The bass guitarist Michael Davis was a member of the incendiary and influential Detroit band the MC5 between 1965 and 1972. Alongside their Detroit friends and contemporaries the Stooges and New York's Velvet Underground, the MC5 formed the holy trinity of late '60s groups who lit the long, slow, simmering fuse of punk rock and inspired the Ramones, Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine and the White Stripes. The MC5 didn't just make hard-edged, highly-charged music; they were managed by the activist John Sinclair, aligned themselves with the Black Panthers and attracted the attention of the FBI. Kick Out The Jams, their seminal debut recorded live at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit in October 1968, and the title track, briefly made the album and single charts in the US when issued on Jac Holzman's Elektra the following year.

A sort of seasonal addendum to his Lupercalia album (Brumalia being the Roman festival of winter), this seven-track EP takes that album's homesick plea for fellowship, "Together", and gives it a festive slant by following it with "Time of Year", a like-minded song for absent friends at Christmas, especially the military.

Smiling with beatific rapture and throwing his arms wide open like a man here to save souls, Jonathan Donahue swigs red wine from a bottle as he arrives on a stage lit by candles.

A “supergroup” comprising the veteran rocker Glenn Hughes (Trapeze, Deep Purple), Bonzo’s boy Jason, guitarist Joe Bonamassa and a bloke from Dream Theater.

Most recently to be found helping Peter Gabriel transform the cover versions on Scratch My Back, John Metcalfe here furnishes cellist Matthew Barley with a series of pieces mostly composed for solo cello and electronics.

A concept waiting to happen: a Gabriel covers album.

Lightspeed Champion's 2008 debut, Falling off the Lavender Bridge, perhaps presented Devonté Hynes in too folksy a light; judging by the much broader palette of Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You, he's clearly one of those musicians whose restless muse can lead him anywhere: in this case, into an eclectic mélange of country, classical, pop, prog and chunky new-wave stylings whose closest comparison is the Todd Rundgren of A Wizard, a True Star.

1969. Standing like afractured doubled-sidedmirror in between thepsychedelia of The SoftMachine and the crankyjazz-fusion of Third wasthis, the Canterburygroup's second album,one of those "transitional"moments thatmake life so pleasantlybendy.

Despite a reputation second only to Pink Floyd, Soft Machine struggled to make much of an impression outside of a small cognoscenti, until they became a full-blown jazz-rock combo in the 1970s.

After the patchy response duly bestowed upon the patchy Empire, Kasabian have wisely made a few changes for this much-improved follow-up.