Although the sound quality is slightly boxy, the opening track on CBGB’s 1985 is a treat. “Gardens” is on a line between first-album Rain Parade and Unhalfbricking-era Fairport Convention, it’s hard to tell from this live album whether Rochester, New York’s Absolute Grey – grey, not gray – caught the attention of their subdued-seeming Manhattan audience four decades ago while playing NYC’s prime roots-level venue. Now, though, it’s clear “Gardens” is top-drawer folk rock-inclined psychedelia which demands instant attention.

Last night's BBC Prom was a celebration – of 40 years since the release of Paul Simon’s triumphant album Graceland in August 1986. Before long, the celebration had morphed into a dance-along, with the fully populated arena of the Royal Albert Hall bobbing and swaying, spurred into movement by the stylish choreography of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. And by the time we got to the final number in the programme, “You Can Call Me Al”, the dance-along had blossomed further into a joyous sing-along. 

VINYL OF THE MONTH

John R Miller The Great Unknowing (Rounder)

A few years ago, Camp Bestival felt like a charming, quietly eccentric affair, fairly small in the best sense, especially set beside the giants of the British festival calendar. Curated as ever by its founder Rob da Bank and held in the grounds of Lulworth Castle on Dorset's Jurassic Coast, it has grown into something that feels much bigger and even more beloved: a multi-award-winning family institution. But the essential character holds.

There is a jovial intensity about the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio. As they launch vivaciously into the second set of their visit to a packed Ronnie Scott's, they clearly enjoy playing together, as the many smiles and expressions of delight they exchange on stage make blatantly clear. There is a relentlessness, though, as if they’d allowed themselves to be a little too possessed by their virtuosity and high volume. 

“She said her life was like a motorway… dull, grey, and long.” The lyrics of “Like a Motorway,” from Saint Etienne’s February 1994 album Tiger Bay see the titular highway negatively, signifying a life defined by a prolonged drabness.

The only break in the flow comes just before the last song, “Toppling.” There’s a need to tune the guitar, so what – until this point – is an uninterrupted, pell-mell rush through what seems to be seven other songs is briefly halted.

You can tell what a festival believes in by where the crowds crush the hardest. At Latitude, it's in the forest for the up-and-coming acts, the Listening Post for the poetry and the Waterfront Stage for the ballet – as much as the main stages, sometimes more.

FRIDAY 24 JULY, by Guy Oddy

The reappearance of Gloria Mundi’s I, Individual is a surprise. Most of what related to UK punk – however tangentially – over 1977 and 1978 has been reissued, and has often been around the houses multiple times. But, until now, Gloria Mundi have escaped the attention of those recycling this aspect of the past.

I, Individual was Gloria Mundi's first album, originally issued on 7 July 1978. The band were live circuit regulars from late 1976 and split in 1980 after a second, very different, album which came out in October 1979.