"Clementine" represents the pop facet of today's alternative scene; as well it should with ex-Take That pretty boy Owen behind it. Mainly due to a chorus forged in pop heaven, this is a catchy classic of pure jangly indie pop. Owen has a good voice, and he lets it roam fairly free here, covering a couple of octaves in the chorus and injecting a bit of a grunge growl into it in other points. By far the best of the TT boys' solo efforts, if this is bandwagon-jumping then it's bandwagon-jumping in glorious and sparkling style.

The b-sides are an acoustic version of "Clementine", and an electric and acoustic version of the mellow (and largely unremarkable) "Child".

Rating: 10/10

B-sides are the slinky and mellow "Guest List" (very Nirvana circa "Polly"), "My Beloved Monster" is a largely acoustic number (again with that mellow feel), and last up is "Fucker", a piece of slacker angst. Eels are one of those bands who constantly sound as though they are about to explode but never do. If they did, something would be lost.

Rating: 9.5/10

The first of the extra tracks is "The Most To Gain", a wonderfully lush and warm song with swooning vocals. Next is "Flourella", a full-on glam metal racket sounding like Marc Bolan crashing into Zooropa with a machine gun. Last song on the EP is an acoustic version of "Bleed", some sterling guitar work making this more than just a Mansun unplugged throwaway.

Rating: 9/10

The indie-dance element now, and Audioweb offer their version of The Clash's "Bank Robber". To an already loping reggae monster, Audioweb add some dance beats, some toasting and big guitars. Criminally ignored by the media, Audioweb are crossover indie at its best (perhaps the ghost of bands like The Soup Dragons is too fresh in minds...) and this culture-clash Clash classic (say that 3 times quickly) is superb. Building up a huge head of steam, this reaches a frantic and mental climax: play loud.

B-sides..."Theme From Tubba Relish" is a mish-mash of samples, beats and guitar riffs - fairly effective but not vital. "Who, Are They?" is another metallic reggae rock creation, driving and grinding. "Home" has an Elastica-like riff and some good vox.

Rating: 8/10

There's always one that spoils it for the rest. Representing the unacceptably po-faced and pretentious face of indie now are ex-teen band Depeche Mode with this tedious slab of monotonous nonsense. We all know Dave Gahan nearly died and that he's dead rock & roll and all that, but that's still no excuse to inflict this garbage on us. It sounds like something in pain thrashing about in the car breaker's yard, trying to sound like Nine Inch Nails, but sounding like nails on a blackboard instead. Yawn.

I never even got to the b-sides...

Rating: 2/10