SINGLES & DOWNLOADS

The latest releases reviewed

MR HUDSON & THE LIBRARY The Bread + Roses EP Deal Real ****

He sports a trilby, plays downbeat piano, and sounds like Chet Baker jamming with The Streets. As Mr Hudson predicts on track 2, this won't sell a million copies, but it will gain him a roomful of new devotees.

THE BLIZZARDS War of Words Universal ***

The Mullingar maelstroms are about to unleash their debut album, A Public Display of Affection, and here's another jumpin' tune that will have the fans declaring their devotion from the rooftops. I prefer the B-side, Robert Plant's Love Life, a sexy, psychedelic display of lemon-squeezing.

AMY WINEHOUSE Rehab Island *****

The ballad of Pete'n'Kate? Here's a soul departure for the jazzy London lass, a gospel-tinged Motown groove about someone who doesn't want to be saved. Check in and check this out.

THE HEDRONS I Need You Measured Records ****

Chi, Rosie, Soup and Tippi are four punka girls from Glasgow brewing up a storm on the music scene. Here's their second single, a riff-tastic rocker that gives The Ramones and The Blues Brothers a good bitch-slapping.

BILL COLEMAN Offer Up the Hope no label ***

It's getting crowded out there in singer-songwriter land, but make room for this guy from Cobh, Co Cork, who does a nice line in gentle, uplifting tuneology. Download this from http:// banwagon.ie and check Bill and his band out at Temple Bar Music Centre tonight, as part of the Hard Working Class Heroes fest.

MEAT LOAF FEAT MARION RAVEN It's All Coming Back to Me Now Mercury *

Ah, Bat Out of Hell - the bluster, the bombast, the neverending ballads with the neverending song titles. It's all coming back to me now, like a recurring nightmare. And here's Bat Out of Hell 3, in which Meat milks it one more time. Deliver us, oh lord, from eternal pain.

ULTAN JOHN Really Gone feat John Martyn no label ***

Is this an Irish tribute band doing sean-nós versions of Candle in the Wind? No, Ultan and John are two troubadors who've got their hero John Martyn to guest on this rootsy folk tune. Next up, Ferdia Mercury and Aoife Franklin.