POP

NEIL DIAMOND
Home Before Dark (Columbia)
****
The singer and songwriter who was once a byword for polished can now be reclassified as a rough Diamond. Thanks to the studio skills of Rick Rubin, Neil Diamond has found a rough edge to his talents. These dozen originals are perfect examples of mature pop music, illuminated by their composer�fs innate grasp of simple but effective melody. Pretty Amazing Grace and One More Bite of the Apple are memorable, and Another Day (That Time Forgot) features a rousing duet with Dixie Chick Natalie Maines. Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, provide the perfect accompaniment.
PETE CLARK

MOBY
Last Night(Mute)
****
Having twisted this way and that in order to replicate the success but not the sound of 1999's Play, Richard “Moby” Hall has lost his way of late. Now he's finally found himself again, via a loose concept album which sketches a night out in New York. It lovingly nods to the music Moby grew up with, from the furious old-school rap of I Love To Move In Here to the more ambient Ooh Yeah and the shiny happy Disco Lies. Wisely, none of his platoon of vocalists is a distracting household name and if those different singers ensure that Last Night inevitably sounds like a compilation, its quality remains startlingly high and its feel gloriously warm.
JOHN AIZLEWOOD

MARTINA TOPLEY BIRD
The Blue God(Inipendiente)
***
While Portishead, Massive Attack and Tricky make comebacks this year, the less prominent musicians of the Bristol Sound's Nineties heyday are making the most accessible albums. Martina Topley Bird has conjured some fine pop moments on her latest effort, working with Gnarls Barkley producer Danger Mouse on a slinky, jazzy sound that suits her sleepy voice. As with the trip-hop of old, around half of The Blue God fades towards background music, but when Danger Mouse taps into her hitherto unnoticed sense of fun — as on the standout groove Carnies and the swinging kitsch of Da Da Da Da — the pair give the sound a welcome pulse.
DAVID SMYTH

JAZZ

STANLEY JORDAN
State of Nature (Mack Avenue)
***
Nobody plays jazz guitar like Stanley Jordan, if you discount the odd Tube-corridor minstrel. It's more than 20 years since Jordan himself was discovered busking outside New York's Carnegie Hall, and a little surprising that no rival has since mastered his remarkable finger-hammering technique, let alone extended it. Here he celebrates natural forces (“look at the sidewalk — how a little seedling can crack the concrete and come through”) by sacrificing dazzling dexterity for harmonic density, though amazing simultaneous guitar-duo and piano-guitar segments do flash past. Three stars for aesthetics but always 10 for originality.
JACK MASSARIK

WORLD

EMMANUEL JAL
Warchild (Sonic360)
****
“I believe I have survived for a reason / To tell my story to touch lives” raps a voice against the sound of explosions and gunfire. The voice is that of Emmanuel Jal, who, aged seven, became a child soldier in Sudan's civil war. He tells his story on the title track of this powerful album, and other tracks continue the autobiographical theme. The closing song, Emma, is about British aid-worker Emma McCune, the “angel” who smuggled him into Kenya and sent him to school. There is criticism of corruption and multinationals in Africa, of rapper 50 Cent for being a poor role model, and even an ironic sense of humour in No Bling. A very powerful release.
SIMON BROUGHTON