Saturday

Working systematically through the applicants, the next few are...

STEVEN FINN plays Harmonica blues in 1930s stylee, and he plays it well. "Hail to the Thief" could easily have come out around 1931 and given that a bunch of bankers have dragged us back to the thirties and the spineless politicians we have a right to expect to protect us from their folly let them, it's entirely up to date. It's good of its genre and that happens to be a genre I love. Go Steven!

MR LOVE AND JUSTICE is the name of a terrific novel by Colin McInnes. It's also a folk band from Swindon. Their song, "We, the Chartists" could easily be the theme tune for Storm the Charts. It has a slightly edgy refrain in which the singer's voice sounds like the first stonethrow of a riot. The guitars, fiddle and percussion are all controlled to produce a tapestry of excellence. Then there is an undertone of the Chartists' demands. Let it be so. An excellent track, well worthy of a number one.

SECOND SENSE play a quiet kind of rock music, that works very well with the singer's voice. I find "Playground" a little irritating despite the skill with which it is played. I can't say it's easy to put my finger on precisely what's wrong. If I had to say, I think I'd put it down to trying to do too many things at the same time. It's essentially a fairly simple song and the vocals are perhaps too complex for both the lyrics and the music.

LIPPY S has entered a piece of electronic pop called "Radiate". I was going to say that I didn't like her voice because it sounded too much like so many voices in R&B from the nineties and that took away from the rather trippy background track. But I listened to it and as the song progressed, it grew on me. Not one of my favourites but it is a good track all the same.

OPAL SKY are from Scotland and their "The Blue of You" could have been written by Nat King Cole himself, but it wasn't. The piano provides a constant beat while the drums syncopate, which I find delightful. The song starts fairly slowly and then comes to a crescendo in the middle. And the singer's voice... well, she could be Aretha one moment and Annie Lennox the next. I love this. I think it just made my top five.