AtoZ

It’s now a decade since the release of Bon Iver’s second album – a record that cemented the career of Justin Vernon and his band, following 2008’s For Emma, Forever Ago. There’s a striking sense of ambition here – it’s a considerably more experimental outing than its intimate predecessor, while the wide geographic sweep of its song titles, from “Perth”, to “Lisbon, OH”, captures some of the uprootedness of an artist thrown into global success. Included in this limited-edition reissue is an extended essay by Phoebe Bridgers, and five songs recorded live at AIR Studios. One of Vernon’s great gifts has always been his ability to remake songs live, and here is no different, finding elasticity and new texture in tracks from this album and the “Blood Bank” EP, including a heart-stirring cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”.

Extras: 7/10. Essay, live session tracks.

LAURA BARTON

A relatively late starter, Chapin was nearly 30 and working as a documentary film-maker when he released his debut album, and another eight followed over the next five years, all distinguished by a knack for shoehorning intriguing narratives into his songs. The highs and lows of family life inform the concise big hits “Cat’s In The Cradle”, “Flowers Are Red”, and “WOLD”, but lengthier LP tracks dig deeper into political fables (“The Mayor Of Candor Lied”), poverty (“What Made America Famous?”) and potted real-life histories (“Dance Band On The Titanic”). While not always on the receiving end of the critical plaudits enjoyed by other folk troubadours on Elektra, Chapin argued that his mainstream accessibility helped bring attention to the social issues activism that took up much