Reviews

Booty-shakin' mini album from the new Timbaland

Cork's Simple Kid is making a virtue out of being in the middle of the road, that easy-listening, glam-rock neighbourhood that often produces uplifting music. And this Kid knows his stuff. Kicking off with a tribute to David Essex à la "Rock On" for opener "Hello", he then ventures into Bowie meets Lieutenant Pigeon territory on "Staring At The Sun" and turns up a Ween-standard ditty for "Drugs". Most albums that spin around the pop-about-pop axis can fall short and wane, but SK1 retains interest. It's exciting, sassy and funny. T.

Guitar-led jazz from large ensemble in multifarious styles

Next-level drill'n'bass from truculent Pole

Debut release for Boston trio covering all bases from psych-trance to Miles Davis

Quarter-century of Beeb appearances from the Newhaven rabble-rouser

Reissues remind us that Mr Smooth was once an artiste

Urban angst, Iranian-style

Mining that fecund Field Of Dreams territory, where baseball and unresolved Oedipal complexes collide, The Rookie is a rousing real-life account of loyal Texan husband, science teacher and occasional 98mph pitcher Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid), whose small-town existence and lifelong battles with cantankerous pop (Brian Cox) are suddenly transformed by the offer of a place in the Major League.

The nominal director is Lee H Katzin, but this was entirely Steve McQueen's project. Starring and driving, his 1971 film about the famous 24-hour race was his obsession, and he was in a strange place when he made it, his paranoid quest for perfection reflected in the extraordinary cinematography of motors in motion. Barely any plot, it's all wheels, speed and engine noise. Less a movie than a machine.