SINGLES - LIARS, FINS TO MAKE US MORE FISH-LIKE, Out now, Mute

AND the prize for the weirdest song titles goes to . . .

The EP title is bad enough, but then you have Grown men don't fall in the river just like that and Everyday is a child with teeth. These sound like punk meets The Strokes, before we get to Pillars were hollow and filled with candy so we tore them down, very much in the Beastie Boys style. Not great.

BBMAK - Out Of My Heart (Out now, Telstar)

THIS is a guitar track with a big chorus about loving someone who doesn't love you. Even worse, you spend your days imagining they are thinking of you.

It's a bit like Savage Garden and isn't bad.

Athlete - Beautiful (Out now, Parlophone)

VERY much from the Coldplay ilk, this is a decent mix of a huge chorus with almost complete silence. Definitely worth a listen.

Looper - She's A Knife (Out now, Mute)

LESSON in women, part one. With Looper's mix of humour and sincerity, we learn women are like diamonds and angels. But they are like knives too, and will cut you down. Better stick to Match of the Day and a four pack, lads. And why not have this on in the background? Enjoy.

H & CLAIRE, ALL OUT OF LOVE/ BEAUTY & THE BEAST, Out now, WEA

H & CLAIRE left Steps to do their own thing.

That thing is apparently doing Steps-style songs, videos and dance moves, without the other three. So no surprise then to find a double-A side with a cover version.

All out of love has the huge Steps chorus, with Claire's distinctive voice belting through, over an electric dance beat. Beauty and the Beast is a decent cover of Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson's version for the Disney film of the same name, and the new version features in the re-release to celebrate its tenth anniversary. No doubt there's more to it, but if you want to record Steps-type songs, what better place to do it from than inside Steps itself?

Westlife - Unbreakable (Out now, BMG)

HAVE Westlife been around long enough for a greatest hits album? Well, after all of three years, it's out Monday, and this is the new track from it straight out of the Westlife/Boyzone catalogue

, this is a decent ballad about an unbreakable love that lasts forever.

PHIL COLLINS, CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU, Out now, Eastwest

IT'S been a while since his last solo album, but Phil Collins is back with that unmistakable sound.

At 51, remarried and with a new son, don't expect a tour, just a series of classy offerings, such as Can't stop loving you, from the album Testify, out Monday. It is testament to the fact that he is a man now comfortable with himself and the world around him.

Can't stop loving you is a bit like his Genesis hit No son of mine with a big rock chorus.

Very, very good.

Sophie Ellis Bextor - music Gets The Best Of Me (Out now, Polydor)

WITH a similar sound to Murder On The Dance Floor, we hear music comes first with our Sophie, then her fella. Won't win awards for best storyline in a music single, but it has that catchy Ellis Bextor dance beat that should help push it up the charts.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Carling Apollo on Saturday, February 1.

**

Dannii Minogue - Put The Needle On It (Out now, WEA)

UNLIKE Kylie's Can't Get You Out Of My Head, this is easily forgettable. It's electro-punk with the message "let the music do the talking." I'll let the eject button do the talking for me, thank you.

ALBUMS

FOUR STAR MARY, WELCOME HOME, Out now, Spitfire

IN a nutshell, this is Creed, without anything like the showstopper My sacrifice on offer.

Four Star Mary play The Roadhouse, Manchester, next Friday.

THE STONE ROSES, THE VERY BEST OF, Out now, Silvertone

THE Stone Roses will go down in history as a generation-inspiring band that changed the face of music in the 1990s.

Uniting their Silvertone and Geffen label releases, the hits keep coming.

There is my favourite, Waterfall, and the excellent Fools gold, She bangs the drums, Made of stone and I am the resurrection.

First class.

SHAGGY, LUCKY DAY, Out now, Isand

THE Shagster's last album, Hotshot, was just that, an absolute belter, a mix of dance-pop.

No doubt I'd be screaming the house down if he produced an almost identical album but the change of tack here is so dramatic that Mr Lover Lover has gone off the boil.

Gone are the catchy, up-beat tongue-in-cheek offerings that shot the last album to the top of the charts. Instead, we have a series of heavy reggae numbers dealing with his usual theme -- women.

It is very Arrested Development meets reggae but isn't anything special.

RON SEXSMITH, COBBLESTONE RUNWAY, Out now, Nettwerk

THE thoughts "Godsquad" and "Biblebasher" kept occuring to me as I heard this.

Former glory kicks things off as we learn of future hope amid the hard facts of life, before the gospel choir number, These days, with its Paul Young feel.

Then there is God loves everyone, written after the murder of a gay university student, in which Ron assures us God does not distinguish between gay or straight.

Weird.

Ron plays Manchester University on November 29.

VARIOUS ARTISTS, THE BEST BANDS . . . EVER, Out now, EMI/VIRGIN

THIS fantastic line-up speaks offers the best of the best from the past couple of years.

We have: Oasis Little by little; Nickelback How you remind me; Coldplay In my place; Doves There goes the fear; Wheatus Teenage dirtbag; Stereophonics Have a nice day; Moby We are all made of stars and Fatboy Slim's Praise you.

Excellent, but weren't there also people called U2, and a few other big names who released the odd belter or two?

STEVIE WONDER, THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION, Out now, Universal

LIKE smoke detectors, no home should be without this.

The influential, multi-award-winning artist has been in the business more than 40 years, with outstanding hits including I just called to say I love you; Part time lover; Happy birthday and Superstition.

There are plenty more on the 38-track double album, so head to a record shop, hand over your cash, and they'll give you the album for free.

Excellent.

ROBERT PALMER, AT HIS VERY BEST, Out now, Universal

YOU can tell Christmas is approaching as compilations and greatest hits fill the shelves, but this is another must.

Start counting the hits: Bad case of living you (doctor doctor); Some guys have all the luck; Addicted to love; Simply irresistable; I'll be your baby tonight (with UB40) and Mercy mercy me.

Again, excellent.

VARIOUS ARTISTS, SIGNS, Out now, Holywood Records

THIS spooky soundtrack to the Mel Gibson movie is more frightening than the film.

I was disappointed with the big-screen offering but this made me jump, even at home.

There is the slow uncertainty of the First crop circles, followed by the suspense of the Roof intruder, and things reach fever pitch with Boarding up the house.

Halloween was not a good night to listen to this!