On listening to Oh, Atoms's debut album You Can't See The Stars From Here for the first time, I couldn't help thinking that it should have been released a year ago. The Cockney duo could have been massive.

In fact, I had to check their myspace, down but not out after one round too many with that other website, to make sure that they hadn't blown up without me noticing. They hadn't.

Even so, they're streets ahead of the herd of other folk-pop bands queuing for a ride on the Vampire Weekend bandwagon, and deserve their turn in the limelight. You Can't See The Stars From Here' is full of warm, pensive numbers that take their time going nowhere.

The opener, 'Sugar Mouse', sees a sinister-sounding violin quickly overtaken by chirpy male and female vocal harmonies to the plucking of a mandolin and a happy-go-lucky drum beat.

Such playful contrasts are consistent throughout the album, with a whole range of instruments providing a vintage backdrop to upbeat, sunshine-tinged lyrics and charming to-and-fro vocal arrangements.

The title-track is a much slower, instrumental affair, allowing the simplicity and beauty of the music to be realised. While the tempo changes, the quality does not, and this CD should prove the perfect accompaniment to the sunny days to come. This optimism is infectious.

Joe Mitchell

Starsailor - All The Plans

I’ve always viewed Starsailor as something of a poor relative to Embrace. Whatever happened to Embrace? They struggled to follow up the superb album Out Of Nothing and now here are fellow Northerners Starsailor with the album that sounds like it should have been that follow- up, albeit by a different band.

Tell Me It’s Not Over and Boy In Waiting are strong openers before it all goes rather Duffy-like on The Thames. All The Plans steadies the ship before it veers into darker waters and Neon Sky continues in the Embrace-like vein.

So, All The Plans may not be terribly original but it isn’t half bad either. You Never Get What You Deserve could be the most ironic song title ever but here’s hoping the Chorley boys get just what All The Plans deserves. It’s their best album ever and Embrace’s second best!

Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream

Setting a very high standard with opener Outlaw Pete, Springsteen shows that twenty-four albums into an illustrious career and he can still produce songs of the highest quality.

Lyrically and musically you are just about thinking Outlaw Pete is surely a career high when it is followed by the equally fabulous My Lucky Day - a song which my five year old daughter hasn’t stopped singing since hearing.

After hearing Queen Of The Supermarket I shall never view the girl at the Tesco checkout in quite the same way… pure brilliance.

Obviously this is a guitar-based album but genuinely Springsteen’s voice has never sounded so good and with the E Street Band in top form the dream that Springsteen has been working on is presented within the 13 songs on this album.

I was never really a worshipper at the House of The Boss but now I’m converted, a born again Springsteenian.

Graham Scaife Bruce Springsteen: Working On A Dream Anyone to have recorded 24 albums is deserving of an accolade or two just for that fact, but how does Working On A Dream stand up against previous offerings?

There’s a decided political edge to the lyrics which sometimes grates, the E Street Band sound somewhat contained, and Working On A Dream could have been lifted directly from the Sixties, but with Amy Winehouse and Duffy propping up record companies at the moment, songs like Outlaw Pete and What Love Can Do sound bang on trend if slightly familiar.

The later portion of the album drags, but The Last Carnival is worth the wait, and whilst this isn’t as immediately catchy, nor perhaps as all out spectacular as Springsteen’s earlier albums, the maturity, depth and easy delivery well enough tell the tale of why Bruce Springsteen has lasted for 24 records. One for the diehard fans!

Caleb Blue