This literary movement built itself around underground jazz culture, which expressed liberation of body and soul. Inspired by jazzmen and hep cats, the Beat Generation hipsters rejected traditional values, embraced African-American musics, travelling, drugs, a free sex lifestyle as well as spirituality. Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and On the Road author Jack Kerouac launched the radical American counterculture that thrived in the 1960s and 1970s, leaving a tremendous mark on lifestyles, and on the world of arts and opinions — hippies and punks alike. In partnership with the Centre Pompidou on the occasion of the “Beat Generation” exhibition in Paris, the story of the Beat Generation is told by Bruno Blum in a 32-page booklet. PATRICK FRÉMEAUX

The Definitive Collection Review by Mark Deming
Shelby Lynne started her career as a promising mainstream country singer and today she's a critically respected and genre-defying singer/songwriter; charting the trajectory of her career isn't a simple matter, and Lynne's installment in Hip-O's The Definitive Collection isn't entirely successful in doing so, though it's still an admirably thorough look at her work to date. The Definitive Collection starts out with five tunes from Lynne's years with Epic and Morgan Creek, and on these songs one can almost hear the strain as she struggles against the cookie-cutter production and cut-rate songwriting that Nashville was foisting upon her, though the strength of her voice and soulful touch of her phrasing still shines through. Seven of the ten songs from 2000's I Am Shelby Lynne follow, and the difference is like night and day – not only is the production far more imaginative and sympathetic, but the songs (all written or co-written by Lynne) are smart, heartfelt, and personal in a way her previous work had never been.

The Seminal 1986 Album Revisited And Expanded. Curated, Remastered And Re-Designed By The Laibach Organisation. Complete With 2 X Cds Of Live Versions Of 'Nova Akropola' Songs From The Band's Own Archive. Vital Sleevenotes By Alexei Monroe. Few bands stand apart from the crowd as distinctly as Laibach. Their idiosyncratic outlook and philosophy were formed against the backdrop of post-Soviet socialism in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the band has continued to follow an individual, often controversial path for over forty years, taking them into places few other artists dare to go. Originally released by Cherry Red in 1986, 'Nova Akropola' ('The New Acropolis') remains a masterpiece of politically-informed industrial expression, and signalled the beginning of Laibach's breakthrough onto the international scene, at a time when restrictions imposed on them in their homeland were beginning to be lifted. Curated, remastered and designed by the band and their organisation, this new 3CD edition includes two discs of vital live recordings of 'Nova Akropola' songs spanning the years 1985 to 2021, captured in England, Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia. Packaged in new artwork and accompanied by brilliant sleevenotes from cultural theorist Alexei Monroe, author of 'Interrogation Machine' and associate of the band, this new edition demonstrates the longevity of both the songs and the philosophy behind them, and is a vital new addition to Laibach's catalogue.