Perhaps there's something just a little bit autobiographical to be deduced from the album title. Starsailor's third album On The Outside finds yesterday's next-big-thing fighting a defiant rear guard action against fading fortunes and particularly the tepid reception afforded to their last studio outing, Silence Is Easy. Starsailor's response to potential critical excommunication is to sound more devout about their oevre than ever before with the curling, overwrought vocals of James Walsh and the sang-froid of Barry Westhead's organ cementing a wall-of-sound that former producer Phil Spector never managed. While they've hit on a singular signature and milked it for all it's worth-the plangent, acoustic murder-ballad "Jeremiah" being the most noticeable deviation from the script-On The Outside tenders Starsailor's most full-blooded assault on the "big breakthrough" to date with the angsty metropolitan blues of "I Don't Know" and the single "In The Crossfire"-among others-destined to increase the band's commercial currency. -Kevin Maidment.

22-year-old Londoner David Jordan, a former Starbucks employee, is the latest singer to be touted as the saviour of British soul. His good looks and savvy dress sense immediately place him in the style-over-substance category, but Set the Mood shows he's got some talent to back it all up. Produced and recorded by Trevor Horn (Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Pet Shop Boys) Set the Mood sees Jordan mix up a few different styles-r & b, rock, electronic, soul-and come off like a cross between Terence Trent D'Arby and Prince. Kick off track "On the Money," a huge, guitar-drenched track, is more showy than it needs to be, but Jordan soon finds his métier on tunes such as single "Place in My Heart", "Glorious Day" and the title track. These songs are more catchy and Prince-like (especially when Jordan pulls out his impressive falsetto), although they all pale in comparison with "Sun Goes Down," which pulls off the quite admirable feat by merging Olde English folk music with a modern soul sensibility. It sounds awful on paper but it's the most infectious jig this side of the 16th century. Unfortunately ballads like "Sweet Prince" and "Only Living Soul" are much more clichéd, while others such as "Move On" aren't anywhere as innovative as they could-and should-be. Though David Jordan is undeniably talented, Set the Mood suggests he has a while to go before he reaches his creative peak. -Danny McKenna.

Survivors of the disco boom of the late 1970s are of course bemused at the ease with which the patina of cultural significance has appeared on the music (and even the clothes) of the period. In any event, whether you can't resist tapping your feet to those four-on-the-floor Bee Gees tunes or whether you're curious about what is, after all, the precursor of hip hop, there's still no better way of enjoying this stuff than through this era-defining recording. Interestingly, there's more social comment here than the happy tunes might suggest, such as in the lyrics of "Staying Alive" which are entirely reminiscent of the theme of the movie They Shoot Horses, Don't They? in their depiction of dance as a desperate escape from social deprivation. Well, up to a point. Then there's "Night Fever" and "Disco Inferno" and all the other white-suits-and-sequins standards which epitomised the movement. What's notable-and perhaps surprising-are the strong melodic and lyrical identities the songs all have, which resulted in a string of hit singles. If you were there, you'll want this music. If you weren't, you'll still want it. It explains a lot. -Roger Thomas.

The Killers might hail from one of the USA's most quintessentially American cities (Las Vegas), but their debut album Hot Fuss displays an Anglophilic streak that is an ocean wide. Steeped in the back-catalogue of the Smiths and Pulp, with broad 80s synth sweeps cloaking each tale of fraught metrosexual romance, this band clearly rate the swoon over the swagger. Still, this is almost entirely an upbeat record, one made for the packed club than the smoky VIP room; in particular "On Top", "Somebody Told Me" and "Mr Brightside" are tremendous examples of breathless indie-pop that gallop along like a lovestuck heartbeat with frontman Brandon Flowers gasping for breath on the claustrophobic disco floor. This is, inarguably, what the Killers do best. Even when they deviate from form they've got a few neat ideas-see the gospel choir that echoes back Flowers' repeated exclamation "I've got soul/ But I'm not a soldier" on "All These Things I've Done", or the self-consciously epic "Indie Rock'n'Roll", delivered by the Killers with all the fireworks and gusto of a curtain-closing Broadway showtune. -Louis Pattison.

No one ever managed to nail aimless suburban alienation quite like The Cure, so sensitive yet so party-hearty, and 4:13 Dream, their thirteenth studio album and first in four years, lands in a musical landscape presently infested with their descendents. Yet Robert Smith and his old blokes can still show the young shavers how it's done even as they enter their fourth decade as a working band. The wistful yet ominous opener "Underneath the Stars" keeps seeming to slip towards Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", making for a perfect exemplar of the Cure's highly nuanced yet undeniably commercial English art-rock. "The Only One" manages to rework their own classic "Just Like Heaven", twenty years old and still soundtracking sports highlights, while "Switch" is febrile scratchy funk, which should be unconvincing yet sounds peculiarly contemporary right now. The woozy "Sirensong" simply refuses to settle into predictablility and even the lumbering and gloomy "The Real Snow White", owing plenty to Joy Division's back catalogue, sounds ready for arenas rather than confined spaces. Enjoyable throughout and often effortlessly commercial, 4:13 Dream should depress many young people, especially those musicians who realise just how far they have to catch up. -Steve Jelbert.