CD: Neil Young with Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill

Canada's grizzled maverick unleashes epic double-disc splurge

We last heard from Young and Crazy Horse as recently as June, when they released the bizarre covers album, Americana. By contrast, Psychedelic Pill is a gargantuan helping of new material - the first released by Young with the band since 2003's Greendale - which sprawls across two CDs and manages to revisit virtually every familiar landmark of their collective history.

Hello Quo

HELLO QUO Again, again, again, again, again... The definitive Quo documentary

Again, again, again, again, again... The definitive Quo documentary

We currently seem to be awash with rockumentaries. The Rolling Stones have yet another retrospective out, while Friday night on BBC Four would not be complete without dusting off the back catalogue of some mid-table band once adored by some nice middle-aged folk unable to find a babysitter. Status Quo fare better than a BBC Four slot, if less well than Jagger & co's la-di-da London Film Festival airing, with their very own doc, Hello Quo, enjoying a brief cinema release before coming out on DVD.

CD: Titus Andronicus - Local Business

Literate rock from the New Jersey band you probably haven't already heard of

The concept album can be a tricky beast; Titus Andronicus’s 2010 epic The Monitor more so than most. How to follow up an album that loosely ties your frontman’s break-up to the American Civil War, complete with spoken-word interludes voiced by contemporary punk artists playing historical figures, in which rousing choruses bounce surprisingly out of 14-minute rock operas? The answer, as provided by Local Business, is that you don’t.

Ian Hunter, Shepherds Bush Empire

IAN HUNTER, SHEPHERDS BUSH EMPIRE Rolling back the years with the veteran Mott the Hoople frontman

Rolling back the years with the veteran Mott the Hoople frontman

Can a septuagenarian wear skinny trousers? It is not a question that I ask myself very often, but it was my first thought on seeing the frighteningly fit 73-year-old Ian Hunter stroll onstage at the Shepherds Bush Empire last night. Life in America clearly suits the Shropshire-born former frontman of Mott the Hoople, as he led a band young enough to be his children through a storming, age-defying 110-minute set.

The Gaslight Anthem, O2 Academy, Glasgow

New Jersey rockers go from strength to strength on their Handwritten tour

The Gaslight Anthem’s star has been in the ascendant for some time now - arguably since the release of their 2008 breakthrough record, The ’59 Sound. But nowhere has that change been more dramatic than in the evolution of their live shows. The Gaslight Anthem that commanded the stage in Glasgow last night was an altogether more confident, self-assured beast than the band that played the same venue in the summer of 2010.

Johnny Hallyday, Royal Albert Hall

JOHNNY HALLYDAY, ROYAL ALBERT HALL A full-bore, take-no-prisoners British headlining debut from French rock‘n’roll legend

A full-bore, take-no-prisoners British headlining debut from French rock‘n’roll legend

The Royal Albert Hall is pretty big. It's a prestige venue, but everything is relative. For the overwhelmingly French audience, the first British headlining show by Johnny Hallyday was the equivalent of seeing Paul McCartney, Tom Jones and Cliff Richard sharing a bill at the back room of the Dog & Duck.

Garland Jeffreys, Jazz Cafe

GARLAND JEFFREYS, JAZZ CAFE Lou Reed is a fan, but the great American chronicler of urban tension remains an industry outcast

Lou Reed is a fan, but the great American chronicler of urban tension remains an industry outcast

Garland Jeffreys, a 68-year old singer and songwriter, is not simply New York City’s best-kept secret but American’s music’s most consistently underrated and overlooked talent. Garland is a remarkable talent and his latest album, The King of In Between, is musical dynamite. Oddly, he has remained largely invisible in Britain for the past 40-plus years.

CD: Muse - The 2nd Law

The world's most brilliantly preposterous band set the amps to stun

Muse have spent their careers becoming Muse. With each album they have consolidated their most obvious influences – Radiohead, Queen, U2, various prog and metal, widescreen science fiction visions and paranoia on a global scale – more and more, until by the time of 2009's self-produced Resistance and its attendant sold-out stadium shows they stood completely alone as the world's most brilliantly preposterous band.

CD: P!nk - The Truth About Love

Contemporary pop-rock veteran blasts it at you like a firehose

It's hard to hear P!nk without thinking of the kind of “punks” that scowl in the corners of American high-school movies, possibly befriending some “nerds”, revealing a sensitive side, and/or standing up to a “jock” at some crucial point in the plot. Angst and outsiderdom with a predictable designated role to play within a regimented and ritualised ecosystem. None of which is a bad thing as such – teen movies can be great, and so can P!ink albums, if you're in the mood. Or drunk.