ROD STEWART: Some Guys Have All The Luck

HERE’S one for fans of British singer and songwriter Rod Stewart. With an estimated 250 million album and single sales worldwide, Stewart arguably possesses one of rock’s greatest and most distinctive voices.

Some Guys Have All The Luck is a definitive double-deluxe 30-song compilation spanning more than 30 years of his career starting from 1971.

Arranged chronologically, Stewart’s early solo years are represented by Maggie May and You Wear It Well from the Every Picture Tells A Story (1971) and Never A Dull Moment (1972) albums.

The opening disc also includes a nod to Stewart’s time with his band, the Faces (formerly Small Faces,) with Stay With Me from their 1971 album, A Nod Is As Good As A Wink... To A Blind Horse.

His rendition of The First Cut Is The Deepest, a cover of a Cat Stevens song, went Top 30 in the US in 1977 and No 1 in Britain that same year.

Disc 1 also includes the stadium-swooning ballad, Sailing, the No 1 smash Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright), the Top 10 hit You’re In My Heart and Da Ya Think I’m Sexy from his 1978 album, Blondes Have More Fun.

In 1981, Stewart added further elements of New Wave and synth pop to his sound for the Tonight I’m Yours album. The title song and Young Turks both reached the Top 5 of the Billboard charts.

Disc 2 concentrates on music Stewart made during the 80s and 90s, including Infatuation, Some Guys Have All The Luck, Love Touch, Forever Young and Motown Song from the Top Ten 1991 album Vagabond Heart.

Baby Jane, the lead single from his Body Wishes album, was a UK No 1 single for three weeks in July 1983.

Among the other highlights is a rare studio version of Tom Waits’ Tom Traubert’s Blues, as well as a cover of Waits’ Downtown Train that Stewart took to No 1.

The disk also contains unplugged versions of Have I Told You Lately and Reason To Believe.

The collection concludes with a previously unreleased track, Two Shades Of Blue, recorded in 1998 and features a sample of Bordin’s Prince Igor.

Repeated release of Greatest Hits albums implies continued popularity and a growing audience. From this album, it’s quite evident that Stewart can certainly appeal to fresh audiences. — NST

LILY ALLEN: It’s Not Me, It’s You

AFTER her debut album Alive, Still sold 2,600,000 copies worldwide, British alternative singer-songwriter Lily Allen announced that she was moving in a “new direction“ on her upcoming record. And proved it she did with this second studio album, It’s Not Me, It’s You.

The album begins with Everyone’s At It — with the “it” here being drugs. The song revolves about the hypocrisy surrounding drugs. “Why can’t we all just be honest; admit to ourselves that everyone’s on it?“

This is swiftly followed by the danceable and slightly trancey part admission, part brag, part apocalyptic The Fear. The song picks at small-minded indulgences and the fickleness of fame; sticking out of a flood of soft synths.

Indeed, no taboo is left untouched by Allen. The inventively bluegrass-infused It’s Not Fair concerns itself with the sexual shortcomings of an otherwise perfect boyfriend.
I Could Say begins with emotive piano chords and sees the singer returning to the theme of duff relationships, while 22 is a unkind ditty about pretty women who — nearing 30 and single — find that they are worthless to society.

Allen’s desire to be taken seriously has led her to write a couple of songs about current affairs.

A one-track summing-up of the charm that is Lily Allen: Impolite truths in the voice of an angel.

On Chinese, Allen sings of her delight at tucking into beans on toast with a lover, conjuring up a world in which other girls are taller and prettier, but a Chinese takeaway and a cup of tea can soothe most of life’s problems .
He Wasn’t There could be about any number of unlikely male heroes who turned out to be sheep in wolves’ clothing, or about her dad’s lack of parental responsibility, while still calling him her hero. It’s fascinating how the song normalises her old man back into the traditional father-daughter narrative that she’s claimed she craved as a child

The title track, It’s Not Me, It’s You, taps into exactly what fans both want and expect to hear. Even if they’re still none the wiser as to what’s really behind those headlines.

Fans of the MySpace queen shouldn’t be fazed if some songs are more download-worthy than others. The high points on It’s Not Me, It’s You are enough to boost Allen’s reputation as one of our most compelling pop stars. — NST

ZEE AVI - Zee Avi

Like any other modern-day Internet fairytale, Kina Grannis, Aria Tesolin, Brendan MacFarlane and Marie Digby all have one thing in common, the popularity that came along after posting their talents on YouTube. and heres one from our very own shore, former fashion student turned strummer, Zee Avi.

Twenty three-year-old Avi from Miri was expected to follow a career path toward being a lawyer. In her teens she took up guitar, often spending hours locked in her room practicing.

She put music aside for four years during which she went to London to study fashion design. But back in Kuala Lumpur, she got back to her music, and starting writing songs and playing with a band.

One of her friends missed her first gig where she played her first original song Poppy and asked her to send the song over to him. Avi didn’t know how, but did have this webcam on her dad’s laptop and one of those call centre headsets. So she ended up putting it on YouTube.

After her friend watched it, she was going to delete it video, but was persuaded to let it be, and “see what happens”.

She remember getting one comment and was so happy. Then she put her second video up and got three comments. It just went on from there.

Avi’s natural magnetism to the instrument led her to write and record her own songs and post them on YouTube.

One day, a guy from Monotone Records messaged her on YouTube, saying they were interested in talking. Next thing she knew, they had a rough draft of the recordings.

Her love of music — and of the Malay melting pot — is reflected in her self-titled debut album, Zee Avi, offered up by Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records as “an exotic vaudeville entertainment from the other side of the world”, and justifiably so.

The songstress is making the most of her opportunity to sport new material by displaying her unique voice and soft sound. Having amassed so many cultural influences by the time she began studying art in London, it was no surprise that lovely and diverse songs began to spill out of her.

Most of hers songs are about relationships, and as anyone knows relationships aren’t always sunshine and rainbows. Even when it’s good, sometimes it’s bad.

Avi tries to capture the reality of it. It can be a fairy tale, but it doesn’t always end up happily ever after. It it sets the theme for the rest of the album — almost wistful, but darkness permeates the lyrics.

With an opening song like Bitter Heart, where Avi describes the emotional roller-coaster of a love gone wrong while strumming upbeat-poppy rhythms, listeners are assured of a relaxing journey.

Her songs bring a tremendous amount of visual interpretation, creating an instant connection between Avi and her listeners, displaying the amount of emotional dedication Avi put into the album for the audience.

The bouncy composition called Darlin’ It Ain’t Easy, she is the one who dumps the guy, while on another take on a breakup comes on I Am Me Once More, the protagonist finds herself liberated after the dissolution of the affair.

Easily one of the standout tracks on the album, Poppy grabs the attention instantly from the first clicks of Avi’s fingers as she watches a lover succumb to opium addiction, blithely trilling...

“He used to love German Expressionism films / But now he drinks until he falls … the poppy took my baby away from me.”

In the gentle ukulele-plucked Just You And Me, she outlines the beginning of a breakup with a lilting...

“You were sitting at the coffee table where you were reading Kierkegaard / Minutes later you proceeded to say something that almost broke my heart.”

She stirs things up with the same dash of attitude in her cover of Interpol’s Slow Hands and Morrissey’s First Of the Gang to Die, in which the tale of tough is made poignant through Avi’s crooning and spaciously strummed-out acoustic guitar, while Honey Bee hints at Avi’s youth and bubbly personality.

Her self-expression comes through linguistically in the ukulele-based song Kantoi — where Avi takes a snappy cheater’s tale and turns it into contemporary folk-pop with attitude — a song sang in “Manglish” (a hybrid language of Malay and English).

It’s not pure Malay, but it’s a modern take on how everybody speaks now — a testament to Avi’s delivery that the song’s narrative emerges, despite the language barrier. And probably the pioneering song that will introduce Maglish to the world.

Avi, like other strong-voiced musicians before her has the both the power of quirk and the raw but sweet talent to make her voice stand out without having to raise it.

Her standout take on the ukelele, breathing contemporary life into it from being a mere island folk instrument, is refreshing.

From this delightful gem of an album you can tell shes going places.

Jazzy, trendy, smart and witty. Get your copy Now! — NST

Ryan Adams And The Cardinals: CARDINOLOGY

THE Cardinals is a rock band fronted by David Ryan Adams, the American alternative country-rock singer-songwriter from Jacksonville, North Carolina.

But Adams recently announced that he would leave The Cardinals to step back from making music, citing hearing loss due to Meniere’s disease as part of the reason for his decision.

Before he left, Adams, along with Neal Casal (guitar, piano and vocals), Chris Feinstein (bass), Jon Graboff (pedal steel, guitar and vocals) and Brad Pemberton (drums and percussion) recorded one last album, Cardinology.

Adams’ drug problems and public tantrums have often overshadowed his music. But not in Cardinology.

Drunk on melody, high on musical history, the record throbs with great playing and singing, and thrums with hope without pimping easy platitudes. Replete with unforgettable hooks and poetic details, it’s one of the best work Adams’ has ever done.

Cardinology begins with four killers in a row. Born Into A Light prays for faith amid troubles over a Tex-Mex melody, weepy pedal steel and gospel-tinged vocals.

The fairly straightforward roots rocker Go Easy is a breathless love pledge with heartland-rock hooks. It starts off good, lyrically warm and features more piano than electric guitar.

But the repetitive chorus of “Go easy! Go easy! Go easy! Go easy! Go easy! Go easy! Go easy! Go easy!” gets tedious, to say the least.

The lead single, Fix It, is a plea for psychic repair and sees the band chart new waters with a slower 70s R&B rock groove with a soaring Bono-style chorus.

Meanwhile, Magick is pure mindless garage-rock pleasure. The guitars get louder and fuzzier, blasting out some power chord pop with a hint of lap steel in the bridge and outro to make it a legit Cardinals track.

The most interesting track on the album is Natural Ghost. It’s an eerie ballad supported by an ethereal echo guitar

Cardinology’s riveting finale and album-closing weeper is Stop, a fragile piano ballad sung in a shaky voice that slowly gains strength and takes flight about substance abuse and rehab.

While not every track on Cardinology is a winner, it is good to hear Adams let loose with possibly his most varied record to date.

A great collection for the fans. — NST

The Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D.

IN 2003, three Los Angeles MCs (African-American Will.i.am, Filipino-American Apl.de.ap and Mexican-Native American Taboo) hired a blonde bombshell named Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson to be in their band called The Black Eyed Peas.

Since then, they have gone from strength to strength. And now comes The E.N.D, the Peas’ fifth studio album and their first since Monkey Business in 2005.

The title is an acronym for “The Energy Never Dies”, and it’s somewhat representative of this collection of tunes.

Throwing every studio trick in the book at these songs, Will and the gang have gone more experimental this time around. This is further explained by Will’s computerised basso profundo voice introducing the opening track with: “This version of myself is not permanent/Tomorrow, I will be different”.

The record then segues into the number one hit Boom Boom Pow, and all hell breaks loose with eerie synth chords, screechy disco-diva wailing, 808 thuds, raps about 808 thuds and a dizzying barrage of doggerel.

The E.N.D. is slathered with vocals electronically altered by the Auto-Tune effect featured on recent singles by MSTRKRFT, David Guetta and Keith Harris. Will takes on electro, deep house, dancehall and dance-punk, to name just a few trends.

There are plenty of strong songs on the album. Ring-A-Ling, blending jittery keyboard figures, is a strangely innocent celebration of drunken booty-calling.

Now Generation, where the gang bellows over power-pop guitar chord, is a rant about social media.

I Gotta Feelin’ relies on a simple sunny pop melody to spread the joy of plunging headfirst into celebrating the end of the work week.

Rock That Body tosses up everything from huge kick drums to synth figures that sound like crow caws to a famous Rob Base sample, while One Tribe follows a bouncing-ball beat as Will suggests that world peace might come from an amnesia epidemic.

No song drives this point home better than Out of My Head, in which Fergie helpfully announces the coming of at the end of previous track Party All The Time by cooing, over and over, “I’m so ti’sy”.

Whether she’s being weepy in Meet Me Halfway or superbad in Imma Be (a rhythmic exercise that demonstrates hip-hop and jazz fusion grooves can be equally effective in inspiring movement), Fergie takes her part to its logical end.

The Peas has left the socially-conscious party raps of its past completely behind, in favour of club hits and the type of radio fodder that’s going to be filling the airwaves these few months.

In the end, The E.N.D. sounds like one big Café del Mar-style mix album with barely distinguishable song boundaries.

The true gift of The Black Eyed Peas is its demonstration that great pop music is ultimately constructed of the two primary elements — memorable melody and rhythm that produces a kinetic response. Both are in great abundance here. — NST

Dream Theater: Black Clouds & Silver Linings

FORMED in 1985 by John Myung (bass), John Petrucci (guitar), and Mike Portnoy (drummer), Dream Theater, whose lineup now includes along James LaBrie (vocals) and Jordan Rudess (keyboards), is one of the definitive bands in progressive metal genre, and their every release is met with anticipation.

The band’s 10th studio album, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, released on June 23, entered the US Billboard 200 at No 6 and Eurochart Hot 100 at top spot, marking its highest entry on either chart.

The album sees the band moving back towards songs that are as much complete compositions as they are progressive and technical, instead of the normal extended jam session as in previous offerings.

There are only six songs on the album, but the shortest song is already 5.25 minutes long. With lyrics written by Petrucci and Portnoy, all except one concern personal experiences about disturbing or difficult moments of their lives.

The album opens with a huge thunder crash, before a haunting piano introduces A Nightmare To Remember, written by Petrucci about a car accident he was involved in as a child.

A song about the freemasons, A Rite Of Passage, is more of a standard heavy rock song.

Things slow down with the power ballad Wither, a song about Petrucci’s own fear of writer’s block. A five-minute ballad that’s harmonious and intensely hummable.

Then comes the band’s progressive metal masterpiece, The Best Of Times, written by Portnoy about his father who died from cancer. It opens with a mellow introduction featuring piano, strings and acoustic guitar before kicking into traditional Dream Theater mode. Vocals don’t begin until after the fourth minute, but once they do, it’s a very catchy track.

Undoubtedly, the best song on the album, the 20-minute-long The Count Of Tuscany, about an actual encounter Petrucci had in Tuscany, has plenty of repetition and self-indulgence, but the boys throw twists and turns to keep things interesting throughout.

Petrucci has become much more proficient at writing heavy, memorable riffs that are capable of providing a solid foundation.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings is sure to be a must-have album for all progressive metal heads. — NST

ONLY BY THE NIGHT - Kings Of Leon

LAST year, Entertainment Weekly called the Kings Of Leon's third album Because Of The Times its "crowning glory" while Rolling Stone wondered: "How good can the Kings Of Leon get? They've already gone further than anybody could have guessed".

But if critics thought that the album was the work of a band -
comprising the Followills, brothers Caleb (vocals and guitar), Nathan (drums) and Jared (bass), and their cousin Matthew (guitar) - at the peak of its powers, they might want to reconsider after listening to its latest release, Only By The Night, which picks up where Because Of The Times left off.

"To me, it sounds like the Kings Of Leon are back, not only as a band,
but as friends," said Caleb.

"It was really a big family vibe. That's where the title came from. It's also a reference to a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, and it has five syllables, like all of our album titles."

From the first bars of opener Closer, which Caleb says is about a lovesick vampire, with its gently weeping guitars and reverberating drums, you can hear the space that Nashville producers Angelo Petraglia and Jacquire King have opened up in the Followills' sound.

The fuzz-crunched, hip-grinding Crawl, about relationships of all kinds and taking them for granted, blasts in with metallic thrum, sweeping in its savage grace.

The album's single, Sex On Fire, returns the band to familiar thematic territory of unbridled lust.

Then, another quick shift of gears into Use Somebody, a rousing, full-throated indie anthem, with Caleb sing-shouts Otis Redding-style: "You know that I could use somebody".

The dopey Manhattan is partly about dancing and enjoying life and partly about the struggles of Native Americans.

"Manhattan is actually a native American word that means `island of many hills'," said Caleb, whose family has Native American blood.

Finally there's the driving, forceful Notion, where the singer pushes back against anyone who says anything against anyone in his band.

The album closes with dreamy Cold Desert, about a man at the end of his rope who picks himself back up. It's the perfect maudlin end to this short, sharp album.

Only By The Night is an album not to be missed by rock fans, if only because the band has made rock fashionable again. - NST 09/11/2008

CLOSER - The Best Of Sarah McLachlan

HERE'S another compilation album filled with the best of the greatest hits of Sarah Ann McLachlan, the Grammy-winning Canadian musician, singerand songwriter.

Closer - The Best Of Sarah McLachlan contains 14 classic tracks personally selected from her award-winning catalogue, as well as two previously unreleased songs, Don't Give Up On Us and U Want Me 2.

Playing music throughout her youth while rigorously studying classical guitar (12 years), piano (six years), voice (five years) and opera (threeyears) at the Nova Scotia Conservatory of Music, her teenage influences included Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel and the British group Talk Talk.

And you can hear them all in most of her greatest hits.

In 1988, she recorded the first albums, Touch, which received both critical and commercial success and included her first hit song Vox.

The next two hit singles The Path of Thorns (Terms) and Into the Fire comes from her second album, Solace (1991).

Her 1994 Fumbling Towards Ecstasy album was an immediate smash hit in Canada and her piano version of the song Possession was included on the first Due South soundtrack in 1996.

Angel is another hit song that originally appeared in her 1997 album, Surfacing, about the Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin, who overdosed on heroin and died in 1996.

McLachlan explained that "there's nothing constant when you are on the road; everything becomes the same".

Another hit from that album is Adia, co-written with her longtime producer, Pierre Marchand. The song reflected an apology to her bestfriend for becoming involved with, and later marrying, her friend's ex-partner.

Building A Mystery also came out of Surfacing and was her biggest chart hit in Canada, spending eight weeks at No. 1 on the RPM charts and ranking as the No. 1 single of the year in the magazine's year end chart.

It won her the Juno Award for Single of the Year in 1998 and madeMcLachlan the recipient of the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1998.

I Will Remember You was co-written by McLachlan, Seamus Egan and DaveMerenda.

It first appeared on the soundtrack of the film The Brothers McMullen in 1995, and was featured on her remix album, Rarities, B-Sides And Other Stuff. It became a hit when McLachlan released a live version of the song from her 1999 live album Mirrorball.

Mirrorball also generated her three Grammy Award nominations in 2000,winning Female Pop Vocal Performance for I Will Remember You.

Fallen is the first single from her 2003 album, Afterglow. The song was nominated on the 2004 Grammy Awards on the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance field, losing to Beautiful by Christina Aguilera.

Stupid is also from Afterglow. The music video features McLachlan in different time periods.

Another masterpiece from Afterglow is World On Fire and is one ofMcLachlan's most political songs, intended to graphically illustrate theimpact that even relatively small individual donations might have on third-world poverty.

The video for World On Fire opens with the claim of having costUS$150,000 (RM530,000), despite the ensuing low-quality footage ofMcLachlan in a plain room playing her guitar. The video continues toreveal it actually cost US$15, then tracking how the remainder went to enriching lives all around the globe through charity donations.

Other songs included in the album are Hold On, and Good Enough.

Closer - The Best Of Sarah Mclachlan is the album for fans of her powerful soprano voice, which is frequently compared to Tori Amos andSinead O'Connor, and her music often described as "ethereal". – NST 02/11/2008

DIG YOUR SOUL OUT - Oasis

THE band is a landmark.... A paradox....

And no matter how much controversy it seems to stir up, within as well as outside the group, success seems to follow it wherever it goes - from the first live gig in August 1991 at the boardwalk club in Manchester to the back-to-back success with from Definitely Maybe (1994), (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995), Be Here Now (1997), to Don't Believe The Truth (2005).

And now, the Manchunian rock band phenomenon Oasis is back once again zooming to the top of the charts with its seventh studio album, Dig OutYour Soul.

With Liam Gallagher on vocals, brother Noel on vocals, electric guitar, drums, keyboards and electronics, Gem Archer (formerly of HeavyStereo) on bass and keyboards, Andy Bell on bass, keyboards and tambora, and Zack Starkey on drums, Dig Out Your Soul is sure to bring back its glory days.

The band was named Britain's most successful act of the 1990s by the Guinness Book of World Records, with eight No 1 pop hit singles including Some Might Say (1995), All Around The World (1998), The Hindu Times(2002), Lyla and The Importance Of Being Idle (2005) - that seems to have eluded them these past few years with the emergence of younger blood.

This time around, Noel set out to write music that had more of a groove. Archer and Bell contributed a song each - the hypnotic To BeWhere There's Life and the rockier The Nature Of Reality - but they do nothing to challenge Noel's title of the chief when it comes to songwriting.

The album starts off with Bag It Up, a ramshackle speedfreak racket with Liam taking refuge from "the freaks coming up through the floor" with his "heebeegeebies in a little bag".

Oddly enough, it contains areference to pouring yourself a cup of twinning's Lady Grey, and not about any weed of any kind.

Blasts of chest-out noise, the brothers Gallagher on vocals, and ringing guitar lines that end in a suitably bombastic crescendo make Bag It Up a great opening number.

Waiting For Rapture is another pugnacious stomper, with a cracking chorus to boot, this time with Noel at the vocal helm. It's both dirty and spacey at the same time. It's a great mix.

Falling Down has chillier tones and a catchy chorus, unlike anything Oasis has recorded before.

As with other albums, the Beatles influences are ever-present - from the Dear Prudence guitar at the end of The Turning to the Give Peace A Chance clap and stomp of (Get off Your) High Horse Lady.

Not surprisingly, (Get off Your) High Horse Lady is easily one of the album's favourite. Noel's voice and the guitar sounds like they wererecorded through an old radio, giving the song a spooky sound when combined with the big drums, hand claps, and guitar riffs.

I'm Outta Time, a ballad by Liam and dedicated to John Lennon, seems tobe about the disenchantments of growing old. It also includes Lennon'svoice sample. It's likely to be the favourite track of many who hear this album as it features one of Oasis' best melodies ever and Liam sings itbeautifully.

The sitarish psychedelic To Be Where There's Life is a slow burner, while The Nature Of Reality has an incredible Led Zeppelin-esque stomp which mixes in perfectly with a terrific guitar riff.

The album closes with the haunting Soldier On, with Liam's vocals echoeing at the end. It offers a sense of the close of a really beautiful tripped-out dream.

Oasis have long been remarkable for the catchy tunes and riffs itwrites and now it is just as remarkable for the creative arrangements,songwriting and production the band brings to the table.

The cover art promises psychedelia... And Dig Out Your Soul delivers. - NST 19/10/2008

ESSENTIAL REGGAE (Universal)

Ever wanted an album filled with classic reggae hits?

Well this is your chance to get your hands on two of them in Essential Reggae - 40 ClassicReggae Hits.

The album starts off with everyone's favourite reggae tune, Sun Is Shining by legendary Bob Marley, first appearing on the LeePerry-produced album Soul Revolution in 1971.

Don't Turn Around, written by Diane Warren and Albert Hammond, was originally recorded by tina turner as the b-side on the 45rpm record of the single Typical Male in 1986. In 1988, Aswad made a cover of it,taking the song to No1 on the UK singles chart in March 1988.

Chaka Demus and Pliers' first hit, Tease Me, stayed in the top five ofthe UK Singles chart, for three months in 1993.

Also on the album is their No 1 hit Twist And Shout.

Most of you are familiar with the 1971 song Killing Me Softly With His Song. This album carries an earlier John Holt's cover, whose style is more romantic than most of his contemporaries. It is a recognisable forerunner of a style of reggae known as "Lovers rock", which developed in Britain during the 1970s.

Holt appears again on CD2 with Help Me Get Through The Night.

Welcome To Jamrock is the single from the album with the same name byDamian Robert Nesta "Junior Gong" Marley, Bob's youngest son. Damian is the first and only Jamaican reggae artiste in history to win two Grammy Awards on the same night for best reggae Album and best Urban/Alternative Performance for Welcome To Jamrock in 2006.

In 1967, Dawn Penn recorded the rocksteady single You Don't Love Me(No, No, No), which is in fact a remake of a 1961 blues tune called You Don't Love Me by Willie cobbs, which itself was a remake of bo Diddley's1955 song She's Fine, She's Mine a.k.a. You Don't Love Me.

Toots and the Maytals are one of the best known ska and reggae vocalgroups, with their music combining gospel, ska, soul, reggae and rockelements. But the group's musical career was interrupted in late 1966when their leader, Frederick "Toots" Hibbert, was jailed for marijuana charges.

It is during this time that toots wrote one of the greatest andwell-known song in reggaedome, 54-46 That's My Number, about his time in jail (54-46 was Toots' prison number). They appear again on CD2 with Funky Kingston.

Godfather of ska, Jimmy Cliff, is best known among mainstream audiences for The Harder They Come from the groundbreaking Jamaican film of the same name, which helped popularise reggae across the world. He also appears again with Wonderful World, Beautiful People on CD2.

Before the ascent of Bob Marley, Desmond Dekker was one of the mostpopular musician within Jamaica, and one of the best-known Jamaican musician outside it. Among his best known releases of this period was YouCan Get It If You Really Want.

He appears again together with his backinggroup, the Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), with one of the first international Jamaican hits, Israelites.

Red Red Wine, originally written and recorded by Neil Diamond, is covered here by Tony Tribe and given a rocksteady feel.

Jamaican reggae vocal trio The Pioneers also appears with their 1969 hit Long Shot Kick De Bucket, which was later taken to No1 in 1980 by TheSpecials.

Ska, rocksteady, and reggae vocal group The Ethiopians, founded byLeonard Dillon, also appears with their 1999 hit Train To Skaville, as well as another ska legend, Dandy Livingstone, with his 1972 hit Rudy,Message To You.

To complete the album are black Uhuru, formed by Derrick "Duckie"Simpson, with Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Janet Kay with her SillyGames.

As the title suggest, Essential Reggae - 40 Classic Reggae Hits is amust-have for all reggae cult classic connoisseurs. – NST 19/10/2008

YEAR OF THE GENTLEMAN - Ne-Yo

SHAFFER Chimere Smith, a.k.a. Ne-Yo, the record producer, dancer, actor, occasional rapper and songwriter sensation, is out with his third album, Year Of The Gentleman, described by Ne-Yo himself as "an insidelook at the emotional vulnerability of men and without emasculating us".

But don't be fooled by the title, this album is all about the ladies.

Ne-Yo seeks to praise the wonder and beauty that is woman, through genuine respect and love from the perspective of the sensitive and understanding man.

The album is full of mid-tempo tracks, sprinkled with a couple of dance tracks and ballads.

The first two singles - Closer, the catchy, driven by a metallic disco thump courtesy of the Norwegian production team StarGate, and MissIndependent, the go-girl anthem of the year that sparks ahead with asolid beat and piano foundation - are rocketing up the charts.

Ne-Yo then plays the understanding guy who is trying to help a woman forget her underachieving boyfriend in Single.

The sure fire single is Mad, backed by an easy beat and gorgeous,affectionate piano.

Drippy, slightly maudlin cuts such as Fade Into TheBackground, So You Can Cry and Part Of The List keep the album from being as strong as Ne-Yo's previous two.

Be that as it may, Year Of The Gentleman proves that Ne-Yo's been paying attention and taking abundant notes on what women really want. - NST 12/10/2008

PARTIE TRAUMATIC - Black Kids

FORMED in early 2006, Florida five-piece Black Kids is an indie rock band fronted by singer-songwriter Reggie Youngblood (vocals and guitar),Owen Holmes (bass guitar), Kevin Snow (drums), Dawn Watley (keyboards andbacking vocals), and Reggie's twin sister Ali (keyboards and backingvocals).

The band members are not entirely American-African. Nor are they literally kids anymore.

With coed harmonies and snatches of R&B, Black Kids has a more classic pop sound than your typical indie-rock band.

They created a huge buzz on the Internet by posting its music on its MySpace page. And soon, everyone wanted a piece of the band.

Black Kids toured Britain early this year and while there, the band recorded its debut album, Partie Traumatic, with producer Bernard Butler, former guitarist of Suede.

Mixing racy lyrics with bouncy beats and gender blurring points of view, Black Kids borrows from seemingly every genre intended to get the soundtrack for a good time, from disco to new wave to electropop.

The record starts positively enough with the catchy chorus of Hit The Heartbreaks, with Youngblood's vocals eerily similar to Robert Smith of The Cure.

Next comes the title song, Partie Traumatic, complete with spooky electronic tone mixed with a party hook - and yet it's one of the album's better songs.

Easily one of the most fun tracks on the album, I'm Not Gonna TeachYour Boyfriend How To Dance has an infectious quality that rattles around your head for hours after, as does most of this solid debut album.

Cue the memories of a bad 80s film depicting the dance floor as a lovers'battleground.

"He's got two left feet and he bites my moves".

Our hero doesn't get the girl, but his consolation is style. Lyrically, Reggie often refers to himself in song as a girl, writing terse, bittersweet lyrics that recall Morrissey and the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt.

Some couplets stands out as carefully crafted pop poetry, including "This jungle is massive. So please don't be so passive. Be aggressive. Impress us. And they will get the message", from Partie Traumatic.

In Nov 14 last year, Rolling Stone magazine called them one of 10Artists to Watch in 2008. The band was also included in the BBC Sound of2008 poll.

Add to that the fact that only two members are black, the girls sport`dos that rival the B-52's and their music sounds like a record cut in1983, there's enough fun 80s style synth-pop and ragged guitar,modernised with will la mode chant-style vocals plus a pinch of 60s girlband harmonies, to make this record perfectly acceptable pre-night-on-the-townlistening.

Partie Traumatic is this year's best dance/pop album.

One of the best 80's British New Wave albums not to come out ofEngland... or the 80s. – NST 05/10/2008

LIGHT FROM ABOVE - Black Tide

THIS heavy metal band from Miami, Florida, comprises Gabriel Garcia (vocals/guitar), Alex Nunez (guitar), Zachary Sandler (bass), and Steven Spence (drums).

Each member of Black Tide was under 20 years of age (some say Garciawas only 15 at that time) during the recording of this debut album, making it very recognisable in the music industry.

The second head-turner is their label: Interscope.

That's the home of 50 Cent, Gwen Stefani, and Jimmy Eat World. On this first record, these teenagers are labelmates with Dr Dre. Areyou jealous, or are you jealous?

And Black Tide might rightly deserve its good fortune.

Most metal bands will never reach the maturity of Light From Above. It's true-blue metal lifted straight from the 80s - think Dio, IronMaiden, Armored Saint.

Thrash beats drop in at times, but otherwise it's melodies for miles.

The opener, Shockwave, shows us right away that these kids can play. It's immediately clear lead guitarist Nunez is a star in the making GiveMe A Chance is an Ozzyesque anthem, complete with power ballad cleantones.

Light From Above revives Iron Maiden harmonies and retro bass work.

Even a filler track like Show Me The Way uncorks tasty Van Halen lickswhile its cover of Metallica's Hit The Lights is amazingly spot-on.

The problem with the album is the lyrics - so cheesy.

Warriors Of Time could have been an amazing anthem if not for Garcia's "Whoooooooooaooooh" right from the start of the track till the end.

Nevertheless, the album is as solid as they come and should earn Black Tide loads of fans.

Not bad for a bunch of kids with long hair. – NST 14/09/2008

ORNACULAR SPECTACULAR - MGMT

Purveyors of ear-bendingly twisted pop hooks, amping up melody and moodwith deep growling keys and left-field curves, MGMT (previously known asthe Management) is an american synthpop band based in Brooklyn, New York comprising Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden.

The self-styled 70s futurists recently released their debut album,Oracular Spectacular, experimenting with noise rock and electronica before settling on "shapeshifting psychedelic pop".

They might look like hippies but they are credible, fascinating, boundary-pushing artistic originators; successfully combining infectious beats with sarcastic lyrics.

MGMT is anything but predictable... and it shows in the lyrics too.

"Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives.I'll move to Paris, shoot some heroin and f*** with the stars", goes the Abba meets Velvet underground opening track Time To Pretend.

This is already one of the most-quoted lyrics of 2008. With its tweeting synthsand clattering drums, it tells the oh-so-droll tale of the desire to"live fast and die young".

Electric Feel pulls influences from early funk and electroclash, while Kids is probably its catchiest tune on the album, mixing Brit pop with synth sounds, repeating the tricks of Time to Pretend, pushing the same buttons and achieving a similar high level of electro-pop nirvana.

The Middle-Easterny 4th Dimensional Transition is just as trippy as the name implies, while Weekend Wars is pure ear candy distinguished by sweeping electro and snarky lyrics, sounding very much like a dopedup Rolling Stones track spliced with a tempo-shifting superior Scissor Sisters tune.

Of Moons, Birds & Monsters is a beautiful and autumnal-like PinkFloyd-meets-Mamas and Papas effort.

Oracular Spectacular is as playful, uplifting and involving a record as you'd hope to hear.

This surely is a fun album to enjoy. - NST 31/08/2008

CAN'T HURT, CAN'T LOVE - Augustana

Augustana is an American rock band from San Diego, California, comprising Fan Yayus on vocals, guitar and piano, Jared Palomar on bass, Justin South on drums, Christ Sachtleben on lead guitar and mandolin, and JohnVincent on keyboards.

Can't Love, Can't Hurt, their second album, is an earthier album thanits predecessor, All The Stars And Boulevards, with guitars driving mostof the songs while Layus drops his piano in for pretty fills.

Can't Love, Can't Hurt strays little from the band's signature combination of soft, driving rhythms and simple meaningful lyrics,anchored by Layus' sultry piano riffs and intimate vocals, while also exploring a darker, more mature sound that begs not to be taken lightly.

In this manner, Can't Love, Can't Hurt is more alternative-country than Brit rock, and that's more than refreshing in today's musical landscape.

The hidden power behind the album is Layus' vocals, which quality heuses as a tool more than a crutch. This guy could rap and still soundsensitive.

Can't Love, Can't Hurt's 10 piano-based nuggets of melodic rock iswarmer and more soothing than All Stars. The songs are slower and highly contemplative.

The lead single, Sweet And Low, will easily have the boys and girls singing along at the next Augustana show, while the gentle, piano-driven Fire fulfills the melancholy quota nicely.

Most of the songs are about love lost, heartbreak, sorrows, and ways todeal with it spiritually as well as mentally.

In terms of the music, tone and mood, Augustana had perfected thedynamics of its songs to get the right emotional response desired.

With its masterful songwriting, Can't Love, Can't Hurt makes the last album sound like a handful of demo songs patched together. – NST 27/07/2008

SCOUTING FOR GIRLS - Scouting For Girls

HERE's the perfect soundtrack album for young couples.

Scouting For Girls is a London-based UK indie pop band formed in Ruislip, by Roy Stride (vocals/keyboards), Greg Churchouse (bass guitar) and Peter Ellard(percussion).

The band shot to fame off the back of its limited edition EP It's Not About You last year.

The band's name is a play on the words of the Scout handbook, ScoutingFor Boys, first published in 1908.

So now we have the band's selftitled debut album, encompassing alighthearted pop style. The songs reflect on childhood innocence andexperiences.

Keep On Walking kicks things off nicely. It's perhaps the most grownupand musically adventurous song on the album.

But as we move on to She's So Lovely, the scene is set for the rest of the album, as Stride takes us through song after song detailing his unfortunate love life.

It's Not About You could well be a lyrical deviation on the album if not for its funny, pathetic lyrics and a joyful tune. It's a summertime anthem and was a hit when it first came out.

The Airplane Song, with its oh-so philosophical leanings and references to the airport - the eternal symbol of loss, love and patched-up breakups - is bound to be a favourite with lovelorn teenagers.

On James Bond, the band cheekily hero worship Roger Moore and company with delicious lyrics and a chorus that announces "I wish I was JamesBond just for a day, kissing all the girls and blowing all the bad guys away".

Add a hidden track about Michaela Strachan and being heartbroken at 12, you should be totally seduced by all this giddy,boyish charm.

There are people who are going to absolutely love Scouting For Girls. Stride's vocals prevail all over the album and the power and the passionof the musicians fully compensates the simplicity of the lyrics.

However, almost every song in Scouting For Girls follows the same format, making it difficult to really pick one song out from another attimes, given the overreliance on Beach Boys-style vocal harmonising, stop-start guitars and their distinct chorus style.

But, if you're tired of complicated music, lyrics filled with deepthoughts and introspection, multi-layered arrangements and voices thatmake you tremble with admiration, then Scouting For Girls is for you. – NST 20/07/2008

GAVIN DEGRAW - Gavin Degraw

Gavuin Degraw began singing and playing piano at the age of eight.

He made his rounds in Manhattan nightclubs before he got his big breakwhen his single, I Don't Want To Be, was chosen as the theme song for theteen TV drama, One Tree Hill, while We Belong Together was featured inthe 2006 film, Tristan And Isolde.

Now he is back with his third album, a self-titled one.

It kicks off with In Love With A Girl, a fratboy soul at its most tuneful. It's perfect mood music for teen girls and the sensitive guys who wantto hold their purses. However, the downside is that it sounds much likehis previous masterpiece, I Don't Wanna Be.

The second song, Next to Me (Wait a Minute Sister), is a bouncy plea to an aloof love interest which sounds little poppier than most of his songs, but once again, Degraw creates a chorus that embeds itself in your brain.

Cheated On Me is a nice song of disgraced forlorn love. His voiceshines on this track and it's one of the best on the album.

In Cop Stop, he packs some bizarre metaphors into the faux-jazzy song:"I won't tell you lies/Or treat you like a rental car like other guys."

In Young Love, he sings about young love being the most easiest thing todo. Its flow and melodies will certainly hook many listeners, so beware.

Untamed is, by far, the worst Degraw song ever. Not only on this album,but his whole career. The production value is way below his other works and it's hard to tell if he's telling people he's Untamed because he will do want he wants... or because his heart is a virgin when it comes to love. Either way, it's just a horribly bad song.

To save the day and top it all off comes We Belong Together, a brilliant piece that starts off with a chorus and a heavy guitar, then silences a little bit for Degraw's singing and a light guitar melody. A good piece.

Degraw's latest album contains some hits and some misses, but if youenjoyed his other forays, then there is no reason you will not like this one. – NST 06/07/2008

UNTIL JUNE - Until June

UNTIL June is a three-piece, piano-based alternative Christian rock band comprising brothers Ballard - Josh (piano/vocals) and Dan (guitars), and drummer Daniel Dempsey.

The band, in its debut self-titled album has taken the modern arenarock template forged by such bands as Keane, The Fray, Coldplay, Travisand Starsailor ... and made it even bigger.

The album starts out rather annoyingly with Sleepless, going over its allotment of "whoo-hoos".

The tempo of the album doesn't vary much, making all the songs tend torun together if you're listening to them in the background.

But Josh's soaring high tone takes his band's straightforward romantic lyrics to a whole new emotional level.

Check out Unnoticed, the only straight-out ballad on this album, and perhaps the most emotional song on the record.

Yet, Until June offers some irresistible melodies and pop hooks a plenty ona debut effort that's seeker friendly for the mainstream, yet spiritualenough for the alternative market. - NST 29/06/2008

KONK - The Kooks

THIS is an indie rock band based in in Brighton, England, and currentlycomprises guitarist and lead vocalist Luke Pritchard, lead guitarist andbackup vocalist Hugh Harris, drummer Paul Garred and temporary bassist Dan Logan, who replaced Max Rafferty early this year.

The band shot to stardom with its 2006 debut album In/Inside Out that sold over 2,000,000 copies.

The Kooks are back with a not-so-difficult-to-listen Konk.

The album starts with a wonderful number to get you in the mood, See The Sun. The gentle strum of the electric guitar with the thick British accent makes the song stand out from the moment it begins.

Mr Maker, taking a lead from 60s tales of suburban love, life, and the Catholic church, is a little barnstormer of a track; peppered withhandclaps and slide guitar. It is the sound of a band enjoying itself.

Stormy Weather, offering up some notable bass and guitar dynamics, is hugely likeable. It plods along sweetly and could be the sort of track that you might bop, albeit ironically, to at an indie disco, while One Last Time is a lovely piece of balladry.

There are some letdowns, in particular Do You Wanna, with its sleazyand tasteless asking "do you wanna make love to me, I know you wanna",and Love It All which is just another poppy, soppy affair.

The opening cut of the boys jamming out and laughing is a charming,personal touch.

The bonus hidden track, All Over Town, brings in a rockin' country-folkacoustic guitar and loses absolutely nothing as far as push and drive areconcerned.

On the surface, Konk is much of the same of what we've seen before -bright, chirpy songs. But the overall sound is a little more rocky and has a slightly mature edge.

The album is very mainstream friendly with upbeat pop-rock anthemsbursting at the seams. - NST 29/06/2008

NINE LIVES - Steve Winwood

STEPHEN Lawrence Winwood, the English singer-songwriter and instrumentalist rock legend who was a member of the bands the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Go and Blind Faith, is back with his firstfull-length studio album since 2003.

Nine Lives finds Winwood drawing on an amalgam of styles and influences. With laid-back grooves, deepvein bass lines, instantly singable tunesand loose, spiralling rhythms and percussion, the music has a fusionsound tinged with jazz and Latin subtleties.

In I'm Not Drowning, Winwood goes back to his blues roots with itsclick-clack percussion and chicken-picking guitar style.

The album's first single, Dirty City, features six-time Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and composer Eric Clapton on guitar. It jangles totumultuous grooves. You can spot a hint of the classic Traffic sound in Raging Sea, withits upbeat blues tempo and a bongo backbeat that pushes it into a strangemix of Latin and African rhythms.

Secrets has that progressive light rock feel. The flute replaces the sax here and gets into a nice, playful duel with the backbeat.

On Raging Sea and Secrets, Winwood's vocal fluidity evokes feeling sultimately more touching than the lyrics themselves. Along with a bedrock of bongos, supple interleaving guitar and bass,and a wash of keyboards swaying prettily behind lyrics that speak of being free and in love,

Other Shore is a sure hit with Winwood's fans. Winwood's voice remains his greatest asset, possessing the apparentcontradiction of being ostensibly thin and yet able to cut to the soul with telling effect.

While the songs on Nine Lives might not necessarily rush out to greet you, they certainly prove themselves a worthy company once you've had them around for a while.

And the album comes with a bonus DVD. – NST 15/06/2008

UNBREAKABLE - Fireflight

THIS is an American Christian rock band originating from Eustis, Florida.

Formed in 1999 with Justin Cox and Glenn Drennen on guitars, Wendy Drennen (Glen's wife) on bass, Phee Shorb on drums and DawnRichardson on vocals, the band released its debut album The Healing Of Harms in 2006.

In this highly-anticipated sophomore album, Unbreakable, Fireflight upsthe ante with a 10-track album brimming with hooks, catchy choruses, anda relevant message of hope through dark times.

Fireflight tackles the daily pains and trials people go through in away that feels natural and real.

There are a lot of bands in mainstream and Christian rock that seem to feel like they ought to write about issues such as suicide anddepression.

Not Fireflight.

Each deliciously catchy progressive rocktrack stares at a situation straight in the face and turns right aroundto recognise God as the solution.

Unbreakable is about not being afraid of what can happen to us inuncertain situations - a theme that Fireflight carries throughout thealbum's duration. The single received tremendous reviews when it came outand was selected as the anthemic promotional soundtrack for primetime TVshow Bionic Woman in November 2007.

Says Richardson: "I hope this song continues to inspire listeners to overcome a defeated mentality and find power to remain strong amid the landscape, not allowing fear to hold us back from having victory over the things that used to control us."

Richardson's vocals are as confident and emotional as ever, and theysound just right for crying out the album's anthems.

Stand Up is a call for the brokenhearted to find strength in their weakness and reassurance that they are not alone in their struggles. The chorus is a good reminder that no matter what, God forgives us and isthere to help pick us back up.

The album's acoustic closer, Wrapped In Your Arms ties all the themes together with one final statement of faith and triumph:

"You cradle megently. Wrapped in your arms ... I'm home." – NST 08/06/2008

GET READY - Human Nature

Here's one for Motown maniacs!

Get Ready completes the final instalmentof the Motown trilogy following the release of the soulful classics of Dancing On The Streets and Reach Out.

Human Nature comprises Toby Allen and Michael Tierney on vocals, Andrew Tierney on keyboards and Phil Burton on guitar.

The album also features guest appearances by Motown legends such as R&Band soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive William "Smokey" Robinson Jr, on the title track Get Ready. That song so happens to be his last song Robinson ever wrote andproduced for The Temptations that took them to No 29 on the US Chart in1966.

Mary Wilson, the only Supreme who remained in the group when it was formed in 1959, appears in River Deep-Mountain High. That single was among the first recordings that Ike and Tina Turner did for Phil Spector's Philles Records. Rolling Stone magazine put it at No 33 on their list of the 500Greatest Songs of All Time.

Also appearing on the album is one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records, The Temptations, on The Way You Do That ThingYou Do. This single was their first charting single on the Billboard Hot100, peaking in the Top 20 at number 11.

To cap the guest artiste list is R&B and soul singer Martha Reeves,lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas before embarking on a illustrious solo career in 1977. She sings in (Love Is Like A) Heatwave, which became a cult classicespecially with the British Mods as much for Reeves' earthy gritty voiceas for the writing and production. The song was an early live staple for The Who, it was cut by The Jam in 1979 and it went gold when Linda Rosenthal sang it.

Get Ready is not only an album full of symphonious Motown musicalmagic, but also of lyrical and rhythmical history that shaped the veryfoundation of American music that we know of today.

A hit surely not to be missed! - NST 18/05/2008

THE TRICK OF LIFE - The Hoosiers

LONDON indie pop band The Hoosiers (formerly known as The HoosierComplex) comprises Irwin Sparkes (vocals, guitar), Martin Skarendahl(bass and guitar for acoustic performances) and Alphonso Sharland (drums).

With their first single Worried About Ray reaching No 5 on the UK SinglesChart in July 2007, the band's debut album, The Trick Of Life, gives us agood listen to its own "style" of music, odd pop.

Frontman Sparkes just loves to exercise his impressive falsetto at anyopportunity.

It's both his accent and that unmistakable UK indie pop vibethat runs through all the songs which traces the band's lineage back topast great British bands like The Cure and XTC.

Worried About Ray's music video for the song is inspired by theAmerican special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen.

That song, as well as Goodbye Mr A, contains the trademark Hoosier sound of choral harmonies,upbeat drums and resounding organ. Angular guitar riffs, dance rock beats, and wistful tales of life,existence and romance make The Hoosiers fits snugly in the current indiemusic climate.

Other songs include Run Rabbit Run, A Sadness Runs Through Him,Clinging on for Life, Everything Goes Dark, Killer and the hidden track The Feeling You Get When.

Every single track is brilliant, which is unusual for an album. Theseguys are talented and the songs are just incredible. - NST 27/04/2008

LIVE AT MONTEREY - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

THIS captivating new album takes us back to 1967 during the Summer of Love when nearly 200,000 concert-goers converged on the California seaside hamlet of Monterey.

Live At Monterey was recorded when both American music festivals andHendrix were younger, faster and more ebullient.

With Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums, this live show is probably Hendrix's most together, hit-crammed and enjoyable recorded gig.

With a special stereo mix by Eddie Kramer, the sound is nice and clear.It takes us away from the 60s mud of much of Hendrix's work.

Even though he had become a star in Britain the year before, Hendrix showed up at Monterey as a virtual unknown. But, unsurprisingly, that changed soon after.

The album starts off with Brian Jones, guitarist for the Rolling Stones, quietly introducing his friend before Hendrix opens with abone-crushing blues standards by Howlin' Wolf, Killing Floor that launched Hendrix's takeover of the US.

Running full throttle, Hendrix rolls out future classics like The Leave's Hey Joe, later escalating the intensity of the set with his signature song Purple Haze.

Even early in his career, Hendrix had a finely-honed command of dynamics.

Here, the muted verses play off the rousing refrain. The image on the album cover of Hendrix lighting up his guitar at theMonterey Pop Festival, is more than evocative of an inflammatory musician famous for torching his guitars.

A perfect Hendrix "live" performance. – NST 24/02/2008

ROLLED GOLD PLUS - Rolling Stones

WHAT a perfect way to introduce a whole new generation to theself-proclaimed "Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World" with aslightly updated version of the best of Rolling Stones, originally released in 1975, in Rolled Gold Plus.

With 24 tracks on CD1 and 16 on CD2, the list includes some of the Stones best hits including Satisfaction (1965) which must be known in every corner of the planet.

Other hits include Tell Me (1964), Heart OfStone (1965), Mother's Little Helper (1966), Dandelion (1967), No Expectations (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), You Can't Always Get What YouWant (1969) and Wild Horses (1971).

The album takes you from the raw early covers of old standards such as It's All Over Now (1964) through the glorious psychedelic pop of She's ARainbow (1967) to the more robust rock of Gimme Shelter (1969), and Sympathy For The Devil (1968) that invented what is now known as trance music.

This is chance to see the song-writing partnership of Mick Jagger andKeith Richards develop and grow, to take flight and to drag half theworld's population, at least the younger half, out to glory in its power.

Together with stoned-faced Charlie Watts on drums and Bill Wyman on bass, they provided the steadiest beat and strongest foundation of all rockbands in music history.

Need some Stones in your life? Start right here. – NST 17/02/2008

CARNIVALVOL II: MEMOIRS OF AN IMMIGRANT - Wyclef Jean

AFTER a 10-year haitus, Haitian-born Wyclef Jean, the world renowned ex-Fugee artiste, songwriter, producer, rapper, guitarist, good willambassador and social activist through his Yele Haiti foundation is back with Carnival Volume II: Memoirs Of An Immigrant (Sony BMG).

A contrasting crowd including Paul Simon, Mary J. Blige, Norah Jonesand Louis Farrakhan feature on this album.

The first track features Wyclef speaking, noting that the world hasradically changed since The Carnival Vol 1 (1997) and sets the stage forthe socially conscious lyrics of this follow-up album.

Then in comes Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill), featuring Akon, Niia & Lil'Wayne, followed by post-Katrina hymn Any Other Day, featuring Norah Jones. Talk about diversifying your melody.

The musical styles are just as distinct, from the raga-reggae mash-up King And Queens with Shakira and Welcome To The East with Farrakhan on violin and a verse by reggae supremo Sizzla, to the pseudo rap-rock Riot,with Serj Tankian of System Of A Down's surprisingly decent emceeing skills - all of them vibrant.

Slow Down and Heaven's In New York are both feel-good R&B jams. There are some racy lyrics, but they're smart and don't overshadow theintoxicating blend of music and overall intent of the album.

The Paul Simon-assisted Fast Car comes with a gospel choir. Amid the meandering verse and dull strumming, Wyclef buries a vague reference to Sean Bell, the unarmed black man shot by the New York Police Departmentafter his bachelor party.

The Eastern-tinged Hollywood Meets Bollywood, with a guest spot from Chamillionaire, is a bloated pro-immigration history lesson, while WhatAbout Baby has Wyclef and Mary J Blige singing about family break-ups.

The 13-minute outro Touch Your Button Carnival Jam with its careening Caribbean mishmash features a bevy of energetic guests including BlackEyed Peas member will.i.am, Trini legend Machel Montano, samba goddessDaniela Mercury and dancehall icon Shabba Ranks.

It's an ambitious ride through a carnival of global music too rarelyexplored. Wyclef's sonic scope is breathtaking, complemented by imaginativelyrics.

Carnival Volume II: Memoirs Of An Immigrant strives to give theimmigration problem a face, turning those thousands of marchers we see inthe new on the telly into 1,000 personal stories of struggle and hope.

It does this while pulsating with life and displaying an unabashed loveof music that's rich, daring as well as utterly delightful. – NST 10/02/2008

HIS GREATEST SONGS - Bob Dylan

MANY would agree that trying to fit the best of Robert Allen Zimmerman, or Bob Dylan, into a single CD is like trying to fit the history of the world into a single textbook. It is an impossible feat and no matter how good a job you do, a big chunk of the story is going to be left out.

Knowing this, Columbia Records and Sony BMG has released a sampler, Bob Dylan - His Greatest Songs, which is a starting point for new listeners to choose which songs they fancy and follow it back to the original album.

Kicking things off is the evergreen Blowing In The Wind, which will forever be known as the classic Dylan song. It has been sung in schools, churches and protest marches. Released on his 1963 The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, it poses philosophical questions about peace, war and freedom. The song does not refer specifically to any particular event which has kept its popularity enduring.

Next is The Times They Are a-Changin', taken from Dylan's third album with the same title released in 1964. A self-conscious protest song, it is often viewed as a reflection of the generation gap and of the political divide marking American culture in the 60s.

Subterranean Homesick Blues, a song written by Dylan released on the 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. It was thought to be inspired by Jack Kerouac's 1958 novel The Subterraneans, and is about the Beat Generation. In this song, Dylan goes electric. It is a funny look at the downside of abandoning the straight world for a life underground.

Mr Tambourine Man was also featured on Bringing It All Back Home and was a number one single for The Byrds before the release of Dylan's own version. Here, Dylan zeroed in on the best part of his lyric writing, the cascading imagery and flights of lyrical abandon, all rooted in an internal logic that let's you know there was substance to a dream. Above all that, it will always be known as the song that brought folk-rock into mainstream American consciousness.

In 2004, based on its poll of 172 music industry figures, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Like A Rolling Stone from Dylan's 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited as one of the greatest song of all time. The drums explode like a thunder crack and the song keeps going and going, breaking the time barrier radio had placed on pop songs.

Positively 4th Street's lyrics are bitter and derisive, founding many different meanings for as many different listeners. Some have interpreted the song to be a general disparagement to the opportunistic and disingenuous people of the world. But the song is generally assumed to ridicule the people of Greenwich Village, who criticised Dylan for his departure from traditional folk style towards the electric guitar and rock music genre.

Just Like A Woman from Dylan's 1966 album Blonde On Blonde, is a love song so elegant and confused it's not clear today, so many years later, whether it is insufferably condescending or startlingly loving.

As with many of the lyrics to the songs on his albums, the words to All Along The Watchtower from his 1967 album John Wesley Harding, contains biblical and apocalyptic references, depicting a conversation between a joker and a thief about the difficulties of getting by in life. But what made this song famous was Jimi Hendrix's definitive cover version of Watchtower, forever known as psychedelic rock's finest moment.

Sung by Dylan in a low, soft voice instead of his familiar high-pitched nasal-sounding voice, Lay Lady Lay was released on his 1969 Nashville Skyline album. It was originally written for the soundtrack of the film, Midnight Cowboy, but wasn't submitted in time to make the final cut.

One of Dylan's most well known songs Knockin' On Heaven's Door was originally recorded as a slow acoustic folksy ballad. Knockin' has since been covered in many tempos and styles by many artistes, most famously Guns N' Roses, The Grateful Dead, Wyclef Jean, Eric Clapton, U2, Avril Lavigne, Bon Jovi, Randy Crawford, Ladysmith Black Mambozo and Australian heavy metal band Heaven.

The irony of it all, is that the song only has four chords.

Released on his 1975 album Desire, Hurricane is a protest song by Dylan about the accusation, trial and imprisonment of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. It eventually helped get Carter a new trial and freedom.

Things Have Changed is a song from the 2000 film adaptation of the Michael Chabon novel Wonder Boys and won Dylan an Academy Award for Best Song in a Motion Picture in 2001.

Finally, Someday Baby won the Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2006 and is the fifth track on his 2006 album Modern Times, that won the Best Contemporary Folk/ Americana Album.

From these few songs alone, it is clear why so many musical legends are inspired by this lanky American singer-songwriter, author, musician, poet and, of late, disc jockey who has been a major figure in popular music for more then half a century.

Bob Dylan - His Greatest Songs will be a hit with his fans and is sure to convert many others as well. - NST 06/01/2008

BRAVE - Jennifor Lopez

HOW times have changed for Jennifer Lopez. Brave, her second 2007 album and return to English-language recording is leagues better than its immediate predecessor, the abhorrently atrocious Spanish-language Como Ama una Mujer and a return to her R&B-club roots - the kind of grooves that have helped make her a multi-platform superstar.

Combining urban dance pop music and easy to relate lyrics, JLo has once again managed to come up with a brilliant album.

The flirty lead-off track, Stay Together, produced by Sean Kingston's daddy, J.R. Rotem, is another certified shaker with a live band feel that pulses across the speakers and is the most personal of the 12 tracks as she gives props to monogamy.

The twice-divorced artiste claims she has finally found her happiness and appeals to the listeners to follow her example.

The mid-tempo composition, Forever, is one of the album's standout tracks due to its beautiful melody and her sensual performance.

Fans of Desperate Housewives will surely recognise Miles In These Shoes from the adverts, with its pleasing deep ideas and interesting metaphors in the lyrics.

For those fond of melodious and deep felt ballads, composition Never Gonna Give Up, a ballad driven with over two minutes of her voice weaving in and out of a string orchestra and devoted to the topic of heartbreak, will do perfectly well.

The most likely candidate for a smash hit is the ass-shaking masterpiece Do It Well, which she has wisely chosen as her first single.

However, it sounds dated and recycled thanks to its reliance on a sample of Keep On Truckin, already heavily used in hip-hop, as does Gotta Be There, which uses a sample of Michael Jackson's overused Gotta Be Where You Are.

Wrong When You're Gone shows she can inject some soul when she's adequately inspired, with its softly clapping production sticking in your head for days.

The title track, Brave, is saved to end the album which can be truly valued only after more than one listening.

Overall, Brave isn't one of her best album to date, but she's clearly in love, pure and simple, and the effect is hard to argue with.

Failing that, she can always fall back on her acting career! - NST 11/11/2007

EVERY SECOND COUNTS - Plain White T's

THIS pop rock band from Chicago, Illinois, which gave you Hey There, Delilah is back with its fourth album Every Second Counts.

There are a few diamonds in this album, other than Delilah. Every Second Counts kicks off with Our Time Now, which finds lead singer Tom Higgenson capturing the euphoria of a new love.

Come Back To Me mixes gentle guitar melodies with power chords and grand vocals from Higgenson, while Figure It Out has a slight Latino flavour and a rolling chorus.

Just when you think things are going to settle down into acoustic sweetness, along comes a song with melodic vocal and blues-metal mashed guitar hooks on Hate, a nice contrast to the aching romanticism of Delilah.

The socially responsible Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk makes a nice change to a lot of the alcohol-driven tracks that bands like to rock.

Let Me Take You There seems to be the strongest song on the album while Making A Memory, with a twist of blues, has a chorus that will positively ensure those glow sticks and lighters being waved from side to side.

What Every Second Counts suffers from is a nasty case of inconsistency. About half the album is glorious pop-punk, while the remainder is a combination of lesser rock and uninspired ballads.

But this fourth offering ensures the Plain White T's won't be disappearing into complete obscurity any time soon. - NST 28/10/2007

SOUND THEORIES VOL 1 & 2 - Steve Vai

GUITAR virtuoso Steve Vai does what most people can only dream of on asix and seven-stringed axe, continually pushing the boundaries of guitarplaying and the rock genre to stratospheric heights.

But ever since the first time he heard an orchestra as a boy growing upin New York, his dream was to "capture and make real the audio vision ofmy mind's eye".

And so comes the release of a double-live CD recording from the47-year-old Grammy-winning guitarist, entitled Sound Theories Vol. 1 & 2, which features his compositions backed by the Holland Metropole Orkest.

But the live tag may be a little misleading.

Culled from five Europeanshows recorded in 2004 and 2005, the songs were studio edited to perfection by the meticulous Vai. The end result is a polished piece of aural art, which also includes the recordings of a studio session and a soundcheck rehearsal jam.

On the first CD, Vol. 1: The Aching Hunger, Vai grinds his trademarkIbanez Jem guitars and lets rip side by side with the orchestra and afour-man band. Songs that feature mind-blowing fret technique like For The Love Of God, a fan favourite from his acclaimed 1990 album Passion And Warfare,sound grand with an added presence thanks to the strings and brass.

This modern classical meets rock dynamic creates interesting moods fromthe foreboding and ominous in The Murder to the moving emotion of Gentle Ways.

For the second CD, Vol. 2: Shadows and Sparks, Vai takes a breather and let's the orchestra have free reign over his compositions. The man may be absent here but the complexity and hyperactive nature ofthe pieces, twisting and turning with many layers, is typical Vai.

These long lush pieces, eight to 10 minutes in length, take thelistener on a journey, like all great progressive rock pieces past andpresent.

A master shredder with more than 20 years of experience in creating andproducing rock-based guitar music, Vai makes it apparent that he's stillgot the groove. - NST