In shops tomorrow: 6/2

Singles

The decidedly odd Television Personalities return single All The Young Children On Crack, All The Young Children On Smack (we gather Top Of The Pops Reloaded won't be shifted on their booking decision) is 7" only, so the only linkable single of note this week is the mighty roar of Mew featuring J Mascis' Why Are You Looking Grave?, a twelve track CD featuring assorted skeletal versions, remixes and live cuts of the best song on last year's Top 10 Of 2005 album. It's virtually a box set of itself!

Albums

If you only buy one new album this week... you should save more. Otherwise, The Minus 5's The Gun Album (although technically it's self titled) is Scott McCaughey's best excursion yet into 60s roots power-pop, like the Beach Boys with a hangover. Fresh from being Robyn Hitchcock's backing band, McCaughey's usual sidemen of Peter Buck and Bill Rieflin are here joined by Jeff Tweedy (as usual), Colin Meloy, Ken Stringfellow from the Posies and many, many others. Elsewhere, Belle & Sebastian's The Life Pursuit is scrappy but well intentioned, Robert Pollard won't let the erosion of Guided By Voices stop him putting anything and everything written and recorded out, it's just now under his own name with 'debut' album From A Compound Eye, Sparks still sound like every conceivable style of music pounded together on Hello Young Lovers, Prefuse 73 sees Scott Herren return to his instrumental cut-up glitch-hop on the 17 track 'mini-album' Security Screenings, the Spinto Band revive Pavement on Nice And Nicely Done and a heap of Ride reissues are led by OX4 - The Best Of.