SUPER FURRY ANIMALS: Northern Lites (Creation) - Possibly Britain's most creative band, the Super Furries mix more styles than you can shake a stick at in this relaxed number which is already getting mainstream airplay. Many bands would love to deliberately construct an offbeat summer album combining rock, calypso, vocal harmonies and spacey noises. But only these Welshmen could do it so well. (8/10) PB

LIBERTY 37: Oh River (Beggar's Banquet) - Noisy and lengthy hard rock roughness which starts with the energy to get heads shaking but soon degenerates into tedious and unimaginative sub-glam rock dross. (4/10) PB

ALBUMS

MEDAL: Drop Your Weapon (Polydor) - Medal are a band who view life through different coloured spectacles than the average man in the street. They see humour where others see the mundane. They find fascination with the commonplace. Yet they have fine-tuned a sound that sets them apart from the average indie band. Medal have drawn from a vast array of musical influences to prepare their debut album and their time looks to have been well-spent. If Radiohead or Portishead are your thing then you wont be disappointed with the collection. Although the album is not out till early June, the band - who hail from Oxford - release a single, Up Here For Hours, on May 17 and it is recommended listening. Their home town boasts a long line of quality bands including Radiohead, Ride, and Supergrass. Be prepared for the next. (8/10) CL ELECTRONIC: Twisted Tenderness (Parlophone) - Another musical outing for New Order's Bernie Sumner and ex-Smith Johnny Marr, with the duo belting out their own brand of '90s power pop. Fans of the first album will know what to expect as it's basically more of the same. The opener, Make It Happen, starts with some Prodigy-style drum and bass but quickly gives way to more familiar synth-guitar territory. The single Vivid has that great, catchy harmonica riff and there are plenty of other good hooks to latch on to. The Sumner-Marr style can become a bit repetitive but it's still a quality record. (8/10) MW

ROBERT PALMER: Rhythm and Blues (Eagle Records) - The man in the suit is back with a collection of songs that show he can still cut it, despite his ill-fitting dalliance with middle-aged, soft rock outfit The Power Station. Back on familiar blue-eyed soul territory there are few better than Palmer. Rhythm and Blues actually runs the gamut from soul and funk to the country-tinged 20 Million Things. It's Palmer's best record since the reggae-tinged early-'80s album Pride. Palmer included an acapella version of Pride on his recent appearance on Later with Jools Holland. (9/10) MW

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