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EVA CASSIDY - Somewhere (Blix Street)

C’MON admit it. Someone somewhere must be churning out new Eva Cassidy songs on the quiet. The Stateside songbird only released one album before her untimely death from cancer at the age of just 33. Read

LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III - Recovery (Yep Roc)

WHAT if you could go back in time and meet your younger self? Loudon Wainwright retraces his career, revisiting songs from his back catalogue and setting them in new musical surrounds. Read

EVEREST - Ghost Notes (Vapor)

WHAT d’you get when you put the members of LA’s best indie bands in a studio summit together? Not at all what you’d expect. Everest’s debut is an instantly accessible set opening with Maroon 5-friendly pop undertones before dipping its toe in the prog-rock pool. Read

THE BLAKES - The Blakes (Light In The Attic)

SEATTLE has produced some of rock’s seminal band’s, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam amongst them. The Blakes aren’t cut from the same cloth but are building a reputation for barnstorming gigs with an adrenaline rush hinted at on their debut album. Read

RAY CHARLES The Definitive Ray Charles (Crimson)

IT is difficult to overstate just how important Ray Charles was as a singer, songwriter, pianist and general influence on the world of popular music. Read

GORDON LIGHTFOOT The Very Best Of Volumes 1 & 2 (Beat Goes On)

Pick of these tracks is the beautiful Early Morning Rain (recently covered by Paul Weller ), For Loving Me, Did She Mention My Name, and a folky arrangement of the Ewan McColl song The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (later a big hit for Roberta Flack). Read

Get your free download from Birmingham's The Streets

Six years ago The Streets’ Mercury Prize-nominated debut album Original Pirate Material seemed to emerge from nowhere and established Mike Skinner as a witty and original MC-ing proposition – a motor-mouthed phoenix from the ashes of the UK garage scene. Read

Laurie Johnson - The Professionals Boxset

LAURIE Johnson studied at the Royal College of Music before embarking on a very successful career as a composer of and arranger of TV theme tunes, including The Professionals, The Avengers and This Is Your Life. Read

Martha And The Muffins - Danesparc

RELEASED ahead of the 80s Echo Beach band’s reunion set, this 25th anniversary edition pretty much sums up the musical landscape into which it was first released – twangy slap bass, synth doodles, clipped guitar, tricksy drums and white soul vocals. Read

The Bachelors - I believe

NO, you don’t have to pinch yourself. The Bachelors – the original Irish boyband from the 1960s – are back in vogue, with a cult audience growing on university campuses. Read

Teddy Thompson - A Piece Of What You Need

THERE’S an unexpected little note on the back of Teddy Thompson’s fourth album which reads ‘file under pop’ – and it’s correct. After the moody folk leanings of previous outings, he’s come up with a musically mainstream set. Read

Kid Rock - Rock 'n' Jesus

They have done everything under the sun to relaunch Kid Rock as a redneck, and now they’re re-releasing his recent album, which was roundly, and rightly, ignored first time out. Read

Hellsongs - Hymns In The Key Of 666

The cover artwork says it all. A psychedelic hippy VW microbus bounces along a country lane, sprinkling flowers in its wake as it passes under a pop-art rainbow. But wait, there’s a Punisher-style skull, too. Read

Grantura - In Dreams And Other Stories

THERE’S no future in nostalgia, Matthew Owens sings during album opener Waves, a shimmering song that immediately Read

Noah and The Whale - Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down

HAILED as the lofi saviours of folk, the Londoners’ debut album happily lives up to the hype as it examines the effects of love, death and the passage of time. Read

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals - Lifeline Tour Edition

THE soulful Lifeline slipped into record stores largely unnoticed last Autumn, but Harper’s scene-stealing appearance in the Hyde Park deluge will renew interest, and this special edition adds a bonus live CD recorded in Seattle. Read

Jackie De Shannon - Don't Turn Your Back On Me

YOU would have thought that the combination of being a good singer, a fine songwriter and drop-dead gorgeous would be enough to guarantee stardom for Jackie de Shannon. In her homeland USA it did, but here in the UK, sadly it did not. Read

Elliot Minor - Elliot Minor

IT’S already spawned six hit singles, and now the Yorkshire band’s debut album is getting a new lease of life to promote their summer seaside tour. Read

Liam Finn - It'll Be Lightning

It's tough being the son of a rock star – just ask Sean Lennon. Read

Steve Howe - Motif Vol.1

FOR more than 35 years Steve Howe has been one of rock’s guitar virtuosos, his angular licks driving both Yes and Asia. But pretty much each gig has included an unaccompanied acoustic spot, and now he’s re-recorded the solo showpieces in the studio. Read

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