Even though Mariah took an emotional battering in the run-up to the release of this her eighth studio album, Glitter is surprisingly focused. The disjointed style of "Loverboy" may have turned off some, but after a few plays it's apparent that this is one of Carey's better cuts with hidden longevity. Accompanying the motion picture of the same name (which Mariah also stars in), Glitter plays homage to selected musical styles of the 80s. That said, the music isn't a rehash of early Whitney or Tina Turner, instead it's more Control era Janet Jackson (the album is coproduced by long-term Janet collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis). Following in the style of Cheryl Lynn's "Got to Be Real", "Don't Stop! (Funkin' 4 Jamica)" and "All My Life" are 1980s funk tunes with an occasional rap accompaniment. Her covers of Cherelle's / Robert Palmer's "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" and Indeep's "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life" are decidedly fresh. Tucked in especially for the Mariah traditionalists "Lead the Way" (the love theme to the film Glitter), "Reflections (Care Enough)" and "Never Too Far" are all standard Carey "belter-ballads". The purists will also be pleased by the album (and film) title, which fits in neatly with the schmaltzy and kitschy titles of previous album releases Daydream, Butterfly and Rainbow. -John Galilee.

Rock & roll has grabbed Common by the neck and given him a good shake. With its heavy, multi-layered sound, Electric Circus is steeped in the Chicago-born and Brooklyn-based rapper's newfound love for Pink Floyd, Traffic and, above all, Jimi Hendrix. But, like many new converts to anything, Common goes a little off the deep end. His ambitious quest to expand the boundaries of hip-hop is crammed to the gills with a thousand motifs and is a little too busy to be a complete success. Perhaps not surprisingly, Common's rhymes (sample lyric: "my mind screams like Al Green to stay together!") take a distant second place to the complex musical landscape he's fashioned. In addition, a sidereal array of vocalists (including Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier, Mary J Blige, Jill Scott, Cee-lo, Bilal and Common's main squeeze, Erykah Badu) and musicians (Prince, Bobbi Humphrey, Nicholas Payton) add to the sonic density. All in all, Electric Circus mightn't strike the universal chord that Common sought, but it's a bold, elaborate project that's definitely worth a listen. -Rebecca Levine.

Released in 1978, this still stands as some of the most beautiful electronic music ever recorded. The album is impressive enough for the inestimable technical innovation of leaders Ralph Hutter and Florian Schneider, but their formidable writing skills are also on full display. Glowing, liquid synthesizers are as expressive as a human voice in "Neon Lights" and "Metropolis". Sombre melodies and shimmering washes complement each other perfectly in "Spacelab", while heavily processed vocals provide pointed contrast in both that song and the moody title track. "The Robots" is a bold statement of intent, executed with exotic staccato melodies and skilfully deployed sound effects. "The Model" is an almost prescient glimpse at the commercial synth pop that would arise in Kraftwerk's considerable wake. -Mark McCleerey.

Marshall Mathers has always delighted in confounding expectations, so we should have guessed he'd respond to the title Most Important Artist Of His Generation with Encore - an album peppered with puerile humour, myriad references to his past career, and plenty of farts, burps and vomiting. Thankfully, even Slim Shady on a bad day can be a fairly mighty proposition: the seething "Mosh" is a rare moment of high seriousness-a trudging anti-Bush epic in the vein of "White America" that positively vibrates with bile - while the skittery "My 1st Single" proves that Mathers can be engaging even when he's rapping about basically nothing. The key to understanding Encore is through its pursuit of sheer offensiveness for offence's sake, be it the comic accent on "Ass Like That", or the relentless gay jibes of "Rain Man" - all of which seem to be more about prodding the hornet's nest of controversy that any genuine prejudice. Still, it's occasionally hard to escape that there's a certain weariness to Em's delivery, an impression that sometimes extends to the arrangements - see "Like Toy Soldiers", a jaundiced account of rap feuding, rendered unnecessarily corny by a sample of "Toy Soldiers" by '80s two-hit wonder Martika. -Louis Pattison.

Moby may have stolen his thunder on Play but St Germain, aka Ludovic Navarre, has been showcasing his futuristic nous and love of roots music by funking up the 4/4 electronic world with a little blues and gospel since the early 90s. After his F-Communications swan song, From Detroit To St Germain in 98, Navarre worked with a host of great session musicians for this, his major label debut. Tourist, his first album for the legendary Blue Note label, certainly justifies the continuing hype. A perfectly formed melodic journey of eclectic and idiosyncratic deep house that mixes blues, latin percussion and, of course, jazz without the noodle factor, Tourist is likely to generate as much head-nodding as dancing down your local groove emporium. The tracks range from the straight-ahead blues cut, "Rose Rouge" to the aptly titled "So Flute", an Afrobeat percussive shin-dig with a wondrous flute riff. "Latin Note", a funky latin stomper, reminiscent of Nuyorican Soul/Masters At Work is packed full of minor chords, smashing beats and off-the wall dynamics. Elsewhere, Navarre proves himself a master of suspense and beat-heavy poignancy, "Pont Des Arts" combines a carnival spirit with a monster piano groove, whereas "What You Think About" would have made Roy Ayers circa "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" very happy. Tourist is the kind of album that is put on at a fantastic, idyllic beach bar stereo at sunset and then constantly looped, a future classic. -Kate Nafolo.

Considering their place in hip-hop history, De La Soul have had a rough ride. The Long Island trio's 1989 debut album, 3 Feet High & Rising, single-handedly did more to popularise rap music outside the genre's core audience base than any other record to that point, but the band have been made to pay a heavy price for helping make hip-hop one of the biggest selling sectors in popular music. This collection gives the band's legacy a stereotypical overview. There are two discs, but the second half is given over to collaborations and remixes. It's also a limited edition; so many buyers will only get the first half, and will therefore hear only a patchy summation of De La Soul's story so far. Admittedly, every track is exceptional, giving a consistently high-quality listen, but the balance is askew. Six tracks from 3 Feet High & Rising is understandable, but almost ignoring the mainstream-shunned, underground-loved Buhloone Mindstate and Stakes Is High albums is short-sighted. De La Soul are hip-hop's Prince, widely praised for things they did years ago, their new work subjected to unfairly slanted comparisons with their debut. But the best of De La Soul is almost certainly yet to come. -Angus Batey.