Byline: RICK GLANVILL, JONATHAN ROMNEY, CAROLINE SULLIVAN and ADAM SWEETING

BIG AUDIO: Higher Power (Sony)

NOW minus most of its founding members - singer/guitarist Mick Jones is still around, though languid as ever - and the 'Dynamite' part of its name, Big Audio is a pallid version of its eighties self. Jones and confreres were among the first to marry hip-hop beats and rock, and they continue along those lines here, but what sounded revolutionary in 1985 is weary now. Jones still writes a frisky tune, as in the Bon Jovi-meets-Take-That-esque Looking For A Song, but we've already been there and done that. (CS)

YELLO: Zebra (Mercury)

WHEN assessments are made of Switzerland's contribution to global achievement, the experts generally overlook Yello. This is unfair, since the duo were not only pioneers of electropop and Euroboogie but have also been able to smuggle many varied ideas and bizarre sounds into their 13-year career. Zebra ends a three-year silence, and embodies the evolving essence of Yello-ness. Even when Yello play straight computer-pop, it's done with a raised...