ALL MANKIND: Simple Desire.

A cracking debut album  from the guitar band that scales more than a couple of peaks here  with the call-to-arms starter Open Your Eyes through to  slow-burning pop rock ballad To Live. They’re a hook-driven  quartet from Sydney who power the songs along  with a strong melodic surge while always  yearning for a sense of the anthemic, even if  they don’t always hit the mark.

THE OVERTONES: Good Ol’  Fashioned Love.

Re-release of their  top five album to coincide with their current  tour and dubbed the Platinum Collection as  it has three more tracks. In short an  all-too-easy release to grab more from the  fans. Let’s face it, they may be good singers and  smart young fellows, but other bands such as Showaddywaddy  have trod this rock ’n roll harmony covers path before.

ERASURE: Tomorrow’s World.

If there’s one thing you can  depend on in this life it’s that each and every Erasure album will  come with more glitterball disco, synth blips and bleeps and  yearning ballads than you really know what to do with. Will they  ever slow down or stop? The slowish start to many of the songs  may suggest the former is starting to happen ... slowly.