Beggars Banquet Vinilo y CD

Review: The Fall's tenth album, like pretty much all the others, was met with a mixed critical response, but as well as containing one of the band's only two Top 40 UK singles - their cover of 'Victoria' by The Kinks, executed with a sideways swipe at the Victorian values of the Thatcher-led Tory government of the time - it's also got a stack of tracks that have grown to be Fall fan favourites. 'Carry Bag Man', autobiographical in a pretty loose sense, is compulsive and hilarious. The tight and taut glam stomp meet Krautrock drive of 'Bremen Nacht', complete with scraping violins and honking saxes, is about as good as the band gets in this particularly purple patch of their lengthy career. 'Athlete Cured' , as well as containing the priceless line "an odour resembling hot dogs / permeated his whole room", is all rockabilly aggression re-routed through synth drums and Moog washes, is essential Fall too.
As if that weren't enough, this re-issue package comes with a whole host of additional delights, including their biggest hit 'Ghost In My House', the electro hybrid anthem 'Hit The North', four radio session tracks, and their cover of The Beatles' 'A Day In The Life', previously only available on an NME charity album. Far from being a Fall completist's dream - they will probably have everything on here anyway - this is actually a brilliant place to start discovering one of the most important and delight-inducing bands of the past half decade.

Review: Original Bauhaus front man Peter Murphy made some excellent solo albums between the mid 1980s and 1990s, a five of which were recently reissued on vinyl by Beggars Banquet. To finish off the campaign, they've decided to offer up this compilation of rare demo tracks, remixes and radio edits. There's plenty to enjoy across the set, with our highlights including the goth-goes-indie-dance goodness of 'Final Solution (Club Mix 2)', the mid-80s Bowie-esque 'I've Got a Miniature Camera', the ambient pop masterpiece that is 'Jemal (Version 2)' and spine-tingling acapella cut 'Cool Cool Breeze'.

Review: The Charlatans self-titled fourth album gets a lovely yellow make over for this reissue on Beggars Arkive. It's the first time for over 20 years new copies of this landmark album have been pressed, and Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road has taken care of the excellent mastering. The original release date was in 1995, and the album was the most ambitious of the band's career with plenty of number ones included along the way. The most successful of these of course was 'Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over'. It's a real piece of classic 90s indie that will always sound good.

Review: First released in 1985, Love was the second studio album by the many-faced English band The Cult, the follow up to their debut Dreamtime, and most notably, the one that included their breakthrough singles 'She Sells Sanctuary' and 'Rain'. At this point in their career, the band's M.O. was still goth rock - the all out pop-laced metal of the Rick Rubin-produced Electric album was still a couple of years off - meaning walls of whammied guitar and confident, roomy vocals characterise its sound.

Review: The Cult's self-titled album (nicknamed Black Sheep to the band's devoted fanbase) is from 1994, just before they broke up for the first time. Apparently, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy recorded their musical contributions in different sessions - not that you'd know it hearing this cohesive, clear-sighted expression of early 90s rock, a detectable grooviness sneaking in among riffs and vocals. Establishing the band and preparing the way for the hits that followed soon after on Love and the unashamedly AC/DC-esque Sonic Temple, the LP also reportedly includes some of Astbury's most personal lyrics.