2me, Illdestino, Popsho Spotlight

This two-fer compiles two Beefheart albums originally released in 1972. The Spotlight Kid was a stripped-down, slide-guitar-filled move toward Beefheart's beloved Delta blues, dark in outlook and more traditional in approach, although it was still distinctly Beefheart's take on the blues…

With Joan Jett witnessing something of a revival thanks to the recent Runaways biopic, the original leather-jumpsuit-wearing rock icon Suzi Quatro returns to prove that nearly 40 years on from her self-titled debut, she can still pack a few punches herself. Co-written with previous collaborator Mike Chapman (Blondie, Mud), In the Spotlight, her first album since 2006's Back to the Drive, shows that unlike many of her counterparts, the contemporary pop scene hasn't completely passed her by…

Peggy Lee spent a good many years with Capitol, and it was there that she cut some of her best sides. Save for a few years in the late '40s (and several early hits), Lee hit her stride with the label during the end of the '50s and throughout the '60s. Working in a variety of settings, from string orchestras to jazz combos, Lee applied her vocal talents to swing, blues, Latin, and cabaret. This edition of Capitol's classy Spotlight series rounds up 18 of Lee's best performance…

What is this Strangefish that’s scuttled up to us after some twelve years out in the cold? Putting themselves front and centre under The Spotlight Effect, the UK progsters return with their first new album since 2006’s Fortune Telling and having added bassist Carl Howard and co-vocalist Jo Whittaker to their original quartet of Steve Taylor (vocals), Paul O’Neill (keys), Dave Whittaker (drums) and the enigmatically (but not that enigmatically) named Bob, on guitar.
Twelve years away from the scene is a long time in anyone’s book and it would be fair to suggest that one of the key changes to the world that’s occurred in the meantime is what appears to be on the mind of Strangefish…