Badly Drawn Boy - Have You Fed The Fish Cd on XL Recordings
Date Of Release 2002.
Placing more emphasis on guitars than on 2000's Mercury Music Prize winning 'The Hour Of Bewilderbeast', 'Have You Fed The Fish?' is unusual in so far as it combines maturity with ingenuity, resulting in an album that boasts few antecedents. Take 'You Were Right' for example (the first single to be released from the album). Perhaps the finest song Damon's yet produced, he attempts to comprehend his new-found lifestyle ("This album was started in January, then I took a break for Oscar, my second child, to arrive in March and then returned to LA") by flipping, unexpectedly, from humour to pathos, lamenting the deaths of Jeff Buckley, Frank Sinatra and Kurt Cobain. 'How', in many ways the album's centrepiece ('How can I give you the answers you need when all I possess is a melody'), is composed of two songs in one; it's the sort of track that buskers will try to emulate and fail, oblivious to the fact that Badly Drawn Boy's a one-off. 'Have You Fed The Fish?', for its part, begins like the soundtrack to a '30s horror film before making its mark in more amorous terrain ('The keys to your heart open the door to the world/You've got to give me two days and, woman, I'll make you a girl'), while the nimble 'Using Our Feet' could easily have slotted straight onto Bowie's 'Young Americans'.
'...the badly drawn fella has delivered up another gloriously lopsided modern classic. An album to grow up with. An album to fall in love with. Or, for that matter and even better, to fall in love to...Genius confirmed. Over and out' - Uncut
Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson Cd on Mobile Fidelity
Date of Release 1971.
Nilsson had a hit, a Grammy, and critical success, yet he still didn't have a genuine blockbuster to his name when it came time to finally deliver a full-fledged follow-up to Nilsson Sings Newman, so he decided it was time to make that unabashed, mainstream pop/rock album. Hiring Streisand's producer Richard Perry as a collaborator, Nilsson made a streamlined, slightly domesticated, unashamed set of mature pop/rock, with a slight twist. This is an album, after all, that begins by pining for the reckless days of youth, then segues into a snapshot of suburban disconnectedness before winding through a salute to and covers of old R&B tunes ("Early in the Morning" and "Let the Good Times Roll," respectively), druggie humor ("Coconut"), and surging hard rock ("Jump Into the Fire"). There are certainly hints of the Nilsson of old, particularly in his fondness for Tin Pan Alley and McCartney melodicism — as well as his impish wit — yet he hadn't made a record as cohesive as this since his first time out, nor had he ever made something as shiny and appealing as this. It may be more accessible than before, yet it's anchored by his mischievous humor and wonderful idiosyncracies. Chances are that those lured in by the grandly melodramatic "Without You" will not be prepared for either the subtle charms of "The Moonbeam Song" or the off-kilter sensibility that makes even his breeziest pop slightly strange. In short, it's a near-perfect summary of everything Nilsson could do; he could be craftier and stranger, but never did he achieve the perfect balance as he did here.
1.    Gotta Get Up (Nilsson) - 2:24
2.    Driving Along (Nilsson) - 2:05
3.    Early In The Morning (Bartley/Hickman/Jordan) - 2:52
4.    The Moonbeam Song (Nilsson) - 3:24
5.    Down (Nilsson) - 3:26
6.    Without You (Evans/Ham) - 3:22
7.    Coconut (Nilsson) - 3:54
8.    Let the Good Times Roll (Lee) - 2:46
9.    Jump Into The Fire (Nilsson) - 7:07
10.  I'll Never Leave You (Nilsson) - 4:22

Feeder - Comfort In Sound Cd on Echo
Date of Release 2002.
If you felt Feeder’s last LP ‘Echo Park’ was a progression for the group…
Once indie-stalwarts and now showing heavily promising signs that they’re willing to make the convergence into the rock super-league and knock around the likes of Foo Fighters and the Manics as contemporaries, it’s only a shame that Feeder’s rapid advancement in music has been shifted along by the untimely suicide of their drummer, Jon Lee. With a credit to his name on the artwork, and lyrics orientating on the effect caused by his passing, now guitarist and singer Grant Nicholas and bassist Taka Hirose are moving on, triumphantly.
Thus, essentially, where ‘Comfort In Sound’ most notably scores accolade is the fact that it’s a collection of individually strong tracks – 12 of ‘em, to be precise – with enough dreamy variation between cranking it up into deformed overdrive and composing it to a fine series of downbeat-gems. You’d have already heard first single to be lifted from the record – the searing ‘Come Back Around’ – but ranked alongside the similarly sweat-inducing, up-tempo numbers as ‘Helium’ or fuzz-distortion, SOAD-adoring ‘Godzilla’, and you’re faced with correspondingly compelling speaker-killers.
But, when the vehicle veers off the beaten track and dwindles in a melancholy country-pace (‘Quick Fade’), injects swirling synths (the title-track) or features Nicholas crooning gently, ‘Close your eyes and drift away to somewhere still’ within ‘Child In You’, you’d be forgiven for wondering what happened to a band that once brought forward such straightforward, feel-good sound-bites as ‘Just A Day’ or ‘Seven Days In The Sun’. The affair would almost be too challengingly soft if it were not for the moody ‘Summer’s Gone’ or brooding drum-machine, harmonic-guitar pouting likes of ‘Moonshine’, whilst the anthemic ‘Find The Colour’ is akin to one of their former finest moments, ‘High’, the Coldplay chords and strings of ‘Love Pollution’ dazzling to similar effect.
The album-name says what we’re all in for, really, and the music itself is bravely open and immediately reaching at all times. How Feeder have matured and risen to such a fine stature in one giant swoop may seem one of the world’s latest, greatest, new wonders, but when the overall outcome is as scintillating and warm as this, such a matter seems trivial to consider; let’s anticipate a persistently improving development from here on in – and better times for Nicholas and Hirose alike.
Bush - Sixteen Stone Cd on Trauma/Interscope
Date of Release 1994.
Bush's grunge-by-the-numbers is certainly well produced. Under the guidance of Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley — the kings of early-'80s British pop — Bush turns in an album that follows all the rules and sounds of American hard rock, specifically Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Their songwriting isn't original, nor is it particularly catchy. What makes "Everything Zen" and "Little Things" memorable is the exact reproduction of all of Nirvana's trademarks, only with a more professional execution — in other words, all the guitars keep rhythm perfectly and Gavin doesn't shred his throat when he sings, he projects from his diaphragm. As far as pop craftmanship goes, it's actually quite impressive. It would be even more so if they had songs to accompany their sounds.
01.   Everything Zen (Rossdale) - 4:38
02.   Swim (Rossdale) - 4:55
03.   Bomb (Rossdale) - 3:22
04.   Little Things (Rossdale) - 4:24
05.   Comedown (Rossdale) - 5:26
06.   Body (Rossdale) - 5:42
07.   Machinehead (Rossdale) - 4:16
08.   Testosterone (Rossdale) - 4:19
09.   Monkey (Rossdale) - 4:00
10.   Glycerine (Rossdale) - 4:26
11.   Alien (Rossdale) - 6:34
12.   X-Girlfriend (Rossdale) - :45

The Libertines - Up the bracket Cd on Rough Trade
Date of Release 2002.
If 2002 is the year that alt-music has experienced a well-endowed resuscitation, then along with it has come, surely, the finest batch of debut-albums for new acts in at least an age; The Coral, The Datsuns, The Music, The Polyphonic Spree and, now, The Libertines... Except, with the latter, the affair is mildly, and gloriously, less polished.
After all, what chances would there have been for slick production and fuller, bolstered-up arrangements anyway? With The Clash’s formerly-riotous guitarist/singer Mick Jones behind the desk on technical-duties and the band’s own two frontmen Carl Barat and Pete Doherty already a pair famous for their unabashed, unrivalled energy, the likelihood of a first LP-outing with both class and eloquence was always a distant cry away. Yet, if you’re after a bit of rough and excitement, which you should be, and a dusty mantelpiece’s worth of memorable songs, then the chances are that ‘Up The Bracket’ will define your record-collection for, at the bare minimum, the ensuing year.
From the strutting intro-swagger of ‘Vertigo’, a shamelessly rock ‘n’ roll ode within which Barat nonchalantly croons to a thrillingly arrogant effect, you know where you’re heading towards – a blissful, occasionally sleazy set of melodic charms with a firm balance between the excessively up-tempo bar-rockers (the rousing ‘Horror Show’ and implausibly satisfying ‘I Get Along’) and hopelessly romantic ballads (the live-shambles of ‘Radio America’ and intoxicating ‘We’re in a class of our own, my love’ sentiments of ‘Time For Heroes’). It’s this grip on focus, yet simultaneous looseness, which provides the group with their own unique appeal – and, reassuringly, a band unlikely to let you down by slipping in a tribal-dance remix as a secret-track in a bid to show a more ‘creative’ side.
Wonderfully, too, the f**kers have a sense of humour (or at least you hope they do), because, quite simply, ‘The Boy Looked At Johnny’ is damn near an arrestable offence – a distressing and irritably/sumptuously foolish sing-a-long, its infectious ‘la-de-da’ evoking the same grandiose heights of novelty-hit potential as last scene circa 1995 with Blur’s atrocious ‘Country House’. Obviously, as a result, it’s brilliant. And proceedings only warm up further within the incendiary glamour and knees-up of ‘Boys In The Band’, a track so tunefully riff-happy and precocious, it’ll soundtrack house-parties. Only the recent top-30 title-track itself manages to top it all, its grip on both classic guitars and lyrical-articulacy (honing in on Doherty and Barat’s native East End) serving as the quintessential, modern London anthem.
So, with all this, not to mention the sheer ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ magic and nostalgia-diminishing hymn, ‘The Good Old Days’ and acoustic-driven slumber of ‘Tell The King’, The Libertines have conjured a soundtrack richly sparse enough to bark along to, get angry with and cry alongside. As such, and as aforementioned, its warmth and faultless concoction of human-emotiveness makes it easily one of the year’s best, and a record you’ll continually embrace when times test and personal-needs soar. Understated beauty, then – in all its raucous splendour.

The Jam - All Mod Cons Cd on Polydor
Date of Release 1978.
The band regrouped and refocused for All Mod Cons, an album that marked a great leap in songwriting maturity and sense of purpose. For the first time, Weller built, rather than fell back, upon his influences, carving a distinct voice all his own; he employed a story-style narrative with invented characters and vivid British imagery a la Ray Davies to make incisive social commentary — all in a musically irresistible package. The youthful perspective and impassioned delivery on All Mod Cons first earned Weller the "voice of a generation" tag, and it certainly captures a moment in time, but really, the feelings and sentiments expressed on the album just as easily speak to any future generation of young people. Terms like "classic" are often bandied about, but in the case of All Mod Cons, it is certainly deserved.
01.   All Mod Cons (Weller) - 1:20
02.   To Be Someone (Didn't We Have a Nice Time) (Weller) - 2:30
03.   Mr. Clean (Weller) - 3:29
04.   David Watts (Davies) - 4:43
05.   English Rose (Weller) - 2:56
06.   In the Crowd (Weller) - 2:51
07.   Billy Hunt (Weller) - 5:40
08.   It's Too Bad (Weller) - 3:01
09.   Fly (Weller) - 2:37
10.   The Place I Love (Weller) - 3:20
11.   "A" Bomb in Wardour Street (Weller) - 2:54
12.   Down in the Tube Station at Midnight (Weller) - 2:38

Radio 4 - Gotham!.Cd on City Slang
Date of Release 2002.
Following their debut in 2000 with the fittingly-titled ‘The New Song & Dance’, New York City’s Radio Four return with ‘Gotham!’, their fiery follow-up, and a record whose production by The DFA – the team behind current trendsetters The Rapture and others – will ensure its street-cred to be next to impenetrable.
Yet, swerve and veer away from the cool-passport, and you’ll still find yourself experiencing a completely sensational listen, all thirteen tracks as vitriolic, energy-dosed and funktional as you can care to indulge yourself within, the blaring Jagger-esque vocals, PJ O’ Connor’s percussion (no, really) and Roman and Williams’ bass/guitar interplay acting as the most dirty, freaky indie get-down groove of 2002.
Opening boldly with the strings-enriched dance-rock hybrid of ‘Our Town’, the pulse never lets up, the enveloping hooks and pace of ‘Eyes Wide Open’ and arm-raising euphoria of ‘Struggle’ forming the finest evening’s soundtrack since, quite possibly, ‘Saturday Night Fever’. The disco maximises itself for the straightforward charge of ‘Calling All Enthusiasts’ whilst the plunk-plunk-plunk bass of Hooky, Joy Division-era, gets paid homage to in full via the scantily-clad, punk grittiness of ‘Save Your City’.
the influences further show a British sensibility through such outings as ‘Speaking In Codes’, the Stone Roses’ past dynamic of elevating arrangements and loose instrumentation revealing itself here, the guitars strewn against a backdrop of formulaic keyboards and definitive drums, and it understandably makes for a less-than-subtle contrast to the somewhat frantic ‘Certain Tragedy’ or cocky shuffle of ‘The Movies’ and stoned dub of ‘Pipe Bombs’.
So, see – for all the cynics – 21st Century NYC ain’t just about the usual names with the usual sounds – it’s about a culture of bands that are treading the path and kicking down the doorways through which we shall follow. ‘Til anyone else gives a more convincing demand for us to ‘dance to the underground’, then we’ll be quite happy to stick with Radio 4’s specific, stern request for some time yet.

Television - Marquee Moon.Cd on Elektra
Date of release.1977
Marquee Moon is a revolutionary album, but it's a subtle, understated revolution. Without question, it is a guitar rock album — it's astonishing to hear the interplay between Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd — but it is a guitar rock album unlike any other. Where their predecessors in the New York punk scene, most notably the Velvet Underground, had fused blues structures with avant garde flourishes, Television completely strips away any sense of swing or groove, even when they are playing standard three chord changes. Marquee Moon is comprised entirely of tense garage rockers that spiral into heady intellectual territory, which is achieved through the group's long, interweaving instrumental sections, not through Tom Verlaine's words. That alone made Marquee Moon a trailblazing album — it's impossible to imagine post-punk soundscapes without it. Of course, it wouldn't have had such an impact if Verlaine hadn' t written an excellent set of songs that conveyed a fractured urban mythology unlike any of his contemporaries. From the nervy opener "See No Evil" to the majestic title track, there is simply not a bad song on the entire record. And what has kept Marquee Moon fresh over the years is how Television fleshes out Verlaine's poetry into sweeping sonic epics.
1.   See No Evil (Verlaine) - 3:53
2.   Venus (Verlaine) - 3:51
3.   Friction (Verlaine) - 4:44
4.   Marquee Moon (Verlaine) - 10:40
5.   Elevation (Verlaine) - 5:07
6.   Guiding Light (Verlaine) - 5:35
7.   Prove It (Verlaine) - 5:02
8.   Torn Curtain (Verlaine) - 6:56

The Crescent - The Crescent .CD on Hut.
Date Of Release 2002.
You're having a laugh, right? Traditional, catchy indie-guitar pop?!!? From Liverpool?! In the year 2002?! There will always be those who sneer at a proven formula, however successful it may be. For everyone else, there's a wealth of excellent material to be enjoyed on The Crescent's debut album.
But, yes, it does bear more than a vague resemblance to Cast's first LP, ‘All Change’; Wayne Whitfield's unabashedly Scouse vocals and uplifting lyrical themes instantly recall John Power's on even the mildest of examinations, whilst the punchy, anthemic tunes they're set to are similarly reminiscent of the erstwhile Britpoppers at their most joyously elated.
Materialistically, opener ‘On The Run’, The Crescent's answer to ‘Alright’, is an effervescent rocker that'll make you want to punch the air with sheer delight. Then there’s the luscious strains of ‘Streets of Tide’, the sheer immediacy of ‘Wake Up’ (a jaunty re-working of The La's ‘There She Goes’), whilst latest single-release ‘Spinnin' Wheels’ is as life-affirming as they come. ‘Do you hear what I hear?/Do you see what I see?’ runs its chorus. Lovers of classic, distinctly British songwriting surely can't fail to.

Cast - All Change.CD on Polydor
Date of Release 1995.
Cast's All Change serves as the perfect antidote to the inner rage fueling much American alternative rock — it would be hard to imagine a more gloriously upbeat backbeat of a guitar pop record, one that appeals to the eternal adolescent in each of us. The group's pedigree derives from good stock, founder John Power having served time with another fine Mersey combo the La's. But Cast transcends the hackneyed expectations of its environment, structure, and genetics through sheer, relentless quality of songcraft and performance. No sooner has one wide-eyed, hook-infested injection stormed the synapses demanding total capitulation than another of equal potency lines up to take its place. Cast vocals recall Small Faces-era Steve Marriott fused, in places, to Suede's Brett Anderson. There's a soft-psych feel to several tracks (try "Sandstorm") that calls to mind "Pictures of Matchstick Men"-era Status Quo; Cast has clearly assimilated several volumes of Bam Caruso's Rubble and A.I.P.'s Electric Sugarcube Flashbacks series, without sacrificing its power-Mod backbone. Production is brittle and uncluttered. On the lyrics front, all is positively cheery, anthemic stuff about truth, honor, living well, having fun and getting the girl, delivered exuberantly enough to strip away several coats of accumulated cynicism and almost make you believe it's possible. Two favorites are the shifting falsetto angst anthem "Tell It Like Is" and the ballad "Walk Away" — a clue to how Mott the Hoople's "Roll Away the Stone" would have come out recorded in 1967.
01.   Alright (Power)
02.   Promised Land (Power)
03.   Sandstorm (Power)
04.   Mankind (Power)
05.   Tell It Like It Is (Power)
06.   Four Walls (Power)
07.   Finetime (Power)
08.   Back of My Mind (Power)
09.   Walkaway (Power)
10.   Reflections (Power)
11.   History (Power)
12.   Two of a Kind (Power)

The Polyphonic Spree -The Beginning Stages Of...Cd on Good Records/365 Recordings.
Date Of Release 2002.
Commanding, wildly inventive, and as joyously subtle as T-Rex thundering through the streets of New York during rush-hour, The Polyphonic Spree have made one of the debut-albums of 2002.
Those already familiar with the Texans may now know a few facts which ensure this 25-piece ‘choral symphonic pop band’ to stand out slightly from the others in such a musical-field: namely, the involved characters wear white-robes when performing; live-shows have been likened to a ‘revelation’; and – despite all this, and somewhat rewardingly – they are not likely to turn up to our door-steps trying to convert us to an almost perverse and twisted religious-cause... Though, even if they were to, you’d be sinful to turn them down on their offers of a brighter life.
And anyone familiar with the act’s co-ordinator, Tim DeLaughter, will additionally be aware that his past with Tripping Daisy was somewhat of a weird one, too; back then merging psychedelia with an uncanny knack for memorable melodies and pulsating arrangements, his new enterprise doesn’t seem to have drifted too far off his preliminary, beaten track.
Continuing such a theme more than amply with this LP, ‘The Beginning Stages Of…’, a record recorded mostly live and in just a mere three days, DeLaughter and The PS have formed a clutch of ‘ten sections’ (‘songs’ to everyone else) that are able to rob from the best parts of The Flaming Lips, Grandaddy (themselves fans of the ‘group’, anyway) as well as Beethoven. And every moment is breathtakingly sensational.
Opening affairs with the heady, freaky heights of ‘Have A Day/Celebratory’, what seems most striking, aside from the occasionally wry or elevating lyrical subject-matter, is the grand instrumentation; classic Picasso in musical form, it’s at first thought free-style, loose and untamed, yet, on closer inspection, controlled, vivid and wholly dynamic, implementing full-blaring trumpets alongside buzzsaw violins and guitars that prove similarly unrelenting. Quite so, it’s such a radical application of ideas and a smattering of paint on to the canvas that allows the genius-pop of ‘Soldier Girl’ and ‘Hanging Around’ to transcend into heaven-heading anthems, whilst propelling the glowing majesty of ‘It’s The Sun’ right up to the league of compelling song-writing originality that made the greats before The Polyphonic Spree so vital.
Further subverting the conventions before them, it seems the ensemble don’t mind dabbling in the art of severe, cold noodling, the experimental DJ Shadow/Aphex Twin likes of ‘A Long Day’ closing the album in fine form: an almost laughable 30 minutes of interchanging tones of varying speeds, conjuring a perfect soundtrack to the head-rush you experience after having sat through a previous forty minutes of blissful creativity.
So, there you have it: a review as overblown and positive as the work that inspired it. Pop down the record-store yourself and experience the same euphoric magic.

1  (Untitled Track) (4:38)
2  (Untitled Track) (5:33)
3  (Untitled Track) (4:05)
4  (Untitled Track) (2:10)
5  (Untitled Track) (2:45)
6  (Untitled Track) (2:37)
7  (Untitled Track) (2:39)
8  (Untitled Track) (3:59)
9  (Untitled Track) (3:23)
10  (Untitled Track) (36:30)

Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs.Cd on V2
Date of Release 1998.
Four albums in and Mercury Rev remains as surprising and daring as ever — exchanging the volcanic noise and twisted sensibilities of earlier releases for ornate arrangements and ethereal strings, Deserter's Songs unlocks the beauty always hidden just below the band's surface, its lush harmonics and soothing textures bathing in an almost unearthly light. Standouts including the exquisitely waltz-like "Tonite It Shows" and the celestial "Endlessly" are like lullabies, their music-box melodies gentle and narcotic; even the most pop-oriented moments like "Opus 40" and "Hudson Line" share a symphonic, candy-colored majesty far removed from conventional rock idioms. Complete with its fractured instrumental interludes and odd effects, Deserter's Songs sounds like no other album — for that matter, it doesn't even sound like Mercury Rev, yet there's no mistaking the record's brilliance for anyone else.

01.    Holes (Jonathan)
02.    Tonite It Shows (Jonathan)
03.    Endlessly (Mercury Rev)
04.    I Collect Coins (Jonathan)
05.    Opus 40 (Jonathan)
06.    Hudson Line (Grasshopper)
07.    The Happy End (The Drunk Room) (Jonathan)
08.    Goddess on a Hiway (Donahue)
09.    The Funny Bird (Jonathan)
10.    Pick up If You're There (Jonathan)
11.    Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp (Chambers)

The Shining - True Skies.Cd on Zuma.
Date of Release 2002.
Ex-Verve monsieurs Simon Jones and Simon Tong must have messed their kecks with excitement on the formation of The Shining. Not just content with a past within one of the defining British groups of the 90s, like their former leader, El Ashcroft, they now have another chance at cracking the mainstream in a new musical-guise.
Yet their latest imprint has been met with a most mixed of reactions: critics, hesitant to take in the trad-indie styling of their current output, are largely sceptical about the group’s potential, but da kidz, meanwhile, can’t seem to get enough of it, packing out the group’s shows and making former singles such as ‘I Wonder How’ underground-favourites.
So, with debut-LP, ‘True Skies’, you’d think that the final judgement could be cast, the nail in the coffin, as to just whether or not The Shining mark a group of 21st Century relevance or a five-piece that are just five years too late, right? Well, no. Instead, the record serves to merely enhance the barrier between the non-believers and the already-converted.
Kick-starting with the early-90s swagger of ‘Quicksilver’ – a funked-up guitar-hymn that even The Music would have trouble sneering at – endeavours follow in the arms-aloft massiveness of ‘Young Again’, a tune so shamelessly aloof and soaring that you wonder if such produce is legal, and the inevitable come-down tune (in the shape of the country-fried ‘Find A Reason’). It’s a movitated opening, and one that finds frontman Duncan Baxter able to pout his snarly sentiments in a true being that prior Britpop heroes would have marvelled at.
But where’s the innovation, the adaptation of days gone by? Their song-structures prove so predictable that the album’s allure or potential mystique is utterly lost within the deep, lush, embedded production, incapable of enabling a new spin of a proven successful formula. But, granted, they do give what they’ve got passion – just look at the howling ‘Crest Of An Ocean’ or ‘I Am The One’ – and immense musicianship – refer to the gospel-tinges of ‘Danger’ – and they remain too charming and focussed to ever really hold too many qualms against their northern-soul.
So, The Shining: not so much a burning light of inspiration, as a warming spark of excitement to prove that the UK can still muster song-smiths of an accomplished and infectiously melodic quality. And at least they’re not going for the quick route to success either – by copying The Strokes.

Spiritualized -  Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. Cd on Dedicated.
Date of Release 1997.
Spiritualized's third collection of hypnotic headphone symphonies is their most brilliant and accessible to date. Largely forsaking the drones and minimalistic, repetitive riffs which have characterized his work since the halcyon days of Spacemen 3, Jason Pierce re-focuses here and spins off into myriad new directions; in a sense, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, with its majestic, Spector-like glow, is his classic rock album. "Come Together" and the blistering "Electricity" are his most edgy, straightforward rockers in eons, while the stunning "I Think I'm in Love" settles into a divided-psyche call-and-response R&B groove, and the closing "Cop Shoot Cop" (with guest Dr. John) locks into a voodoo blues trance. Lyrically, Pierce is at his most open and honest: The record is a heartfelt confessional of love and loss, with redemption found only in the form of drugs — designed, no less, to look like a prescription pharmaceutical package, Ladies and Gentlemen is pointedly explicit in its description of drug use as a means of killing the pain on track after track. Conversely, never before have the literal implications of the name "Spiritualized" been explored in such earnest detail — the London Community Gospel Choir appears prominently on a number of songs, while another bears the title "No God, Only Religion," pushing the music even further toward the kind of cosmic gospel transcendence it craves. A masterpiece.
01.    Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in... (Pierce)
02.    Come Together (Pierce)
03.    I Think I'm in Love (Pierce)
04.    All of My Thoughts (Pierce)
05.    Stay With Me (Pierce)
06.    Electricity (Pierce)
07.    Home of the Brave (Pierce)
08.    The Individual (Pierce)
09.    Broken Heart (Pierce)
10.    No God Only Religion (Pierce)
11.    Cool Waves (Pierce)
12.    Cop Shoot Cop (Pierce)

Halo  - Lunatic Ride.Cd on Sony
Date of Release 2002.
Great bands rarely know where the music comes from; they're the vessel for something above and beyond. So it is with Halo: four resonant early twenty somethings who formed a band in Bristol and soon discovered that blazing euphony was their instinctive sound. Produced by Gil Norton and the legendary Al Clay, the quartet's debut album, 'Lunatic Ride' fuses passionate fire sign rock with the band's pop-metal rooted energy. "There are things in the music that everyone can relate to,likethe singing is kind of angelic, but there's a lot of darkness in the lyrics and the contrast is part of what makes it interesting", explains frontman Graeme Moncrieff. Expertly melding several different musical genres into a singular,cathartic style,the burnished frieze of Halo's soundscape takes in
Radiohead,Sigur Ros, Muse, NIN, and Jimi Hendrix,the vocal harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel and the sheer rock force of Nirvana. Includes the singles 'Cold Light Of Day', 'Sanctimonious' and 'Never Ending'.

01.Still Here
02.Shine
03.Cold Light Of Day
04.All Or Nothing
05.Only For You
06.Escape
07.Sanctimonious (Gil Norton Version)
08.Here I Am
09.Incinerator
10.Feel
11.Never Ending
12.Perfectly Still

Muse - Showbiz. Cd on Warner Brothers.
Date of Release 1999.
The musical touchstone for the British trio Muse is obviously Radiohead and that fact is crystal clear from the smoldering opening cut "Sunburn." Their John Leckie-produced debut Showbiz is strong on angst-filled vocals, esoteric lyrics, and dramatic shifts in sonic dynamics. Hailing from rural England, singer/guitarist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme, and drummer Dominic Howard average twenty years of age, so there's plenty of potential for them to grow into a sound that is more of their own. In the meantime, Bellamy does an impressive job of aping the quirky, nervous vocal tic of Thom Yorke on songs like the mid-tempo, mellotron-driven "Muscle Museum," and he cuts loose vocally on the soaring "Cave" and on the lovely, mournful ballad "Unintended." Showbiz hints at the potential in this young band, and it should be of interest to many Radiohead fans

01.    Sunburn (Bellamy)
02.    Muscle Museum (Bellamy)
03.    Fillip (Bellamy)
04.    Falling Down (Bellamy)
05.    Cave (Bellamy)
06.    Showbiz (Bellamy)
07.    Unintended (Bellamy)
08.    Uno (Bellamy)
09.    Sober (Bellamy)
10.    Escape (Bellamy)
11.    Overdue (Bellamy)
12.    Hate This & I'll Love You (Bellamy)

LAST UPDATED MONDAY 04 November 2002