Twenty-odd years after "Don't Leave Me This Way" and "Me and Mrs Jones", vocalist Morris sounds better than ever – deeper, stronger, sassier – in this beautifully detailed Italian concept album of 10 superior pop songs arranged and conducted for voice and cello orchestra by Enrico Melozzi.

Before the Woodstock film brought him iconic status, Richie Havens was a distinctive presence on the Greenwich Village folk scene.

Bombay Bicycle Club have moved a long way since being described as a cross between The Strokes and McFly - a hybrid of ambivalence they themselves denounced.

If you're going to quit your day job as drummer in the world's premier folk-rock band, you'd better have something special up your sleeve.

Fresh-faced they may be, but new talents are turning to the songs of bygone eras.

A seventh-century book that lay buried in a saint's coffin for hundreds of years has been saved for the nation.

Kudos to The Futureheads for attempting Rant, an entirely a cappella album of R&B covers, traditional folk songs and rearranged morsels from their back catalogue.

Pro-democracy leader's years under house arrest were eased by her passion for music

You have to applaud the restlessness and drive of a talent such as JTE's. At its best (see Harlem River Blues), the results are a beguiling blend of demon-driven countryfied rock-gospel and Earle could easily have stuck in that groove/rut.

With its 5000 capacity, Hammersmith Apollo is a large venue for any band to command, let alone a slight folk songstress with an acoustic guitar. Laura Marling more than rose to the challenge.

The three surviving Monkees have agreed not to attend Davy Jones's funeral this week because it would bring unwanted attention to his family.

Keanu Reeves goes behind the camera for the newdocumentary Side by Side. He tells James Mottram about this passion project and how Bill and Ted could soon be returning

Theatre: I recently went to see a reading of a new play called 'Coalition'. It was a political satire about the present coalition government. Written by Tom Salinsky and Robert Khan, it was witty, fast moving and hugely enjoyable. It started me wondering about the nature of great satirical comedy. I immediately thought of 'The Thick of It' and 'Yes Minister' and realised that one of the features of both is the paradoxical ability to be specific and non-specific at the same time. Subliminally one is constantly aware of contemporary resonances, but the resonances are never specific enough to give history the chance to overtake the comedy and render it redundant. That was my one reservation about 'Coalition'. It was so particularly about Clegg's Lib Dems that there is a danger that history will creep up and date it overnight. I hope not, because it was a terrific script.