It is heartening and not a little bittersweet to be reminded how Weezer once made sad, twisted, broken-sounding songs like these, and they made them work, and they made our CD player work, and they weren't a bit shit, and we loved them.

Arguably the most influential rock album ever recorded... everyone that matters – and many who don't – between Bowie and Radiohead cites it as an influence.

One of the most illuminating facets of The Cutting Edge is what an unequivocal testament it is, both to the layered ingenuity of the session musicians and Dylan’s self-ordained composing pursuits.

In this latest instalment in the Late Night series, Holmes seems to have scored an origin story of sorts, in inimitable fashion, snatches of places and time woven among some breath-taking selections, passing through the present moment as observed with an eagle eye, before being let to peace until called upon again. 



The album is the real star here, sounding as fresh, vital and universally accessible as ever 25 years down the line.

Sound System really is the definitive article, and with Christmas on the horizon, is sure to feature high on several wishlists.

It’s spellbinding.

Her voice sounds so goddamn fresh, spontaneous, uncompromised. There's an intensely visceral quality to these performances that is so utterly compelling.

This is an important--a very important--piece of work that will stand the test of time. It’s also an utter blast to listen to and live with.

It is a stupendous work of art. R.E.M. are essentially a band that work on an emotional level, and this is their most emotionally articulate record: sad and painful, but also funny, raging, exultant, yearning. That it was an enormous hit is a slight distraction, 25 years on. But the music wins out.

Although this is a fantastic looking package, it really doesn't strike me as a particularly essential addition to the Smashing Pumpkins canon.

It's a glorious mess of contradictions, and what could say 'Manic Street Preachers' more than that?

It’s not what you might have expected or even--on one or two initial listens--have been hoping for from Kendrick Lamar. But this is an artist in his absolute prime: artistically, lyrically and musically.

The social context of this album is not necessarily crucial to its enjoyment; you can just as easily take it all at face value, as a gorgeously woven soul record that will doubtless be able to shift shape to suit all manner of listening environments. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter which angle you take with Black Messiah. It’s a masterpiece from all of them.

Definitely Maybe: Chasing the Sun provides a timely reminder why he [Liam Gallagher] and his former band are still held with such high regard.

It’s exhausting. And while collecting and devouring his albums is probably a more satisfying journey, to be delivered this trove of Fifties big band funk and perverted doo-wop, and to see it spiral out into interstellar space-jams in a stop-motion fashion is a huge thrill. Singles provides the first real opportunity for an audience to hear how Sun Ra became Sun Ra.

Thirty years later and Appetite For Destruction still packs a visceral thrill; a combination of real attitude and proper songcraft that very few bands, if any, have ever combined so perfectly.

Whatever one makes of the songs presented here, at least we should all be able to agree that another addition to Cave’s legendary, beyond comparison catalogue is in itself enough of a reason to feel very satisfied.

Keep your sense of perspective and remember that The Promise really is an offcuts record, and you'll find it's a staggeringly good one.

He's had it rough (or as rough as can be for one with his level of talent and success anyway), but once again he's managed to take his adversity and turn it into perhaps the album of the year.

Overall it's about as perfect as introduction to the band as you're likely to get, and perhaps a timely chance to give the Archers an opportunity to climb back into the upper echelons of your record collection.

The momentum and joie de vivre is intoxicating, and unlike many a transitional record, it's a genuine hoot, an unexpected blast of sunshine between the darkness of Fables… and the fires of Document.

Well, Elverum clearly needed to vent this stuff and to share it with the wider world and you’re unlikely to find a more powerfully eulogistic record released this year. Arguably ever.

So it’s good, but given the large amount of quality Nirvana concert stuff out there, does Live At Reading really have much by way of USP? Probably, yeah, if only because it's the band's sole full electric gig commercially available.

Achtung Baby is worth the admission fee alone and ultimately a must-have addition to anyone's music collection.

A bittersweet symphony that remains unparalleled.

Musically it’s the first half of the album that shows us a new side of Beyoncé, one that thrives in dark atmospheres and minimalism in a way her music never did before.

Individually as good as much of BTC, the bonus material is almost as listenable as the album itself.