Afro-Cuban All Stars: "A Toda Cuba Le Gusta" (World Circuit)

The essentially collaborative nature of Cuban - and, by extension, African and jazz - music is underlined in this seductively tasty release. Embracing, as the wonderfully informative sleeve notes indicate, four generations of the idiom, it's a marvellous exposition of the island's music and rhythms. The basic 14-piece instrumental group includes Juan de Marcos Gonzalez (tres and leader), Ruben Gonzalez (piano), Guajiro Mirabal (trumpet) and Javier Zalbal (baritone) - all hugely persuasive in solo, especially Gonzalez and Mirabal -plus some of Cuba's finest singers, along with guests Ry Cooder and the brilliant Richard Egues (flute) and Barbarito Torres (laoud - a string instrument). Alive with sheer pleasure in performance, it also reeks of authenticity, not least because the solo singers ul Planas, Pio Leyva, Felix Valoy and Maceo Rodriguez - are simply superb, while the band itself is an exuberant but tightly organised joy.

By Ray Comiskey

The Best of Dolores Keane (TORTE CD206)

Songs by Dougie MacLean, John Faulkner, Mick Hanley, Donagh Long and Kieran Halpin slant this superbly-voiced collection toward a very country sound; though more towards a thoroughfare with a central reservation than a boreen, perhaps. Paul Brady's Island is a terrific document, matching the original's style through lyricisation of the political message. But again, as with Pete Seeger's empowering persona and delivery, Keane is far from unopinionated, and here she holds to her sharp edge with the Mandela Lion In A Cage. So too, as always, with her appeal for the faraway constituency with the profound Galway Bay and the modernistic Emigrant Eyes. Lili Marlene is her finale, an almost Margaret Barry-like last-minute conversion to ballad.

By Fintan Vallely

Sara Evans: "Three Chords And The Truth" (BMG)

It's hard to resist an album with such a dramatically profound title; it's even better when resistance is not required. Sara Evans has a big twangy voice which is equally at home in the high and low registers and which can purr sensitively or belt it out as the song demands. This is the young Missouri-born singer/ songwriter's debut, but she sounds seasoned and assured and her choice of material lifts this collection out of the ordinary. Evans has said that she wants her "music to fall somewhere between Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline" and producer Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakum etc) is just the man to help her realise that ambition. He paces the album well, mixing strong originals with inspired covers, and colouring the tracks with loads of interesting influences from Buddy Holly to Jerry Lee Lewis. Check out Shame About That or her version of Walk Out Backwards.

By Joe Breen