Reviews

Alt.country debut with southern California leanings

Veteran outfit still going strong

Well-connected singer-songwriter on the spot again. Features Will Oldham

Funk-rock archaeology, with extra tracks and liner notes by Flea

Decade-spanning compilation of Chris Eckman and Carla Torgerson's alt.country trailblazers

Sixteen-track anthology of darkcore Boston trio, including previously unreleased tracks

Topical Kurdish-American tales of pain and friendship

Golden boy Sam Mendes' less-than-feelgood follow-up to American Beauty suffered a critical backlash, but its daringly gloomy photography (by the late Conrad Hall) is often breathtaking. An unsmiling Tom Hanks' hitman-with-a-heart is underwritten, but a wrinkly Paul Newman still oozes charisma and Jude Law's credibly sinister. A surprisingly bleak, long dark night of the soul.

You might think there's not enough surviving live footage of The Yardbirds to fill a full-length DVD. And you'd be right, of course. But clips from half-a-dozen black-and-white TV shows are interspersed with retrospective interviews to create a compelling band history in which the comments of Jeff Beck are particularly candid. But the revelation is singer/harmonica player Keith Relf, who exudes charisma despite being surrounded by such future stars as Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.

Disturbingly funny debut tackles life and death with the help of a giant rabbit