Solas: "The Words that Remain" (Shanachie)

This happening stateside trad outfit generate moody, good-times music; heaving, tearaway sets of, interestingly, newer dance tunes of their own, or from Chris Droney, Maire Breathnach, Jerry Holland, Liz Carroll and Charlie Lennon. The funked-up accoustic urgency of John Doyle's guitars and Seamus Egan's percussion propels the tunes as fast as they can run, often sacrificing the subtlety of Winifred Horan's sharp fiddle, Mick McAuley's bellowsy accordions and Seamus Egan's descriptive flute. The songs are inventively set, and Karan Casey's vocals are impressive: a fey, Celtic babe voice with a wavery edge which makes candy laments of Woody Guthrie's Pastures Of Plenty, John Spillane's Sraid An Chloig and the raw, sweet nakedness of A Chomaraigh Aoibhinn O.

Mic Moroney

The McGarrigle Sisters: "The McGarrigle Hour" (Rykodisc)

Time was when singsongs were part and parcel of family life. The McGarrigle Hour is the Canadian sisters' version of same, an affectionate portrait of a family at song; and it is a pretty impressive family, numbering Loudon Wainwright III (Kate's ex-husband), his son, Rufus, sundry daughters and friends including Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. The performances vary in quality, but Kate and Anna McGarrigle infuse the proceedings with their trademark emotional intensity and the assembled company respond in kind. Only five songs are McGarrigle originals, but they include the classic Talk To Me Of Mendocino. Other highlights include a touching Loudon song, Schooldays, a stunning version of Gentle Annie featuring the sisters and Ronstadt in sweet harmony.

Joe Breen

Lambchop: "What Another Man Spills" (City Slang)

Apart from having a most impenetrable, if intriguing, sleeve design (and a title to match), this is one of the strangest albums to come out of Nashville in recent times. It's country music, but not the kind of country you might expect. As befits a band with a fleshy monicker there is plenty of meat, but it is cooked up in all manner of smokey flavours. There is the lounge country of The Saturday Option, the country disco of Curtis Mayfield's Give Me Your Love, the thoughtful Life No 2, the delicate Shucks and Scam- per and other soft-shoe ditties. There is a lovely, languorous, jazzy feel to many of the tracks, particularly those written by Kurt Wagner, but there are also country kicks and licks a-plenty, though they are well submerged in between the moody arrangements. An oddity, but a fascinating one.

Joe Breen