Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: A pair of Cure singles, one a classic from the 80s and the other more of a deep cut from the 1996 album Wild Mood Swings, caught here in the live arena on turned into two sides of a rather nifty 7" picture disc. 'The Walk' is one of the Crawley crew's most electronic moments, a Japanese-slanted retort to New Order's huge 'Blue Monday' single a more cynical observer might be moved to admit. It's immediately nevertheless one to transport you back to the lazer-peppered, smoke machine-swathed dancefloors of the era, with its concluding line "I remember everything" seeming particularly apt in hindsight. 'Mint Car', while less well known than many other Cure 45s, was nevertheless one of Robert Smiths' favourites. He, apparently, couldn't fathom out why it only charted in the low 30s when 'Friday I'm In Love' smashed the top ten. Perhaps the outbreak of utter cheeriness - "I really don't think it gets any better than this/vanilla smile and a gorgeous strawberry kiss" - was disconcerting considering the band's pretty much unrivalled reputation as the popes of mope, but its charms are undeniable and definitely due a restrospective reappraisal.

Review: As the playful title suggests, Transmission Impossible brings together a trio of Coldplay concert recordings which were originally captured for radio broadcast. CD1 takes us back to 2007 and a set from Buenos Aries heavy on early classics ('Yellow', 'Clocks', 'God Put a Smile On My Face', 'Fix You' etc.), while CD2 finds the Winchester band at UEA in Norwich in 2011, performing said classics alongside more tracks that turned them into global indie-pop superstars ('Mylo Xyloto', 'Viva La Vida'). Disc three, the most recent performance of the lot, dates from 2016 and includes, amongst its numerous highlights, soaring, stadium-sized takes on 'Paradise', 'Hymn for the Weekend' and Leonard Cohen classic 'Suzanne'.