A handful of old friends are back next week after extended sabbaticals from the spotlight. Hypnotic electronic pioneer Thomas Dolby returns with The Sole Inhabitant on Invisible Hands Music, a live CD and DVD set from Boston and Chicago in 2006. Like a chef in a mad laboratory and dressed in steampunk headgear and a post-apocalyptic trench coat, the solo performance revisits his classics from the 1980s, including "Europa & the Pirate Twins," "Flying North," "She Blinded Me with Science" and "One of Our Submarines." Surprises and insights include mixing in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech into "The Flat Earth" and sharing with the audience the origins of the songs.

In their song "Old Salt Wells," the honky-tonk musicians of the Alkali Flats - based out of Sacramento, California - perform an up-tempo ode to the titular establishment, described in one of songwriter Tim White's lyrics as "the place where I first fell in love." It begins: "If you ever get the notion / That you'd like to see some motion / And you really wanna have yourself a ball / There's a roadside attraction / That'll give you satisfaction / They let it all hang out and that ain't all."

But if you're unsure about exactly what sort of roadside attraction the band is referring to, a subsequent introduction to its employees might help:

The eclectic, twice-yearly publication Esopus magazine has made an accompanying CD a nifty part of its presentation, with previous issues - and tunes - inspired by the dreams of their readers, Ouija-board experiences, the content of spam e-mail, and Craigslist personals. The new issue, number 10, aims its lens at something we all could use a little more of: good news. This time out, 12 recording artists answered the editor's call and crafted exclusive songs inspired by an uplifting article from the daily newspaper or TV. Highlights include Chris Rehm's anticipation of his federal stimulus check, Man Man's relief at the news of an on-the-mend Liza Minnelli, and Langhorne Slim's acoustic ditty about the recovery of stolen Edvard Munch paintings. Marnie Stern and Artificial Man were both moved by the same event: a window-washer falling more than 40 stories and surviving this past December. Other participants embracing the feel-good lure include Ryan Adams, Busdriver, The Real Tuesday Weld, and The New Pornographers' Neko Case and Carl Newman.

Better than an old Sears, Roebuck catalog nailed to the outhouse wall, the Bathroom Readers' Institute Press knows that sometimes a hearty morning constitutional goes better with reading material. So far they've printed nearly 20 volumes of their Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series, just releasing the latest: Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into Music. I feel sorry for big families if there's a music-trivia nut in the bunch, as the 516 pages are packed with factual frivolity, sure to keep the "occupied" sign up for a while. From nuggets about unsung heroes such as Motown's Funk Brothers to musical word origins to rockers who died young to the first record purchases of major stars to Cab Calloway's jive dictionary, this and a pack of matches might be the perfect gift for Uncle Stinky.