Some of the famous men praised may be predictable (Jagger / Richards, Dylan, Reed) but with a mixture of traditional numbers and assorted faves, Chan re-organises each into the bitterest of sweetnesses.

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Only during Wild Is The Wind does Chan struggle underneath the historical weight of the song, resulting in a by-numbers recitation of the Nina Simone standard. But everywhere else, she shows herself to be a masterful interpreter, beating a clear path to the inspiration of the You Are Free a few years later.

Making all other covers albums sound like the exercises in stalling and contract fulfilling they really are, the only question remains is will the ever-unpredictable Chan keep to the Don't Look Back script. All bets are currently off.

Expect similar lack of activity at your local turf accountant at the likelihood of the an ex-Calvin Klein model not yelling BELLBOTTOMS like Screamin' Jay Hawkins at the witching hour come September 21st.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's Orange (Koko, Wednesday 21st September) was the band's third honest-to-gosh long player on Matador back in 1994. Hailing from the Exile On Main Street-worshipping NY noize band Pussy Galore Jon Spencer kick-started the Blues Explosion in 1991 with guitarist Judah Bauer and drummer Russell Simins.

Rescuing the blues from beer-commercial hell a good deal earlier than Jack and Meg White, Spencer 's super-charged goofball rock'n'roll and his Big Bopper-on-Viagra growl were just getting into its stride when Orange was released to growing critical appreciation. Flat-out party guitars and none of the self-immolation of Grunge or the spandex sheen of G'n'R, Orange saw The Blues Explosion as Huey, Duey and Luey to Keef's Mickey Mouse.

With strings straight outta Sigma Sound (Bellbottoms) and a guest rap from Beck (Flavour) not all of Orange's baroque touches will be necessarily reproducible live, but Spencer & Co are promising some special 'mixes' for this one-off show. Best catch him now. He is the son of Sister Ray after all.

And returning to remind us that love will get you like a case of anthrax, come the name-drop band du jour, the original King / Gill / Burnham / Allen line-up of Leeds post-punkers Gang Of Four. On the eve of an American tour the band take time-out give their first album Entertainment! (Barbican, Saturday 24 September) a full public airing.

Though the oppositional neo-Marxist politics have been left on the filter paper when bands like Franz Ferdinand and The Kills have nit-picked for sounds, styles and poses, the Gang Of Four's uptight take on funk has found its way into the tense bass-lines of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and are now feted by all alleged seditionists from Bono to Michael Stipe.

Garlands aside, Entertainment is as firm a record of the disquiet of the increasingly marginalised left of the early '80s as can be found outside of Tariq Ali's memoirs. With lines predicting that 'guerrilla warfare is the new entertainment' and 'repackaged sex keeps your interest', the quartet also specialised in JG Ballard-style prescience. But perhaps Entertainment's greatest returned gift is being single-handedly responsible for provoking the word 'angular' into the Music Hack Thesaurus (1982 and 2004 editions).

Ah, Belle and Sebastian. The masters of expressing teenage angst, even though they were well beyond that phase when If You're Feeling Sinister (Barbican, Sunday 25 September) was released in 2000. Take Seeing Other People. "We lay on the bed there/ kissing just for practice / could we please be objective? / Cause the other boys are queuing up behind us...".

Why is Stuart Murdoch's wispy voice even appealing? How do they create their strange little tunes, with unlikely rhythms and odd lyrics, so that they stick like limpets in your brain? And why isn't that annoying? And is it true that their trumpet tunes, injected into songs like bursts of sunlight, are the best of any band? Well, if you haven't got a ticket already it may be too late as the performance of Murdoch & Co's early meisterwerk sold out early on. (HW)

After spending much of the spring touring Europe with Jello Biafra, The Melvins bring their unforgiving pummel to Koko's sound system. Another grateful, if temporary, beneficiary of the success of Nirvana, Houdini (Koko, Tuesday 4 October) was The Melvins first album of three for major label Atlantic. It also represented something of a shift for this Washington state trio of King Buzzo, Dale, and a bassist called Lorax who just happened to be the daughter of Shirley Temple.

Though the Sabs-like metal furnace is all present and correct on tracks like Copache and Night Goat, Houdini is host to less ear-worrying textures. Pearl Bomb is all onamatapeiacally sustained menace, while final track Spread Eagle Beagle's dives gleefully headfirst into the avant-garde. Gig-goers attending on pure word-of-mouth might think the in-house janitors and the roadies have teamed-up to jam halfway through this 10-minute epic of the sounds of industrial site clearance.

Hovering benevolently over this festival is the ghost of the one the noise gods saw fit to call Kurt Cobain. Fans should note that Cobain contributed guitar licks to Sky Pup, and 'additional percussion' to the aforementioned Spread Eagle Beagle.

Another spirit hovering over the festival, although possibly less benevolently is, still alive and well, Steve Albini. His 1999 produced album, The Dirty Three's Ocean Songs (Barbican, Wednesday 5 October) begins the second Don't Look Back double-bill. Ocean Songs represented the Melbourne-formed trio's second album for European label Bella Union.

As famous for their collaborations / guest-spots with artists such as Nick Cave and Will Oldham, as they are for their own material, Mick Turner, Warren Ellis and Jim White's mournful parade should be the downtempo highlights (if that's the word) of the whole series.

Lacking a vocalist in the strictest sense doesn't stop Warren Ellis's eloquent violin speaking volumes about lost dreams and the heavy-hearted solace of continual travel. Long-form circumspections Authentic Celestial Music and Deep Waters will make you wish the Barbican had a skylight.

Ending the series on an appropriate low note is the performance of Sophia's The Infinite Circle (Barbican, Wednesday 5 October). Essentially the work of ex-God Machine mainman Robin Proper-Sheppard, The Infinite Circle was Sheppard's first recorded output since the sudden death of his bass-playing partner Jimmy Fernandez. Bleak tracks like Woman, and Bastards will make the rest of the Don't Look Back festival sound like the soundtrack from Hair.

If, as seems likely, Don't Look Back is successful, All Tomorrow's Parties organisers Hogan and Cottage are looking to turn the idea into an annual event. Good news is that ATP are open to suggestions. However, advocates of such magnum opus as Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet or MC Hammer's Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em might be wise to look elsewhere.

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