Back catalogue: All genres

Review: It's hard to believe ABBA's third album is 50 years old this year and S.O.S. was one of the slef titled LP's most successful and distinctive moments. The song helped solidify the Swedish quartet's exciting blend of catchy pop and disco, as well as - absolutely true - providing the Sex Pistols with the intro for punk classic 'Pretty Vacant'. This period correct picture disc 7" celebrates one of their most iconic singles, backed with beloved album cut Man In 'The Middle' here.

Review: Abba's self-titled third album marked a creative and commercial turning point for the group; released in 1975, it was their first full-length following the breakthrough historic romance hit 'Waterloo', and the moment they cemented a sound that would dominate pop for years. Packed with high-drama hooks and refulgent production, the album of course also includes 'Mamma Mia' and 'SOS', both early experiments in the theatrical, harmony-rich style that would define the long-form productions of Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. With newly remastered audio cut at half-speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road, we've two new inclusions: kitsch singalong gem 'I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do' and glam-leaning opener 'So Long'.

Review: Mariah Carey's tenth studio album stages a triumphant reclamation, not just of her voice but her autonomyicreatively, emotionally, and professionally. Rooted in Atlanta's crunk renaissance and steeped in New York r&b melodrama, it cuts through the excess of early-2000s pop with a steely sense of control. 'It's Like That' sets the tone: sharp, percussive, almost defiant. But it's 'We Belong Together' that cements the comeback, all tightly-wound longing and near-whispered devastation, sounding like midnight heartbreak on Hot 97. Neptunes collaborations 'Say Somethin'' and 'To the Floor' stretch her sound into slicker, clubbier territory, but never lose grip. Even on the gospel closer 'Fly Like a Bird', she dials back the melisma, letting space and breath do the work. From the brushed-off dismissal of 'Shake It Off' to the midnight crawl of 'Mine Again', there's a considered minimalism throughoutirestraint not as limitation but as liberation. Freed from industry baggage and tabloid distortion, Carey reasserts herself with quiet mastery, sounding not just back but unbothered, undefeated and utterly in control.

Review: Either you weren't born, or Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms turning 40 this year will make you feel decidedly long in the tooth. It's an unquestionable landmark for one of the best-selling albums of all time. To mark the occasion, the London-formed band's fifth studio album is being reissued across a bunch of formats, with this five album box set including a full live set from their 1985 show in San Antonio, capturing Mark Knopfler, John Illsley, Alan Clark and Guy Fletcher in their stadium-filling prime. As for the album itself i well, the vastly emotive 'Brothers in Arms', fuzz guitar earworm 'Money for Nothing' and feelgood singalong 'Walk of Life' pretty much speak for themselves. Classic pop-rock, this is a must-have for Straits fans, and well worth a listen for anyone who happens to be uninitiated.

Review: Few albums define the 80s quite like this one. The band's fifth and - by far - most successful release at that point it's now celebrating its 40th anniversary with a fresh vinyl reissue, ironic considering the millions of CD players sold using it as an advert for the new format the the time. Opening with 'So Far Away', the album establishes its signature polished sound, blending Mark Knopfler's emotive guitar work with smooth, melancholic melodies. But it's 'Money for Nothing' that cemented Brothers in Arms as an 80s icon. Featuring Sting on backing vocals and driven by Knopfler's famous riff, the song skewers MTV culture while paradoxically becoming one of the decade's defining anthems. 'Walk of Life' brings a contrasting brightness, its upbeat keyboard melody making it an enduring favorite. The album also shows Knopfler's gift for storytelling, particularly on 'Your Latest Trick' and 'Why Worry', which balance pop sensibility with emotional depth. But it's the title track, 'Brothers in Arms', that delivers the most haunting momentiits atmospheric, war-torn balladry elevated by one of Knopfler's most stirring solos. The 40th-anniversary vinyl pressing gives new life to the album's lush production. One of the first fully digital recordings, Brothers in Arms benefits from the warmth and depth this analogue reissue brings, bringing out the richness of Knopfler's guitar tones and the album's expansive soundscapes. Four decades on, it remains an essential listenitimeless in both its musicianship and its message.

Review: Conan Gray revisits the corvine world of his 2020 debut, with three new bonuses as well as new cover art hand-drawn by Gray himself. Among them is 'Bed Rest', a previously unreleased song written during the original album sessions: Gray describes it as a time capsulate presciently mirroring his present state of mind, five years on. Then there're the two live versions: 'Heather (Lost Verse Version)' and 'The Cut That Always Bleeds', both of which provide subtle indication of the upward trajectory, though its maximal vintage pop stylings are kept intact . Kid Krow originally marked Gray's shift from bedroom pop phenom to breakout singer-songwriter; now the expanded edition lands beside a digital release, with physical preorders closing the loop on the very record that launched his career into orbit.

Review: Hozier's 'Take Me To Church' was the ineluctable indie pop staple of 2013, finding the Irish singer-songwriter explore gothic and religious themes, bringing a confessional feel to a tired relationship amid intrafaith discrimination. This was despite short shrift for Hozier himself, where at the time, Hozier's queerness unfairly barred him from full participation in life as an orthodox Catholic. With a turbulent music video complementing the song, Hozier's accompanying album was sure to ignite the sympathies and passions of many an indie rock fan, cementing the artist's career and earning him several nominations. This new reissue from UMR sheds light on that same moment over a full decade on.

Review: Ten years after their brilliant sophomore LP Smoke + Mirrors, rock-radio-ready roilers Imagine Dragons (once celebrated as, among many, the biggest band in the world) mark the occasion with a fresh vault of 14 previously unreleased demos from the sequent album's recording sessions. While the original showed off the band's dynamic range, securing them many a number-one spot, this collection offers a raw glimpse into the creative process of the LV power-pop rovers. Much less polished than official chartists might expect, we still note of the band's seemly evolution out of an already rather anachronistic early-10s EDM-plated sound, primed for radi-a and stadia alike. Many of these songs were written for the road, so it's interesting to hear, and/or imagine, what might've been if the band had followed these songs to their glossiest conclusions at the time.

Review: INXS have gone all in and hired the best in the business to provide a brand new stereo mix of their 1985 Listen Like Thieves album, namely Giles Martin and Paul Hicks, who have been remixing and remastering the Beatles back catalogue together. Ill content to let a better sounding album be enough of a package, the Australian 80s icons add previously unreleased sessions tracks, outtakes, demos and a live recording the BBC did at the Royal Albert Hall in 1986. Of the tunes on here, 'This Time' has a U2-esque stadium-filling atmosphere that is undeniably empowering. But it's also great hearing another, more stripped back side to the new wave icons and 'Kiss The Dirt' is a great place to start with this - you can hear a work in progress and let your imagination can fill in the gaps.

Review: Kendrick Lamar aka. K Dot is hip-hop's all-time crown-bearer for the 2010s. Last time we checked, the same was true for the 2020s too. Bridging both decades came To Pimp A Butterfly, which saw mammoth success upon its 2015 release. Though perhaps prematurely slapped with the "classic" label all too soon (and though this wasn't wrong), one good index of an all-time great album is the prevalence of affectionate initialisms among diehard fans: in no time at all, it became known as "TPAB". The Compton rapper had had a firm social conscience ever since the release of Section 80 and Good Kid, Mad City, and TPAB would continue to restitute the many racial and consumeristic ills of American society; unforgettably, a White House mutiny is depicted on the original front cover. Songs like 'I', 'Sing For Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst', 'King Kunta' and 'Institutionalized' revolutionised rap through every motif from G-funk bounce to freeform jazz. Now, after a recent Super Bowl Halftime Show backed by vexingly ironic American flags and pyrotechnics, we hear a newly emerged butterfly: Kendrick's meliorative flows and butterfly-effect cogitations resound with the utmost clarity on this grey UMR edition.

Review: Celebrating the tentth anniversary of a release that redefined the possibilities of hip-hop both as music and message, UMR share a brand new edition of Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly. Though a tanked camo butterfly now takes centre stage on the front cover, the tracklist remains unchanged; an unusual move for anniversary editions indeed, though perhaps the observation should be made that the sheer stylistic variety Kendrick offered us back in 2015 should keep us grateful well into the 21st Century. Besides, who'd want to tamper with the tracklist of a 10/10 record? They sure know how to keep the purists happy. From the explosive urgency of 'The Blacker the Berry' to the introspective poetry of 'u' and the cultural rallying cry of 'Alright', Lamar's vision remains as urgent and layered as ever.

Review: This 2017 remaster revisits Paul McCartney's 1989 return to critical favour i a release that saw the UK artist bridging new studio technology with classic songwriting craft. Working with Elvis Costello on several co-writes, and producers including Trevor Horn, Mitchell Froom and Steve Lipson, the record pulls in tight arrangements, layered instrumentation and a refreshed lyrical sharpness. Tracks like 'My Brave Face' and 'This One' pair bounce and brightness with detailed melodic phrasing, while deeper cuts like 'Don't Be Careless Love' and 'That Day Is Done' show a darker, more reflective register. The band lineup features long-time collaborators including Hamish Stuart, Robbie McIntosh and Chris Whitten, laying down solid, versatile performances across brass-led pop, mid-tempo ballads and soft rock with orchestral touches. It's a reissue that doesn't add much new material, but the pressing is clean and the Japanese-translated lyric booklet adds an archival touch. A sharply focused, musically rich snapshot of McCartney reasserting himself in the late 80s, with arrangements that still hold shape and detail decades on.

Review: The ill-fated Sex Pistols US tour of January 1978 has become as infamous and discussed as the band themselves, as it came at a time of rife turmoil between members whilst it was potentially beginning to dawn on them how out of place they were on their label, how inconsiderate and mismanaged they were being treated and how much more of a travelling circus show those in attendance were paying to see rather than genuinely caring for the music or message in the same manner of their homegrown fanbase. This exhaustion, frustration and evident burnout was all captured during these live performances, which after several semi-coherent releases have finally been isolated, properly sequenced and finally deliver the closest fly-on-the-wall experience to these implosive shows yet. Taken from their set at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, this is peak pissed off Pistols on the cusp of their ultimate breaking point. While the band are currently enjoying a celebratory jaunt with former Gallows vocalist Frank Carter replacing the MAGA man John Lydon, delivering the closest experience to the Never Mind The Bollocks era yet, those who'd rather not spend more than 100 quid on a ticket can now experience the authentic real thing from the comfort of their turntable.

Review: Phaedra is the fifth studio album by German electronic group Tangerine Dream, recorded in November 1973 at The Manor in Shipton-on-Cherwell, England, and released in 1974 through Virgin. An icier, tempoless departure for a band otherwise better recognised for their sequencer-led, soundtrack-bred sound, this was a hidden moulin for frost-drone fanatics, and a deviant pupil of the otherwise strict Berlin School. Despite receiving little to no airplay, Phaedra gained significant traction through word of mouth when it was released by a rather more hippified Richard Branson's fledgling Virgin label, eventually reaching number 15 on the UK Albums Chart and remaining on the charts for 15 weeks. Its long-form pieces, such as 'Sequent C' and 'Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares', represent an indifference to constraints of timing, instead washing over the ears as diachronic, swirling, crisp ice ambient smirrs.

Review: A decade has now passed since long-serving British DJ Pete Tong joined forces with arranger/conductor Jules Buckley to create covers of classic dance anthems with the help of the latter's expansive Heritage Orchestra collective. Since then, there have been countless concerts and albums - the latter frequently featuring vocal performances from high-profile artists. This tenth anniversary 'best of' collection is therefore welcome. There are some new standalone 'edits' of tracks previously featured on medleys - see 'Finally' (featuring Jessie Ware), 'Man With The Red Face', 'Yeke Yeke' and the sweeping, soaring 'Cafe Del Mar' - but otherwise you're getting fan favourites and familiar anthems, including tasty versions of Orbital's 'Belfast', Adamski's 'Killer' (featuring original singer and now superstar Seal), Joe Smooth's 'Promised Land' and Robert Miles' 'Children'.

Review: It's all gone... 2025 marks the decade since Pete Tong, folk-vernacular-approved DJ and radio tastemaker, joined forces with conductor Jules Buckley and The Heritage and The Essential Orchestra to reimagine electronic dance anthems through the grandeur of orchestration. Over the years, their redos have made club classics symphonic, purpled in a way few other reimaginers could beat. To celebrate, Pete has now curated a special anniversary compilation, with orchestral renditions of iconic tracks such as 'Pjanoo', 'Lola's Theme', 'Killer,' 'Insomnia', '9PM (Till I Come)', and 'Your Love'.