The fourth Rod Stewart album to contain his trademark acoustic-electric mix of instruments and bluesy vocals, Never a Dull Moment feels anything but formulaic, kicking off with the aw-shucks modesty of "True Blue" and rollicking on through the enduring original "You Wear It Well". Some of the best tunes here are covers-Bob Dylan's searching "Mama You Been on My Mind," a soulful reading of Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away," and a scorching take on Etta James's "I'd Rather Go Blind"-but, as always, Stewart manages to make them sound of a piece with his own compositions. Unlike the promises proffered by some album titles, Never a Dull Moment (ironic though it was, given the cover painting of a terminally bored Stewart) proved to be dead-on. -Daniel Durchholz.

The Buckinghamshire Space Cowboy continues to ride his turbo-charged fusion of funk and disco with A Funk Odyssey, the follow-up to 1999's Synkronized. There's the characteristic boogie groove of tracks like "Love Foolosophy" and "Little L", plus a superfly wah wah guitar work-out on "Main Vein". But there are also new departures, showing that JK has been listening to Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx, with the heavier, moody electronic beats of "Don't Panic" and "Twenty Zero One". Most winning, though, on this new album, are the gentler bossanova-tinged rhythms. On the concluding track "Picture Of My Life", for instance, JK shows a more heartfelt, vulnerable side, which goes deeper than fun-loving lines like: "I'm a tiger in a cage/Just set me free". -Lucy O'Brien.

In the liner notes to Jamiroquai's debut album, lead singer and mastermind Jason Kay delivers a sincere, if oversimplified, screed about distributing the wealth and saving the rainforests. The lyrics follow suit: except for a single love tune ("Blow Your Mind"), Kay bemoans war, greed, racism, and conformity, or extols the power of music as a drug ("Hooked Up") or as a catalyst for social revolution. This is not Jamiroquai's most eloquent album, nor their strongest musically, what with most songs structured as long-form, open-ended jams weighing in at six minutes or more. Though interesting as a chronicle of Kay's musical vision taking shape, overall it's a document that will appeal most to Deadheads and jam-band fans. -Suzanne McElfresh.

Stoke's favourite son's sixth studio album marks a new stage in the career of Mr Robert Peter Williams, Britain's favourite popular entertainer. Severed from his former right hand man, songwriter Guy Chambers, Intensive Care sees him forging a new partnership with former Lilac Time stalwart Stephen Duffy. The result is his most complete album to date, free from the gimmicky fillers-like "Me and My Monkey" and "Jesus In A Camper Van"-that tended to drag previous efforts down. Never short of cocksure bravado, Robbie starts proceedings off with a modest declaration—"Here I stand victorious, the only man who made you come", but for once he's got the tunes to back up the posturing. There're plenty of classic Robbie tracks, from the ballad-tastic "Advertising Space"-which should see "Angels" relegated to the backbenches-to the public confessional of "The Trouble With Me"; plus some daring departures in between, from the '80s pop fun of "Sin Sin Sin" to the Rolling Stones-a-like "A Place To Crash", via the Oasis-lite of "Make Me Pure" and the Smiths-esque guitars on "Your Gay Friend". You can't help but feel that Mr Williams has a point to make with this album, to all the people who said he'd be nothing without Guy Chambers; if that is the case, he couldn't have gone about it a better way than by serving up the best album of his career to date. -Melanie Wilkin More to Explore Greatest Hits (CD) Live at Knebworth (CD) Official 2006 Calendar Live 8 (DVD) Find more Robbie.

New Adventures, despite its studiocentric title, is a snapshots-from-the-road record in the tradition of Neil Young's Time Fades Away and Jackson Browne's Running on Empty. Like them, it captures a where-am-I-and-why ambience, even with its concert and sound-check material reworked in post-tour sessions. This is very much a transitional album, its feel somewhere between the chamber-folk sweep of Out of Time and Automatic for the People and the distortion-pedal party that raged on Monster. It's the work of a band pretty near its peak consolidating familiar sounds and styles while tinkering with the edges. -Rickey Wright.

Few have endured such turmoil as Tina Turner. In 1976, after 20 years toil with husband Ike, she was left with nothing but bruises, 36 cents and a Mobil gas card. Oh, and four children. Yet by 1985, with her big highlighted hair and little leather skirt recognised worldwide, she was a 10-million-seller, and a Hollywood star to boot. Collaborating with Heaven 17, Turner had achieved forward momentum. Now, signed to Capitol, she assembled about her a host of famous writer/producers, including Rupert Hine, Terry Brittan and Mike Chapman. The result was Private Dancer, a smart, mainstream and melody-heavy fusion of rock, pop and R&B making the most of Turner's world-weary persona and roughhouse soul inflections and featured huge singles like "What's Love Got to Do with It?" and the title track (written by Dire Straits's Mark Knopfler, guitar courtesy of Jeff Beck). Maybe rock's greatest comeback. -Dominic Wills.