Irish singer Imelda May hangs out at the same intersection of rockabilly and swing where Brian Setzer parked his Cadillac in the late Nineties. Her third record places her rich, pouty voice inside coils of surf guitar and thumping stand-up bass, offering moments of violence (the title track) and seduction (the slinky striptease "All For You"). Throughout, she exudes the dangerous allure of a 1950s pulp pinup, the kind with racecar red lips and a dagger in her boot. But it's not all snarls and stilettos: "Kentish Town Waltz," with its promise that, "you're the one for all my life," goes for the heartstrings instead of the jugular. It's the perfect soundtrack for a greaser couples' first dance.

Listen to "Mayhem":

Related
• Random Notes, Rock's Hottest Photos

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."