The latest reviews from Kevin Bryan.

Tears For Fears,"Rule The World" (Virgin/EMI)- Curt Smith and Roland Orzabel will be embarking on their first major UK tour in many a long year when they hit the road in May next year, and the Bath duo hope to whet their fans' appetities for this eagerly anticipated jaunt  with the release of this entertaining career retrospective. A few tracks appear in slightly edited versions of the originals, presumably to make it a little easier to squeeze the contents on to a single CD, but that does little to diminish the appeal of a radio friendly package  boasting a string of mid eighties pop gems led by "Everybody Wants To Rule The World," "Mad World" and the epic, Beatlesque "Sowing The Seeds of Love."

"Ready Steady Go! The Sixties" (Union Square)- The release of this fun packed 3 CD set gives listeners of a certain age a heaven-sent opportunity to wallow in nostalgia as they immerse themselves in the delights of sixty tracks from pop's  "golden era"  half a century ago. Anthologies such as this really  stand or fall on the quality of  their musical content and on this occasion the good people at Union Square have excelled themselves with the inclusion of bona-fide  classics  from Procol Harum,  The Kinks,  The Animals  and  Donovan to name but a few.

Five Hand Reel, "Earl O'Moray" (Talking Elephant)-   Five Hand Reel were a relatively short-lived  outfit  fronted by legendary Glaswegian folkie  Dick Gaughan, and their richly rewarding blend of rock and traditional music is captured at its brilliant best in this darkly compelling collection . "Earl O'Moray" was the band's third and finest  album, produced by Fairport Convention's  Simon Nicol and blessed  with evocative  ditties  such as  the rarely recorded  title  tune and Robert Burns' "My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose" as well as a stirring rendition of the great Hamish Henderson's "Freedom Come All Ye."

The Gary Moore Band, "Grinding Stone" (Retroworld)- This excellent CD re-issue focusses attention on the late Gary Moore's first solo set , which found him working with drummer Pierce Kelly and bassist John Curtis in what would prove to be the only album that they would record together. As a vehicle for Gary's  rare  abilities as a guitarist  this under-rated 1973  recording  is  well  worth  forty minutes  or so of anyone's  time, featuring six fairly lengthy tracks  clearly influenced  by  then highly fashionable acts such as the Allman Brothers and Santana. with  the epic "Spirit" emerging as the pick of a genuinely eclectic package.