The best damn thing? It’s not bad . . .

Album review: Avril Lavigne, The Best Damn Thing

Avril Lavigne insists she won’t be pidgeon-holed and has professed to be unconcerned with image. Yet her appearance has always been carefully crafted.

When she first broke on to the scene as a teenager, she was a cute, but tomboyish rock chick – the anti-Britney and poster girl for the angst-ridden, cool teenagers who liked their guitars loud, but their ballads tender if unhappy.

Set volume to Maximo

Album review: Maximo Park, Our Earthly Pleasures 

It’s almost impossible to read a Maximo Park review without a lazy mention of The Futureheads.

But though the neighbours from the North East of England emerged on the scene at a similar time just over a couple of years ago, only one of those bands is able to make a record as sophisticated as Our Earthly Pleasures.