Off the record

This year is as busy as ever, starting next week with Death Magnetic by Metallica (Mercury). The week after (15 September) sees a new one from The Streets, Everything Is Borrowed (679) and a Queen comeback, Cosmos Rocks (EMI), with Free's Paul Rodgers on vocals.

The debut album by current number one star and girl-kisser Katy Perry — One of the Boys (Virgin) — is out on 22 September, as is Kings of Leon's most polished attempt yet at becoming a global force. The radio-friendly rock of Only by the Night (Columbia) is a clear crack at making the Tennessee quartet as big in their homeland as they are here.

The girls will be kept happy on 29 September when Will Young returns with Let It Go (RCA) and James Morrison smartly places himself a good distance away from rival James Blunt with the polished, string-packed soul of his second album Songs For You, Truths For Me (Polydor).

It's not until 6 October that the real event occurs, however, with a new Oasis album, Dig Out Your Soul (Big Brother). This time, for once, the maturing Gallagher brothers haven't been talking it up as the single greatest marvel of the epoch, which might help the public accept it as something a bit better than more of the same. There is talk of a more psychedelic sound, as on the Noel-sung Falling Down, and they've got louder again too, with Liam snarling about his infamous Munich bar brawl on Ain't Got Nothin' and the guitars sounding impressively fiery on the first single from the album, The Shock of the Lightning. As sure as Liam's got his silliest haircut to date, it's another inevitable hit.

Fellow British institutions The Cure return with their 13th album, 4:13 Dream (Geffen) on 13 October. The same day sees comebacks by two younger English bands who continue to grow in stature. Keane are making ever more unusual music for a band who only employ piano and drums. Highlights of Perfect Symmetry (Island) sound like the trio are having fun at last.

The never knowingly gloomy Kaiser Chiefs are also back with Off With Their Heads (B-Unique). Coming not long after their second album, it has the relaxed sound of a band who made an album without even trying. Mark Ronson produces but thankfully leaves out the parping horns, and in Never Miss a Beat they have a massive future favourite. After one listen it will pinball around your head for days. Also in late October, Snow Patrol will keep the ballads coming on A Hundred Million Suns (Fiction), and there's new pop from Pink, Anastacia and the indestructible Sugababes.

But the one that will overpower the lot is Dido's Safe Trip Home (RCA), her first album in five years, out on 3 November. A brief preview suggests a continued fine grasp of a tune and no radical changes to her soporific balladry. But given that her earlier albums are two of the top four biggest sellers of the 21st century, all bets are off on whose album will be number one by Christmas.

Polish music at Wembley
It's always blasting out of bedsit windows near my house, and now is the perfect time to find out more about the ins and outs of Polish pop. This Sunday, Wembley Arena hosts the biggest Polish music event outside of the country itself, a free fiesta featuring acts including Doda (a Britney type with a deeper voice), Monika Brodka (a particularly hummable pop singer), Lady Pank (craggy geezers making schmaltzy rock) and Bajm (stars since the Eighties who have sold three million albums in their homeland). One thing they do show is that Polish musicians seem to have much longer careers than most of ours — they've almost all been kicking around since at least the Nineties — but on the evidence here, they'll remain foreign to the British charts.
www.pkobplondonlive.pl

Fun Lovin' Criminals' silent gig
There were few things more likely to freak out the drug-addled at recent Glastonburys than the Silent Disco tent. Hundreds of clubbers moving in unison to sounds only audible through special radio headphones, it's a truly bizarre sight. Now it's taking over a more impressive venue and going live. The Fun Lovin' Criminals will play silently at the Royal Courts of Justice next Wednesday. Some might say that silence is the best environment in which to appreciate the band, but at least one curse of modern gigging will be removed — there'll be no point filming it on a mobile. Win tickets at www.facebook.com/smirnofforiginalnights.
 
Songs the BBC banned
I've been feeling pretty rebellious this week, listening to a new compilation called This Record Is Not To Be Broadcast: 75 Records Banned By The BBC 1931-57 (Acrobat). Long before The Sex Pistols and Smack My Bitch Up, Auntie was finding all sorts of reasons to protect our delicate ears, whether it was religious subject matter (Rock You Sinners by Art Baxter), mentioning brand names (Run And Coca-Cola by The Andrews Sisters) or even just livening up a classical tune (Spike Jones and His City Slickers' jazzy take on The Blue Danube). The only songs that still surprise are the ones banned for innuendoes (there's no way George Formby is really singing about a Little Stick of Blackpool Rock), but otherwise it's a charming reminder of a much more innocent time.