Flim And The Bb's* New Pants

Weighing in at 19 tracks, Repertoire's 2005 collection Ayla: The Best of Flash and the Pan is the most generous compilation yet assembled of Harry Vanda and George Young's impish post-Easybeats new wave creation, Flash and the Pan. Not only is it four tracks longer than the previous best F&P comp, 1994's plainly titled Collection, but it's more carefully assembled too, boasting good liner notes from Chris Welch and eye-catching comic book artwork. If F&P didn't have any other song as immediate or memorable as "Hey St. Peter," their gloriously ridiculous new wave novelty, they did have a number of good oddities and robotic new wave pop before sinking into coldly slick anthemic pop at the end of the decade.

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.

John Foxx And The Maths return with a new line-up on their 5th studio album, Howl. Former Ultravox guitarist Robin Simon joins Foxx, Benge (Ben Edwards) and Hannah Peel after previously guesting with The Maths at their debut Roundhouse show in 2010.The Maths have created an album of dark, writhing glamour. Opener My Ghost sounds like haunted static in a cold wind, the title track is a twisted glam-punk celebration of ‘the outsider’ who leaves the fringes to make himself visible, while Foxx switches to a sinister Ferry-esque croon on Tarzan And Jane Regained.