ALBUM: Glenn Lewis - World Outside My Window

Glenn Lewis's debut album World Outside my Window has drawn the Canadian singer a huge amount of publicity, and almost endless comparisons to Stevie Wonder, who is in fact a self confessed fan of Lewis's work.

However, this album is all about Glenn's luscious vocals and touching lyrics.

His record is heartfelt, moving and one of the most relaxing I have heard in a long time.

It's an R&B album, and as such isn't going to appeal to everyone, but anyone willing to give it a chance and to sit and listen to it will appreciate the care and attention that has gone into crafting it.

It is an entirely consistent album with no track letting it down.

However, several songs, such as Don't You Forget It and the beautiful Something to See, stand out from the rest and make this one of the most moving debut albums for some time.

Jason Towler

ALBUM: Music inspired from We Were Soldiers (Columbia)

It's hard to believe the mighty Mel Gibson would subject himself to such gut wrenching, gung-ho nonsense as the over Americanised We Were Soldiers.

And this part soundtrack part over sentimental filler does little to promote the semi blockbuster in my eyes.

Fourteen tracks of diluted country and mainstream folk rock that evoke images of weeping busty blondes, waving off their patriotic muscle-bound husbands who will do anything for their 'Mr President'.

The once godlike Johnny Cash rambles on about the shadow of death, MTV residents Train pretend to be Irish behind a banner of US rock pomp and Rascal Flats reminds me that it's people like him who are solely responsible for the likes of Will Young.

No it's dreary listening readers, unless of course you still watch films like Top Gun on a regular basis, in which case it could well make your day.

James Heward

Book: Staying On

A Beautiful setting, varied characters and a well-written story make Evelyn Hood's new novel an absorbing read.

The Second World War has affected the lives of the inhabitants of the Isle of Bute.

Many of its menfolk have not returned, and unmarried mother Jennet Scott and injured brother Angus are left to run their embittered grandmother's farm, with help only from a farmhand and evacuee Nesta McCabe and her family.

When Nesta's husband arrives to take them back home and the survival of the farm is threatened they find inner strengths to battle for their future and that of Jennet's loveable baby son, and "staying on" becomes important to them all.

Published by Timewarner paperbacks, this is a story of strong friendships and a real sense of post war community spirit.

Margaret Malpass

BOOK: A Country Lad Looks Back - Peter Wolfenden (foreword by Harvey Smith)

Peter Wolfdenden recounts his experiences as a young boy, the eldest of seven children, growing up on the family farm on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border in the early 1940s.

The family delights in the beauty of the countryside in the Bolton-by-Bowland area throughout the changing seasons, introducing the reader to the local flora and fauna very knowledgeably.

He obviously held his father in high regard, both as a man and in the way that he ran his farm, learning much from him.

He meticulously covers many aspects of both farm and village life, from the home curing of bacon, walking livestock, the local hunt and pony club, gypsies and disasters such as the terrible winter of 1947.

To members of his generation, like myself, the book will evoke many personal memories.

To a younger generation he brings an insight into what life was really like before the coming of such luxuries as electricity and mechanisation.

Coming as it does on the heels of the foot and mouth disaster, it is a timely reminder of the dedication and very hard life that is the lot of most small farmers.

A Country Lad Looks Back is published by Peter Wolfenden and Barrowford priced £14.99.

Beryl Simister