
The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, 1970
New on Popshifter this week: I strongly recommend Richard Crouse’s new book Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils; a concerned citizen lays down some rules on proper Facebook etiquette; Julie can’t find a song to dislike on Gemma Ray’s Island Fire; Emily deems The Very Best Of Vince Guaraldi and The Very Best Of The Bill Evans Trio as “essential” and praises Timi Yuro’s The Complete Liberty Singles as a “wonderful collection”; Paul explains why only hipsters hate hipsters; and Jemiah has good news for people who don’t know the difference between “grisly” and “grizzly” in her review of The Wrong Word Dictionary.

No Assemblog this week, folks. I’m going to be at FanExpo Canada all weekend. Dry your tears, Popshifter fans; I’ll be back next Friday. In the meantime, here are this week’s posts in case you missed them.
New this week on Popshifter: Chelsea compares fictional and real versions of Jean-Michel Basquiat in the movies; J Howell delves into the 20th Anniversary Edition of Los Lobos’ iconic album Kiko; and I review a few new releases: Maximo Park’s fun and frenetic The National Health, the retro rock riffs of Nude Beach’s II, and the wonderful Weird Wild World of Sleepies.
—Less Lee Moore, Managing Editor

Velvet Goldmine, 1998
New on Popshifter this week: reviews of the recently reissued Beginnings, Rick Springfield’s 1972 US debut album; Theresa Andersson’s latest album Street Parade; Beatles documentary Strange Fruit; The Apples in stereo’s Chris McDuffie’s solo release as Whitejacket, titled Hollows and Rounds; and The Ian Hunter Band’s Rockaplast concert on DVD.