Latest releases reviewed

THE GOO GOO DOLLS Live in Buffalo Warner Music Vision **

You might not have heard of this US band prior to their recent hit, a cover version of Supertramp's Give a Little Bit. Not that The Goo Goo Dolls are overly concerned. The Dolls are one of the many US bands that sell millions of records Stateside yet are largey unknown elsewhere. They appear - at least judging by the lacklustre, supposedly celebratory performance in their hometown on Independence Day of last year - to be disconnected from rock's current penchant for reasonably edgy material (a la The Bravery and Queens of the Stone Age). But then, as Paul Weller sang all those years ago, "the public get what the public want". And thus it seems that fans of The Goo Goo Dolls want anonymous, anodyne soft rock. Extras include the by now catch-all (and rather dull) Behind the Scenes footage. Ho hum, etc.

Tony Clayton-Lea

ALBÉNIZ: MERLIN Soloists: David Wilson- Johnson, Stuart Skelton, Eva Marton, Carol Vaness; Coro y Orquesta Titular del Teatro real de Madrid. Conductor: Jose de Eusebio. World Premiere Recording ***

Isaac Albéniz is generally known for his piano music, and the performance on these discs is a record of the first ever complete performance of his ambitious operatic score. Completed in 1902, and influenced by the concepts underlying Wagner's Ring, Merlin was to be the first of a trilogy of operas based on the Arthurian legends. Merlin is the only score that has survived in its entirety, and this fine staging brings out not only the ambitious dramatic intention behind the work but also the beauty and inventiveness of the score. From the outset the harmonies are reminiscent of the mature Wagner, but Albéniz brings a lyrical impulse to the music as the work develops, something which is uniquely his. Despite a fairly stilted English libretto, this is an engaging and at times moving work. www.opusarte.com

Colman Morrissey