Adrian Legg -- Guitar Bones

Make no mistate about it, Adrian Legg is very, very good at playing the guitar. Most of the tracks on this, his eighth CD, demonstrate just how good he is.

He has written three teaching videos about how to play the guitar and was voted Best Fingerstyle Guitarist four years running.

Can you see where this review is leading? It's all very well being so good, but we don't want dazzling by talent, we want something to remember. There's only one tune that features an instrument other than guitar and that's the best one by far. Also, there aren't any vocals on any of the tracks. So gather a good band around you, pick some good-time songs rather than ones where you can show off, and I may be more interested. Might be of interest to guitar players, but the rest of us can just applaud his ability and then leave him to it.

Antony Silson

Kelly Osbourne -- Shut Up

Who'd have thought it, Ozzy Osbourne performing for the Queen's Golden Jubilee last year? And who'd have thought it, daughter Kelly's debut album is really rather good.

Eleven tracks of punky pop that sound better than anything Blink 281 or Sum 41 have ever done. The only time this record fails is on the closing ballad More Than Life Itself, a song penned by Kelly following the devastating news that mother Sharon was suffering from cancer. The sentiments within the lyric are beautiful but Kelly just can't deliver a ballad. Debut single, the cover of Papa Don't Preach, isn't listed on the sleeve, but despair not because it is hidden at the end of the album.

Kellie's musical career may not turn out to be as long and illustrious as her father's, but this album suggests Kelly could be around for longer than some, me included, were expecting.

Graham Scaife

Reef -- Together- Best Of

In the days when Chris Evans ruled just about every corner of the media and T.F.I Friday was the programme to tune into religiously, Reef enjoyed significant success.

They were hand-picked by Evans to sing the line It's Your Letters, one of the most annoying catch phrases of all time.

Despite Evans's meddling, Reef have gone on to be a huge force in the world of rock, as this Best Of demonstrates. The 14 tracks are brilliantly produced and nicely presented.

The only problem is, I don't like their music. Yes, they're talented musicians with the ability to pluck hit records from the sky, but I find little diversity in style or originality from beginning to end,

Worse still, I can't listen to them without seeing Chris Evans's smug beaming face.

James Heward

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds -- Nocturama

Amazingly this is Cave's 12th studio album with The Bad Seeds and it's more of the same from the ol' king of Gothdom.The vast majority of the ten tracks are piano-led ballads, love songs with a bitter twist delivered in that familiar Leonard Cohen style. The Bad Seeds only let their hair down on Bring It On and the excellent Dead Man In My Bed.

The closing track, Babe I'm On Fire, is a 15-minute epic of a song and I feel it could quite possibly be the best thing Cave's ever recorded, since his days fronting The Birthday Party anyway.

Kylie owes this man so much -- before The Wild Roses duet with Cave, who took the Aussie songstress seriously? That should be reason enough to buy this album: what a bonus, it's so fine.

Graham Scaife