Perrett’s mordant wit and laconic vocal delivery are happily intact and his current band (which includes sons Jamie and Peter Jr) sympathetically top and tail these 10 memorably idiosyncratic odes to love and despair. Highlights are heady and plentiful.

Bouyed by Reid’s honeyed vocals and Sam Taylor’s chiming guitar, the likes of Richard and Come Home To You may be two of Preservation’s more traditional tunes but are of a simply breathtaking level for such a new talent.

Otis and his touring band rip it up and the excitable singer thrills, with what now reads like a greatest hits.

Hiss Spun is easily a contender for her best work.

The ways in which Overjoyed thrill are as endless as the band are absurd and implausible. Overjoyed is literally amazing.

Lateness Of Dancers has the unmistakable aura of a deep classic. It is a US masterpiece. A wonderful thing, for sure.

It is a wonderful record – fascinating and engaging. Pure art. Give it the time it deserves.

Furman’s stories erupt in sunbursts of detail, lived-in and lividly imagined.

This time round Walker has brought influences from his native Chicago scene to the forefront of his music, loosening up and expanding his sound with frankly blinding results.

An unmitigated joy.

Extra tracks aside, the three parent albums are all remarkable realisations of the Captain’s fertile imagination.

It’s the longer pieces that really glisten, and they come in several forms. ... Moore’s band, it should be noted, sound increasingly powerful, growing ever groovier and more confident with each release. Their guitars may have unusual tunings, but the players are certainly in-tune with one another, mentally and musically speaking. In summary, cacophonies ahoy!

A prime opportunity to taste everything from Haines’ buffet--sweet and savoury alike.

The new exclusive material for this Late Night Tales is quite superb; the cover of I’m Not In Love by Song Sung; Holmes & Steve Jones’ The Reiki Healer From County Down shows why he’s in such demand as a film composer. Best of all is the most amazing tribute by writer BP Fallon to the late guitar legend Henry McCullough.

The Early Years 1965-1972 is the sonic equivalent to background reading and extensive footnotes for their remarkable body of recorded work.

While some may sneer at the glitches and production tricks that pepper the record, thinking them mere gimmicks, those who stick around long enough will be rewarded by a string of mature, thoughtful songs emerging from their concealment, gradually revealing a little more of themselves with each play.

This is a great place to start--and possibly to end.

Live In Paris 2014 is a superb introduction for the uninitiated, as well as a welcome souvenir for the experienced. Warm, potent, invigorating and liberating--it’s difficult to imagine a better live band existing this side of the Sahara.

If you only buy one multi-disc set by soul legends whose work spans seven decades, make it this one.

This is an exquisite interpretation of an exceptional album.

Mind-blowing on any level. Colossally vital.

It’s a stunning record – from the album artwork down to the perfectly-weighted running order, nothing is out of place and nothing jars. Matt Berninger didn’t want to write a solo record. But thank god he did.

Mavis Staples is an international musical treasure, and here you’ll find the recordings that cemented her standing as a living legend.

Not just a compilation, not even just a big compilation, The Roaring Forty is a moving trawl through the life and times of an extraordinary artist who has never stood still.

Latest must-have. .... Not only are most of these renditions drastically different to the originals, Young blends one reimagined song into the next without any pause, producing less of a medley than an epic, multipart ballad. When he’s gone, none will replace him.

Bird changed up the backing group from his previous three records and picked a producer he worked with during 2005 solo breakthrough, The Mysterious Production Of Eggs. The result of all this makes Are You Serious arguably his best, at least since Eggs.

It’s one of those evocative retrospectives whose true worth exceeds monetary value. ... American Dreamer spotlights an uncompromising visionary who created music on her own terms and paved the way for Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush and Tori Amos and many more of today’s female singer-songwriters.

Black Rainbows magnificently roars around garage rock, jazz and even, on Erasure, Black Flag hardcore. Better still, Before The Throne Of The Invisible God is a heavenly soul-psych masterpiece, equally Sly Stone, Prince and Billie Holliday. It’ll continue to uncover fresh layers of magic for years, while being enticing from the off.