New music reviews: Temple Of The Dog, Keane, Lady Gaga

Album: Temple Of The Dog - Temple Of The Dog (Music On Vinyl) *****

Grunge by its very nature is a pretty depressing genre.

Its stars dressed like hobos, the fans even more so. And the music was widely performed on guitars so heavily downtuned that it often descended into a sludgy dirge that made it difficult to pick up the tune at all.

Then there was all that nasty stuff like Kurt Cobain's suicide and the drug-related deaths of Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley and Hole bass player Kristen Pfaff.

Hardly the summer of love, then.

But the death of one grunge pioneer arguably overshadows them all, even that of Nirvana's hero-worshipped frontman.

Andrew Wood was the charismatic singer with Mother Love Bone, a group who would surely have gone on to rule the grunge scene alongside Nirvana had Wood not died of a heroin overdose in 1990.

As it happened, the remaining members of the band formed Pearl Jam and are today one of the most successful rock bands on the planet.

But while Pearl Jam were finding their feet, the band hooked up with Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell to write and record an album in tribute to Wood. The result was Temple Of The Dog - one of the most stunning rock records ever produced.

A full 22 years after its release, the record is re-released in a stunning double purple vinyl package.

If you're a grunge fan, chances are you'll have these songs already.

And if not, prepare to be blown away.

Cornell's love for his friend Wood cuts through painfully on tracks like Say Hello To Heaven and Reach Down, while Hunger Strike, which features a vocal duet with Cornell and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, still stands up as the most poignant track of the grunge era.

Pushin' Forward Back could have been a Soundgarden hit and Call Me A Dog brings to mind some of Alice In Chains' rare gentle moments.

Your Saviour is another standout, featuring the kind of loose rock riff that became the trademark of the Seattle scene.

The musicians involved in this album all went on to more successful things, but it could be argued that none of them ever achieved this level of greatness again.

A collection of geniuses united in their grief created something quite beautiful. You simply have to own this record, and why not own it on glorious double vinyl.

Album: Keane - The Best Of Keane (Universal Island) ****

Sure, it's coming up to Christmas and all manner of 'best of' compilations are set to be released to prey on your poor family members who have no idea what to buy you but saw you nodding along to some song or other on the radio.

And when The Playlist first heard that Keane were putting out their best of, we did ask "have they even got enough material for a best of?"

Think Keane, and immediately you hear those first album singles, all drums piano and voice and radio-friendly melodies.

But dig a little deeper, as us reviewers are expected to do, and you find that Keane have been somewhat quietly going about building an arsenal of pop hits since the furore surrounding Hopes And Fears subsided.

Three albums and countless sold-out tours followed and Keane are now, to our admitted surprise, one of the biggest pop bands in the world.

Featuring 38 tracks, most of them recognisable even to those of us who haven't followed the band's career, make this a good value-for-money release.

Keane fans will have all four albums already of course, so this isn't much use to them.

But then again this isn't aimed at them.

It's aimed at your granny who will in the coming weeks be wondering about the shops desperately trying to buy you something you'll like for Christmas to counterbalance the disappointment of cheap socks and cheaper shower gel.

And in all honesty, you really could do worse than having Best Of Keane as your Christmas day soundtrack.

Album: Lady Gaga - Artpop (Interscope) ****

In 20 years, we'll look back fondly and say "they don't make pop stars like Lady Gaga anymore."

She's got the lot. The tunes, the look, the downright madness.

Gaga is today's undisputed pop champion and her new album, Artpop, only serves as confirmation of that fact.

It's not perfect, far from it in fact, and some of the tracks will soon become those that you skip to get to the good stuff.

But so many modern pop records offer only a handful of songs that have any real impact, and Artpop has less filler than most.

There are no tracks that have the immortality of Poker Face or Bad Romance, at least not at first listen, but the bombastic Venus is classic Gaga and sure to fill dancefloors around the world.

MANiCURE is another cracker. Sassy and somewhat more traditional than her previous material, it manages to overcome its clumsy title.

R Kelly makes an appearance on Do What U Want and we're not quite sure how to feel about that. Gaga surely doesn't need Kelly's name to shift records. Although he does add something extra to what is an otherwise forgetful track.

Title track Artpop is a funky affair and Donatella's chorus has sing-a-long-ability in spades.

Gaga sings directly to her army of fans on Dope, but the comparison of her followers to drugs is a little obvious.

Overall, it's a good pop record that is bonkers enough to keep Gaga at the top of the tree.

If you like the sound of Temple Of The Dog, Keane and Lady Gaga, check out Stef Lach's Spotify playlist for this week - a selection of tracks from similar artists to those featured in this week's reviews.

Like Temple Of The Dog? Check out...

Them Bones - Alice In Chains

Crown Of Thorns - Mother Love Bone

Like Keane? Check out...

All You Good Good People - Embrace

Commercial Breakdown - The Sunshine Underground

Like Lady Gaga? Check out...

Hollywood - Madonna

Remedy - Little Boots