ALBUMS

Pulp -- We Love Life

First things first. This is an excellent album.

But it's almost as much fun reading the lyrics (kindly printed in the cover sleeve) which are -- for a modern day pop group -- brilliant.

It is, without doubt, Pulp's best ever album. Much better than the over-cheery and slightly annoying Different Class and more complete than This Is Hardcore.

The Night That Minnie Temperley Died, Roadkill and Weeds are among the best on the record.

However, the real top song is the fantastic The Birds In Your Garden, a lovely tune which starts with just an acoustic guitar and some tweeting birds and grows into something spectacular.

Jarvis and the Sheffield team do get a bit pretentious at times -- Wickerman rambles on far too long without actually getting anywhere -- but on the whole it's inspired stuff.

Abba --- The Definitive Collection

The 2,547th Abba compilation album -- or at least it feels like it.

This is yet another dose of the Swedish hit makers and is pretty much exactly like all the other albums.

The only difference is that it includes four songs recorded before the band gave themselves the name Abba. Die-hard fans shouldn't get too excited about this though as three of those four are pretty naff.

As for the rest of the album, well you know what the songs are so make up your own mind.

Everything's here, from Waterloo to SOS and Fernando to Dancing Queen.

Mull Historical Society -- Loss

Should be right up there alongside Pulp on your "please buy me these albums for Christmas" list.

This is the work of a bloke called Colin MacIntyre from the island of Mull who has written a whole album about small town life.

Thus we get exciting lyrics like "I walked the dog for miles" and thrilling titles like Public Service Announcer and Barcode Bypass.

Yet it works.

The record is a really good one, very poppy but very diverse -- which keeps it fresh and interesting.

He's also got a good feel for a catchy tune probably best demonstrated on Animal Cannabus which, I believe, was released as a single.

I spoke to Colin's mother, Hilary, about the album last week and she told me: "Nae, I canna tell you a wee darn thing. Noo hoots mon."

Obviously she, like us, is very proud of him too.

SINGLES

The 45s --- Something Real

An English pop band from Winchester being tipped for big things. Like Dolly Parton, it's nice and bouncy. The kind of song you have to tap your foot to but gets boring pretty quickly.

Gabrielle -- Don't Need The Sun To Shine (To Make Me Smile)

Gabrielle deserves complete respect as she has now managed to release the same song four times. What I'm getting at is the fact that her last four singles have sounded exactly the same.

This is the usual, chilled out, acoustic soul and is probably being played on Radio 2 as we speak.

Witness --- Here's One For You

The Wigan lads make a last desperate attempt to sell some copies of their second album by releasing this very radio-friendly single.

Can't see the ploy working which is a shame because the album -- Under A Sun -- was very good, very REsh and deserved to be a hit.