Robbie Williams was a teenage pop star in the U. K. as a member of Take That (think New Kids on the Block); his first solo album, Life Thru a Lens, tanked-until the single "Angels" was released and became a mega-hit. His follow-up album, I've Been Expecting You, spawned more hits-"Millennium," "Let Me Entertain You"-and, somewhat unexpectedly, transformed Williams from prefab pop star to artist. The Ego Has Landed, his U. S. debut, collects songs from his two prior British releases and lives up to the hype. Though he's still somewhat prefabricated, borrowing wholesale from Oasis (whose Liam Gallagher was an idol of Williams's), George Michael, the Pet Shop Boys (whose Neil Tennant cowrote and sings backup on "No Regrets"), and even Tom Jones, Williams injects plenty of his own personality-brash and bold but rarely bratty. He's a born entertainer, plain and simple-"Let Me Entertain You," which would fit in well on Tommy, is plenty campy but only somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and he makes no apologies for it. The one caveat here is that the album is front-loaded, with all of the hits coming in the first half-but there's also a good chance that you won't mind. [+]

Bob Dylan remains the single most influential singer-songwriter in the history of rock, but sometimes it can be an expensive-and repetitive-business keeping up with him. The original Bob Dylan Greatest Hits appeared in 1967, More Bob Dylan Greatest Hits followed in 1971; since then there have been two more Greatest Hits, The Best Of Volume 1 and a box set-1985's excellent Biograph-all of which have included Dylan's best-known songs. Not that Dylan doesn't merit such devotion, but for die hard fans The Best Of Bob Dylan Volume 2 will involve an inordinate amount of repetition, while newcomers to Dylan's genius are probably better served by 1997's The Best Of Bob Dylan which gathered together all those inspiring songs ("Blowin' In The Wind", "Like A Rolling Stone", "Forever Young", "Knockin' On Heaven's Door") for the first time. Volume 2 once again finds space for "It Ain't Me Babe", "Hurricane" and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"; but the real enticement is the inclusion of Dylan's first new song of the 21st Century-the driving and curiously compelling "Things Have Changed". There is also the bonus of an out-take from 1989's Oh Mercy: the original, undubbed "Dignity", one of Dylan's best songs of the last 20 years and the only one-so far!-to mention the Duke of Edinburgh. -Patrick Humphries.

"You sound like you're having a good old time," a purist Dylan fan is spotted telling the artist in the documentary Don't Look Back just after the release of this, his first (half-) electric album. He certainly does. Updating Chicago blues forms with hilarious, tough lyrics-in fact, all but stealing the meter of Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business" for "Subterranean Homesick Blues"-on one side, dropping some of his most devastating solo acoustic science ("It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", "Mr Tambourine Man") on the other, the first of Dylan's two 1965 long-players broke it right down with style, substance and elegance. -Rickey Wright.

First of all, hats off to Bon Jovi for trying something different with This Left Feels Right-a selective collection of their most popular songs with a twist. That twist isn't a purely acoustic reworking, MTV unplugged style-anybody looking for that experience will be sorely disappointed by what's on offer. What Bon Jovi have done is re-record these songs in a completely different way while maintaining the original lyrics, melody and song structure. What's different then? Well, quite a bit actually. Check out the almost trip-hop beat and distorted vocal of "Wanted Dead or Alive", or the lazy soul of "Livin' on a Prayer". "It's My Life" is a beautiful piano-only standout, almost worth having the whole album for. The tracklisting isn't perfect, concentrating largely on their 1980s period (there's nothing from These Days, for instance). As such, the venture works as an effective cheese-extraction exercise, keeping the elements that made the originals so great, but removing shouty, hairspray-fuelled "whoa-yeahs". What we get is something that is closer to Jon Bon Jovi's last solo offering-the criminally underrated Destination Anyway. It doesn't always work ("Bed of Roses" just sounds like a warbling cover of the powerful original and by the time they reach "Always" it's obvious they've run out of new twists), and no doubt there will be legions of bemulleted faithfuls who will denounce this as blasphemy of the highest order. [+]

You cannot-it may reasonably be argued-sing and feel the blues if you ain't been bruised. Conclusively, Dancing Down The Stony Road-the word "dancing" is almost used ritually in the Chris Rea lexicon, as if to signify a celebration of a struggle won-is the pure, wounded Delta blues record Rea always wanted to make. Lying in a hospital bed in life-and-death limbo while undergoing treatment for cancer, the former AOR blues-pop maestro vowed that if he ever recovered he'd pick-up the slide guitar, for that was the sound-particularly the Mississippi Delta style of Charley Patton-which inspired him to follow his muse and throw away his chances with the family ice cream firm all those years ago. Like Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks, one suspects this record was a cathartic, linen-airing experience for Rea, who, having grown weary of the rock industry's corporate machinations, is more determined than ever to suit himself. His resilience and resistance to his demons is palpable, with the croaked lines "Come on easy rider, give me something for my pain" alluding to requests he made to his nurse for more morphine, while the hardbitten, two-fingered blues salute of "Qualified" proudly shows the world his well-earned scars. Further down the line, the shadows recoil, the curtains open and-hey-it's a brand new morning, the gospel-tinged "Sun Is Rising" is as jubilant and life-affirming as Bill Withers' "Lovely Day", it being impossible not to picture Chris Rea running outside in the crisp morning air and kissing the milkman. And who can blame him? There's plenty here, too, to quench the thirst of insatiable Van Morrison and Leonard Cohen devotees. And judging by the equine whinnying and snake-like slither of his guitar, Rea is a very fine slide player too. -Kevin Maidment.