SINGLES

SPEED: Good Luck Charm (Good Cop Bad Cop Records) - Suppose for a minute your surname is Speed. Suppose you and your brother are in a band (pictured). You need a name. Obvious, innit? So Speed doesn't refer to the music. In fact the band are about as close to Concorde as a grounded bomber. Monica Queen swims in as guest vocalist on this chilled-out summer single to go with your BHS bikini. Sneaking in with a quite irrestible keyboard riff, this drifts into a boy-girl Come On Baby duet that flutters like sunlight in a pool. (5/10) WC

BALLROOM: Through The Day (Mother) - Satin sheets and sultry evenings - the passionate trappings of a velvet lifestyle. When lager and Ben Shermans leave you feeling there must be something better, when glam and roaring lovesongs sound just the job, Ballroom are what you need. How could anyone resist Gary Prosser's honeyed tones? He could sing your gas bill and make it sound divine. Through The Day is another of Ballroom's songs about relationship angst which dips and soars. Desperate, poignant and passionate by turns. (7/10) WC

ALBUMS

THE WATERSONS: Green Fields (Topic) - This was the last recording made by this seminal English vocal group whose genius was to seek out traditional music and give it their own unique treatment. The album, first released in 1981, is available on CD for the first time and contains such gems as Prickle Holly Bush and Young Banker as well as three extra tracks not on the original. (8/10) SF

TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND: Rejoice Rejoice (Nation) - It's seven years since Transglobal Underground (pictured) donned their Nepalese masks and made it cool to like world music. Now, with five albums under their belts, they still sound as fresh and inspiring as ever. True to form, they continue to fuse the exotic sounds of the East with the contemporary dance sounds of the West to amazing effect. And with more than 30 musicians playing a wide variety of instruments ranging from violins to congas and Indian drums, Rejoice Rejoice is a truly international affair. Check out Thousand Year Heat, Chemnitz and Ali Mullah, the tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan . . . and rejoice! (8/10) JS

THE PARADISE MOTEL: Left Over Life To Kill (Infectious) - Merida Sussex sings as if she's at the edge of the ocean, at the edge of forever. But there's more to The Paradise Motel than beauty, sophistication and elegance. A poise and stillness dominates these songs, which seem to flow from violent emotion held in check, from destructive whirlwinds clenched in Merida's palms. This is not a lady you would like to mess with. The band tears the pain of living into shreds, scattering melancholy, wafting vocals over the waves. Both recent singles, the beautiful Calling You and the claustrophobic Watch Illuminum are on this, the band's debut album. (7/10) WC

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