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FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE – Lungs: Plucked from the cuddly, credible world of indie rock and cast into the great music biz hype machine, Florence Welch follows up a string of fantastic singles with her full-length LP on Island Records. Early singles Dog Days Are Over and the White Stripes-ish Kiss With A First stand out as the strongest tracks here, plus of course You Got The Love (a live band cover version of a mash-up, very post-modern). Elsewhere on the album, Florence earns all those Kate Bush comparisons by playing the moody, arty diva. A great debut.

VANESSA WILLIAMS – The Real Thing: It’s so easy to forget how Vanessa Williams has another talent aside from acting. When she’s not playing the scheming Wilhelmina Slater in Ugly Betty, the 46-year-old is working on music. The Real Thing, her eighth album, is jazz-infused with a touch of Latin America. Featuring contributions from Stevie Wonder, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Bill Withers and Bebel Gilberto, it’s clear that the Grammy award-winner is serious about her music. Songs like Breathless, Loving You and Close To You are strong efforts held up by Williams’s smooth vocals. Sultry and sexy, this is the perfect album to chill out to on a lazy Sunday morning.Read

WELLER HITS HIGH SPOTS

PAUL WELLER at Dalby Forest, Pickering, North Yorkshire.Read

Superstar goes back to her folk roots

AWARD-WINNING singer and actress Barbara Dickson is to headline the biggest roots festival in the North of England. LIZ LAMB chats to her.Read

LEGEND LENNY

LENNY KRAVITZ at 02 Academy NewcastleRead

KASABIAN – WEST RYDER PAUPER LUNATIC ASYLUM: The Leicester rockers return with yet another cracking album, and I’m bold enough to say it could be their best yet. It kicks off with the excellent Underdog which, with its distinctive opening chords, will get fans jumping around from the word go. Mixed with their usual rock-dance tracks are some surprises, such as West Ryder Silver Bullet – which starts off with a woman talking before moving into a slow melody – and last track on the album Happiness, a love song. I love Underdog, Where Did all the Love Go and Thick as Thieves, which are surefire Kasabian hits.

BLUR – MIDLIFE: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO BLUR: This is a pure nostalgia for anyone who loved this band the first time round. It features a collection of singles and album tracks from across the band’s releases, including album tracks Sing, Strange News From Another Star, Badhead and This Is A Low, sitting alongside the massive hits Girls & Boys, Beetlebum and Parklife. A must for indie-music lovers everywhere. Buy it before heading to one of their UK gigs. This band is back!Read

Party for Park

TYNESIDE rockers Maximo Park, pictured left, will be taking over HMV in Newcastle and holding a special gig and film screening tomorrow.Read

GRAHAM COXON – The Spinning Top: Recorded almost a year ago, The Spinning Top is Graham Coxon’s seventh solo album. His Blur bandmate, Damon Albarn, is routinely praised for being a musical chameleon, but with this album, Coxon demonstrates almost as much variety. Largely, the record tips its hat to British folk artists such as Davy Graham, John Renbourn and Bert Jansch but with clever arrangements such as the addition of Chinese violin on In The Morning. A concept album, charting from cradle to the grave, it’s a bold undertaking, especially as Blur gear up for reunion shows, but Coxon more than pulls it off.

BLOC PARTY – Intimacy Remixed: When Intimacy was released it highlighted a change in musical direction. While the raw guitar rifts, intricate drumbeats and distinctive vocals remained, it crossed over from indie to electronica.Read

Bringingit back home

TYNESIDE band The Animals are back in the region playing all their hits from the last four decades. LIZ LAMB catches up with Geordie keyboard player Mick Gallagher.Read

SINGER Tom Jones, whose career has spanned more than 45 years, announced last week that he will play Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena on October 13 as part of a new UK tour following his recent successful album, Gold. See him singing Unchained Melody in his heyday at www.sundaysun.co.uk/mixvid

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FANS’ LOYALTY RICHLY REPAID

IT was a shaky start for Doves at Newcastle’s O2 Academy, but the Manchester indie band certainly didn’t fail to impress.Read

NEW YORK DOLLS – ’Cause I Sez So: The original spirits, who brought lipstick and feather boas to punk rock before punk rock even existed, return one man down and an album of new material. The new songs sound very similar to their classic 70s output. Thirty years on the production is a bit cleaner, the voice a littler wearier but they haven’t lost their mojo.

THE ROLLING STONES – Sticky Fingers/Goat’s Head Soup/It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll/Black & Blue: The legendary Stones present four of their early 70s records for re-evaluation and the result is largely celebratory. Black and Blue is a slightly ramshackle outing, but is nevertheless rescued by the gorgeous Hands Of Fate and Fool To Cry. Sticky Fingers - remains the gem.Read

Passion but no fireworks

HARDCORE punk band The Gallows are back with a new single and a UK tour. Ahead of a date on Tyneside PEARL CULLEN poses a few questions to drummer Lee Barratt . . .Read

Season’s to be cheer-ful

THE start of the festival season is almost upon us. LIZ LAMB brings the lowdown on what’s on offer for music lovers close to home . . .Read

’HEADS REMAIN BLOCK ROCKIN’

THEY may have been around for 30 years but there’s nothing tired or dated about The Blockheads.Read

MAXIMO PARK – Quicken The Heart (Warp Records): Back with their third album MP have been working with producer Nick Launey, who has worked with the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Nick Cave and Talking Heads. The album, out on May 11, kicks off with the mighty Wraithlike before embarking on a rollercoaster ride of rock’n’roll, guitar wizardry and Smith’s distinctive vocals. Underpinning all the tracks is the band’s trademark sound, only this time around it’s slicker and more polished. Favourite tracks are The Kids Are Sick Again, surely a classic in the making, A Cloud of Mystery, Wraithlike and the very seductive Calm. A very worthy follow-up to Our Earthly Pleasures.

GALLOWS: Grey Britain (Warner Bros): Punk band The Gallows are back with their highly-anticipated second album Grey Britain. Songs have been inspired by dealing with the harsh realities of life that lyrically form “Grey Britain”, hence the title. This album is loud, brash and angry. There are elements you wouldn’t expect-sounds of lapping water, bells ringing, orchestral influences, all mixed up against a raging attack on today’s society. Best tracks are The Vulture, Crucif*cks, and The Riverbank. With interesting lyrics and a new take on sounds, this is bound to win them a new legion of fans and attract a whole new audience.Read

ALBUM: DANCE NATION (Hard2Beat): A must for dance music fans everywhere. The three- CD compilation is packed with tracks from the likes of Calvin Harris, Fragma, Sash! and Basshunter. Add Britney’s Womanizer and the dance mix of Scouting For Girls, She’s So Lovely to the mix and you have a past catalogue of some of the most successful club smashes over the past 12 months. Out May 4.

SINGLE: Maximo Park – The Kids Are Sick Again. (Warp): This is MP’s first offering from their forthcoming album Quicken The Heart. Inspired by lead singer Paul Smith’s home town of Billingham in Teesside, it features the band’s trademark guitar riffs and Smith’s distinctive voice shines through. After listening to it a couple of times it becomes positively addictive. Great record and a future MP classic! Out May 4.Read

DATE WITH A LEGEND

FAST-RISING New Blues star, guitarist Stephen Dale Petit, has announced a spring tour with a special guest . . . legendary Rolling Stones/Bluebreakers guitarist Mick Taylor.Read

Rhythm stick still tapping out tunes

IT’S been 30 years since The Blockheads topped the charts with Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick and this month the band are back with a new album and a North gig. LIZ LAMB chats to frontman Derek Hussey.Read

Home’s best for rockers

ROCKERS Maximo Park are launching an assault on the charts with a new album, single and tour. LIZ LAMB chats to lead singer Paul Smith.Read

FOREVER FRIENDS: THANK YOU MUM — VARIOUS ARTISTS (out now): If you haven’t bought a Mother’s Day present then this CD might save the day. Sony Music and Forever Friends have joined forces to produce this compilation CD of 40 tracks featuring songs such as Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful, Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers, Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water and Ben E King’s Stand By Me, plus tracks from Westlife, Ronan Keating and Will Young. If your mum is a pop fan and loves sentimentality, then this album is definitely for her.

ULTRAVOX — THE VERY BEST OF (released April 6): Eighties fever is everywhere at the moment and seems to be influencing everything from fashion to music and film. Remember Ultravox? The British electronic pop group, fronted by Midge Ure, were huge in the 1980s and have been reunited for their first tour in 20 years.Read