Ian Brown: Golden Greats (Polydor)
The former Stone Roses singer had his career rudely interrupted when he was banged up in prison following an "air rage" incident, and his unscheduled holiday at Her Majesty's leisure seems to have inspired at least one song here - the cello-driven Free My Way. Brown's second album is a considerable improvement on his under-achieving debut, Unfinished Monkey Business, and tracks such as Gettin' High and Love Like A Fountain hark back to the funkier side of the Stone Roses. There's still a feeling, however, that Brown is kicking lamely against the walls of his own limitations, unable to get beyond the half-baked ideas, derivative riffs, clumsy drum programming and aimless vocal passages which lead the listener down another indie deadend.
- Kevin Courtney
Joe Dolan: 21st Century Joe (Lime/EMI)
Say it ain't so, Joe! When the Mullingar Mangler released his collection of Britpop covers, Joe's 90's, it all seemed a bit of a harmless laugh, but with this new batch of second-hand songs, the joke has worn very thin indeed. It's one thing to maul the likes of Blur and Pulp, but with T. Rex's 20th Century Boy, Bowie's Starman and Talking Heads' Psycho Killer, Dolan is messing with some of my all-time favourite tunes, and making a proverbial pig's ear of the job. I don't particularly care that he's stomped all over Alanis Morissette's One Hand In My Pocket and kicked Oasis's Live Forever to death, but I will never forgive the man for reducing R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts to a trite golfing anthem.
- Kevin Courtney
Handsome Boy Modelling School: So . . . How's Your Girl? (Tommy Boy)
Handsome Boys Nathaniel Merriweather and Chest Rockwell are better known as hip-hop backroom mainstays Prince Paul and Dan The Automator, and So How's Your Girl? is a mish-mash of silly ideas, crazy beats and superfly guests. With everyone from DJ Shadow to the Beastie Boys queuing up to have some fun, there's a danger that the album could descend into superstar jam hell. Sometimes it does stick in that particular groove, but tracks like The Projects and particularly Once Again are better examples of the Boys' crafty way with guests and grooves. Of course, any album which begins with a sample of Neil Tobin introducing the Clancy Brothers is worth spinning at least once.
- Jim Carroll