*** The Catherine Wheel, “Wishville,” Columbia.

Part of the early-’90s advance guard of the later Brit-rock boom, the Catherine Wheel evolved from thick sheets of distorted guitars to an almost Floydian chill. Here, such examples as “Ballad of a Burning Man” carry the icy match of Rob Dickinson’s voice and Brian Futter’s stinging guitar along with Dickinson’s existential musings. But like similarly oriented Radio-head, there’s enough pop tightness to keep it all from being distancing.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.