Eve And The Merman (1965)

My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, Anohni’s sixth studio album, expresses a world view by shape-shifting through a broad range of subject matter. Through a personal lens, Anohni addresses loss of loved ones, inequality, alienation, acceptance, cruelty, ecocide, devastation wrought by Abrahamic theologies, Future Feminism, and the possibility that we might yet transform our ways of thinking, our spiritual ideas, our societal structures, and our relationships with the rest of nature.

Flynn's Place is another excellent collection of piledriving, good-time blues and boogie from Little Mike & the Tornadoes, featuring a fine selection of originals and smoking solos.

After the fluke success of "Hey Saint Peter" made Flash and The Pan's first album into an international hit, this side project from Harry Vanda and George Young had to contend with a follow-up. Vanda and Young, best known as the core of 60's hit makers The Easybeats and producers to AC/DC (George Young is family to Malcom and Angus), were already no strangers to hit song-writing. The result was "Media Man" charting in several countries, and the album expanding on the band's cult audience. The formula remained pretty much the same. Heavy new wave synths paired to either dance-beats or down tempo gloominess, along with monotone, processed vocals. This doesn't click quite as often as it does on the debut album, and there's nothing here as memorable as "Hey St Peter" or "The Band Played On/Down Among The Dead Men." But more than half the album clicks, with "Media Man" being the dance-hit and the title track being the best of the bummers. It's also worth pointing out that, despite the minimalist trappings, these guys were pretty incredible musicians. Give a listen to the piano solo on "Welcome To The Universe" for proof on that one.

Have you heard The News? The sweet pop/rock/soul sound of San Francisco's Huey Lewis & The News has sadly gone silent in recent years, thanks to its one-of-a-kind frontman's battle with Ménière's disease, which causes intermittent hearing loss. But a surprise new reissue campaign courtesy of Universal Music Group's Japanese division promises the most comprehensive look at the band's blockbuster catalogue of the '80s and early '90s.

Rick Wakeman spent much of the '80s and '90s recording instrumental albums that veered toward either classical or ambient, so 2003's Out There comes as a bit of a shock: it's an honest to goodness revival of the full-throttle prog rock Wakeman pursued on his solo albums in the '70s. A large part of this is due to his decision to form a full-fledged supporting rock band. Called the New English Rock Ensemble, they're a quintet led by Wakeman and featuring Damian Wilson on vocals, Ant Glynne on guitar, Lee Pomeroy on bass, and Tony Fernandez on drums and percussion. They're a powerful and skilled outfit, able to follow Wakeman's shifting tempos and moods with dexterity without ever losing sight of their forceful rhythmic core, which keeps this rock, not new age.

Originally formed as a side project towards the last couple of years of Motörhead by Phil Campbell, the former Motörhead guitarist of 32 years, the band decided to take it up a level and revealed the new name of Phil Campbell and the Bastard sons at Wacken Open Air 2016. A self-titled EP was released a few months later. Led by one of the genre’s most respected guitarists and completed by his sons Todd, Tyla and Dane the band emerged onto the 2017 touring circuit powered by a huge amount of good will, a smattering of Motörhead covers and a handful of new songs that crackled with passion and swagger. Landing themselves a prestigious support slot on Guns 'n' Roses 2017 summer stadium run, the Bastard sons hit the ground running.