Single Releases 30/07

Gotta Work by Amerie and Pussy'Ole by Dizzee Rascal are both choice cuts off choice albums. I know I keep getting raised eyebrows when I say Dizzee's album is very good, but honestly, it is.

Green Light by Beyonce is not as good as those two, but is still the kind of song that she does best.

Gym Class Heroes do not sound at all like I expected them to given the people who were attending their concert in Manchester the other week. That isn't a compliment by the way.

Laura Veirs releases Saltbreakers this week. It was one of the highlights of the same titled album and although I realise it isn't going to be a "hit" it is a fantastic song.

Similarly, Carla Bruni isn't going to have a hit with Lady Weeping At The Crossroads, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a great track.

I still can't quite "get" Kate Walsh. Don't Break My Heart is alright, but that's about it.

I don't care that it's quite good, that new Nelly Furtado one is still the 37th single off the Loose album so I want something new.

Finally, in a shocker to end all shockers, I "quite like" the new The Coral single. Ok, so that might seem like damning it with faint praise, but it's an amazing thing for me to even contemplate....

No Promises - Carla Bruni

A French-Italian ex super model sets music to 11 classic poems, including works by the likes of WB Yeats, Emily Dickinson, WH Auden and Dorothy Parker. Not exactly the most thrilling of prospects on paper is it?

Yet in practise Carla Bruni has managed to do what her one time love Mick Jagger hasn't done for a good 20 years or so; that is put together a consistently good album.

It's packed with highlights and in fact is often so good that you forget that she's singing old poetry. Particularly good are her versions of Dorothy Parker's "Afternoon" and Yeats' "Those Dancing Days Are Gone" but there's little that doesn't captivate you.

For comparison's sake you could say it's like Charlotte Gainsbourg covering Cohen, and if it can sometimes get a little pedestrian and one-paced that doesn't detract too much from what is pretty much a constant delight. Sometimes things that seem so wrong on paper can end up sounding so right; this is definitely one of those occasions.