The Corrs - Home

It's fair to say that The Corrs are responsible for some of the most insipid pop music of the last decade, somehow combining winsome lyrics with melodies that seem to have been produced in some kind of factory and devised to entwine themselves within your brain. Just saying the word 'breathless' inspires memories of Andrea Corr's vocals with that infuriating chorus. So, to have them back again is hardly exciting news, but what is Home like?

Katie Melua - Piece By Piece

It's safe to say that lots of musical snobs will hate this album even before they hear it. After all, Katie Melua is one of those Terry Wogan/Michael Parkinson-approved MOR songstresses who are taking over music and making it all easy-listening. It's certainly true that Piece By Piece is very easy on the ears, but is that really such a bad thing? Surely there is a time and a place for gentle music like this?

Jamie Cullum - Catching Tales

There is something inherently irritating about Jamie Cullum. Whether it is his hyperactive style of performing that rips off Jerry Lee Lewis and Elton John or the fact that he only looks about 13 years old when he's actually 25, or the fact that he's so damn popular with the kind of audience who are just SO uncool, there is just something annoying there. Even more irritating is that Catching Tales has a rubbish title but the music contained within is really very impressive.

Hayley Westenra - Odyssey

Whatever happened to Charlotte Church, eh? One minute she was a virginal schoolgirl with a heavenly voice and a wise head on her shoulders and all of a sudden, she's singing patchy pop songs with her cleavage up round her face and appearing in Heat every week. Thankfully there seems little chance of that happening to fellow opera chick Hayley Westenra, who follows up her multi-million selling Pure with this new album.

Sheryl Crow - Wildflower

The Beatles once sang 'All You Need Is Love', but as any serious fan knows, love can have a disastrous effect on the quality of the music produced by an artist as well as the longevity of their career. Just look what happened when the Fab Four started getting married and ended up drifting apart. We love hearing how miserable these people are, not about how happy they are because they are in love! Fortunately, Sheryl Crow has never really had that edginess, so that Wildflower is all about how much she loves cyclist Lance Armstrong doesn't really have much of an effect.

Brad Mehldau Trio - Day Is Done

Covering songs by Radiohead and The Beatles is hardly innovative way of getting attention for your album, but not many artists cover them quite like this. The Brad Mehldau Trio's eleventh album finds them again occupying that unique position somewhere between trancelike jazz inducers and upbeat bebop performers as well as performing many (barely) recognisable pop and rock songs.

Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites

2005 has been a great year so far for Scandinavian music, with The Raveonettes, Magnet, Hush, Leaves, Robert Post and Lisa Miskovsky all releasing great albums. And here is one that possibly tops the lot of them, from Danish madmen Mew, and as you can tell from the title, And The Glass Handed Kites, it is rather surreal to say the least.

H.I.M. - Dark Light

When H.I.M. burst onto the rock scene a few years ago, they intitially seemed like another of those slightly dodgy Scandinavian death metal bands, not least because their lead singer was called Ville Valo, although it's probably safe to assume that that is his actual name rather than a statement about how vile he is. After all, how evil can a band be when their logo is the 'Heartagram', which is a pentagram that has been turned into a heart and their last album was called Love Metal?

Bloodhound Gang - Hefty Fine

With an album cover showing a naked fat man in a box, the Bloodhound Gang clearly haven't put out Hefty Fine as their 'growing up' album, but only a week after the new record from Goldie Lookin' Chain, can they repeat the success of Hooray For Boobies or will they struggle into their second decade?

The Lucky Nine - True Crown Foundation Songs

The Lucky Nine apparently don't like people to talk about their day-jobs when reviewing their music, so we won't mention that bassist Daniel P Carter is from A, frontman Colin Doran is from Hundred Reasons and that drummer Richie Mills is from Cable. Oh wait... Ok, we won't mention it again after that.

Ian Brown - The Greatest

And so we find Ian Brown's greatest hits collection, although whether the title refers to the music or just his self-appointed status as The Greatest is open to debate. It's perhaps rather early for such a collection of his solo work, after just four albums and relatively few actual hits, and certainly none of these will ever be held up alongside I Am The Resurrection or She Bangs The Drums.

Goldie Lookin' Chain - Safe As Fuck

Does humour belong in music? The late, great Frank Zappa was asked that question and his reply was obviously affirmative, so he'd probably love Goldie Lookin' Chain. They burst onto the scene last year like a Welsh chav version of the Bloodhound Gang, dressed up in bling and shellsuits but obviously too witty to actually be the Newport miscreants they portrayed themselves to be and now they are back already, showing a work ethic that no true chav would adopt.

Paul Anka - Rock Swings

Paul Anka wrote My Way, a song made famous by Frank Sinatra but also mangled by thousands of karaoke singers, Sid Vicious and more recently Robbie Williams. While he undoubtedly profitted financially from all those terrible covers, it must have been galling to hear talentless schmucks like Williams trying to copy Sinatra on the song. So, perhaps Rock Swings is his revenge, not that there are any Robbie songs on here, although that could be on purpose.

Shelly Poole - Hard Time For The Dreamer

As half of Alisha's Attic, Shelly Poole has already had plenty of chart success in her time, as well as writing songs for the likes of Atomic Kitten, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Elizabeth Fraser and Rachel Stevens. But don't let any of that put you off this, her debut solo album, which is very pleasant indeed.

Hush - A Lifetime

Listening to A Lifetime, you would be forgiven to think that this duo came from the USA with their lush country-fried AOR lullabies, but Dorthe Gerlach and Michael Hartmann are actually Danish chart-toppers and this is a pretty stunning debut album.

King Creosote - KC Rules OK

Kenny Anderson is back with King Creosote's third album and was recorded right here in Manchester earlier this year with local boys The Earlies backing him up, and is probably the Fence Collective's finest hour so far. Now, can he follow former Fence alumni and Mercury Music prize nominee KT Tunstall into the national arena?

Institute - Distort Yourself

You have to feel slightly sorry for Gavin Rossdale, who was arguably more famous than his girlfriend Gwen Stefani when they got together, in America at least. Since then, his profile has gone steadily downhill while hers has never been higher thanks to her stunning solo album. With Bush having split up (he says they are 'on ice'), can he reverse his personal fortunes with new band Institute and their debut album Distort Yourself?

Queen Adreena - Live At The ICA

Only a few months since the release of their third album The Butcher And The Butterfly, Queen Adreena are back with this live album and it unsurprisingly has almost the same collection of songs, which makes it a rather surprising release, particularly as there's a DVD of this show on the way.

Elbow - Leaders of The Free World

The commanding and trouble voiced Guy Garvey leads a meditative and reflect feel to this third album from the wistful Mancunians Elbow. Rookie album Asleep In The Back and the well-produced and multi sounding Cast Of Thousands are built upon and developed to produce thought provoking and tingling melodies.

David Gray - Life In Slow Motion

I have a confession to make: I used to have an irrational hatred of David Gray. Blame it on the success of Babylon, that smash hit that was so EVERYWHERE for a couple of years and perhaps his wobbly neck in the video as well. However, having been shocked to find that I liked new single The One I Love, will his sixth album change my mind about him, or will it just confirm my original verdict?

The Pussycat Dolls - PCD

These Pussycat Dolls are an intruiging bunch. The original version of the group were/are burlesque dancers in Los Angeles (basically exotic dancers but not as sleazy and often incorporating Hollywood starlets), but now we have a bunch of them who also sing and have a smash hit single on both sides of the Atlantic. Will Spice Girls-style global domination follow?

The Black Velvets - The Black Velvets

When Robert Post outshined Aimee Mann at her recent Academy 1 gig, it was obvious that there was a real talent about to take off. However, this Norwegian singer-songwriter is far from raw, having been a jobbing musician for quite a while, with one song on this self-titled debut album dating back to the early nineties. The confidence that exudes from the music is therefore not surprising

Robert Post - Robert Post

When Robert Post outshined Aimee Mann at her recent Academy 1 gig, it was obvious that there was a real talent about to take off. However, this Norwegian singer-songwriter is far from raw, having been a jobbing musician for quite a while, with one song on this self-titled debut album dating back to the early nineties. The confidence that exudes from the music is therefore not surprising

Revenge Of The Psychotronic Man - Shitty Zombies

The whirlwind of Good Riddance meets Snuff and a snippet of Tiger Army crasher Here's One For You, creates a chilling and bold punk beginning; vocalist Andy demonstrates urgency and gives the indication that this band has a lot to say and not enough time to say it in. Alcohol Is Not A Drug (It's A Drink) is pumped along by Jim Lindberg style vocals and chugging guitars, as the topic of toil and struggle is dissected with precision

Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft

The Super Furry Animals have been at this music lark for over a decade now, which certainly makes this writer feel old, so they are now reaching the stage where we begin to stop expecting their new albums to be better than their previous ones. Which makes Love Kraft even more of a pleasant surprise, as it could well be their best release so far.

Magnet - The Tourniquet

Say what you will about godawful US teen soap The OC, but whoever decides which songs to use in it must be pretty clued into the best new singer-songwriter music out there. Here is another artist who has joined the lengthy ranks of those to benefit from having their songs played as a backdrop to some spoilt rich and beautiful Americans having lengthy and interminable discussions about their personal lives...

Stereo MCs - Paradise

The Stereo MCs aren't exactly workaholics, so it is quite a surprise to find their new album coming only four years after Deep Down And Dirty, particularly considering it took when a whopping seven years to release that follow-up to smash hit Connected. When it finally emerged in 2001, the mix of overwhelming expectation and forgetful apathy found them rather unfairly slated, so how will the public react to Paradise?

No Hope In New Jersey - Steady Diet Of Decline

Named after a town called No Hope in New Jersey (which actually turned out to be called Hope after all), Manchester's newest musical export are here with their optimistic outlook and crunching guitars. But will they follow Nine Black Alps into the stratosphere or sink into a puddle of despair and decline like so many rock groups from our fair city?

Leaves - The Angela Test

It's three years since Leaves burst onto the scene with acclaimed debut Breathe, but this is a much-changed band, with two new members and a much 'bigger' sound. They have clearly taken a quantum leap since 2002, but is it a step too far or could they capitalise on the recent successes of the likes of Coldplay/Keane/Athlete et al?

Frankie J - The One

Mexican neo-soul star Frankie J made his name Stateside with Kumbia Kings before making it on his own with debut album What's A Man To Do, helped by hit single Suga Suga, featuring Baby Bash. The two have teamed up again on Obsession (No Es Amour), which you will have heard many times already, so is it time for Frankie J to be The One on this side of the Atlantic?

Taproot - Blue-Sky Research

Last week we gave Staind's new album quite a hard time, so will it be more of the same for another bunch of emotional nu-metal scenesters, Taproot? Actually no, because their third album Blue-Sky Research has more ideas and ambition in one song than Staind managed in the entirity of Chapter V of their tiresome story.

Clayhill - Clayhill

After making lots of friends and influencing people last year with debut EP Cuban Green and full-length album Small Circle, Clayhill are back again with this acoustic eight-track release with some 'old' (if only by a year or so) songs and some new ones, all recorded as three-piece and very stripped down.

Cagedbaby - Will See You Now

Last year it was Mylo who burst onto the dance scene and became a crossover success, so could it be Cagedbaby's turn now? Hippie child Tom Gandey is Cagedbaby (more about that name later on in the review) and his/their debut album comes packed with photos of people at the first Glastonbury festival and other similiarly tripped-out events, which gives you a clue to what lies within.

Staind - Chapter V

There is always something inherently irritating about rich white Americans complaining about how lonely/miserable/depressed/angry they are. When the music is good, as it was for a select few of the Seattle grunge explosion (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, etc), then the lyrics can be overlooked. However, since grunge died, there have been a few impersonators trying to keep up its sense of alienation, whilst missing the point completely and making dire music. On a related topic, here's Staind with their fifth album.

Lulu - Put A Little Soul In Your Heart

Who would have thought that Lulu could put together such a good album all this time after she first Shout-ed at us? Lead single Put A Little Love In Your Heart showed that her voice is in great husky form, and a strong band assembled by Exec Prod Sir Elton John provide excellent backing on a whole host of familiar so

My Awesome Compilation - Actions

You get the feeling that My Awesome Compilation chose their name so that they can one day release a greatest hits album entitled One Awesome Compilation. That's quite a bit in the future of course, but there's already plenty of people waiting for this full-length debut album after last year's The View Is Amazing, which was championed by the likes of Zane Lowe.

Dogs - Turn Against The Land

It's far too tempting to compare Dogs to the likes of the Libertines and Razorlight but it's also difficult to class them as anything else but part of that whole scene. The Strokes also come to mind, though Johnny Cooke and his motley crew of mongrels are at least more genuinely interesting than most of that overrated bunch.

Quantic Soul Orchestra - Pushin' On

We recently discovered two amazingly good things. One was Simpsons/Spinal Tap actor Harry Shearer's long-running radio broadcast Le Show and the other (courtesy of Le Show) was The Quantic Soul Orchestra and their stunning new album Pushin' On. So, we implore you to not only check out Shearer's official website to listen to his show and the quality humour and music contained within, but also pick up a copy of Pushin' On.