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Album:Bob And Veronica Ride Again

Website: http://www.myspace.com/mortonvalence

This album's the reason for the slightly delayed update of this releases column. I've been spnding too much time listening for pleasure and not enough with my review ears on. "Bob And Veronica Ride Again" is part way between a concept album and a musical, well except there's no filler, just a thirteen song narrative. It's an album that redefines pop opera. Almost Anna Domino at it's core, well maybe Black Box Recorder, Morton Valence have produced an album of themetic proportion. It's like nothing you've heard before and yet disturbingly familiar, a classic b movie.

Album:Track Of Words - Retraced

Label:Hands On Music

Website: http://www.myspace.com/steveknightleymusic

I tend to get wary when an artist revisits a previous album, even if there's ten years between the releases, it's normally a sign that the artist is devoid of ideas. Having re-acquainted myself with the original I must say that Steve has done a good job with "Track Of Words - Retraced" it now sounds like the album I think it was always meant to be. It's no longer trying to break Steve as a solo artist, he's there. Consequently it feels more relaxed, more straight forward. The result is fresh and bright, a masterclass in recording songs for the songs for the pleasure not to find an audience.

Vicky FiField & Devotion

Album:Vicky FiField & Devotion

Website: http://www.myspace.com/vickyfifield

Vicky FiField & Devotion eponymous album is one of the best jazz folk abums I've heard in quite a while. Vicky and the band seem to have found the right balance between the two genres. Jazzy flights of fantasy suddenly soar from a more rootsy base. Gypsy fiddle competes with and complements a more vibe being layed down, almost as foundations, but the sort of foundations exposed to public view so you get the whole process. Yes there were times I felt they had drifted across into self indulgence, but that only proved the strength and originality of the album.

Album:When The Music Ends

Website: http://www.johnmeed.net

This is the third John Meed album we've covered and I continue to be impressed by his sense of narrative and perception. A great example and album highlight is "The Woodstock Rest Home" which sort of harks back to the 'I like my artists dead ideal, could you please just stop touring the same old thing.' "When The Music Ends" is a series of sketches, life reflected through song. It seems to be an album of getting old and the changes that brings to perception as well as body. There's a bonus of two tracks remixed by Stu Hanna that rounds it all off nicely.

Single:All The Little Girls

Website: www.johnwilsonmusic.com

Best known as the lead vocalist with the Average White Band, for whome he was premier songwriter amongst others, John Wilson now showcases his talent under his own name. "All The Little Girls" is a tribute to John Lennon and the Beatles picking up on that era where the band could barely be heard live as screaming girls all but drowned them out. He captures the spirit well, in the sound as well as the story. It's backed by the soul infused "Jump-Back" that's reminiscent of that alley-oop sort of sound. It's sixties nostelgia in homage.

Album:Rootsy...Folky...Land And Funky...

Label:Two Wild Women Records

Website: http://www.myspace.com/whalebone7

There's something about a one chance live recording. It's got that something. "Rootsy...Folky...Live And Funky..." is not perfect, there's stray notes and a couple of slidey bits, but it's got that edge, that passion, that whole 'this is how it is thing.' Whalebone sound like they had a lot of fun doing this, it's an essence that prevades on the album as they work their way through a set of traditional and self penned tunes and a cover of "Sultans Of Swing", which turns out to a great folk instrumental. It's more than a momento, of the night its a musical manifesto

Nick Wyke & Becki Driscoll

Album:Beneath The Black Tree

Website: http://www.myspace.com/englishfiddle

I don't know what they're putting in the water in Devon/Cornwall, but it certainly seems to have got the creative juices flowing. Nick Wyke & Becki Driscoll have put together a set of tunes and songs drawn from the english fiddle tradition and augmented them with a number from their own pens and bows. The resulting album "Beneath The Black Tree" is an album high on atmosphere and passion. The arrangements are infused with a sense of drama that brings out the best of the tune, pulling out the meaning. There's an earthy quality to the music, it feels like it's grown into it's self.

Website: http://www.myspace.com/laumusic

Kris Drever, Martin Green, Aidan O'Rourke are all outstanding performers in their own right, but when they get together as Lau, something magical seems to happen. The debut, "Lightweights & Gentlemen" was stunning, this builds on that base. Ironically it's the only cover on the album, the bonus track, "Dear Prudence" that is the jewel in a very sparkelly crown, but I guess it's never been arranged quite like this before. From start to finish the musicianship enthralls. Add vocals enhanced by three of Scotlands finest female vocals and you've got an album that demands you listen.

Catherine MacLellan

Album:Water In The Ground

Website: http://www.catherinemaclellan.com

"Water In The Ground" is double packed with "Dark Dream Midnight" giving you two tip top albums for your money. MacLennan's honey laden vocals deliver a performance that feels like it would have been as home in a 1950s radio session as a contemporary coffee bar. The old timey edged americana features some dreamy harmonisation so laid back you'ld think it was recorded in deck chairs. Kyle Cunjak's upright bass gives the albums a mood and a structure for the riffs and breaks that gives the songs a real balance. It feels like an old sepia photograph turned to song.

Album:It's All In The Letter That Broke You Down

Website: http://www.myspace.com/bobhowla

Written, produced, recorded, mixed and performed by Howard Doupe under his Bobhowla monicker, "It's All In The Letter That Broke You Down" is a wall of pop/rock songs with a real anthemic feel. It feels like a big album, just add stadium. It more than just powerful songs, there's a real sentimental feel that underpins them, rich in observation and poetry. I can understand why Doupe created Bobhowla, this is not a solo record, it couldn't be taken on the road without a decent sized band or backing tapes. It's a studio album, but one filled with a sense of vision, creativity and spirit

Album:Hills And Valleys

Label:New West Records

Website: www.myspace.com/theflatlanderstx

Four albums in thirty years is hardly what you would call prolific, but I guess when you're Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Joe Ely you'll have lots of other calls on your time. "Hills And Valleys" blends americana with tex-mex, at times almost invoking a feel of Flaco Jiminez. As you would expect from three of Texas' finest songwriters, it's an album packed full of social commentry and humanity. An album that champions the cause of the hard grafting man and the obligatory protest against the wall. These are well honed songs that speak volumes about the America it could be.

Album:Le Genie Humain

Label:Twin Fizz/Folkwit

Website: http://www.myspace.com/orwellfrenchband

A tie up with Folkwit, is seeing the products of Twin Fizz making it to these shores. Orwell are the first beneficary of the arrangement. "Le Genie Humain" is an album packed to the rafters with bright and breezy French pop that will just fuse into the balmy hot summer we're going to have this year. It's a cliche to suggest that this album speaks of bike rides in country, horse drawn canal trips, picnics with your partner next to fields of corn and poppies, a coffee at a street cafe, the language of love. Can barely understand a word, but the images it envokes, just great.