Revelation For Personal Use

"Breathtakingly beautiful", "magical", "epic", "magnificent" and "instantly memorable" were among the words used in reviews of her much applauded comeback album "Rocks & Straws" from 2015, her first in 10 years. Brimming with memorable melodies, subtle arrangements, evocative lyrics, strong musicianship and a vital album production, it showed a mature and confident artist moving in a somewhat surprising direction, given her background in electronic music with Bel Canto, Röyksopp and her first solo efforts. It would be no mean feat to follow up the huge artistic success of "Rocks & Straws", but to our ears "Revelation For Personal Use" is an improvement on all accounts. It is also very much a follow-up, an ode to her native town and region, and again with all the songs being based on lyrics by local cult poet Arvid Hanssen and translated to English by artist and writer Roy-Frode Løvland.

The best album of Loudon Wainwright III's career, History features a mix of the humorous and the serious, the autobiographical and the observational, the rockin' and the balladic, all wrapped up in some classy arrangements. There is a mood of personal reflection hanging over the entire proceeding, inspired by the death of Wainwright's father, a noted American writer and editor. "People in Love" kicks the whole thing off with one of Wainwright's trademark observations on the perils of love. On "Men," the singer quietly discusses the whys and wherefores of male behavior, while "The Picture" is a musical reflection on a picture of Loudon and his sister taken 40 years earlier (and reproduced inside the CD booklet).

Whatever the reason that Betty Davis' Is It Love or Desire – also known as Crashin' from Passion – remained unreleased until 2009 no longer matters. Davis remembers a personal rift with Island's Chris Blackwell. Studio In the Country manager Jim Bateman (in Bogalusa, LA) claims the studio was never paid and therefore refused to release the masters to Island, etc. It makes no difference, because hearing this album, a ten-song set that was to be.

Director Sacha Gervasi's 2012 Alfred Hitchcock biopic was less of a proper biography and more of a breakdown of the events leading up to the release of 1959's Psycho. Composer Danny Elfman's elegant score reflects that sense of minutia, offering up a scant 38 minutes of material, much of which clocks in at under a minute. Elfman's signature blend of dread, whimsy, and mischief serves the tone of the story well, and while it may not be as stocked with memorable themes as some of his better-known works, it dutifully conveys the pathos, unpredictability, and humor of its source material.