The latest CDs reviewed.

Goodbye Alice in Wonderland Atlantic

Massive stardom has ensured that Jewel Kilcher no longer has to sleep in her car or trawl her guitar around from coffee-shop to coffee-shop. Now that she's got the ranch and the celebrity cowboyfriend (some country singer named Ty), her sixth album must necessarily lack some edge, but does it have to be so damn, down-home, dishwater dull? OK, Jewel wasn't exactly Patti Smith to start with, but it sounds like she's moved in next door to Shania Twain and is copping Mrs Lange's smoothy, silky, country-flavoured moves. The album is meant to be vaguely autobiographical, chronicling Jewel's journey to personal fulfilment, and though Long Slow Slide, Good Day, Satellite and Words Get in the Way are expertly executed, the only soul around here is on the designer cowboy boots. Last Dance Rodeo and Stephenville, TX confirm that the Alaskan girl has found her spiritual home, but it sounds as far removed from the rest of the world as Little House on the Prairie. www.jewelk.com

Kevin Courtney

Bande a Part Perfect Kiss/Peacefrog

If it worked once, the thinking seems to be, it should work again. After all, French duo Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux's inspired idea to rework punk and post-punk classics in a bossa-nova style resulted in a 2004 album that sold hundreds of thousands of copies. So, naturally, a second effort was always on the cards. The formula hasn't changed. Take a variety of post-punk tunes, including Echo & The Bunnymen's Killing Moon, Billy Idol's Dancing with Myself, Yazoo's Don't Go and New Order's Blue Monday. Re-arrange and rerecord in suitably off-kilter styles, from melancholic Parisian boulevard ballads to wispy, breezy Caribbean folk, with help from vocalists Melanie Pain, Marina Celeste and Gerard Toto. Voilà! Fourteen tunes that are fun and amusing, but don't inspire the sense of mild bewilderment which made the first album such a joy. In the background, you can hear the sound of a ship setting sail for novelty island. www.nouvellesvagues.com

Jim Carroll

Shadows Evolve Best Before Records

Australia's Morning After Girls were one of the major buzz bands of both New York's CMJ and Austin's SXSW music showcase events of this year. It's easy to see why, as the band display the kind of wonderfully scuzzy nous that went way out west with My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. In other words, there's a squalling swirl to the music that blends the summery blissed bends of MBV with the no wave attitudes of SY. Mix in the kind of crushed velvet psychedelia of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (before they became The Band for the black army shirt generation) and you've got one of the soundtracks of the summer. Standout track? Too many to choose from, to be honest. Tony Clayton-Lea

The Forest and the Sea Staubgold

There's a curious frigidity about this fourth solo recording from Leafcutter John (aka John Burton). Lurching from lo-fi atmospherics to beardy folksiness, The Forest and the Sea is more adept at self-consciously tweaking every control on the mixing desk than it is at creating a cohesive vibe. Maria in the Forest is an attention-deficit-disordered soundscape, and the triptych Dream 1, 11 and 111 lumbers beneath a maudlin, Keatsian moodiness - it screams to be clipped firmly across the ear. Only Seba whispers of a hint of human experience impinging on Burton's writing. So . . . crickets, creaking cellos and clicketing cobblestones abound, but apart from some fleeting (and favourable) echoes of Badly Drawn Boy, Leafcutter John is welcome to the fractured scrapbook that is his (musical) world. www.leafcutterjohn.com

Siobhán Long

Serena Maneesh Play Louder

Serena Maneesh mainman Emil Nikolaisen has fronted a frothy pop band (The Loch Ness Mouse) and a Christian death metal band (Extol), which partly explains this debut. What starts off as Velvet Underground mimicry morphs into shoegazey noise propped up by guitar flanges that My Bloody Valentine would be proud of. To create this mix of ethereal ire, Nikolaisen drafted in various band members, including his sisters, Sufjan Stevens on flute and marimba, and Steve Albini on production duty. It's Jekyll and Hyde stuff, where the hazy, melodic Un Deux is followed by the psychedelic Candlelighted, only to be replaced by the 10-ton rock and squeal of Beehiver II. Occasionally frustrating, Serena Maneesh has its moments of sublime grace and bile belch, best represented by an epic 12-minute closer, Your Blood in Mine. www.serena-maneesh.com

Sinéad Gleeson

Anthology - The Essential Crossexion EMI

Second only to Keith Richards and Steve Tyler in the scarecrow stakes, Ronnie Wood has made a career out of being a trusty sideman rather than a centre stage rock icon. In this capacity he has served, with honour, the likes of The Jeff Beck Group, The Faces and The Rolling Stones. It's difficult to say exactly what he has added to each, other than the loan of a louche presence and an endearingly sloppy guitar style that befits the kind of loose rock'n'roll he's very much at home with. That said, Wood's lent his hand to some cracking songs, notably Gasoline Alley, Stay with Me and Black Limousine. And he still looks great on stage, back to back, shoulder to shoulder with Richards and Jagger. A little filler here and there, then, but as "Keef" slurs in the CD liner notes: "Ronnie? He's a long short story." Tony Clayton-Lea

Not Accepted Anywhere B-Unique

Four hot-headed teens from the Welsh town of Cowbridge, The Automatic are out to escape the humdrum future of the 22-grand job and find a place in the evermore crowded myspace of modern indie rock. Recover, the Ian Broudie-produced single, is already embedded in pop-pickers' heads, and current single Monster proves that the frantic foursome can keep popping their collective corks without losing their fizz. The shifty disco beats, squeaky synths and vocal whoops never lose momentum through these 12 indie-dance tracks, which include That's What She Said, Lost at Home, Keep Your Eyes Peeled, Rats and Seriously . . . I Hate You Guys. There's an obvious cartoon element to the band's teen-titan sound, and some of the tracks are as predictable as Kaiser Chiefs' eponymous riot, but overall this is an exuberant debut from a group who, unlike their neighbours Goldie Lookin' Chain, are not completely mucking about. www.theautomatic.co.uk

Kevin Courtney