Debuts from both Damon Albarn's The Good, the Bad and the Queen and The View make good listening, plus there's an indispensible Latin-Arabian compilation.

POP
The Good, the Bad and the Queen
The Good, the Bad and the Queen(Parlophone)
****
The Good, the Bad and the Queen are a curious proposition. A group by name and nature, they are, effectively, a Damon Albarn solo project. In sound, tone and inclination, their first release is the better-produced successor to Albarn's mostly overlooked solo album, Democrazy. This means the individual talents of ex-Verve guitarist Simon Tong, former Clash bassist Paul Simonon and, most wastefully of all, Fela Kuti's drummer Tony Allen, are submerged into Albarn's vision. A more collaborative approach might have made this something special; instead, it's merely very good, with Albarn at his most elegiac on the outstanding Green Fields. On The Good, the Bad and the Queen itself, he rocks without self-consciousness for the first time in his life. JOHN AIZLEWOOD

The View
Hats Off to the Buskers (1965 Records)
***
"The View are on fire!" is the chant of the Dundee quartet's fervent fans, but an early reputation as a scorching live experience can often mean a less-than-incendiary time when the debut album finally arrives. The band have made the right moves, employing producer Owen Morris, architect of the sound of young Oasis, and deliberately neglecting to polish the ramshackle scruffiness of tracks such as Streetlights and Wasted Little DJs. The screeching feedback of Comin' Down makes for an exhilarating opener, though sparser songs such as lone acoustic ballad Face for the Radio expose Kyle Falconer's voice as disappointingly slight. Doubts remain about where they will go from here, but Hats Off to the Buskers has the unfussy immediacy of a great rock debut, and that should be more than enough to sustain the heat for now. DAVID SMYTH

WORLD
The Rough Guide to Latin-Arabia
Various (World Music Network)
*****
Here's an outstanding compilation - of a genre I never knew existed. Although there are historical links between Arabic and Latin music, most tracks are a result of recent cross-currents. Egyptian star Amr Diab sings Habibi (Love), but the instrumentation bursts with fizzing guitars and rumba rhythms; Algerian rai star Cheb Sahraoui adopts the piano and brass of a New York salsa band. Cuban violinist Alfredo de la Fé then pairs up with Moroccan fiddler Salah Rahanny for a gorgeous meeting of Cuba and Morocco. And the living incarnation of Latin-Arabia is Algeria's Maurice el Medioni, whose boogie-woogie piano arabesques accompany a nostalgic song about his hometown of Oran with Cuban musicians. An essential album of music you never knew you needed. SIMON BROUGHTON

JAZZ
Michael Brecker Quindectet
Wide Angles (Verve)
*****
Michael Brecker's death this week robs jazz of its most influential tenor-sax voice. Son of a piano-playing Philadelphia lawyer, he was the main man for most sax students of the past 35 years. Turning pro in 1969 with trumpeter brother Randy, he appeared on more than 900 albums, co-starring with the likes of Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, McCoy Tyner and Billy Cobham and adding jazz interest to tours by stars such as James Brown, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell and Elton John. His last album, despite promotion being cut short by his illness, won two Grammy awards. His writing for 15 pieces was expansive and his solos blaze with imagination and a level of post-Coltrane technical virtuosity few have ever attained. A final album, finished just before his death, will be released this summer.
JACK MASSARIK