James Blunt returns with some expertly played new material, and Deborah Harry ends a 14-year spell between albums.

POP
James Blunt
All the Lost Souls (Custard/Atlantic)
***
The bearded troubadour returns with a second album that tells you most of what you need to know in the title. Blunt has recorded a selection of songs that follow on naturally from Back to Bedlam. The musical range is ballad to mid-tempo, all of it expertly played and produced. The point of Blunt, however, is his lyrics, which are calculated to produce a pounding in sensitive bosoms. Already in the opening 1973, the singer is wishing he was sober, while by the time we reach Give Me Some Love, he confesses to having taken a shipload of drugs. James Blunt wants to share his pain at being a successful pop star whose soul is in torment. He reminds me irresistibly of Leo Sayer, only with a more highly developed talent for angst. PETE CLARK

Deborah Harry
Necessary Evil (Eleven Seven)
***
A 14-year gap between albums suggests the artist still really known as Debbie Harry has been neglecting what was already a farfromglittering solo career. Necessary Evil, her mostly self-written fifth outing, finds her in instantly recognisable vocal form: a little bit lascivious on School for Scandal; a little bit strutting on Charm Alarm and a little bit winsome on Love with a Vengeance, which erupts halfway through into a percussive cacophony. So far so good, but, as if she's too scared to really let go, Harry is let down by some stodge in what is a too-long album and the flat Eighties production which ruined her flat Eighties albums. So, while there's nothing here that dents her iconic status, she might regret not pushing herself a little more. JOHN AIZLEWOOD

Reverend and the Makers
The State of Things (Wall of Sound)
****
"Reverend" Jon McClure has long considered himself a spokesman for his generation and now, with the release of his debut album, the Sheffield motormouth has the chance to put his manifesto to music. Unlike his flatmate, Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner, McClure lacks the ability to bring real poetry to the everyday scenarios he portrays in song, but his colourful vignettes are catchy fun, powered along by funky bass, dance beats and bellow-along choruses. The album's population of rat-race losers (The Machine), promiscuous housewives (What the Milkman Saw) and lager-swilling holidaymakers (18-30) makes for a listen that is full of life. If bouncy tracks such as He Said He Loved Me have an air of novelty about them, that doesn't stop them from sticking pleasantly in the brain. DAVID SMYTH

Siouxsie
Mantaray (Universal)
****
It's strange to think that Siouxsie Sioux was one of the peripheral characters in the Sex Pistols' confrontation with ITV's Bill Grundy on the Today programme in 1976 (she was the one whom Grundy leched over). The erstwhile Susan Ballion is an enigmatic punk figurehead and it's something of a surprise that this is her first debut outing. It's been a while since her band Siouxsie And The Banshees produced anything worth listening to but Mantaray is a minor marvel. The pomptastic drama of Here Comes That Day suggests Siouxsie should be allowed a shot at a Bond theme tune, while If It Doesn't Kill You re-imagines her as a Marianne Faithfull who can sing. PAUL CONNOLLY

DANCE
Booty Luv
Boogie 2Nite (Hed Kandi)
***
It's no wonder Booty Luv - two members of ex-R&B cartel Big Brovaz - signed to commercial dance label Hed Kandi. Both have absurd preferences for misspellings, plus Hed Kandi's recognisable artwork of scantily clad females isn't a million miles from the cover of Boogie 2Nite, featuring Cherise Roberts and Nadia Shepherd in sparkly minidresses. But get past clubby R&B's naff rep - images of sleazy bankers slithering out of Chinawhite clutching buxom, sequinned WAGs - and Booty Luv have created a cracking debut. Celebrated soulful R&B covers Shine (Luther Vandross) and Don't Mess With My Man (Lucy Pearl) raise the spangly bar more than others, but if you must frequent Bar Rumba or El Divino you'll have more fun dancing to this than to Eric Prydz's nonsense. MARTHA DE LACEY

WORLD
Colombiafrica -
The Mystic Orchestra
Voodoo Love Inna Champeta-Land (Riverboat Records)
****
From the Caribbean coast of Colombia this is Afro-Colombian music that swings. Champeta is the drum-led music of Colombia which has risen in popularity in recent years and for this disc, three of its best singers, Justo Valdez, Viviano Torres and Luis Towers, have brought in some of Africa's best guitarists to complete the circle. The stand-out track, Kumina, features the fizzing guitar of Guinean guitarist Sékou Diabaté, and others include some of the best soukous guitarists from Congo. The closing track brings the rootsier sounds of the vocal and drumming music from Palenque on the Pacific coast. With the judicious addition of punchy horns and accordion, this is an irrepressible fusion of drums, guitars and vocals exuding energy and sunshine. SIMON BROUGHTON

JAZZ
Mike Westbrook Orchestra
On Duke's Birthday (Hatology)
****
Admirers of the Maria Schneider Orchestra, whose new album was reviewed here last week, should sift through this gleaming chest of long-buried treasure by a largely forgotten English composer-orchestrator. Taped by the specialist Hat Hut label at a 1984 concert in France, it's a masterly tribute to Ellington. Variously reflective or hard-driving, pianist Westbrook's gently shifting kaleidoscope of atmospheric colours inspires his European all-star 11, including French violinist Dominique Pifarely and Italian trombonist Danilo Terenzi, to fine, unhackneyed solos. British guitarist Brian Godding and cellist Georgie Born sound particularly distinctive and Chris Biscoe's baritone-sax solo on East Stratford Too-Doo is a revelation. A London revival of music as subtle as this is long overdue. JACK MASSARIK