ELLE Goulding's new album Delirium is her third and best effort to date.
While she has made undoubtedly catchy pop songs since she began her now hugely successful career, this album displays a depth and class that wasn't perhaps just as evident with those first two records.
The trailer single On My Mind with its Police-sounding groove and lyrics that seem to fire a shot back at Ed Sheeran's song Don't, has taken American radio by storm and is not short of a play or too in this part of the world.
Delirium sounds like a proper record through and through, which is an increasingly rare phenomenon in our current era of cherry-picking and downloading random tracks from a new album without experiencing the full effect. Ellie's Delirium takes a definitive direction, goes through some twists and turns but remains constant throughout in both style and sound.
Her best yet and no doubt 2016 will be an even bigger year for EG.
SMITH SPECIAL
Sam Smith has just released a deluxe edition of his mega-selling album In The Lonely Hour. This version (titled the Drowning Shadows Edition) is packed full of added extras that will obviously appeal to Sam's faithful following but perhaps more importantly make the casual fan finally add the record to their collection.
Acoustic tracks, a stunning live version of Latch performed by Smith with Disclosure live at Madison Square Garden in New York, new song Drowning Shadows and a cover of Amy Winehouse's Love Is A Losing Game are just some very good reasons to at least stream this extended and expanded version of an already excellent album.
GOOD YEAR FOR THE ROSES
Rumours are rife in LA that the original line-up of Guns N' Roses are to get back together.
Axl Rose and Slash have finally apparently buried the hatchet and are discussing the idea of working together again. We've heard this before many times but a little bird tells me that this time it might just be true.
I doubt it will ever be the full existing line up for a band that have seen more personnel changes then most Premier League clubs – however, if Slash, Axl and Duff are involved, then bring it on.
BOB BOOTLEG
If you lined up every physical Bob Dylan album side by side the line of vinyl would probably stretch from Belfast to Cork. Studio albums, live recordings, bootlegs, best ofs, box sets – Dylan's catalogue and its impact on the world of music is both vastly extensive and extremely important.
The latest release is The Bootleg Series Vol.12 1965-66 The Cutting Edge which delves deeply into that highly creative period in Bob's career when he was knocking out monumental work such as Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde On Blonde and Bringing It All Home.
This collection microscopically details every out-take, each rehearsal and alternate version that was committed to tape and ties them all together into an irresistible bundle for devotees. There is a collector's edition which contains 18 cds, 9 vinyl singles, a hardback book and a host of other bits and pieces that may require you moving to a bigger house if you decide to purchase.