Taking it's name from one of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Ten Summoner's Tales is one of Sting's most accessible and optimistic albums. His new-found positivity suggests that the artist had finally recovered from the death of both his parents, which were so poignantly dealt with on his previous releases Nothing Like The Sun and Soul Cages. As the title suggests, the album also has mediaeval connections, apparent on biblical track titles such as "Saint Augustine In Hell" and "Fields of Gold". Moreover, in true Chaucerian style the album even has a "Prologue" and an "Epilogue". Even though the tone of the tracks on Ten Summoner's Tales is less melancholic than earlier albums, Sting still retains the ability to write deep, informed lyrics; "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You" and "It's Probably Me" are typically classic Sting moments. -John Galilee.

Following his acrimonious split with musical partner Daniel Jones, Spin is the debut long-player from Savage Garden's Darren Hayes. The soft rock influences of the Jones era, are dumped in favour of superbly crafted pop and R&B numbers but with some more familiar sounding ballads thrown in too ("Insatiable" and "I Can't Ever Get Enough Of You"). In true Savage Garden style though, Darren's lyrics regularly descend into a confessional, cataloguing of his popular cultural tastes such as "Occasionally I can be caught dancin' to Britney. I like every single thing that Spielberg's done" ("Good Enough"), and also on the witty, 80s-tribute tune "1980 (Me)" (". studded denim, big hair, acid wash, Rubik's cube, my boom box. [+]

In common with many bands who finally get what they always wanted-in Bon Jovi's case, thanks to Slippery When Wet, the sort of world domination normally only dreamt of by demented European dictators and Bond villains-Bon Jovi decided that they didn't really want it. Though New Jersey contains several stereotypically Jovi stadium anthems, such as the single "Bad Medicine", and though the videos showed that the intricately layered and feathered coiffures were intact, this is the album where Bon Jovi began changing. The title offers a broad hint as to what Jon Bon Jovi in particular was trying to change into-short of renaming the album I Come From The Same Place As Bruce Springsteen, he could scarcely have been more obvious about it. "Living In Sin", indeed, takes Bon Jovi's increasing obsession with Springsteen to the verge of pastiche. -Andrew Mueller.

In addition to the three-disc Hits/The B-Sides set, Prince's 1993 release list included separate editions of the two Hits volumes. By beginning with "When Doves Cry", Volume One would seem to promise a fairly mainstream overview of the man's career. But what can such a small word mean to an artist who writes love songs like this disc's "Adore" ("You can rip up my clothes, smash up my ride. well, maybe not the ride") and who can put a cryptic religious fable (we think) like "7" in the Top 10? -Rickey Wright.

Leave it to Prince to put the best music of Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, his return to major-label status, on a hidden track. That would be No. 18, a. k. a. "Pretty Man". A deep-fried groove and sax by guest Maceo Parker underpin a hilarious mock self-celebration ("I write a check and the bank bounce") that proves the Artist can flow at full power any time he wants to. And whether Rave will prove as durable as 1995's vastly underrated Gold Experience, it's a fine Prince (or whatever his name is) album. Here, he employs the likes of Sheryl Crow, Ani DiFranco and Eve to season his own blend, not to run off with the whole steaming pot. (Just to show who's boss, he includes a funky re-creation of Crow's hit "Everyday Is a Winding Road" that renders the song nearly unrecognisable. [+]

There's a telling subtext to this retrospective of Eric Clapton blues sides. Culled from recordings cut between 1970 (the Layla sessions) and 1980 (when Clapton cut his final Polydor album, Another Ticket), these sides find EC exploring his beloved blues while in a fragile state of mind and body. After all, he was a taking drugs when he concocted Layla, and though he kicked that habit in the early '70s, he continued to test his tolerance for alcohol throughout the decade. When you think of the Clapton of the '60s, you think of the fire and ice of his playing with the Yardbirds, John Mayall, and Cream. When you think of his '70s playing, it's wearier and perhaps more reflective. (It was easy to mistake melancholic for mellow at the time. ) The 35 selections included on these two discs find the temporarily deflated rock superstar leaning on the blues for support as he draws on likes of Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, and Little Walter for inspiration. Hardcore fans will appreciate previously unreleased versions of Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me", a solo take on the traditional "Alberta", a 1974 cover of Willie Dixon's "Meet Me (Down at the Bottom)", and a remixed live 1976 version of "Further on Up the Road" with Freddy King sitting in. Just about anyone, however, will be able to appreciate how this music reflects Clapton's strengths as a musician. [+]

Phil Collins is regularly thrashed in the press for playing it safe and churning out predictable dependable music for yuppies. He was once accused of being "a rich superstar whose music only sounded good in a BMW. " On A Hot Night in Paris, Collins again jumps into the shallow end of the pool and comes up playing Le Jazz Hot, with a 20-member band including a Count Basie arranger and some old-timers he borrowed from Buddy Rich's band to augment his regular players. To his credit, Collins worked out to a video designed for jazz drummers to get in shape for the project, but his muscular timekeeping lacks the color and subtleties of players born to the art form. Also, there is very little of what he does best: singing. The only vocals on this album are a few grunts and moans during an almost-note-perfect rendering of the Average White Band's funk classic, "Pick up the Pieces," which almost rescues the album from banality. Thrown in for recognition value are instrumental renditions of some of his better known solo chart-toppers, such as "Sussudio," "I Don't Care Anymore," and "Against All Odds. " But more surprising, the former Genesis skinbeater threw in four numbers from the rock band's extensive songbook, including a swing version of the eccentric "Los Endos Suite. " The only thing missing from this CD, recorded live in Paris and Montreux, is the clinking of cocktail glasses. -Jaan Uhelszki.

The Pet Shop Boys eighth studio album Release, though by no means the rock album they threatened, has certainly got enough guitar (courtesy of Johnny Marr) to raise a few snooty eyebrows among synth purists. But that's no bad thing; the duo has never really been an electronic band as such, and the guitars and percussion combine with the keyboards to create a sound that's as sumptuous as it may be unexpected. Neil's voice is far less nasal than it's often been, and the occasional application of that now ubiquitous vocal-wobbling effect (thanks, Cher) actually works very well; the trademark introspective lyrics, while occasionally straying into tweeness, are as poignant as ever. Though-with the exception of the Beatles-esque "I Get Along"-there are no big sing-along anthems here, and nothing that jumps out and screams "single", almost all of the 10 tracks are the kind of song that many better-selling artists would kill their grannies for. Release is a real return to the form that went slightly iffy somewhere between Behaviour and Nightlife; it deserves to catapult Pet Shop Boys back to the top of the album charts for a very long time, though it probably won't. -Rikki Price.