There's little original Dylan footage and no music in this unofficial bio co-produced by the fanzine Isis. But what we do get is a series of fascinating new interviews—with old school friends and teachers in Hibbing who describe a loner who gave little hint of the extraordinary gifts he was later to develop, early colleagues who played with him in Greenwich Village and leading Dylanologists such as Clinton Heylin and CP Lee. NIGEL WILLIAMSON

Mixed bag from the leading man of manic MOR

Two Cali guys, one guitar and a raft of hickory-smoked folk in vintage Elektra vein

Captain Beefheart sideman and off-her-Trolley vocalist lay their debut album on the table

A solo vehicle for 16 Horsepower leader David Eugene Edwards, Woven Hand sacrifices his other outfit's thunderous bombast but retains the glowering intensity. This follow-up to 2002's self-titled debut is a masterstroke of creeping gothic: spectral percussion, skeletal guitar and Edwards' ominous voice, lent added weight by the religious significance of the lyrics (especially the startling "To Make A Ring"). Of his contemporaries, only Nick Cave and Willard Grant Conspiracy's Robert Fisher sound as eerily portentous.

A collection of Farlowe's Immediate and best-known recordings

Third and fifth albums by front-runners of UK pub rock scene of early '70s

The reggae survivor's first two Studio One sets, plus rare singles

Fruity electro covers of obscure punk and hardcore

All of Ashcroft and co's plus two Urban Hymns outtakes