Latest releases reviewed

THE BOOMTOWN RATS The Boomtown Rats ***; A Tonic For The Troops ****; The Fine Art Of Surfacing ****; Mondo Bongo ***; V Deep **; In The Long Grass **** Universal

From their beginnings as a Dr Feelgood-inspired r&b band, The Boomtown Rats morphed effortlessly into staccato punk-pop mode with their eponymous début - even then a song such as I Can Make It If You Can suggested that Bob Geldof had real merit as a songwriter. A Tonic For The Troops built further on its predecessor, made the Rats into stars, and had some memorable moments - Eva Braun, the still-fab Me and Howard Hughes and Rat Trap, their first Number One. The Fine Art Of Surfacing built on the momentum, songs such as Diamond Smiles suggesting an interesting and diverse future. Mondo Bongo should have seen them make the great leap forward but, despite the presence of the still-resonant Banana Republic, The Elephant's Graveyard and Fall Down, parts of the album don't scan - notably the cover of Under My Thumb, which has B-side written all over it. V Deep was a desperate attempt to reclaim past glories. On the brink of being dropped, the band reconvened for In The Long Grass, their best-ever work, and one of Irish rock music's great lost albums. Brian Boyd