Janet Jackson - Damita Jo

I've always found Janet Jackson to be somewhat hit and miss and a tad over-rated as an artist.

When it comes to getting your nipples out for the lads she's unparalleled, but on a musical level she's no longer producing the same calibre of material young up-coming artists once tried so hard to emulate.

If you're already a Janet fan, then Damita Jo does the job -- there's just the right blend of sassy chart hits and laid-back album tracks -- but it certainly didn't make me reassess my opinions of this, let's face it, waning star.

Gemma Berry

Atomic Kitten -- Greatest Hits

The UK's classiest girl group has stopped purring after three albums and a basketful of hit singles.

Each song on the trio's final disc is a pop gem, but they've all been on previous albums.

Perhaps this is a swizz, or perhaps it saves diehard fans paying a tenner for three second-rate filler tracks.

Either way, you know what you're getting. And at least the pictures are nice.

David Knights

Mest -- Mest

Mest sound at times like Green Day but album opener, Until I Met You, reveals this band's true contemporaries.

This is Busted with an American accent and language too blue for the clean-cut pop trio.

Jaded (These Years) sees Good Charlotte's Benji Madden doing a spot of moonlighting and the guitar playing on Burning Bridges has been lifted directly from The Police hit Can't Stand Losing You.

Shell of Myself and Return to Self Loathing are quite strong tunes but it's the hidden extra track, with its heavy reggae style bass line that is the best track. Ultimately more pop than punk but if Busted are your thing Mest might be worth a listen.

Graham Scaife

The Devil's Redhead -- David Corbett

Las Vegas, Mexican gangsters and a couple living under the illusion that they are McQueen and McGraw in "The Getaway" contribute much to a story that lifts heavily from Bonnie and Clyde.

The violence can be all too real with hammers, bombs and household implements being used to exact revenge.

The desperation with which the characters revolve around each other and the delusions they are living the lives of the noble criminal do much to enhance the plot.

While imprisoned for drug smuggling, the fragile girlfriend of Daniel Abatangelo takes up with the kind of lowlife your mother warns you against.

The lowlife plans one big job before Abatangelo is released, something goes wrong and a very bad Mexican arrives on the scene, just as our anti-hero is released from prison. You can guess the rest.

Forgettable.

Antony Silson

A Sparkle of Salt -- Evelyn Hood

As a sequel to The Shimmer of the Herring, Hood's novel, now out in paperback, was rather disappointing.

Much of the well-researched descriptive detail of life among the fisher folk of Buckie was repetitive as the many children of the Lowrie family follow their parents into the industry.

This is especially so of Bethany's son Adam who has inherited Bethany's brother James's love of the sea, unaware that he is also his father.

Friendship grows between the cousins as they work together, while their parents try to find a way out of the shadows of the past.

Although a good read in its own right, the salt did not seem to sparkle quite so much in this novel.

Margaret Malpass