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Richard Fleeshman - Neon

The moment when you realise that Richard Fleeshman really isn't cut out to be a proper artist comes when he performs a cover of Semisonic's Secret Smile and manages to eradicate any sense of emotion or quality from it. To call it 'lumpen' would be an insult to lumps everywhere, because it's just dreadful. And the shame is that Fleeshman had been doing an alright job of impersonating a real singer up until that point. He was in Coronation Street as Craig Harris from 2002-2006 and of course has now branched out into music after appearing on Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes (as Will Young) and then won Soapstar Superstar, so clearly he's got a great pedigree. To be fair to him, we played some decent songs by good artists on Soapstar (trust us, we only know from wikipedia, we didn't actually watch the thing), but then again he also did songs by Daniel Bedingfield, The Calling and Bryan Adams. And while he's eschewed the usual soap actor => pop star route, you can't help but wonder if his decision was influenced by the current trend for sensitive male singer-songwriters like Blunt, Nutini, Morrison and all that mob. Neon certainly aims for the same market, and to give him credit, Fleeshman makes a decent stab at it, while edging towards the poppier end of the market (perhaps closer to Robbie Williams before he got delusions of being Frank Sinatra and James Brown). Damien Rice he certainly ain't. And there's nothing wrong with that, and songs like Going Backwards, Skyline and Hey Jealousy are all perfectly fine for what they are. There's nothing of any real value here, but Fleeshman's got a decent enough voice, good backing and some memorable songs, so who are we to sneer at him? He should just stay away from covering songs that require more convincing performances than your average ex-Corrie star can deliver...

Damien Rice - Live From The Union Chapel

As he's spent most of this year on tour supporting second album 9, it's no surprise that Damien Rice is releasing his first ever live album. It's rather more surprising that Live From The Union Chapel was recorded at a concert in February 2003 and is only eight tracks long, with one of those being performed not by Rice but by Lisa Hannigan. And while Delicate, The Blower's Daughter and Volcano are here, obviously there's nothing from 9 and no sign of Cannonball or other well-known tracks from 0. Instead, as well as Hannigan's Silent Night at the end, there's three never-before-recorded tracks, which is certainly an unusual approach for a live album, as they are traditionally done as mementos/cash-ins from a recent tour, jam-packed with hits. But Rice has always been an idiosyncratic artist, so perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised that he's doing this differently too. You also shouldn't expect this to sound much like Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band either, because for the most part, it's a typically sparse recording, with Rice and Hannigan providing the only instrumentation, while his vocals are at times barely louder than a whisper. Of course, that only serves to bring greater emphasis when things get louder and stronger, like the end of Delicate and Volcano, which are given real power and emotion. At other times, the very respectful and quiet crowd does mean that you could almost be forgiven for forgetting that this is a live recording, with the only sounds coming in between songs, which is what you'd expect from this kind of show of course, but with the performances at times very close to the equally sparse originals there is the danger of Live From The Union Chapel coming across as a bit pointless. Perhaps that is why Rice decided to release something that brings a few unknown treasures rather than just the more familiar material, and all three of the 'new' tracks are excellent, while none of his fans need reminding of the immense talent of Lisa Hannigan, and her version of Silent Night is a spine-tingling closing track. Short, but very sweet, this is an essential purchase for any Damien Rice fan and an example of really great live music.

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards - Spirit Of The Glen

There's not many musical instruments as divisive as the bagpipes. Just think of Mull Of Kintyre for a classic example of the mass appeal of bagpipe music and also its capacity to really, REALLY irritate people. Perhaps because of that, it's hardly an instrument you hear too much of in pop music these days, but it still plays a big role in military and traditional Scottish music, and Spirit Of The Glen has its roots well and truly in both of those camps. It's performed by the pipes and drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, recorded in between tours of duty in Iraq. Yes, they are actually soldiers, and that does bring a sense of emotion to the music in a way that we'd normally associate with the American military rather than our own. That kind of Hollywood treatment is in abundance in the production of Spirit Of The Glen, with the pipers backed by the Czech Film Orchestra, giving almost all of the songs the kind of dramatic and cinematic background that you would expect in a major motion picture. As they perform music from The Last Of The Mohicans and Dances With Wolves, this is important, but it also brings a lot to the other material, making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up on stirring classical material like Amazing Grace and the Scottish Medley. There's a couple of pop tunes in there too, with Rod Stewart's Sailing and, yes, Mull Of Kintyre getting the full bagpipe treatment. The former works very well, with the pipes soaring and sounding fantastic, but the latter suffers from having Will Martin sing McCartney's vocals, which seems odd after five instrumental tracks and frankly doesn't really convince. You can see why they might have thought that they needed to mix it up a bit, as there is a danger with an album of bagpipe music that it can all seem very samey, and Spirit Of The Glen does fall into that trap at times, but it is still impressive enough to get through that without some half-hearted vocals thrown into the mix. Bagpipes may not be for everyone, but this album presents them in a way that almost anyone can enjoy at least some of, and it's certainly stirring and emotional stuff at times.

Cobra Starship - Viva La Cobra

Cobra Starship were the biggest beneficiaries of the strange success of Snakes On A Plane, with their jokey theme tune Bring It (Snakes On A Plane), but by their debut album While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, that joke wasn't funny anymore. Or fun either. The album was the epitome of lazy emobandwagonontojumping and the songtitles like Send My Love to the Dancefloor, I'll See You in Hell (Hey Mister DJ) and It's Amateur Night at the Apollo Creed! were just irritating, while the songs themselves were shoddy dance-pop-punk nonsense. So, to put it mildly, we were not overly delighted when their follow-up arrived less than a year later. ¡Viva La Cobra! doesn't see Gabe Saporta and Co changing the formula much, it has to be said, but with Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes guesting and Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy producing and appearing on almost all of the songs, it's obvious that Cobra Starship are too well connected to go away any time soon. And, to be fair, Viva is a lot more fun than We Rule, even with similarly stupid song titles like Prostitution Is The World's Oldest Profession (And I, Dear Madame, Am A Professional) and The World Has Its Shine (But I Would Drop It On A Dime). Guilty Pleasure is probably the highlight, though it has to be said that it does rip off at least one or two songs by The Sounds (whose singer Maja appeared on the last Cobra album), which might be why it sounds better than the rest. It's all clever-clever and a lot less funny than it thinks it is, but Viva is still more entertaining than the last Fall Out Boy album and at least it doesn't take itself too seriously. Still, if you can listen to it more than three or four times in your life, you're probably 16 years old.

Mark Edwards - Balance

"It's just like Oasis minus the singer... and the drums... and the bass... and the rock guitars." So says new kid on the ambient block Mark Edwards about the final track from his debut album Balance. It's called Noel Gallagher Lived His Dream because Edwards claims that it uses the kind of chord sequence that Gallagher likes to use for Oasis choruses, but if you played it at a footy stadium full of beer-swilling Oasis fans, would they like it? No they would not, and you sense that Edwards is having a bit of fun with that title, because like he admits, the use of a guitar (but not in a 'rock' sense) is about the only thing you'll hear on Balance that you'd hear on anything released by Noel and Liam. And that's no bad thing of course, because ambient music is always worth a listen in this crazy, noisy word, and Edwards is definitely one of the more accessible ambient artists out there, mainly because he makes music that is very warm ("This is friendly music. It wants to talk to you," he says) and inviting rather than cold and isolating. This process is helped by the way it has been recorded, with just a drum machine assisting Edwards as he plays the rest live in the studio by the admitted musical luddite. Of course, there are times when it drifts a bit listlessly, but tracks like There Is No Hope In Perfection are as radio friendly as anything with vocals you could choose to mention and that helps Balance appeal to a wider audience than just die-hard Eno fans.

Silversun Pickups - Pikul

We really enjoyed Silversun Pickups' debut album Carnavas when it was released over here earlier this year, so of course we're happy to see their acclaimed debut EP get a proper release as well. It originally came out in America in 2004 and shows them honing their trademark sound, but Pikul is a little less washed out in shoegazing feedback than Carnavas, and reveals the debt they owe to early Smashing Pumpkins. Hissing Families' guitar solo in particular could have come straight from Gish, albeit with a bassline that Kim Deal from the Pixies would be proud to call her own. The most surprising track is called The Fuzz, and certainly signposts their developments in sound, with lots of feedback at the start, followed by a dub reggae beat and some lovely guitar picking before the dreamy vocals drift in and out of a hazy psychedelic melting pot. It's hardly immediate, but since when has that mattered to great music? There may only be six tracks here, and it may be slightly more raw than the wonderfully-produced Carnavas and with a slower pace throughout, but Pikul shows that Silversun Pickups, even three years ago, were well on their way to greatness and anyone who enjoyed the album should make sure they check this one out too.