Jeffrey Lee Pierce

The tragedy of the Gun Club's third album, The Las Vegas Story, is that it was largely ignored by both critics and fans due to the mixing and mastering disaster that marred its predecessor, Miami – an album that was full of great songs and performances but was so marred by poor sound that it sounded lifeless…

Though Black Pudding marks the first time that singer Mark Lanegan and multi-instrumentalist Duke Garwood have recorded together, it isn't the first time they've collaborated. The latter toured with the Gutter Twins, Lanegan's project with Greg Dulli. Garwood's name isn't as well-known to the general public as the singer's, but his reputation among musicians certainly is. He's worked with everyone from the Orb to Wire, from Wooden Wand to Sir Richard Bishop, from Josh T. Pearson to Kurt Vile. For those familiar with Lanegan's 2000s solo work, the moody nature of the material here will come as little surprise; let's face it, his voice is coated in darkness. That said, all but two of these songs – the lovely guitar instrumentals by Garwood that bookend the album – are co-writes. They range from spooky blues numbers such as "Pentacostal" and "Death Rides a White Horse," where the guitar is the primary instrument, to fractured, skeletal, nocturnal funk numbers such as "Cold Molly."

The 2011 box set rounds up Blondie's three latter-day comeback albums: No Exit, Livid, and The Curse of Blondie. This may not be Blondie's prime, but they had a strong comeback, and this is a good, wallet-friendly way to hear it all at once…