Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: Grand Central Records founder and Manchester mainstay Mark Rae is back with New Town Ghosts, a powerful novel four years in the making that is set during the sweltering summer of 1976. This emotionally rich coming-of-age story is told through the eyes of ten-year-old boys navigating friendship, responsibility, and growing up and is paired with a nostalgic soundtrack of ten original songs performed in four-part harmony with strings, horns, choir and live instrumentation. The music evokes the warmth of a radio playing in a sun-drenched garden with themes of nature, wheels (ie via skateboards, wheelchairs and prams) and youthful rebellion echo throughout.

Review: Originally released in 1978, Road To Ruin would serve as the fourth full-length from leather jacket-clad punk pioneers The Ramones. While a rejected, mitigated flop upon release due to the band's swing for the radio fences (or airwaves) complete with sonic elements at the time alien to the punkosphere such as acoustic guitars, lead guitar solos and 60s pop ballads, in the near five decades since release, the project has been reevaluated as a bold successor to 1977's iconic Rocket To Russia (although that album did place 50 places ahead on the Billboard 200 at the time of release). Marking (no pun intended) their first effort to feature drummer Marky Ramone, who replaced Tommy Ramone after his departure due to the inability to keep up with the rigors of touring and lack of residuals from their previous record; the album's glossy, clean production has slowly morphed from malaise to praise over the ensuing decades, while offering up some of their most timeless and essential bangers including 'Needles & Pins' and 'I Wanna Be Sedated' (which if Spotify metrics are anything to go by, is the band's most popular song after, of course, 'Blitzkrieg Bop').

Review: These archival recordings of two extraordinary live performances takes you back to when New York City was a bohemian magnet, with low rent and spaces where artists could thrive. Recorded in Downtown in December 1985 and June 1984, the late, great Arthur Russell is captured performing at an intimate loft space known as Experimental Intermedia Foundation, which was run by Phil Niblock. Since the recordings are unedited, it does a really great job of simulating the experience and so if you close your eyes, it's easy to imagine Russell in the room right there in front of you. Of the numbers played, Russell's gifted avant-garde approach to cello is brilliantly done on 'Too Early To Tell'. And the spine-tingling, raw and deeply emotional 'That's The Very Reason' is arthouse folk at its finest. It epitomises the raw, spell-binding talent that Russell had to captivate a room. Hats off to those who have immortalized these very special shows.

Review: A posthumous release that furthers Arthur Russell's now legendary status. Recorded in Downtown New York City on December 20, 1985, it's an intimate, unedited solo live performance recorded at Phill Niblock's loft space known as Experimental Intermedia Foundation. The takes are very raw and unpolished that it makes you feel like one of the very few in attendance. 'That's the Very Reason' is a beautiful, tender experimental folk piece showing he needed very few materials in order to send listeners on a journey of transcendence. 'Too Early To Tell' is highly idiosyncratic and produces a sound not normally associated with cello. And 'Sunlit Water' has an oriental feel and provides beautiful resolve to a resplendent set.

Notes: Todd Rundgren performs live at the City Winery in NYC in 2012.

Available on Blu Ray for the first time ever, The Unpredictable Todd Rundgren (filmed Live at the City Winery NYC in 2012) showcased Todd's latest musical vision of a contemporary fusion of styles - rock, soul and electronica - that continued the tradition of boundary-breaking works from this visionary genius. Bonus interviews with Todd, Karim Sulton and Jesse Gress included as a treat for fans!

Region code: universal