London,

CDs of the week

Mature: Simon Aldred creates a classic sound as Cherry Ghost

Hotly-tipped: The Enemy's punky anthems echo Kasabian

Pleasing: Fried are a combination of David Steele and Jonte Short

Miracle Fortress: Five Roses is clearly indebted to The Beach Boys

Soulful: US piano discovery Robert Glasper

Super-fast: Maskarada from Taraf de Haidouks

No chance: Paul Potts was 'a visual illusion'

Cherry Ghost have a Thirst for Romance and TV talent show winner Paul Potts releases his album in this week's CD offerings.

POP
Cherry Ghost
Thirst for Romance
****
Musicians can have a lot more to offer once they've been around the block several hundred times, as proved by older newcomers such as the Hold Steady and Richard Hawley. The latter is a key point of comparison for Simon Aldred, a Bolton-bred thirtysomething with a lived-in face who creates a mature, classic sound as Cherry Ghost. His debut features the toe-tapping country shuffle of 4am, the string-drenched swoon of Mathematics and the bluesy stomp of Here Come the Romans, all delivered in a rich,
warm, faintly croaking baritone. Even if he recalls the dreaded Starsailor on the overwrought Mountain Bird and Dead Man's Suit, on balance Aldred is a worthy late addition to the premier league of singer-songwriters. DAVID SMYTH

THE ENEMY
We'll Live and Die in These Towns (Warner Bros)
**
The hotly-tipped Enemy are undeniably thrilling live, their huge, stomping, punky anthems echoing contemporaries Kasabian as well as the more traditional new-wave of mid-period Jam. Alas, for all the fervid swagger of Away From Here, the unconcealed disgust of Had Enough and the finger-pointing of It's Not OK, the Coventry trio's debut album is neutered by flat production. It saps too much of the energy that is both their calling card and chief reason they're so widely tipped. Thus what should have been the provincial howl of the title track is a provincial whine and Tom Clarke's should-be air-punching vocals are delivered with a muffle rather than a roar. A shame: they have much more to offer. JOHN AIZLEWOOD

FRIED
Things Change (RCA/Sony BMG)
***
This surprisingly pleasing album is the result of a collaboration between David Steele, former bass player from the Fine Young Cannibals, and the New Orleans-raised, gospel-trained young singer, Jonte Short. Combined with Steele's sensitive production and songwriting, the understated loveliness of Short's voice recreates something of the light, airy sound of Seventies soul. "You were a mistake, a mistake I was happy to make," she wails on the heartstring-tugging Things Change. When You Get Out of Jail, however, feels like a missed opportunity. Despite its witty lyrics and a verse from the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA, it is marred by lightweight production. In general, however, Fried deliver a refreshingly gimmick-free take on soul. CHRIS ELWELL-SUTTON

Miracle Fortress
Five Roses (Rough Trade)
****
More musical goodness from Canada, this time courtesy of Graham Van Pelt, who is a kind of Brian Wilson one-man-band figure. Five Roses is clearly as indebted to The Beach Boys as it is to Yo La Tengo, but Van Pelt has a light touch and little feels forced or contrived. Perhaps Maybe Lately, uncontestable brilliance aside, gets a little too close to hero worship but Next Train, with its incandescent synths, needling guitar riffs and handclaps, honestly sounds like nothing else I've heard. Van Pelt's restlessness infects Five Roses with a shifting sense of wonder and a certainty you have no idea what's going to come next - the only album you can say that about this week.

JAZZ
Robert Glasper
In My Element (Blue Note Records)
****

Heard only briefly at the Barbican last winter, US piano discovery Robert Glasper wowed the Pizza Express basement club in Soho last week and deserves much wider exposure. More than other false-dawns on the jazzkeyboard horizon, soulful Robert's the real thing. Tracks such as G&B, One for 'Grew and Y'outta Praise Him have a driven fluency, rhythmic urgency, hip harmonisation and warm lyricism that connect him to greats of the past. Playing fresh music (seven originals, just two standards) yet firmly in the tradition, Glasper, double-bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Damion Reid are a trio that breathes as one. Some short out-takes, included to highlight their spontaneity, only increase this compelling album's charm. JACK MASSARIK

WORLD
Taraf de Haidouks
Maskarada (Crammed Discs)
**
With super-fast fiddling and rattling cimbaloms, the Taraf de Haidouks are the world's most sensational gipsy band. From village weddings south of Bucharest they went to play concerts from New York to Tokyo, including a party for Johnny Depp. Having released four brilliant albums of their traditional repertoire, they've decided to do gypsyinspired classics in Taraf style. That means popular tunes by Bartók, Falla, Khachaturian and even Ketelbey. A couple are quite inspired - such as the Bartók Ostinato and Falla's Ritual Fire Dance - but most of it sounds like a hotel band doing cheesy covers. The best tracks feature the Taraf 's own traditional repertoire but the better option is to buy any one of their earlier albums. SIMON BROUGHTON

EASY LISTENING
Paul Potts
One Chance (Sony BMG)
*
A month ago, Paul Potts, a mobile phone salesman from Port Talbot with wonky teeth and a waistline problem, convinced 13.5 million TV viewers that Britain's Got Talent and he was it. Remove the visuals and the music leaves the ordinary man viciously exposed. On his first CD, Nessun Dorma, the aria that aroused football memories and set phone lines glowing red, is not just clumsily phrased and vocally strained but utterly charmless. The rest of the album is made up of package-tourist ballads and motorway favourites like My Way, rendered in Italian for phony effect. Paul's accent is sub-Berlitz and his range of expression so limited that sincerity is reduced to a binary alternative of sigh or shout. Sad, really. It was all a visual illusion. NORMAN LEBRECHT

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