SINGLES

BERNARD BUTLER: You Must Go On (Creation) - Good-time retro rock which owes more to Primal Scream than it does to Butler's former band Suede. Look out for the forthcoming album. (7/10)PB

ALBUMS

THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: Acme-Plus (Mute Records) - Looking to capitalise on the success of last year's Acme album, JSBX have unleashed this generous 19-track collection of B-sides and remixes. Blasting the best of the blues into the 21st century with smart DJing and backbeats has to be applauded. But Spencer often allows the band to become self-indulgent and much of the material suffers from being bass-heavy. The album's quality tracks have to be searched out, but once found, numbers like Heavy (remix) are well worth the effort. This light, upbeat yet breezy number has a refreshing edge and proves the right blend of old and new sounds can be a winning formula. (6/10) CL

TRIBUTE TO AEROSMITH: Not The Same Old Song And Dance (Eagle) - This tribute album has an all-star rock cast with members of Black Sabbath, Kiss, WASP, Alice In Chains and Whitesnake getting in on the act. The ultimate king of twiddly metal guitar, Yngwie Malmsteen even pays homage- with a horribly overblown version of soft rock classic Dream On. These metallers are too obsessed with being note-perfect, so instead of being radical re-interpretations, these tunes are like the originals but with tougher guitar tones and extra show-off solos. I admire the intention but these clinical cover versions sound like they're computer-programmed. To discover Aerosmith's fine contribution to rock history, better buy Aerosmith's Greatest Hits (from 1980), which contains most of these songs in all their glory. (2/10) PB

OCEAN COLOUR SCENE: One From The Modern (Island Records) - It doesn't seem like 10 years since OCS looked like joining the ever-lengthening line of washed-up indie outfits. Following their patchy self-titled debut album, Simon Fowler and the gang found themselves exiled to a musical wilderness. But they learned to swim against the tide, building on Fowler's solid songwriting as Steve Craddock perfected his guitar skills under the watchful eye of the Modfather Paul Weller. A decade on, the lads fly the Mod flag with pride as they mark the anniversary with their fourth studio album. This collection is deep in quality tunes if a little short of possible hit singles. From the hot-wired fusion of guitar sounds of July, to the acoustic tracks such as the funky Soul Driver, you wonder how anyone could have doubted them. The package unfolds through a more chilled-out tempo with tracks like Step by Step and Waves. At the moment, they can do no wrong. (9/10) CL

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.