Fifty years on from their explosive debut single “New Rose”, THE DAMNED have evolved from punk pioneers to national treasures. But as a new album pays tribute to Brian James, their fallen co-founder, bandmates Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies – along with sundry eyewitnesses and ne’erdo-wells – recall the volatile beginnings, creative vision and incorrigible spirit of The Damned’s groundbreaking first act. “It was CID, villains and the Captain in a nurse’s outfit,” hears Peter Watts

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

Mike Patton and the Avett Brothers join forces to create a work of immense beauty.

Inside the US singer-songwriter’s path from early DIY explorations to modern country-folk force

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.”