Bakersfield, Ca. New Zealand-born, Surrey-raised and westward soul-bound, he finally drew acclaim with 2000's superb third LP, Normal For Bridgwater. Its follow-up is equally fine, studded with guitars (courtesy of 21-year-old James Walbourne and Son Volt's Eric Heywood), faint washes of piano, peals of steel and a forlorn, imagistic delivery and way around a melody reminiscent of Joe Pernice.

Kristin Hersh

Thirty years on, Memphis giant releases sophomore solo album

Full-length debut from Louisville lo-fi trio