NEW RELEASES -- FOR WEEK STARTING APRIL 9, 2001.

RECOMMENDED CATALOGUE NEW RELEASES

DIONNE WARWICK: Love Songs (Rhino 8122787842) There are many Dionne Warwick compilations but this one includes not only a large helping of songs (11) from the team with whom she made her most famous material -- Bacharach and David -- but a further nine by other writers, many of them criminally overlooked at the time and since. Among the rare gems here are a fine version of British singer/songwriter Lesley Duncan's Love Song, and the gorgeous You Are The Heart Of Me, also recorded by the Supremes. The latter track is one of several cuts included from Warwick's Seventies pitstop at Warner Brothers, and it is a tribute to her artistry that they are here on merit rather than simply to make up the numbers.

ANDY WILLIAMS: (I Think) I Love The 70s (Columbia 5018582) "The Emperor of Easy", Andy Williams has found an appreciative new audience since MOR music became fashionable. Here the emphasis is on his Seventies covers. Individually they are no match for the originals -- the Carpenters' We've Only Just Begun, It's Too Late by Carole King, Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell to name but three -- but collectively they provide a pleasant MOR album which will undoubtedly sell very well.

BIG COUNTRY: Under Covers (Big Country BCRTRK 001), Rarities II (BCRTRK 002) These are the first two of four retrospective albums by Stuart Adamson and his cohorts due in the next few weeks. Under Covers pulls together B-sides and some previously unreleased recordings of other people's songs, all performed with customary gusto. Rarities II is a more ambitious collection, gathering B-sides and album tracks which show the band at its most atypical, with experimentation and humour high on the agenda.

FORCE MD'S: Let Me Love You -- The Greatest Hits (Tommy Boy TBCD 156) Providing a classy link between hip hop and doo wop, the Force MD's put together an impressive string of R&B hits in the Eighties, most of which are included here. The MD part of their name stood for musical diversity and their material ran the gamut of then contemporary black music, although the finest tracks are Tender Love -- a delicate, understated gem gifted to them by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis -- and Love Is A House, a gorgeous cover of a song by British singer/ songwriter Gina Foster.

NEW RELEASE COUNTDOWN

Key releases scheduled for the next six weeks