The latest releases reviewed.
LL COOL J Control Myself featuring Jennifer Lopez Def Jam ***
An ancient r'n'b star makes a comeback, joining up with LL Cool J to get a little street cred from the boys on the block. This electro-hop tune, featuring a sample from Afrika Bambaataa, sounds like it's been dipped in Funky Cold Medina, then shoved out onto a hot dancefloor.
PHOENIX Long Distance Call Virgin ***
Now that AOR is the new rock'n'roll, it's a good time for these French soft-rockers to re-emerge. Orson, The Feeling and HAL may be today's finest purveyors of 1970s-style FM rock, but they're only the space cadets - these guys are the commanders of the soft-rock starship.
SIMON CASEY Hope for Me Yet Universal *
God loves a trier, so a place in heaven is guaranteed for the dogged record label executive who won't give up on this runner-up from an ancient You're a Star series. First, though, there'd be a spell in purgatory for putting out this awful tune, like something David Brent from The Office would enter in the Eurovision.
STARSAILOR Keep Us Together EMI **
James Walsh and his crew are sailing close to the wind of 1980s adult contemporary with this tune off their current album, On the Outside. With its big, shoutalong hook, Keep Us Together could have come straight off the soundtrack of St Elmo's Fire, or maybe from Simple Minds' salad days.
BOY KILL BOY Suzie Vertigo ****
Boy buy guitar, boy form band, boy get girls. Straight outta Theydon Bois, these boys are out to prove that the Brits can do emo too, and knock Fall Out Boy from their pop pedestal with this song about - what else? - getting dumped by the girls.
THE VIBES Just Another Love Song Wood **
With love from Leitrim, here's a wistful tune that floats around the empty spaces between Westlife and James Blunt. Amazingly, it really is just another love song, albeit with its own naïve charms.
GRAHAM COXON You & I Parlophone *****
Here's the feelgood indie hit of the summer, snappier than a crocodile sandwich, cheekier than the Cheeky Girls' bottoms, and packed with more hooks than an economy-sized bag of hooks. You and I are gonna be moshing to this all summer long.
