If you're the sort of person who enjoys watching classic concert films and music documentaries (and let's face it, you're reading Sound+Vision, so I'm pretty sure you are), you probably wouldn't mind having access to a big archive if such things, available from wherever you are on almost any device.
SHAKIRA. The English-language Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 (Epic; Music ••••, Sound ••••) is the sequel to the all-Spanish FijaciÓn Oral, Vol. 1 - but aside from two overlapping songs, it's a different Shakira entirely. The Spanish set was a lush and relatively subdued pop disc; the follow-up is wildly and creatively multicultural.
The Velvet Underground: "one of the most unique bands of the 1960s." Syd Barrett: "one of the most unique talents to surface from the 1960s underground music scene." Kate Bush: "one of the most unique artists in British musical history." Queen: "perhaps the most unique band in the history of rock music." Such is the slant of your opening line of narration
We can live with the current album by GORILLAZ, Demon Days (Virgin). At least there are real artists behind this fake band - er, "virtual hip-hop group." Here, Damon Albarn, once again taking a Blurman's holiday, replaces Dan the Automator with Danger Mouse, he of The Grey Album.
I've said it once in these pages, and I'll say it again: SANTANA's self-titled third album, a.k.a. Santana III (gatefold below), is the best thing they've ever done. Columbia/Legacy has reissued the 1971 album once, and now they've done it again, making it a two-disc Legacy Edition.
"Four Dead in O-HI-O." "Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 1970s." "We got a kinder, gentler machine-gun hand." "Time is runnin' out, let's roll." "I'm living with war every day." Neil Young has never been one to pull punches either socially or politically.