Some songs are like a time machine. You press play, and suddenly you’re somewhere else, some other time. Maybe it’s a smoky bar in the 1970s, a sweaty punk club in the 80s, or, in the case of “Oh Denise,” the new single from Ken Woods and The Old Blue Gang, a dusty dancehall on the outskirts of Austin, Texas, sometime in the not-too-distant past. The...

Right, so, Manchester's own Robert McGinty is back. "Reflections," they call it. Twelve classical instrumentals. Twelve! Like the apostles, but...less preachy, more piano-y. It's supposed to be uplifting and joyful, this album, a sequel of sorts, tracking his growth since the debut. Did you know the collective noun for owls is a parliament? Completely unrelated, I know, but owls are wise, and there's a...