Just bought Beck's new album (Sea Change), Terence Trent D'Arby's most recent album (some D'Arbyesque obscure title), Saint Etienne's new compilation album (Smash The System), and Neil Young's rather old compilation album (Decade).

The shortest description I can give of of Beck's new album is that it is his personal version of Lou Reed's Berlin. A sad album about loss, produced with an Empty Concert Hall echo allover the place and Beck singing in a faded, sad vocal style throughout. This man is no Midnite Vulture. It is a good album.

Saint Etienne must be the most versatile pop-band of the 90's spanning samples and breakbeats as well as extremely poppy synth-beats and Cardigans style acoustic pop (and that's pre-cardigans by the way to answer a question I was once asked). But it is charming throughout and brilliant most of the time.

Neil Young's Decade was released in 1977 and is a good introduction to the Neil that was when one is mostly in the know about the present Neil, i.e. the Farmer John, Rocking in the Free World, Harvest Moon Neil Young of the 1990's and beyond. The songs are of course classics and in particular it is nice finally to have one of my personal favourite songs regardless of artist or genre, Helpless, on disc.

An interesting coincidence is the fact that Saint Etiennes very first hit single featured a Neil Young song: "Only Love Can Break Your Heart".

TTD sounds like he does - less rockish than recently, and I don't think this will be one of my favourite TTD albums.