Rock/Pop

Mike Oldfield: "Tubular Bells III" (WEA)

The latest instalment of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells franchise ere in London today, opens with a watered-down version of the original Tubular Bells intro, only this time there's a house beat, a slight Celtic flavour and an overall New Age style. Oldfield has been soaking up the club scene close to his home in Ibiza, and he's put a bit of Balearic into his bells, creating an ambient and vaguely clubby, but ultimately bland, soundtrack. Tunes such as The Source Of Secrets and Jewel In The Crown sound not much different from a hundred other New Age synthmerchants, and though he replicates many of the original motifs, Oldfield doesn't manage to recapture the wayward, wandering charm of his first musical adventure. Kevin Courtney

Lois Walden: "Traveller" (Sire Records)

Hold the front page! Female singer-songwriter releases debut album which isn't filled with rage and bile or patently marketable poses which lean in that direction? Yes! Instead, songs such as I Only Sleep With Strangers reveal Lois Walden to be more contemplative than reactionary, too self-assured to raise her voice in any sense. Forgive Me For All I Haven't Done and With You In Mind are blessed with the kind of studied perspectives that can only come in time, if you're lucky; Affair Of The Mind, on the other hand, will ring mercilessly true for any woman, or man, unlucky enough to be involved with a married person. The settings for these perceptive lyrics are a blend of pop, jazz and world music and the album only fails when Walden taps into New Age nonsense such as Everyone's Gonna Be Saved and rather pointlessly covers pop classics such as Up On The Roof. Joe Jackson

Dakota Moon: "Dakota Moon" (Elektra)

Anyone who broke into shivers of delight at the BBC's recent "soul night" will love, at least, the delicious, R'n'B influenced harmonies of the new band Dakota Moon. The opening track, the current American single Another Day Goes By, with its largely acoustic base building up to a gospel-like chorus, is pretty representative. And setting them apart from groups like Boyz 11 Men is the fact that they are acoustic-guitar driven as opposed to relying simply on glorious voices. Ty Taylor's seamlessly beautiful lead vocal on the previous single A Promise I Make is another reason why non-American pop bands like Boyzone find it impossible to break in America. On Violet, fellow band member Malloy proves his vocal talents are just as exquisite; and Joe Dean does a more than commendable job on James Taylor's Your Smiling Face. Sure, it's all very soft-centred - but then, too often, so is love. Joe Jackson