THANK YOU JESUS: R KELLY TRIAL UPDATE
R Kelly likes filming himself having sex with underage girls, is the sort of thing you might say if you wanted to be sued for libel. Yes, that's right, the R&B star's long time coming child porn trial reached a quick conclusion on Friday when the jury took just seven hours to decide he was innocent of all fourteen charges. The singer repeated "thank you Jesus" several times after it became clear he'd won a complete acquittal, which is interesting because I never realised he was working for the defence on this one.

As much previously reported, Kelly faced fifteen years in prison if found guilty of the fourteen charges that remained against him as his trial began - a number of other related charges having been dropped much earlier, mainly on procedural technicalities.

The prosecution accused him of filming himself having sex with a girl as young as 13, and had a tape of the film to prove it. But it wasn't too easy to identify the participants in the tape, and although there were similarities between the man and woman shown and Kelly and the girl alleged to be the victim - now 23 - both Kelly and the girl denied it was them.

And while the prosecution wheeled in various friends of the girl to say they were certain it was her and, in some cases, him in the tape, the defence clearly managed to put enough doubt into the jurors' minds as to the identities of the sex tape stars, perhaps by wheeling in family members of the alleged victim who said it clearly wasn't her, or perhaps by claiming a mole on Kelly's back was not present in the video (and any marks that may have been it were just smudges on the tape). And the defence clearly succeeded in throwing doubt on the credibility of the prosecution's star witness, a woman who claimed to have had threesomes with Kelly and the under-aged girl.

This being America, those jurors were quickly discussing the case after Kelly's acquittal, telling reporters that the big problem was the prosecution just didn't provide enough evidence to say that - beyond reasonable doubt - it was Kelly and the alleged victim in the tape. One told reporters: "You want to be 100 per cent sure it's Kelly and [the alleged victim], what we had wasn't enough", while another said: "All of us felt very much the grayness of this case". Others said the fact the prosecution never called Kelly nor the alleged victim, or her parents, who were friends of the singer, to the witness stand also weakened their case.

Kelly chose not to speak to reporters at the court house, but a statement issued on his behalf later said that the singer always knew that "when all the facts came out in court, he would be cleared of these terrible charges ... all he wants to do is move forward and put it behind him".

Of course, as is often the way with these things, those who want to believe Kelly did bad things with young girls will continue to do so, but the full acquittal means that the R&B star, who has managed to continue having a pretty successful music career despite the usually emotive nature of the allegations against him, will be able to continue with that career without the tricky matter of a potentially embarrassing court case and possible incarceration on the horizon.

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ATLANTIC SUE STONE TEMPLE PILOTS
Elsewhere in the pop courts, civil division, Warner's Atlantic Records has sued Scott Weiland and fellow Stone Temple Pilot Eric Kretz, over allegations they are trying to get out of contractual commitments with the major.

The dispute seems to have come about because of the recent reunion of Stone Temple Pilots, who have been touring again since Weiland's departure from Velvet Revolver. Word has it the reunited band - which includes Dean and Robert DeLeo as well as Weiland and Kretz - are now talking about returning to the studio. The problem is that the band, while freed by Warner to pursue solo projects, is still under contract to the major as a foursome, and in theory Atlantic could demand up to three more albums from that contract.

It seems Weiland and Kretz have been trying to renegotiate the terms of their relationship with Atlantic, allegedly threatening to stop performing if the major doesn't play ball. To complicate matters, Warner say that the Pilots are trying to get out of their existing contract through Californian law, when the contract was written according to New York law.

To cut a long story short Atlantic have gone to court to get clarification as to who owes what to whom under the existing contract between the label and the band, because, the former says, moves by the latter have "given rise to a definite, real and substantial controversy between the parties that threatens to harm Atlantic's business". The band are yet to comment on the lawsuit.

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ESBJORN SVENSSON DIES
Esbjorn Svensson, of the Esborn Svensson Trio (or EST), died this weekend at the age of 44, as the result of a diving accident.

An influential jazz artist, the pianist and composer developed an interest in music at an early age, possibly due to the influence of his parents, his mother playing classical piano and his father being a jazz enthusiast. Svensson attended music college from the age of sixteen, and went on to study music at the University of Stockholm. In 1993 he founded EST with childhood friend Magnus Ostrom and Dan Berglund, a trio which became known for their contemporary style - they regularly played in rock venues to crowds of young people, and performed jazz blended with rock, pop and electronica. Famous across the world as well as in their native Sweden, and the recipients of numerous awards, the group had just finished working on their twelfth studio album 'Leucocyte'.

EST's manager Burkhard Hopper told Reuters: "Musically, he was the light that lit the world, because in what he did he was pushing boundaries. Himself, he said he was following the music inside himself. His music inspired people in all corners of the world".

Svensson is survived by his wife and two children.

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JAMELAO DIES
Brazilian samba star Jamelao has died at the age of 95 from multiple organ failure. The singer, real name Jose Bispo Clementino dos Santos, passed away three days after being admitted to hospital in Rio de Janeiro. A stalwart of Rio's traditional samba community, he began his career as a percussionist, playing the tamborin, but he moved on to play the cavaquinho (a small four-stringed guitar) before becoming a singer. From the 1950s onwards, he was the lead singer for innumerable Mangueira Carnival parades and recorded more than 20 albums. Asked on his ninetieth birthday what he loved most about singing, Jamelao responded: "The music. The music. I love the music. And the women I can get, too".

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MARTIN WALKS OUT OF RADIO 4 INTERVIEW
Coldplay's Chris Martin walked out - I'm not sure if we can go as far as 'stormed out', though that makes a better story I suppose - of an interview with Radio 4's 'Front Row' last week. And this despite me proclaiming his new album 'Viva La Vida' "quite good" on Radio 4's 'Today' programme. He left bandmate Will Champion to answer the questions on the BBC's cultural magazine programme after declaring he wasn't enjoying the interview. He did, however, return before the nine minute piece was finished to answer one last question. Previously, when asked if the reference to Death in the full title of the album - 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends' - reflected the band's lyrical obsession with death, Martin said: "I wouldn't agree with you there at all, no. I'd say you're journalistically twisting me into saying something I don't really mean".

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LIL WAYNE MAY HAVE MILLION SELLING ALBUM IN ONE WEEK
As you will see when we get to the Chart Update, Martin's album has been selling well in the UK, despite his walking out of interviews, and is now number one in the album charts. The album is expected to do quite well in the US where it is released later this week, though it is unlikely to equal rapper Lil Wayne's new album which is on course to sell one million copies in its first week. I'm not sure whether it has or not as of now, but it had sold 630,000 on Friday so it seems as though it was definitely in with a chance. It's doing pretty well either way, selling 423,000 copies on its first day. The last US album release to top more than a million in the first week was 50 Cent's 'The Massacre', which sold 1.1million copies.

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PHARRELL WANTS TO WORK WITH THE STROKES
Pharrell Williams has said that he really wants to work on The Strokes' next album, because he so much enjoyed working with the band's Julian Casablancas recently when the pair teamed up with singer Santogold to record a track for shoe firm Converse, to celebrate the anniversary of their signature Chuck Taylor All Stars shoe. It wouldn't be the first rock band he's worked with, of course, having previously collaborated with The Hives.

Williams says: "I'm talking to him about their next record. I want it bad! Julian and I were in the studio together. We came together and did a track for the commemoration of the 100th year anniversary of the Chuck Taylor. I really wanna do it. I don't know [if they want me], but I'd love to [produce the album]".

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NEW BECK ALBUM NEWS
Details have been announced of Beck's new album. The long player, entitled 'Modern Guilt', has been produced by Danger Mouse and is out on 7 Jul.

Here's what's on it:

Orphans
Gamma Ray
Chemtrails
Modern Guilt
Youthless
Walls
Replica
Soul Of A Man
Profanity Prayers
Volcano

Beck also plays three UK shows this summer, appearing on 1 Jul at Southampton's Guildhall, on 2 Jul at Manchester Apollo, and on 4 Jun at London's Wireless Festival.

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REPORTS SAY LEONA'S GOT THE BOND GIG
The Sun says it's Leona Lewis, not Amy Winehouse, who is likely to be providing the theme tune to the new James Bond film Quantum Of Solace. I didn't know Leona Lewis was even in the running, so there you go. As previously reported, Winehouse and Mark Ronson had confirmed that they were working on a possible track, but then Ronson said he'd given up on their collaboration, seemingly because the singer was being a bit too flaky. A source told the tabloid: "It looks like Leona has finally won the race. She is seen as one of the few candidates who has the right profile both sides of the pond to do it. Amy was their original choice but she just can't get her act together and hasn't got the right image".

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RICHIE TO REUNITE WITH COMMODORES
According to reports, Lionel Richie is to get back together with The Commodores. As I'm sure you're aware, the singer was a founder member of the band, and appeared on the biggest hits, including the likes of 'Three Times A Lady' and 'Still', but left the group in order to pursue a solo career, achieving fame with huge hits like 'All Night Long'. Meanwhile, the rest of the band - who stayed together despite Richie's departure - found that commercial success began to elude them, only scoring minor hits such as 'Night Shift'.

Anyway, Richie's preparing to return to the fold. Original members Walter Orange and William 'WAK' King (trumpet, guitar) still tour the band, although they lost keyboardist Milan Williams, who died in 2006 from cancer. In a statement to the press, Richie explained why now's the time to do it. "In 10 years nobody would care", he said.

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JACK MCMANUS VID FUNNY, APPARENTLY
The PR for singer songwriter Jack McManus tells me that the video to his new single 'You Think I Don't Care', out 14 Jul, is funny. It's Monday, I'm busy, I haven't had chance to go look - but you can check it yourself if you want by clicking here.

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INFADELS FREE THINGS DAY TOMORROW
By the way, the 'Free Things Day' being staged by Infadels to celebrate the release of new single 'Free Things For Poor People' is tomorrow and not today, as we might have said last week. The single is out today, but the 'Free Things Day' thing, which will see the band travelling up and down Oxford Street on a free Routemaster bus doing some 'reverse busking' (ie giving things away), is on Tuesday. We will mark the occasion by reviewing the forthcoming new Infadels album tomorrow too.

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MIA CLAIMS BANNAROO SET HER LAST EVER
This aint gonna please the CMUers disappointed that MIA cancelled her planned UK tour last week. Now there are reports that the rapper called her performance at this weekend's Bannaroo festival in the US her "last show ever". She told her audience at the festival: "This is my last show, and I'm glad I'm spending it with all my hippies". According to the New York Times she said that it was her last show ever three times during the set. Let's hope that's not true - certainly we can expect more recorded work from Ms MIA - when she cancelled her UK tour last week she said she'd use that time to get back into the studio.

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EAVIS ON GLASTO TICKETS - LAST MINUTE T TIX ON SALE
So after a busy weekend on the live music front, what with the Download and Isle Of Wight festivals, and loads of other smaller fests, and that there Bonnaroo festival in America, and Paul McCartney braving storms to play his first ever concert in the Ukraine, let's get down to some upcoming festival news shall we?

Michael Eavis has revealed that there are now 7000 tickets still to be sold for this year's Glastonbury, which takes place from 27-29 Jun. After the much reported slow demand for tickets this year, and news last week that tickets were going on sale in selected HMV stores, Eavis told the BBC: "I think we've got about 7000 tickets left, that's all. With only two weeks left to go it's forecast glorious sunshine and they are selling out all the time. So they should take about ten days to sell out".

Asked if the HMV relationship re ticket sales would become a permanent thing, Eavis said: "Not necessarily. It depends really on the demand next year really. The whole thing of photos on tickets - we had a look at that again this year. Previously we had experienced a lot of touting and it annoyed me to think that people were paying 120 quid for a ticket and selling them on for £400. This year we didn't quite get to the point where we could sell them all with photos on because we were left with 10 000 at the end. Next year I think the demand will go back to how it was. If we have a dry fine summer this year and people enjoy themselves as much as I think they're going to, then the demand will be how it was. If not, then we'll have to look at the whole ticket system again".

So there you go. Talking of last minute tickets, organisers of the sold out T In The Park have announced a last batch of tix were going on sale this morning. They went on sale at 9am and may well have sold out by now.

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ROCK TOUR ANNOUNCES DATES
The Unholy Alliance Tour Chapter III has announced some European dates, set to take place in the autumn. The third installment of the metal tour will feature Slayer, Trivium, Mastodon and an additional opening act yet to be announced. The tour, as previously reported, first launched in Europe in 2004 featuring Slipknot, Slayer, Mastodon and Hatebreed. The success of the venture led to the launch of a second 'chapter' in North America in the summer of 2006, which subsequently toured Europe in the following autumn. Here it is for its latest third chapter outing, and here are the dates, more to follow:

27 Oct: Manchester Arena, Manchester
28 Oct: NEC, Birmingham
30 Oct: Hammersmith Apollo, London
31 Oct: Hammersmith Apollo, London
2 Nov: CIA, Cardiff
3 Nov: SECC, Glasgow
5 Nov: Stadthalle, Offenbach
6 Nov: Palladium, Cologne
9 Nov: Schleyerhalle, Stuttgart
10 Nov: Eishallel Deutweg, Winterthur
11 Nov: Zenith, Paris
16 Nov: Gasometer, Vienna
18 Nov: Zenith, Munich
19 Nov: Columbia Hale, Berlin

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SOMERSET HOUSE SUMMER SERIES ANNOUNCED
The line up for this year's Somerset House Summer Series of open air events has been released. I went to a Somerset House gig a couple of years ago and it was lovely. I can recommend it. Additions are to be announced in the next few weeks, but current confirmations are as follows:

10 Jul: The Fratellis
11 Jul: Justice
12 Jul: UNKLE
13 Jul: The Blue Nile
14 Jul: Lupe Fiasco
15 Jul: We Are Scientists
16 Jul: The Zutons
17 Jul: The Feeling
18 Jul: Duffy
19 Jul: Adele

See www.somersethouse.org.uk

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KOMEDIA TO BRING NEW MUSIC VENUE TO BATH
The people behind Brighton venue Komedia are planning on converting a former cinema in Bath into a new live entertainment venue. The project has actually been in development for a while, but planning restrictions have so far stopped plans to turn the former movie theatre into an arts and music venue. However, said restrictions have been overcome and, according to Music Week, Komedia have now signed and exchanged leases with Bath And North East Somerset Council.

Komedia in Brighton offers an eclectic programme of theatre, comedy and music, though its in house theatrical productions have been curtailed somewhat by recent Arts Council cuts. The Bath venue will be the firm's first full time venture outside Brighton, though they have been active at the Edinburgh Festival on and off for years. It is expected to offer a similarly eclectic programme of arts and culture, and is expected to provide Bath with a valuable new music venue.

Commenting on the Bath venture, Komedia co-founder Colin Granger said this: "We're over the moon Komedia Bath is now but a few months away from completion. We've got a superb design from our Bath architects, Stubbs Rich, to convert the former ABC cinema into a live arts venue and have already started work with Sturland Builders on transforming this wonderful building into a fully working space once again".

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MORE EMI RESTRUCTURING COMMENT
So, there was a long article in the New York Times last week assessing progress over there at EMI Towers, with new owner Guy Hands having been in place for ten months now, the big job cut looming, and one of the biggest EMI releases since the new regime took over - Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida' - out last week. Most of the article is a review of the ten months so far, going over familiar ground, though in there were some interesting points.

First, more claims that early rumours that EMI were trying to hold on to the boss of the major's Capitol US division, respected A&R Jason Flom, were untrue, and actually they are busy negotiating their way out of their current contract with the senior player, keen to remove the bigger names at the top of EMI US ahead of the arrival of the new head of A&R for UK and North America, the recently appointed former Island UK chief Nick Gatfield.

Second, allegations that after its acquisition of the major Terra Firma found that EMI had lost £750 million from selling new music in the five years prior to the takeover. It claims the major's recorded music division had managed to hide the turmoil by classifying new catalogue releases as new music, so that lucrative catalogue projects filled the hole left by disastrous new signings. The Times says that Hands was already aware when he bought the major that EMI Music Publishing was where much of the company's value lay, but that even he was surprised just how badly the recorded music bit of the operation was doing.

And third, there is more discussion about the pressure that may or may not be coming from Hands' primary backer Citigroup, who, according to various reports, rather regret loaning Hands £2.5 billion for his EMI purchase just before that credit crunch kicked in. The official line is that Terra Firma and Citigroup remain on good terms regarding the loan, but The Times references rumours that the bank may force the private equity outfit to get out of the music business quick if EMI's fortunes aren't looking rosier by the Autumn - most likely by engineering a quick merger with Warner Music, who, of course, tried to merge with its UK rival several times ahead of Terra Firma's acquisition last year.

All of this is speculation of course, but if you're a fan of speculation, or fancy a summary of EMI: The Terra Firma Months, then check out the article here.

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EMI CUTS IN MEXICO
Talking of EMI restructuring, the major has axed eight people in its Mexico office, according to reports. Sales and marketing will reportedly take the brunt of the cuts in the major's Latin America base.

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BPI / VIRGIN MEDIA COLLABORATION DISCUSSED
So, a bit more fun for all you fans of the "should ISPs help record labels stop online file sharing" debate. Following the news last week that Virgin Media had agreed to send warning letters to any of its customers who the UK record industry - via trade body the BPI - reckoned were illegally sharing music online, journalist Bill Thompson had a little rant on the BBC website last week, calling continued attempts by traditional content owners to curb online piracy a "doomed enterprise". He added that while Virgin was spinning its collaborative effort with the BPI as a bid to be socially responsible, they themselves were content owners, and that in fact their willingness to spy on their own customers was more about self preservation. He predicted that Sky and BT, who both have their own content platforms to protect, will follow suit via their internet service provider divisions.

The BPI were quick to respond, publishing their own comment piece by top man Geoff Taylor, who said: "It's naive at best to think licensed music services can prosper without action being taken against illegal downloading. Indeed it's Bill Thompson, rather than music companies, who is stuck in the past. Music companies are radically re-inventing their business models in response to changes in how music fans want to access music online. Yet Thompson's digital utopianism clings to an implausible and dated belief that the internet will be an endless free lunch".

Anyhow, if you are a fan of all this debating, then go check the case for and against, or, rather, against and for, as follows...

Bill Thompson writes here.
BPI responds here.

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NEW SURVEY SAYS THE KIDS KEEP ON COPYING THOSE TUNES
Not sure how this fits into that debate, but a new survey reckons that the average kid on the street has 800 illegally copied songs on their iPod or MP3 player, and that half of them are more than happy to share their entire digital music collection with anyone online. The survey, by the University Of Hertfordshire, says that the average yoof's music player contains 1770 songs, of which 842 are illegal copies. It's outrageous. I'd lock em all up meself, and throw away the key too.

The boss of music publisher representatives British Music Rights, who commissioned the survey, that's Feargal Sharkey by the way, was less Daily Mail about it, though he admitted the survey made for grim reading. The Telegraph quote him thus: "I was one of those people who went around the back of the bike shed with songs I had taped off the radio the night before. But this totally dwarfs that, and anything we expected". He said the solution lies in developing more and better legal services, and in making breaking copyright "unappealing". So there you have it.

Details of the survey have just gone online at www.bmr.org/page/press-release-29 - I might go have a look for myself and may report a bit more on it tomorrow.

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QTRAX TO LAUNCH THIS WEEK
One of those "legal services" is the much touted Qtrax, one of several legal P2P file sharing platforms that have been touted in recent years, though the one that seems most likely to actually get off the ground, despite that rather embarrassing false start at Midem earlier this year. As previously reported, Qtrax announced it had all the majors on board and was about to launch back in January. But it didn't so it didn't. But with EMI, Universal, Beggars and all four major music publishers now signed up, Qtrax is ready to go, with a message on its home page now reading: "We are pleased to present free and legal music downloads starting June 18 2008. Artist and album availability will continue to grow weekly". While the industry have slowly been won over by the new legit P2P service it remains to be seen if those really horrible file sharing kids can also be persuaded to sign up to it - given that there will presumably be some limitations in how music can be downloaded, if only to exclude the catalogues of those labels as yet not on board. We'll see I guess.

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MYSPACE REDESIGN TO GO LIVE THIS WEEK
In that aforementioned New York Times piece it quotes Guy Hands as telling the managers of some of EMI's biggest artists that "Rupert Murdoch says MySpace is going to be the future of music, not record labels, I am going to prove him wrong". Well, Hands is yet to do so really, though Murdoch is yet to really prove MySpace is the future of music as well.

Though, as previously reported, it is holding up as a music destination site despite it having a famously clunky user experience, and despite most social networkers jumping ship to Facebook. And now we hear the social networking major is about to undergo a major redesign, so perhaps the clunkiness will go too.

Of course there have been constant tweaks on the MySpace site over the last two years, mainly making the user profile experience more Facebook like, but word has it there will be a noticeable revamp of look and feel later this week. The previously reported new MySpace music service, designed to launch the social networking site as a serious player in the music download market, should follow later this year.

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AIM AGM THIS THURSDAY
The Annual General Meeting of the Association Of Independent Music will take place on Thursday at that London Calling music business convention at good old Earls Court. There will be a presentation from AIM chief Alison Wenham, a special announcement of some sort, plus a Q&A session with Sunday Best/Bestival's Rob da Bank and Cream's James Barton. There will also be the voting that you'd expect from an AGM, with all of the following competing for one of four places available on the indie trade body's board:

Billy Grant, Joint Managing Director, TwoPointNine
Jeff Thompson, Label Manager, Fat Northerner
Jen Anderson, Label Manager, King Tuts Recordings
Kerry Harvey-Piper, Co-Founder & Director, Red Grape Records
Katia Isakoff, Managing Director, Hairpin Records
Julie Weir, A&R Director, Visible Noise
Gilead Limor, General Manager, Gilead Limor
Simon Raymonde, Director, Bella Union

It all kicks off at 4pm and rounds off with beer and chips at 6pm. Hurrah.

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RADIO 1 MAN PARFITT FAVOURITE FOR TOP BBC RADIO JOB
Radio 1 chief Andy Parfitt, who has some wider youth content role these days if I remember rightly, is reportedly a favourite to take over as Director Of Audio And Music at the Beeb, taking over from the departing Jenny Abramsky. BBC Director Of Sport Roger Mosey and the corporation's top marketing man Tim Davie are also reportedly on the shortlist, though a spokesman for the corporation said Mosey hadn't actually applied for the job.

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GCAP ANNOUNCE A NEW NETWORKED SHOW
GCap has announced it will launch a new mid-morning show that will be networked across the majority of its One Network of local radio stations. It will be presented by Capital Radio over night presenter Philippa Collins and will launch in late June. Other schedule changes are expected on GCap's local stations, which may or may not include more networked shows. GCap, of course, is in the process of being acquired by rivals Global Radio.

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SMOOOOOOTH ANNOUNCE TWO NEW NETWORKED SHOWS
More networking of shows on local radio stations, and GMG Radio has announced it will launch two new weekend shows that will air across all of its six Smooth Radio stations. The first, presented by Fiona Phillips, already airs on Smooth London, while Andy Peebles will present a new Saturday night show called The Soul Train.

GMG Radio Group Programme Director John Simons says this: "We are delighted to be bringing two fantastic broadcasters to more of the UK. In just a few months Fiona has demonstrated she has a real affinity with the Smooth Radio audience and I'm sure she'll replicate this across the country. There are few radio presenters in Britain who know more about soul music than Andy and his passion for the genre still shines through".

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CHART UPDATE
So, the country is still break dancing around the living room to Mint Royale's rework of 'Singin In The Rain', because it is still top of the singles chart this week. Which is good news. For fans of singing in the rain. New entries this week come Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown with 'No Air' at 22, Feeder with 'We Are The People' at 25, Madonna with 'Give It 2 Me' at 36, We Are Scientists with 'Chick Lit' at 37 and The Music with 'Strength In Numbers' at 38.

No surprise here, but Coldplay have topped the album chart having shifted rather a lot of copies of 'Viva la Vida', even though it only came out on Thursday. Other album new entries come from Fratellis with 'Here We Stand' at 5, NERD with 'Seeing Sounds' at 20, Lil Wayne (the big seller in the US last week) with 'Tha Carter' at 23, Dolly Parton with 'Backwoods Barbie' at 35, Whitesnake with a 30th anniversary collection at 38 and Emmylou Harris with 'All I Intended To Be' at 40.

These here charts of which we all speak are counted, compiled and unleashed, in case you ever did wonder, by the people at the Official UK Charts Company - www.theofficialcharts.com

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TOTAL ROCK WORLD ALBUM CHART
It's the Total Rock World Album Chart, as counted down on Total Rock over the weekend - www.totalrock.com. New entries and re-entries marked with a *.

1. Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight (Warner Bros)
2. Nickelback - All The Right Reasons (Warner/Roadrunner)
3. Daughtry - Daughtry (SonyBMG)
4. Bon Jovi - Lost Highway (Universal/Mercury)*
5. Iron Maiden - Somewhere Back In Time (EMI)
6. Def Leppard - Songs From The Sparkle Lounge (Universal/Mercury)
7. Eagles - Long Road Out Of Eden (Universal)
8. Paramore - Riot! (Warner/Atlantic)
9. Panic At The Disco - Pretty. Odd (Warner/Atlantic)
10. Kid Rock - Rock - N Roll Jesus (Warner/Atlantic)
11. Children Of Bodom - Blooddrunk (Spinefarm)
12. Finger Eleven - Them Vs. You Vs. Me (Wind-Up)*
13. Foo Fighters - Echoes Silence Patience & Grace (Roswell)
14. Testament - The Formation Of Damnation (Nuclear Blast)
15. Buckcherry - 15 (Eleven Seven Music)
16. Whitesnake - Good To Be Bad (SPV)
17. Rolling Stones - Shine A Light (Universal)
18. Story Of The Year - The Black Swan (Epitaph)
19. Opeth - Watershed (Warner/Roadrunner)*
20. Atreyu - Lead Sails Paper Anchor (Warner/Roadrunner)*

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SUB.TV PLAYLIST
Here they are again, the videos being played on the Sub.tv video screen network in students' unions all over the UK. New entries marked with a *.

Sub.tv Exclusive
Mink - Talk To Me (Spitfire)

A-List
Black Kids - Hurricane Jane (Almost Gold)
Born Ruffians - Hummingbird (Warp)
The Brightlights - 3 (Distiller)
Cage The Elephant - Ain't No Rest For The Wicked (EMI/Relentless)
Dirty Pretty Things - Tired Of England (Universal/Vertigo)*
Dizzee Rascal - Dance Wiv Me (Beggars/XL)
Five O'Clock Heroes - Who feat. Agyness Deyn (Glaze)
Infadels - Free Things For Poor People (Wall Of Sound)
The Kooks - Shine On (EMI/Virgin)
MGMT - Electric Feel (SonyBMG/Columbia)
One Night Only - You and Me (Universal/Mercury)*
Radiohead - Bodysnatchers (Live) (Beggars/XL)
Seether - Rise Above This (ADA Global/WindUp)
The Subways - Alright (Warner)
Weezer - Pork and Beans (Universal/Polydor)
Wild Beasts - The Devil's Crayon (Domino)

B-List
Annie - I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me (Universal/Island)
Elliot Minor - Time After Time (Warner/Repossession)*
Fightstar - I Am The Message (Institute)*
Glasvegas - Geraldine (SonyBMG/Columbia)
Jamie Lidell - Another Day (Warp)
Joan As Police Woman - To Be Loved (Reveal)*
Ladyhawke - Paris Is Burning (Modular)
Metronomy - Holiday (Because)*
Officer Kicks - Pictures Of Me (None)*
Pivot - In The Blood (Warp)
The Potbelleez - Don't Hold Back (Frenetic)
The Rascals - Freakbeat Phantom (Deltasonic)
Roots Manuva - Buff Nuff (Ninja Tune/Big Dada)*
Tokyo Police Club - In A Cave (Memphis Industries)
The Week That Was - Scratch The Surface (Memphis Industries)*
XX Teens - Only You (EMI/Mute)

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DOHERTY CRUCIFIED BY ARTIST FRIEND
An artist friend of Pete Doherty is apparently working on a sculpture of the singer which depicts him on a cross, and surrounded by bits of tabloid newspapers, intended to symbolise the star's crucifixion by media. Doherty has apparently commissioned the piece, and intends to use it at his forthcoming solo gig at London's Albert Hall on 12 Jul.

Nick Reynolds says he came up with the idea a while back, but it's taken a while to make the sculpture happen. He's quoted as saying: "I was quite pally with Michael Hutchence and Paula Yates and their love affair - like Pete and Kate's - went a bit sour. The negative press put a downward spiral on them. And when I saw the press that Pete was getting, it made me think of them - I saw the same pattern. As if Pete was being crucified by the press. That's when I came up with the idea for the statue".

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ROONEY SANG WITH WESTLIFE
According to reports, footballer Wayne Rooney performed with Westlife when they appeared at his recent wedding reception in Italy, giving an apparently "note-perfect rendition" of a track called 'Swear It Again'. A source told The Mirror: "The boys were stunned - they could not believe it. Wayne hadn't practised with them but must have practised somewhere. He is a brilliant singer and it was a moment that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Some guests said it was the most romantic thing they'd ever seen. Coleen was not the only one in tears. It was the perfect end to the perfect day".

I can tell you that I'm managing to hold back the tears myself. Which is hard, because there's definitely something sticking in my throat.

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