From the bayou to Woodstock and back – the easygoing adventures of Bobby Charles. By John Mulvey.

Black And Blue UMC/POLYDOR

In 1976, the revolutionary singer-songwriter LAURA NYRO returned from self-imposed exile. But her comeback confounded expectations, shifting away from the impassioned intimacies of her early albums to embrace more radical perspectives. Fifty years on, Nyro’s collaborators revisit her striking second act. “She was a hip American from the Bronx,” one friend and producer tells Rob Hughes. “But her soul was old.”

Squeeze ’s songwriting duo are back in harness, toting a rock opera they wrote in the ’70s with an all-new album to come. Given their near-constant strife, it’s a miracle. But as they insist, “the thing that always brings us together is the songs…”

THE STARS REVEAL THE SONIC DELIGHTS GUARANTEED TO GET THEM GOING...

H.e.a.t frontman Kenny Leckremo on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him.