Christopher Welch

If you are looking for another Weather With You or Distant Sun then you'll be dissapointed. However give the album 3 or 4 listens and, like everything Neil Finn releases, it's treasures will appear. I Can't Keep Up With You is a powerpop gem - full of squelching synths and vodacoder. There's a definate Split Enz vibe going on. Magic Piano is a psych ballad with a soaring chorus and a stunning Finn vocal. Best of all though is All That I Can Ever Own - it would stand tall on Together Alone - it's that good. An obvious single. Direct and beautifully produced and sung. Gravity Stairs is definately a headphones album and it sounds lovely, especially Nick Seymours bass playing which is again jaw dropping. Patience and time is what Gravity Stairs requires. Give it a whirl.

Paul Weller 66. The mod father returns with his 17th solo album. String arrangements to the fore and a very lush and rich sound. Unsurprisingly those strings were recorded at Abbey Road. And Noel Ghallager co - writes a track. So far so very unsurprising. But then Suggs pops up as lyric writer on the quirky Ship Of Fools, Doctor Robert from the Blow Monkeys Co authors Rise Up Singing and Bobby Gillespie helps out on Soul Wandering. In fact all but 3 of the records 12 tracks are co-writes. Oddly the finished album sounds amongst Wellers most co-hesive and is definately meant to be heard as a complete piece. The Mod fathers voice is also a thing of beauty - part Bowie, a little Damon Albarn and still able to croon, swoon, rasp and growl effortlessly. Highlights are many - Jumble Queen (a really great NG lyric) with parping horns and a Stonsey chorus, Ship Of Fools - a lovely Weller vocal, recorder and rolling pub piano - My Best Friend's Coat - which is the sort of song you imagine The Divine Comedy releasing, lyrically and arrangement wise. The most Weller sounding is Soul Wandering - a swaggering psych rocker with girly backing vocals and a great guitar riff. Final track Burn Out even has a woozy Pink Floyd feel. Throw in 80's sax, lashings of weird and wonderful percussion and not a single track that out stays its welcome. Oh and did I mention it sounds phenomenal on headphones. 8.5

Irish pop meister Thomas Walsh returns with album number 8. This time around the Pugwash moniker has been jettisoned and the record is presented as a Walsh solo record. It's a post pandemic release and as such was mostly written and demoed during the first lockdown. This enforced isolation and emotional turmoil is the backbone of The Rest Is History - from it's knowing title to the tribal stomp that is 'This Is My Fortress' and the end of the world as glam rocker 'Everyone Back In The Water'. In between we get Beatley shuffles - 'To Be That Child Again' and 'Love In A Circumstance' to straight ahead powerpop - 'Another Lesson In Life'. Another fine record full of great songs.

I've always liked Teenage Fanclub. Always consistent. Standouts for me are Grandprix, Songs From Northern Britain and Shadows. The last few albums have been a bit like aural wallpaper though. Pretty but a bit samey. Nothing Lasts Forever however is a stunner. Vocals are rich and pushed to the fore, arrangements are interesting and Euros Childs keyboards and synths add a little weirdness to these songs. Guitars are crunchy again and the bass playing is phenomenal. Teenage Fanclub sound re energised. There's not a bad track on this album. It's up there with the best Teenage Fanclub have released. Lovely