WEIGHTLESS

Wet Wet Wet

There are few things on earth more irritating than a Wet Wet Wet ballad. That's just my opinion of course, and seeing as in their heyday most of their chart-toppers were slow numbers, I'm probably in the minority on this one. However, this one should allay the fears of any of their fans who wondered whether they could recapture the old magic, because it seems that they have. How do I know this? Simple, it's just as tedious as Temptation or Goodnight Girl, only with a slightly updated sound to it. At least this single sounds like it's being sung by Marti Pellow, because the last one didn't, but all the same it's the sort of thing you'd expect to see someone's parents dancing to at a wedding reception.

WOW

Kylie Minogue

Oh. This is disappointing. After the rather wonderful 2 Hearts, Kylie reverts back to bog-standard pop tunes. There's more than a touch of the "Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be Madonna circa 1985" about this one, and although it jumps around the room with a happy smiling face, you'll find more depth in a paddling pool. Here we are a few months after 2 Hearts came out, and I can still listen to that one quite happily, but I've only heard this four or five times and I'm sick to death of it - that's the difference here. Kylie Minogue's proven that her music is far better when she experiments (her duet with Nick Cave, for instance), and that in turn proves she's far too good for stuff like this.

UNFORGETTABLE

Andy Scott-Lee

I beg to differ.

JUST

Mark Ronson

Now then, on the other end of the scale from Wet Wet Wet ballads, when Radiohead turn out a really, really good tune there's not many bands around that can get near them. Not for them listless midtempo pop like matey in the review just above, oh no, their stuff stands out from the crowd and then some. It has to be said though, as much as I appreciated Mark Ronson's attempt to update the Smiths for a modern-day audience, the singles that followed it have had something of a "novelty wearing off" factor, and sadly, this version of one of Radiohead's finest ever moments doesn't quite reverse the overall downward trajectory, although it is a hell of a lot better than Valerie. Thom Yorke's angry warblings and the screaming guitars have been replaced by crooning and trumpets, and that can never be classed as substituting like for like, not for this song. Mind you, there's clearly a lot of respect being paid to the original, and while it's not an amazing cover it does at least hold its own - in fact, even the video pays homage to the original video, which is a nice touch. All in all, this version's probably ended up being about as good as it was ever likely to be.

SUN GOES DOWN

David Jordan

Maybe it's because I'm old enough to remember the eighties, but for some reason this tune reminds me a little bit of What's The Colour Of Money by Hollywood Beyond. Actually, it must be, after all if I'd have been born in the nineties I probably wouldn't know it at all, would I? Dear God, I don't half speak the obvious sometimes. It's a fairly simple idea behind this song, you know. Give your drummer a sledgehammer instead of a drumstick, get a couple of guitarists to strum away in the background, borrow one of Mark Ronson's trumpeters for the middle bit and then sing over the top. Piece of cake. I'm not entirely sure that this song should work at all - I mean, look at it, there's all sorts of stuff going on that you normally wouldn't find on a top chart hit as the early Now albums liked to call them - but it does. Actually, it's grown on me and if a song can do that there must be something going for it. There you go then, one overwhelmingly positive write-up this week. Will it do?