ROCK/POP

The latest releases reviewed

SHARLEEN SPITERI

Melody

Mercury

***

After 20 years of fronting Texas, Sharleen Spiteri is flying solo, has discovered backcombing and gone all Motown on us. Her timing is ideal, with the emergence of soulful Duffy and sultry Amy Winehouse. Still, Melody is very Spiteri-does- Motown. This isn't unpleasant; with walls of sound, horns upfront and her smooth voice it's fine - just a bit forced. Lead single All the Times I Cried apes the Shangri Las' Out in the Street, It Was You imitates Duffy's Mercy, and I'm Going to Haunt You tries on Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Were Made for Walkin'. The album strains under such emulation. But the smouldering Melody - a lighter Portishead-style track (with trip-hoppy Wandering Star bass lines) offset with lush strings, highlights a set of softer tracks that are promising.  www.sharleenspiteri.co.uk DEANNA ORTIZ

Download Tracks:It Was You, All The Times I Cried, Melody

THE HOLD STEADY

Stay Positive

Rough Trade

****

The worldwide acclaim for their sozzled bar-room boogie and lyrical wisecracks is probably the best thing that could have happened to The Hold Steady. The success of their Boys and Girls In America breakthrough album kept them in the touring saddle for a long run, which reinforced the thumping, soaring, rocking sound on album four. Universal attention has also emboldened Craig Finn. Rarely does any contemporary songwriter observe in such stunning detail the ennui and essence of small-town American life - check out the culture clash between townies and students in One for the Cutters, the very measure of Chill-Out Tent on the last album - or get to the nub of the contradictions between growing old while playing punk rock for the kids (that would be the title track). If you thought Boys and Girls In America was a stone-cold classic, prepare to make room for this one.  www.theholdsteady.com JIM CARROLL

Download tracks:Stay Positive, Sequestered In Memphis, Constructive Summer

STONE GODS

Silver Spoons & Broken Bones

PIAS

*

Rather like the bewildered puppy that goes from cute to cumbersome within a week of Christmas, English glam retro-rockers The Darkness suffered a pretty vicious backlash following the success of 2003's Permission To Land. The endearing ironists of last season were suddenly deemed the embarrassing novelty act of this. Hard not to admire, then, the pluckiness with which three ex-Darkness members have picked themselves up to form a brand new band (albeit one whose website is on automatic redirect from www.thedarknessrock.com). Would that Stone Gods' music were even remotely as admirable as Dan Hawkins, Richie Edwards and Ed Graham's never-say-die spirit. This debut is a compendium of hard rock/hair metal cliches so crass that you'd need a heart of stone to listen without laughing. Flight of the Conchords, meet the competition.  www.stonegods.co.uk DARAGH DOWNES

Download track:Don't Drink The Water

PRIMAL SCREAM

Beautiful Future

B Unique

***

For their ninth studio album, the Scream team have strapped some galloping synth drones on to their hipster-rock template, sounding like a mix of a popped-out Suicide and Bowie circa Blue Jean. With Bjorn from Peter, Bjorn and John producing, it's no surprise the Scream sound upbeat, but at least there's no Young Folks-style whistling, although Victoria Bergsman does add backing vocals to the loping Uptown. Gillespie spars with Lovefoxxx of CSS on I Love to Hurt, but the real doozy is the duet with Linda Thompson on a cover of Fleetwood Mac's Over and Over. Just to show he hasn't gone soft, Gillespie throws in the menacing Suicide Bomb and Necro Hex Blues (with Josh Homme). Zombie Man, however, reanimates Ringo's Back Off Boogaloo, and any song called The Glory of Love is doomed to sound cheesy.  www.primalscream.net  KEVIN COURTNEY

Download tracks:Uptown, Suicide Bomb, Beautiful Summer, Over & Over

NINE INCH NAILS

The Slip

The Null Corporation

***

Trent Reznor is throwing out the albums at a speed of knots - the last Nine Inch Nails one, Ghosts I-IV was released just a few months ago. On something of a creative roll, Reznor remains one of hard rock music's most maverick talents and The Slip was initially given away free on the band's website before this physical release. Mixing a punk clatter with layers of industrial rock, some of the sound dynamics at work here are an absolute joy, but to spread out the sound even further there's some welcome ambient style passages and slower-tempo material. Of the highlights, Head Down sounds like Depeche Mode covering Guns N' Roses (but in a good way) while Corona Radiata comes across like Brian Eno with a bad hangover - but again, in a good way. Plenty of sonic energy is cleverly used on this small gem of a record.  www.nin.com BRIAN BOYD

Download tracks:Head Down, Corona Radiata