ROCK

The Blue Nile, "Peace At Last"

Warner Bros. 9362-45848-2 (45 mins) Dial-A-Track Code: 1201

Rejoice ye disciples of this enigmatic Scottish outfit - your long, dark twilight of the soul has ended. Truly you have found Peace At Last. The Blue Nile's sporadic output makes The Stone Roses look like workaholics, and this third album comes a whole seven years after the band's last offering, Hats, and 12 years after the band's debut, A Walk Across The Rooftops.

The Blue Nile is, basically, singer songwriter Paul Buchanan, with some help from Robert Bell, Paul Joseph Moore and Nigel Thomas, and this new album was recorded in Dublin, Paris and Los Angeles. Buchanan's trademark sound is still here, especially his yearning from the rooftops vocals, but the production is warmer, folksier, with less of the cold comfort of earlier efforts. Get the bunting out in the bedsits - the Nile are back.

Pete Townshend, "The Best Of Pete Townshend: "Coolwalkingsmoothtalkingstraightsmokingfirestoking"

Atlantic 7567-82712-2 (70 mins) Dial-A-Track Code: 1311

Deaf old rocker Townshend wasn't a bad old songwriter in his mod days, and he even managed to come up with some doozies during the 1970s; however, he could also come up with some dreadful, self indulgent twaddle, and there were times when many felt that the Who axeman shouldn't really be let loose with a chord progression. Townshend's solo career, however, is a case history in mediocrity and muddled thinking, and this "Best Of..." compilation is a monument to cheesy 1980s song structure and production technique. There's something to cringe about in every song: the long, meandering chord sequence at the end of Rough Boys, the pub session backing vocals on Let My Love Open The Door, the pseudo Floyd pomposity of Give Blood, the syrupy simplicity of A Friend Is A Friend, and the clipped, clumsy effort at funkiness on Face The Face.

It doesn't help that the whole album is infested with the kind of awful keyboard sounds you'd rarely hear outside a Flock Of, Seagulls album, and that Townshend's lyrics make navel gazing seem like a Saturday night social occasion. Might I suggest an alternative, less unwieldy title: Who's Interested?

Bryan Adams: "18 Til I Die"

A&M 540 551-2 (52 mins) Dial-A-Track Code: 1421

Just another regular guy making an other regular album which will probably sell in regular bucketloads. Bryan Adams can always be relied on to come up with the same old stuff, and the songs on 18 Til I Die have enough comfortingly familiar riffs and cosily inane lyrics to make the most jaded rockhead feel contented.

Bryan's first album of new material since 1991's Waking Up The Neighbours opens with the hit single, The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You, wherein Adams insists that he "don't look good in no Armani suits." That's OK, Bryan, neither does Eric Clapton. The title track is another catchy rocker in which Bryan refuses to either grow up or think up a more original tune. We're Gonna Win is a would be soccer anthem which sounds more like a college football chant, while I Wanna Be Your Underwear pulls the pantie metaphor down around your ankles.

Crowded House: "Recurring Dream: The Very Best Of Crowded House"

Capitol 7243 8 522482 9 (70 mins) Dial-A-Track Code: 1531

Neil Finn made the official announcement earlier this month: New Zealand's finest and most successful rock band are no more. And what better way to bow out than with this "Best Of collection which charts the band's superbly crafted pop career? Who can resist the sunny charms of Weather With You or the swooning harmonies of Fall At Your Feet?

The album features 19 tracks in total, with Crowded favourites such as Something So Strong, Four Seasons In One Day and Don't Dream It's Over squeezing in beside tracks like Pineapple Head and Private Universe. The house will seem a little empty now that Neil's crowd has gone.