LADY GAGA - THE FAME MONSTER

4/5

REISSUE! Remix! Repackage! The inevitable recycling of a big-selling album usually equates to the addition of a cash-in single and a couple of dodgy remixes, but Lady Gaga has treated her fans to an album's worth of new material to accompany a slightly-tweaked version of her hugely popular debut.

New tracks include the sophisticated Eurodance of latest single Bad Romance, full-throttle Beyonce collaboration Telephone and the pure pop brilliance of the off-the-wall Monster.

Together with hits such as Pokerface, Paparazzi and Just Dance, this is a brilliant package that definitely provides great value for money.

SH

SNOW PATROL - UP TO NOW

4/5

THOSE familiar with Snow Patrol's anthemic hits such as Run and Chasing Cars might think it's a little premature to be releasing a "best of'', but the band have been going for 15 years now and this album charts their development.

All five studio albums are represented from Fifteen Minutes Old, originally on 1998 debut Songs For Polarbears, to Take Back The City, which featured on last year's latest offering A Hundred Million Suns.

This mix of old and new is complemented by the inclusion of live recordings and B-sides, which gives the album a non-linear sound. It demonstrates that Snow Patrol have not always been the finished article they so consistently prove themselves to be, but have a rich, challenging and often beautiful past that is worth revisiting.

SB

CHRIS MOYLES - THE PARODY ALBUM

3/5

LOVE him or hate him, it's impossible to deny the impact Chris Moyles has had on Radio 1. And the BBC station's longest-serving breakfast presenter has, over the years, created his own versions of some modern pop classics.

From his take on Britney's Womanizer (called Lorrydriver), to his cover of Tom Jones's Sex Bomb (Big Bum), this debut album is full of his comedy tunes. Granted, he probably won't win a Grammy for it, but the tunes are relatively amusing. After a while they do become repetitive, and you'll have to be a big fan to listen to all 20 of them in a row.

PW

FRANK SINATRA: Various albums (Universal, out now)

5/5

OL' Blue Eyes is back – spruced up, on dazzlingly good form and ready for the lucrative Christmas market.

Few artists can have had their reputation sullied by more tawdry, hotch-potch compilations than Frank Sinatra.

These eight re-releases – My Way; Ring A Ding Ding; Sinatra Basie; Sinatra At The Sands; Sinatra And Company; Swing Along With Me; Some Nice Things I've Missed; Concert Sinatra – help to set the record straight.

This is Sinatra as he would have liked you to hear him: in context and cared for. If the old CDs were aural diesel oil then these digital re-masters are aviation fuel – more refined, potent and combustible. The oobie-doobie has rarely sounded so good. Best of the bunch are the two Count Basie accompanied albums, particularly the supper club classic Sinatra at the Sands.

Of the eight albums, only 1969's My Way and 1974's Some Nice Things I've Missed hit the odd bum note, all too often sounding like muzak in the lift to middle age. They are also conclusive proof that big band versions of pop hits (Mrs Robinson, You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, Yesterday) are never a good idea, even when Sinatra does them.

The rest are rarely less than fantastic. Must buys, if swing is your thing.

AWa

ALESHA DIXON - THE ALESHA SHOW: ENCORE

4/5

SHE'S come a long way since her days in Mis-Teeq, has Alesha. Once famed for her fiery MCing skills, she's now a bona fide solo star, dance judge and TV presenter. To coincide with her national tour, her 2008 debut album has been repackaged for this Encore version - she's on tour, the album's called Encore, clever, no? – which manages to be both wholly unnecessary and harmless fun at the same time. A bit like Strictly Come Dancing, then.

The four extra songs featured here are all solid, including latest single To Love Again, penned by Gary Barlow. The new tracks don't make her admittedly good album great, but it does make a good idea for a Christmas present.

AWe

3 IDIOTS (T Series)

3/5

THE music of 3 Idiots is designed to complement the film and is best appreciated in the context of the movie. As a stand-alone soundtrack, it falls short.

There is the zany and the jazzy in this mixed album that veers from fun and mischievous to poignant, suggesting some depth to the otherwise comic fare offered up by the film.

You will enjoy the carefree score of the album and the serious numbers seem sombre in the context of the film – but the album serves its purpose by whetting your appetite for the movie.

BA

(Reviews by Polly Weeks, Simon Harker, Stefan Bonczoszek, Andy Welch, Adam Wakelin and Badri Ahmed.)