The latest releases reviewed.

LADY & BIRD Lady & Bird Yellow Tangerine ***

A collaboration between French singer-songwriter Keren Ann (responsible for last year's enchanting Nolita album) and Icelandic musician Bardi Johannson (from Bang Gang), Lady & Bird has more sparkle than a bottle of fizzy water. The album, billed as "a children's story for adults", is awash with child-like fables, bittersweet lullabies and mischievous fairies. The delicate, soporific crooning of Do What I Do sets the tone, a mood taken up by trippy, soft-focused covers of The Velvet Underground's Stephanie Says and Suicide Is Painless from M*A*S*H. Yet there are hints of other paths that could have been taken on the likes of Shepherd's Song, where the jarring notes and discordant, creepy guitars are more nightmarish than dreamlike. But Lady & Bird prefer to take a mellower journey and, while the harmonies are sometimes a little too sugary, the outcome is overwhelmingly heart-warming. Jim Carroll

VARIOUS ARTISTS Now That's What I Call Music 65 EMI ***

The Now! series, started in 1983, has knocked all the others (such as Ronco and K-Tel) into a cocked hat, and is still the king of the chart compilations. Now 65 features all the major hits of the past six months, from the big sellers (Shakira and Wyclef's Hips Don't Lie, Scissor Sisters' I Don't Feel Like Dancin') to the heavy hitters (Amy Winehouse's Rehab, The Killers' When You Were Young), from rap and r'n'b (Chamillionaire's Ridin', Beyoncé's Deja Vu) to trance (Cascada's Every Time We Touch, David Guetta vs The Egg's Love Don't Let Me Go), from driving rock (Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars, Kasabian's Empire) to pure drivel (David Hasselhoff's Jump in the Car, Westlife's The Rose). I wouldn't even call half of it music, but I'd definitely recommend it for the pop picker in your family. Kevin Courtney