The latest reviews from Kevin Bryan.

Pet Shop Boys, "Electric" (x2 003)- The first Pet Shop Boys album to be released on the duo's own x2 label features eight vibrant  new Tennant/Lowe creations alongside a surprisingly sincere  cover of Bruce Springsteen's  melancholy "The Last to Die." "Electric" also finds Neil and Chris working with British producer Stuart Price on a studio album for the very first time.and the three men excel themselves with rousing dance anthems such as  "Axis," "Fluorescent"  and the delightfully titled "Love Is A Bourgeois Construct."

                        "Federal Charm" (Mystic MYSCD 213)- The muscular debut album from bluesy Manchester rockers Federal Charm provides an ideal showcase for the  high octane  sound which has been winning over  audiences across the land  as they've trodden the boards in  the support slot  on recent tours by the likes of  Southside Johnny, Ian Hunter and Michael Schenker.  This supremely confident outfit  draw much of their visceral appeal  from Paul Bowe's swaggering twin guitar work,and frontman Nick Bowden also deserves a mention in dispatches for his contribution to  fine tracks such as "Reaction" and Lowell Fulson's "Reconsider Baby."

                       Justin Currie."Lower Reaches" (Endless Shipwreck Records)- The gifted Mr. Currie is best known as the creative mainstay of Del Amitri. who were  never really able to fulfil their immense potential despite notching up  four UK Top 10 albums during their twenty years or so together. The Glaswegian singer and songwriter  stepped out of his  comfort zone to assemble this stylish new  solo offering ,decamping  to Austin,Texas to  place his fate in the hands of producer Mike McCarthy and a bunch of local session musicians, as they underpinned his tuneful musings on the themes of love,mortality and music itself. The results are uniformly excellent,peaking with "Into A Pearl," " On My Conscience" and  "Every Song's The Same."

                        Jerry Naylor," The Rockabilly Legends" (Palawan Productions)- Jerry Naylor's name may not be too  familiar to the average punter these days, but this venerable country singer  once had the unenviable task of replacing Buddy Holly in the Crickets line-up as they attempted to keep the show on the road after  the rock'n'roll icon's untimely death in an Iowa  plane crash long long ago in 1959. He  may be  in his mid-seventies now but Naylor has  decided to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his stint with the band by re-recording some golden oldies from those far off days,including "Don't Ever Change," "That'll Be The Day" and "Real Wild Child." Good harmless fun.

                          "The Flooers O' The Forest-Songs & Music of Flodden" (Greentrax CDTRAX1513)-The conflict at  Flodden in Northumberland  was the largest battle ever fought between Scotland and England,and this impressive anthology is dedicated to the memory of all those who fell on that distant day in September 1513. The contents are divided equally between music and song and poetry and prose related to this tragic event,drawing on contributions from many of the leading lights of the Scottish folk scene,including Karine Polwart, Archie Fisher and the great Dick Gaughan,who opens proceedings with his iconic version of the title song.