Latest CD releases reviewed

VAN MORRISON Pay the Devil Exile/Polydor ***

Van dons the cowboy hat for the sleeve, so that's the clue: we're in country territory. And true to recent form, it is both very good and very ordinary. Morrison trawls the country heyday of the 1950s for 12 of the 15 tracks and comes up trumps with a couple of Webb Pierce honky tonk classics, the whiskey-stained There Stands the Glass and the squinting windows epic of Back Street Affair (which John Prine covered so well recently). Hank Williams's Your Cheatin' Heart also gets a run, as does the more bluesy Don't You Make Me High, which sounds odd in Morrison's gruff tone compared to the seductive Maria Muldaur version lodged in my memory. As usual he has a great band, with Welsh wizard Geraint Watkins outstanding on limpid honky tonk piano. www.vamorrison.com

Joe Breen

SEÁN KEANE You Got Gold Circin Rua **

Eight albums on and Sean Keane continues to deliver the finest songs in his inimitable emotionless style. His repertoire reveals a slew of inventive choices, from the title track, written by John Prine and Keith Sykes, to the Maybelle Carter gem Troublesome Waters. There's no faulting the accompaniment either, intricately and lovingly honed by Arty McGlynn, Liam Bradley, John McLoughlin, Máirtín O'Connor and many more. But Keane chooses to flatline his way through the lot, as passionately engaged in his material as a corpse. His cover of Eric Bibb's Shingle by Shingle is entirely bereft of the secretive insight of the original, and River of Yesterday merely reinforces Keane's detachment from the music. Solely for the faint-hearted. www.seankeane.com

Siobhán Long