A man for whom the world "unfashionable" was invented, Gilbert O'Sullivan has nevertheless weathered the vagaries of pop music dictates over the past 25 years. He is, perhaps, best known in these parts for a flurry of hit records in the mid-1970s, a few of which - Nothing Rhymed, We Will, and Alone Again, Naturally - remain surely the oddest and most distinctly charming if melancholic pop songs of the era.On Tuesday night, Gilbert interspersed his many hits with a selection of songs from his new album, Singer Sowing Machine. They were, to a one, awful concoctions: a mixture of keyboards stuck determinedly on a button marked "Gary Numan", lyrics that occasionally beggered description, and an ersatz rockin' sound that would invest cabaret bands with cutting edge intensity.Despite the many drawbacks, however, it would be grossly unfair to dismiss O'Sullivan as an arch nostalgist. His best songs show a cruelly honest streak that strikes a telling note amidst today's many charlatans, while his miserablist demeanour predated Morrissey by a good 10 years. His worst songs? Best forgotten, I'm afraid.