Nudie Books and FrenchiesEMI ***

You don't make it to 30 years in the music business on luck alone. Aslan are celebrating their milestone anniversary with their seventh studio album, and their hard-won loyal fanbase will enjoy the dubiously-titled Nudie Books and Frenchies – even if these10 songs lack a trademark singalong anthem. Still, there's plenty to like amongst the melodic interludes and Beatles-aping ballads such as Once Upon a Time the End and Fall Down, while the Snow Patrol-like production and surging choruses of the upbeat Silent Souls and Too Late for Hallelujah certainly gives the Dubliners' sound a glossy, contemporary edge. The album may rely a little too keenly on well-trodden formulas, but this is a solid, if unadventurous commemoration of three decades of success. aslan.ie

Download tracks:Silent Souls, Once Upon a Time the End