Blur: 10th Anniversary Box Set (EMI)

In December Blur will play, at Wembley, every single the band has released in the past 10 years, in chronological order. If you haven't got a ticket for this anniversary extravaganza, you might fancy forking out for this limited edition box set, comprising all 22 singles from the band's Blur-illiant career. She's So High, There's No Other Way and Bang chart the baggy beginnings, while For Tomorrow, Chemical World and Sunday Sunday find Blur in psychedelic Kinks mode. Then comes the monster hit middle bit, which includes smashies like Boys And Girls, Parklife, Country House and The Universal. Beetlebum and Song 2 show Graham Coxon's American grunge influences gaining supremacy, but Tender and No Distance Left To Run prove that Damon Albarn has gorra lorra heart in his soul.

- Kevin Courtney

The Walkabouts: Trail of Stars (Glitterhouse)

Those familiar with The Walkabouts's songs will need no endorsement of their compelling noir atmosphere. For them, Trail of Stars will be another intriguing chapter in the world according to songwriter Chris Eckman and his collaborator-in-chief, singer Carla Torgerson. After flirting with the power of Virgin, The Walkabouts have returned to their Glitterhouse home, and the country influences have become more muted, replaced by a moody sense of foreboding. Check out On The Day, in which Eckman typically builds himself up into a tower of barely repressed rage against a backdrop of distant horns and swollen guitar. Torgerson's detached voice is, however, the predominant vocal, adding a cool mystery to Eckman's pained songs. No, it isn't a barrel of laughs - but then, who said life was meant to be fun?

- Joe Breen

John Paul Jones: (Discipline Global Mobile)

Badaaam blam blam blam! With an explosion of bazooka basslines, the former Led Zeppelin bassist loudly announces the rather overdue arrival of his first solo album. Zooma consists of nine instrumental tracks, and though there are no lyrics in evidence, the album does manage to say something which sounds uncannily like, "Hey, Jimmy and Robert, let's get the band back together again!" It sounds just like a Led Zep album, minus the screaming vocals of Robert Plant or the supersonic guitars of Jimmy Page. JPJ handles the stringed instruments rather well, laying down competent guitar lines and backing them up with a battery of Bonham-esque drums and a phalanx of swooping string arrangements, but without any songs to guide it, Zooma is just an aimless army of rock'n'roll riffs in search of a leader.

- Kevin Courtney