Dizzie Rascal goes head-to-head with Wiley, Biffy Clyro rock with their fourth album and Paul McCartney shows he can still churn out a tune or two in this week's top CDs.

THE BIG SOUNDS
Dizzie Rascal
Maths And English (XL)
***
Wiley
Playtime Is Over (Big Dada)
*****

Dizzee Rascal first encountered music-making in 2000 when as a troubled youth he hooked up with Wiley, the head honcho of the Bowbased band Roll Deep Crew and the progenitor of grime or eski or whatever it's called these days.

Dizzee (aka Dylan Mills) quickly overtook his mentor commercially, something which has strained relations between the two. There's been a lot of name-calling and any number of threats.

In an echo of the vapid current state of American hip-hop it could even be described as a "beef".

Dizzee's third album isn't going to help matters. Second track - and likely new single - Pussyole (Old Skool), as well as being breakneck fun built on a rather overused sample from Lyn Collins's Think About It, would appear to be a rather explicit attack on Wiley for apparently deserting him when Dizzee was stabbed in Ayia Napa.

Wiley (real name Richard Cowie) for his part hasn't exactly shied away from confrontation - why else would he schedule his second album for release on the same day as Dizzee? And on Letter To Dizzee, a blustery and sometimes sentimental attempt to appeal to his old protegé, he never quite nails the apology for which he appears to be straining. If this all smacks of pettiness and attention-seeking then so be it, because Wiley's album deserves light shone upon it as it is far superior to Dizzee's.

Playtime Is Over is defiantly old school although this may be more down to finances than any desire to keep it real. The beats are stripped down, the discount rave and techno-synth riffs plump and upfront and, most importantly, Wiley's hooks are as immediate as ever.

Right from the start on 50/50, Wiley's yell "Eski Boy, I'm back!" sets the pace. Bow E3, constructed from big old synth lines, a catchy sample and fluttery rhythms, finds Wiley a bit peeved that he's been copping flack for forgetting his old manor ("I'm so E3 you would not believe it," he grumbles), while Gangsters is clever, witty and totally crammed with little hook lines.

Maths And English is not without its attractions. Flex and Da Feelin' are great hip hop techno pop songs, while World Outside is a gloriously menacing but surprisingly delicate call for kids to look beyond their immediate surroundings. But Dizzee doesn't possess Wiley's knack for hooks and he's not as groundbreaking as many make him out to be.

Somewhat unfairly, Dizzee will get the plaudits again. After all, he can afford to drag in the likes of Lily Allen on surefire summer hit Wanna Be although, once again, he has to resort to nicking a hook - this time from Bugsy Malone - rather than writing one himself.

Wiley, meanwhile, looks on from the sidelines, frustrated that he's made a grime masterpiece but is seemingly destined forever to remain in the shadow of his less-talented pupil.

ROCK
Biffy Clyro
Puzzle (14th Floor)
*****
I've been banging on about Biffy Clyro for ages now so I'm glad that Puzzle - their fourth album - is going to be huge. Their angular art-metal has been too oblique thus far but on Puzzle they've cracked it. The angles are still there, as is the ambition (if you like Muse, you'll love 'em), but the Scottish trio have finally understood the tune must always be king.

First track Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies encapsulates their appeal: sawing strings lead into Eye Of The Tiger-style orchestral stabs and an operatic chorus before tuneful noise takes over. Biffy are brilliant and clever and their time has come.

POP
Paul McCartney
Memory Almost Full (Mercury)
***
While Macca's umpteenth solo album (can you name the last five off the top of your head?) does not quite represent a majestic return to form, it's a good deal better than most of us expected.

Given his recent personal troubles you might have expected a bile-inflected collection of songs with titles such as Hop Off Pegleg.

Instead, McCartney has made a rather nostalgic, golden-hued album that harks back to childhood and better times.

In most others' hands this would have been a twee, wretched exercise but McCartney still has the tunes (Ever Present Past and Only Mama Knows are up there with his best) and his warm voice makes it all work. It's no groundshaker but, hell, he is 64.

R&B
Rihanna
Good Girl Gone Bad (Def Jam/Mercury)
***
Even if Good Girl Gone Bad consisted merely of 13 remixes of Rihanna's mighty single Umbrella it'd be worth at least four stars. Sadly, the tall Bajan's third album is not about a lot more than collapsable portable canopies and hip hop royalty. Don't Stop The Music, stomping R&B with a wee Jacko sample, comes close to matching Umbrella and Lemme Get That, a carnival-tinged hunk of crunk-pop, is not without its attractions but too many tracks are woefully underpowered melodically and the mere presence of R&B duffer Ne-Yo means I'm obliged by the dictates of good taste to deduct a star from the rating.

Mutya Buena
Real Girl (Universal/Island)
*
No, no, no, this isn't what we wanted. What has happened to Bulldog-Chewing-A-Wasp Sugababe? If we wanted yet another sappy, mewling sub-R&B diva we wouldn't have sacked Whitney Houston all those years ago (and, make no mistake, sack her we did).

The music biz wonders why it's in trouble, yet it seems dead set on stripping any trace of character from its pop stars. Surely they can't have failed to notice Lily's and Amy's selling points? Well, they must have done because Real Girl is, with one honourable exception (Song 4 Mutya with Groove Armada which sounds like a prime-time Sugababes track), a dreary trudge through syrupy ballad hell. Tunes? Nope. Soul? Negatory. Croydon facelift? Not even one of those. Boo!