Blu-ray: Ingmar Bergman Vol 3

A box set surveys the relentless darkness of Bergman's 1960s films

The release of each box-set in the BFI’s Blu-ray four-volume collection of Ingmar Bergman films is a delight. Volume 3 provides some of the Swedish master’s essential works.

Music Reissues Weekly: Trip On Me - Soft Psych & Sunshine

TRIP ON ME - SOFT PSYCH & SUNSHINE A groovy world where harmonies and good vibes ruled

A window into groovy world where harmonies and good vibes ruled

The Candy Company. Evergreen Tangerine. The Lollipop Fantasy. The Pretty People. The Primrose Circus. “It's a Groovy World.” “Meadows and Flowers.” “Summer Flower (She's on my Mind).”

Music Reissues Weekly: Catch-A-Fire - Treasure Isle Ska, Top Ranking DJ Session

Unearthed - Jamaica’s impact on the music of punk and post-punk Britain

Two snapshots of Jamaica’s music, each catching styles associated with specific periods. The two CDs of Catch-A-Fire - Treasure Isle Ska (1963-1965) collects 47 tracks originally issued by Arthur ‘Duke’ Reid’s Duke Reid, Dutchess and Treasure Isle labels. Top Ranking DJ Session Volumes 1 & 2 is titled after two vintage compilations – the double CD compiles 44 tracks recorded by Joe Gibbs over 1977 to 1979.

Carolee Schneeman: Body Politics, Barbican review - challenging, in-your-face and messy

★★★★ CAROLEE SCHNEEMAN: BODY POLITICS, BARBICAN Challenging, in-your-face and messy

By putting herself in the picture, especially nude, Schneeman upset almost everyone

Life is messy and so is Carolee Schneeman’s work. She wanted it that way. Breaking down the barriers between art and life, between inhabiting a woman’s body and using it as primal material, was a key objective.

Music Reissues Weekly: The Sons of Adam - Saturday's Sons: The Complete Recordings 1964-1966

THE SONS OF ADAM Saturday's Sons: The Complete Recordings 1964-1966

Definitive, long-overdue collection of the Sixties California garage punks

 “We played the Rolling Stones concert at Long Beach Arena. The Stones came on, and it was the first time that any band had ever done better than us. I was very angry about that.” Randy Holden was The Sons of Adam’s guitarist. He was pretty certain of his own band’s impact in November 1964.

Blu-ray: Desire / All My Good Countrymen - Two films by Vojtěch Jasný

★★★★★ BLU-RAY: DESIRE / ALL MY GOOD COUNTRYMEN - TWO FILMS BY VOJTECH JASNY A distinctive director’s take on post-war Czech life

A distinctive director’s take on post-war Czech life

Hailed by Miloš Forman as “the spiritual father of the Czech New Wave”, Czech film director Vojtěch Jasný’s long career began in the early 1950s and spanned five decades. All My Good Countrymen (Všichni dobří rodáci), based on a screenplay originally written by Jasný in 1956, was released in 1968 and won him a Best Director award at Cannes a year later.

Music Reissues Weekly: The Swinging Blue Jeans - Feelin’ Better Anthology 1963-1969

THE SWINGING BLUE JEANS - FEELIN' BETTER ANTHOLOGY 1963-1969 Go-gettin' Merseybeat

There’s more to the Merseybeat go-getters than ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’

In late August 1962, Liverpool’s Swinging Blue Genes were booked to play Hamburg’s Star-Club for the first time. At the opening show of their season, they were booed and the curtain was pulled across them. The audience took against their mix of skiffle and trad jazz. A musical rethink was needed.

Music Reissues Weekly: Lou Reed - Words & Music, May 1965

LOU REED - WORDS & MUSIC, MAY 1965 Pre-Velvet Underground recordings emerge from shadows

Mind-boggling Velvet Underground-presaging recordings emerge from the shadows

Lou Reed went to the Baldwin, New York post office on 11 May 1965 to mail himself a five-inch reel-to-reel tape with 11 recording of songs he had written. The sealed package was registered and stamped, and also signed with that date by a local Notary Public, Harry Lichtiger – a partner at Baldwin’s Nassau Chemists.

Music Reissues Weekly: The Telstar Story, The Heinz Sessions Vol. 1

THE TELSTAR STORY, THE HEINZ SESSIONS VOL 1 Bounteous yield from Joe Meek’s for-real legendary ‘Tea Chest Tapes’

Bounteous yield from Joe Meek’s for-real legendary ‘Tea Chest Tapes’

“Telstar” was released 60 years ago this week. On 17 August 1962, British record buyers could purchase the second single by The Tornados, a band whose claim to fame until then was being Billy Fury’s back band – their March 1962 debut 45 was fittingly titled “Love and Fury.”

Where the Crawdads Sing review - picturesque film glosses over its darker themes

★★ WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING Delia Owens's bestseller gets a lightweight movie makeover

Delia Owens's bestseller gets a lightweight movie makeover

Derived from Delia Owens’s massively successful novel, Where the Crawdads Sing is the story of Kya Clark, a girl from an abusive, broken home in the North Carolina marshlands who raises herself almost single-handedly. The few people she encounters during her strange, isolated development from battered girlhood into a fragile young adult dismiss her mockingly as “Marsh Girl”.