Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: Tom Waits's Closing Time turns a hard-to-believe 50 years old in 2023 and as such gets the usual special reissue treatment. This indie-only clear vinyl version comes half-speed mastered for extra loudness and clarity so is the best possible way to listen to the landmark album. It is one that for the first time shows a real blend of the jazz, blues, and folk styles that Waits would eventually become so well known for. It also includes his famous cover of 'Ol' 55', singles like the heartbreaking 'Martha' and delightful acoustic folk of 'I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You.' This is the first time this album has been reissued as a double, so do not sleep.

Review: Waxahatchee is emerging, butterfly like, from a cocoon that has kept her safe for most of her career. There was nothing ugly or hidden about Katie Crutchfield's older output. But it was intimate, quiet, thoughtful, vulnerable and, at times, almost a little nervous. At least some of those adjectives became irrelevant with the last LP, Saint Cloud, and now she follows up that ten-foot-tall 2020 triumph with Tigers Blood, continuing in a similar vein. Having significantly increased the size of her audience with the preceding, infinitely rousing record, Crutchfield simultaneously looks to please those newcomers and win even more over here. The tracks are similarly open armed, proud and accessible, but the razor sharp songwriting - dealing with everything from trying to stay still without being bored, to self doubt - has lost none of its impact, and the instrumental arrangements have arguably never been stronger.