The latest CD releases reviewed

Mika
Grace Kelly Casablanca ***

It's a thin row of tents between Freddie Mercury and Right Said Fred, but this Lebanese-born singer dances gracefully along it. If he can keep that skittering falsetto from going too OTT, he could be George Michael.

CHRIS SINGLETON
Get Up Brownpaper/Universal ***

While others did the Times crossword or picked their noses on the Tube, this young Dubliner was writing Bowiesque rock'n'roll songs. The result is a well-received album, Twisted City. Now, Chris, why not write the next album on the LUAS?

NAS
Hip-Hop Is Dead Def Jam/Columbia ****

To the riff of Iron Butterfly's In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida, Nas posits a dystopian future in which hip-hop has been abolished, and lays the blame for its demise on greedy gangstas. Thank god, an MC with mettle.

JIBBS
Chain Hang Low Geffen *

While the schoolkids are grooving to the gangsta rap, the wanksta rappers are trawling the playgrounds in search of breaks. Here's one who hangs on a schoolyard rhyme, but watch out, kids: this chain is fool's gold.

ERIC E
The Beat Is Rockin' Gusto *

Let's get one thing straight, Mr Dutch trance DJ/producer - the beat may be pumpin', it may even be technotronic, but by no stretch of the E-addled imagination could it be considered rockin'. Don't they have a trades descriptions act in Ibiza?

DAVE'S RADIO
Kids DP Records ** 

Think the bullying's bad on Celebrity BB? Try growing up in Co Offaly, where, according to singer David Peyton, he got the Goody Gang treatment in class. It scarred him for life - he now sings in a rubbish Gerard Way voice.