Although this album was released back in 2004, the use of the song You're Lovely To Me on the current Kingsmill ad has reignited interest in this singer-songwriter, and the album is set for re-release. With a sound at turns like Blonde on Blonde Dylan, Harry Nilsson, Leonard Cohen, and maybe even Lee Hazlewood, Gordon Grahame (formerly of the long-missed Lost Soul Band) has made an album that could have been released at the end of the 60s, so full of character and rich analogue soul is every song. Strummed chords, a drop here and there of out of tune organ and trumpet - Our Troubles End Tonight has a mellow core, but is sung with passion and sincerity. If you've fallen in love with that song on the ad, or have a thing for Blonde on Blonde, there is a whole lot more here. Simply excellent (light years ahead of Richard Hawley), and well worth its re-release.

ACE rating 9/10

Actors usually make pretty shocking musicians, but Jared Leto seems set to be the exception that tests that rule. With a voice that sounds almost exactly like Bono doing emo, he leads 30 Seconds to Mars to what is a surprisingly good rock album - think Incubus meets The Cure, with a measure of Linkin Park thrown in for good measure. Thick with intensely anthemic riffing, arpeggios and epic choruses, A Beautiful Lie hits hard from the start. The band's debut earned a lot of plaudits from the start, and this follow-up has already gone platinum in the US, with more guitar metal than electronic rhythm this time. In fact, the nod is to the excitement of shimmering 80s rock, rather than straight noughties emo. If emo isn't your thing, it's hard to see 30 Seconds to Mars changing your mind. If, however, you like rock, but have always regarded emo as a an unnecessary diversion, this may well be an album that makes the trip worth your while. Ignore entirely the fact that someone in the band is an actor.

ACE rating 8/10

With a sugar rush like cake icing, Pop Levi have made an album that could only otherwise have been made by putting Marc Bolan, Sweet, Led Zeppelin, John Lennon, Hendrix, Prince and Beck in one studio and hitting 'blend'. Remarkably hard to characterise, front man and guitarist Pop Levi delivers a wild ride through styles and pop rock history, but mixed in a way that Beck might understand. There can be little doubt that this will be one of 2007's must-haves. The energy is spacey and wide-eyed, the guitar squeezed and fuzzed up to 11, but the underlying songs are full of quality and fun, even though they make barely any sense. Closest in every sense to Beck's Midnite Vultures, this is a distinctly unhinged album, a glam rock boogie spectacle. This may be a debut, but it is as ready for mirrorball action as any disc you'll hear.

ACE rating 8/10