Marianne Faithfull: "The Seven Deadly Sins" (BMG)

Most people live, vicariously, through music; but Marianne Faithful has lived with the kind of voracity which means she can imbue even the music of Brecht and Weill with a layer of authenticity that would leave other singers gasping for air. Nowhere is this more evident than during The Seven Deadly Sins where Faithfull is able to sing, with total conviction, two diametrically opposed characters; the opportunistic Anna I and the idealistic Anna II. Her reading of the sin of Pride, in particular, is delicious. Musically, she is more than a match for Brecht/Weill's idiosyncratic excesses, though the musical kudos on this magnificent album must go to the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies.

Joe Jackson

P.J. Harvey: "Is This Desire?" (Island)

Polly Jean Harvey's record company is rather optimistically plugging her current single, A Perfect Day Elise, as "radio-friendly", which is rather like calling Kafka "light summer reading". P.J. Harvey's fifth album is even darker and more downbeat than 1995's To Bring You My Love, and it's highly unlikely to join B*Witched on the daytime radio playlists. Songs such as My Beautiful Leah, Electric Light and Joy are barren, burnt offerings from a bruised soul, while Angelene, The Wind and The River are desolate ballads of loss and loneliness. Harvey stays admirably true to her stark, torn vision, and Is This Desire? will provide cold comfort for anyone in search of palatable poprock fare.

Kevin Courtney

Mercury Rev: "Deserter's Songs" (V2)

The postmark is Buffalo, New York, and the letter inside is a symphonic poem, a musical missive of forlorn beauty. Mercury Rev have been crafting their particular alternative since 1991's Yerself Is Steam, and the writing team of Jonathan Donahue and Sean "Grasshopper" Mackiowiak have come up with a certified masterpiece, an album which lightly lifts the entire weight of American musical history on its shoulders, then shrugs it off with a graceful, orchestral gesture. Songs such as Holes, Opus 40 and Hudson Line are shimmering cascades of rock, country, folk and classical, and you will be mesmerised by the sounds of Wurlitzer, mellotron, Chamberlin strings and bowed saw.

Kevin Courtney