Latest releases reviewed

GIVEAMANAKICK
We Are the Way Forward
Out on a Limb
****

In terms of melodic noise and stylish clatter, the second album from Limerick duo Stephen Ryan and Keith Lawler is the kind of euphoric racket which will put a smile on most gobs. Punk rock by way of the usual suspects, with a big dash of loopy humour thrown in to add fibre and roughage, We Are the Way Forward will surprise you with its knockabout skills, unlikely hooks and wild sense of abandon. It certainly betters their debut album (Is It OK to Be Loud, Jesus?) because the duo have added finesse to the mix. A tune like Bobby Dazzler launches with Hüsker Dü-like bravado before finding new metallic legs and running for the hills. But it's not all heavy-duty wattage: there's a pop heart stirring in Hatch 77, while explosive chords turn Pocket of Silence into a roaring storm. A ton of fun. www.outonalimb.com  - Jim Carroll

HAZEL O'CONNOR
Hidden Heart
Invisible Hands
***

Hazel O'Connor adopted more than just a nation with her relocation to Ireland; Irish blood now pumps through her music, even if her English heart is only partially obscured. This fusion and frisson is central to the success of Hidden Heart, a collection of fine, occasionally sumptuous songs with a soulful, introspective lyrical depth. The arrangements are largely traditional in feel, helped by Cormac De Barra's exquisite harp and a guest vocal from Moya Brennan. But seamless forays into pop, blues and soul, and the familiar silken gravel of O'Connor's voice, steer the album well away from pastiche. The songwriting quality hardly slips, either, and its diversity often surprises; simply compare and contrast the tragic beauty of Who Will Care? with the infectious Lovable, the song Sharleen Spiteri always wanted to write. www.hazeloconnor.com - Johnnie Craig

KEVIN AYERS
The BBC Sessions 1970-1976
Hux Records
**

File Ayers alongside Syd Barrett and Robyn Hitchcock in the pantheon of great '60s British hippy-rock eccentrics. File him also alongside the more experimental '70s British musicians: John Cale, Brian Eno, Robert Wyatt. A former member of Soft Machine (and a one-time member of one-night-only act ACNE – Ayers, Cale, Nico, Eno), the Kent-born singer and songwriter developed from dallying in prog-rock acts to writing some of the cutest psychedelic pop songs of the era (Lady Rachel). Unfortunately, he also tested the patience of even the most understandingprog rock/ psych pop fan with nonsense like You Say You Like My Hat - 10 minutes-plus of repetitive garbage. These days Ayers is based in France, far away from the commercial constraints of the music industry. Still a cult figure, but now cooking and fishing instead of beavering away on albums, you'll find some of the man's notable if meandering charm and chaos here.
www.huxrecords.com  - Tony Clayton-Lea

VARIOUS
1980 Forward
4AD
***

If there's a template for indie label perfection, 4AD is it. Thanks to the musical and visual imagination of Ivo Watts-Russell and Vaughan Oliver, 4AD revelled in the cult-approved obscurity of Dead Can Dance and Bulgarian folk as much as the Americana rock of The Red House Painters and Tarnation. US giants The Pixies found a UK home here, and their unbeatable Where Is My Mind? is a predictable inclusion. Other acts are represented by less obvious picks: DCD's Emmeleia, Throwing Muses' Cottonmouth and The Breeders' deadpan ballad Off You. Compilations are a great litmus test of a band's longevity, and some acts are a nostalgic rib-poke (Pale Saints, Wolfgang Press). But current new bloods Sybarite and TV on the Radio prove that 4AD should be knocking around for another 25 years. www.4ad.com  - Sinéad Gleeson

QUEEN
A Night at the Opera (Remastered)
Parlophone
***

What a coincidence – Queen's classic 1975 album and The Darkness's newie, both out in the same month, and just in time for Christmas. Better put stickers on them so punters can tell the difference. This is Queen at their most preposterous, captured at the moment when they went completely over the top and established themselves as lycra-clad titans of 1970s rock. Relive the glory of Christmas 1975, when Bohemian Rhapsody topped the charts, replacing good cheer with good ol' murder and damnation. The album also features strutting, preening rockers (Death on Two Legs), auto-erotic anthems (I'm in Love with My Car) and jaunty buddy-buddy tunes (You're My Best Friend). What made this Night particularly memorable, though, was the fine standard of songwriting, something Darkness main man Justin Hawkins forgot to add when trying to replicate the formula. - Kevin Courtney

DIRTY THREE
Cinder Bella 
Union
***

Dirty Three have been putting strung-out drama in the music for some seven albums at this stage, so there are bound to be a few familiar themes emerging. Soundscapes for torment and desperation have always proven to be fertile ground for bad seed Warren Ellis and sidekicks Jim White and Mick Turner and, naturally, this is also the case on Cinder. While there are many passages here that could have found lodgings on previous albums (a growing cause for concern for future manoeuvres by the outfit), there are also tracks like Doris, which are compulsive because of how untypical they sound. You can say something similar about Great Waves, with Chan "Cat Powers" Marshall's vocals providing soft coos, ethereal whispers and a lyrical first on a Dirty Three album. More of such diversity and you'd happily lick your lips at the thought of an eighth album to come. www.dirtythree.com - Jim Carroll

BRYAN ADAMS
Anthology
Polydor
***

He's had a lotta hits, has our Bryan. So many hits, he needs two CDs to fit them all on. For the past 25 years, the Canadian rocker has been doing it for you, and this retrospective is packed with his best-known anthems, ballads and balls-out rockers, plus two new ones which he probably hopes will add to his chart tally. He may have hogged the charts for 12 weeks with that Robin Hood thingy, but these days I imagine he'd be happy even with a one-week placing in the Top 10. All the hits are here, including Summer of '69, Can't Stop this Thing We've Started, Heaven, One Night Love Affair, The Only Thing that Looks Good on Me Is You, Please Forgive Me and his duet with Scary Spice, When You're Gone. Old gritty gullet has always been too workmanlike for my tastes, but I must admit to a secret liking for Cuts Like a Knife and Run to You.  - Kevin Courtney

ROLLING STONES
Rarities 1971-2003
Virgin
 ****

For some odd reason, this album is going on release in Starbucks coffee shops as well as normal retail outlets at the same time. It features a lot of Stones tracks that have never been released on CD, B-sides and some very hard-to-find live recordings. Normally these affairs are for completists only, but there's enough here to persuade even the casual listener. A version of Chuck Berry's Let It Rock is a lively affair, but what interests here most are the alternate versions of songs such as Beast of Burden. There's also a great dance mix of Miss You and a cover of Muddy Waters's Mannish Boy. There's even some 12-inch versions thrown in for good measure. Should go well with your cappuccino.  - Brian Boyd