Bruce Springsteen -- Devils and Dust

So many years into his career, but Bruce still sounds relevant and alive.

Dispensing with the E-Street band, Bruce has produced another album of light and dark tunes that shuffle from the big rabble-rousing anthems to the late night acoustic tearjerkers.

From the opening Devils and Dust with its theme of faith and hope, through Reno with its description of a night with a whore, to Long Time Comin, we have an album that will please everyone.

Springsteen has long been able to distil the spirit of the midwest and old-time values into songs that make you yearn for a horse and a bottle of whisky -- but without the chest thumping of other American singers.

I would just ask however -- why the high falsetto on Maria's Bed? It doesn't work, Bruce.

Antony Silson

Various Artists - Suited & Booted

It's 26 years since The Specials released their first single and Quadrophenia graced the cinema screens prompting a Mod/ska revival.

Suited & Booted is a 40-track, double CD that revisits that late seventies/early eighties revival.

The Specials are generously represented with four tracks, including their debut 45 -- Gangsters.

The Beat, Madness, The Selector are also included along with Dexy's Midnight Runners and Paul Weller.

Althea & Donna's classic Uptown Top Ranking sits alongside classics like Desmond Dekker's The Israelites, The Kinks' You Really Got Me and The Kingsmen's Louie Louie.

There's no room for Secret Affair's1979 Mod anthem Time For Action or The Lambrettas' version of Poison Ivy. Nevertheless there's still plenty here to keep all the forty-something's wallowing in nostalgia.

Graham Scaife

Christopher Rees -- Alone On A Mountain Top

Actually recorded alone on a mountain top in a tiny cottage somewhere in Wales, this is gothic, swamp blues at its most intense.

It reminded me of an acoustic Alabama Three fronted by a young man haunted by his past demons.

The songs are strictly late night, oil burning, shadow casting affairs with a touch of jealousy mixed with remorse.

Rees is a very talented young man who can holler with the best of them, but backs this up with astonishing musical proficiency.

He has created an album of raging, swirling blues which is perfect for an after-hours listen with a glass of whisky just within reach. Believe that there is hope for us all

Antony Silson