Bruce Springsteen We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions Sony BMG (60m 34s) . . . . .

THIS is not an album of Bob Seeger covers but a homage to Pete Seeger, the American folk singer who released more than 200 albums since before the second world war. Seeger didn't compose any of these traditional songs but popularised many of them, including the title track. Recorded over three one-day sessions in 1997, 2005 and this year, there is a raucous abandon to the project from the off with the track 'Old Man Tucker'.

Springsteen has long written music that re"ects the America he comes from so, after the New Orleans "ood, it is only natural for him to record 'My Oklahoma Home', a comic tale about a man who loses his home to a twister, or 'Mrs McGrath', an anti-war ballad that was taken up by Republicans here at the time of the Rising. Springsteen is well aware some of his rock fans might "nd this hard to swallow, but the ramshackle nature of this project makes it as energetic as anything he has done before.

Download: 'Jesse James' 'Shenandoah' 'We Shall Overcome'.

Rock: Best of the rest Pearl Jam Pearl Jam Sony BMG (49m 42s) . . . .

PEARL Jam's last album (I can't remember the name of it either) sold less than a tenth of their 1991 debut, Te n . Now, 10% of 10 million copies isn't bad for any band that has gradually (and deliberately) eschewed the rock 'n' roll machine but the question remains: does anyone care? Here they rediscover their freshness in a clean, straight-up, angry, political rock record, with a few ballads thrown in.

Download: 'Unemployable', 'Wasted Reprise', 'World Wide Suicide'. ND Matisyahu Youth Epic (46m 55s) . . .

WHAT do you get when you cross the Talmud with rastafarianism? Answer: Matisyahu, aka Matthew Miller from Brooklyn, whose major label debut is an intriguing mix of reggae and ska. This fella wears Hassidic dress, makes funny noises with his mouth and espouses spiritual self-improvement, all to up-tempo beats, and he sometimes turns guitars up to 11. He may sound like a gimmick but the boy can rap. Pity about the Justin Timberlake impression on 'Indestructible'.

Download: 'Youth', 'Dispatch the Troops', 'Late Night in Zion'.

The Redneck Manifesto Seven Stabs Greyslate Records (26m 30s) . . .

THIS Irish "ve-piece make free-form instrumental records that are schizophenic and compelling. Here they rustle seven con"icting tracks together, beginning with 'It's Song Time', which jarringly pokes fun at a song structure, only to make sense on the "fth or sixth listen. 'Uno Dos Capos' and 'No One Plans Eleven' are wandering guitar melodies that hold attention. The title track is their least appealing, as they regress to their rock in"uences, but the sensitive ode 'Eld Panter' saves their manifesto. With a little more attention to their avant garde side, their best will be yet to come.

Download: 'It's Song Time', 'Play It By Arm'. Una Mullally 23 Sukpatch Moshi Moshi Records (37m 12s) . . .

Sukpatch are back (via a detour on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royale label) with their perfectly-formed slacker acoustic electro. Lacking the post-emo depth of Death Cab For Cutie or the boldness of The Knife, they go for some likeable stoner lo-" guitar pop. The record opens like a Ben Kweller demo with '7.30 Tomorrow' and continues with 'Natural Thing', but amongst the scratchy guitars and scratchier synths, there's a pure pop hit in 'Bottom Of The Well'. 23 is likeable, unpretentious and rolls along just "ne.

Download: 'Bottom Of The Well', '7.30 Tomorrow'. UM Jason Collett Idols of Exile Arts & Crafts (49m 54s) . . . .

Broken Social Scene guitarist Collett is joined here by members of BSS, Do Make Say Think, Stars and Metric on a beautifully comfy alt-country get together. Opener 'Fire' holds a mirror up to Sufjan Steven's off-kilter boy/girl harmonies, but the headiness of what follows is so pretty that you can forgive the rip-off of 'Disarm' by Smashing Pumpkins to lay the foundation for 'We All Lose One Another'. Every track seems juxtaposed with the next . . . from aches to comfort. It's not rocket science, it's not even rocking, but it's utterly huggable.

Download: 'We All Lose One Another', 'Almost Summer'. UM Classical Pinchas Zukerman/Daniel Barenboim Beethoven: Violin Sonatas 1-6 EMI Classics (3 50854 2) . . . .

THIS CD shows the danger of over-producing an album. The digital remastering of the original early '70s recordings has imbued the sound here with a disconcerting arti"ciality, sometimes robbing the technical dif"culties in the violin line of their deserved eminence. Save for that, the content itself is still one of the great recordings of the early Beethoven sonatas. Every nuance of articulation is "nely polished, as these works demand, and the duo weave around each other effortlessly. Karen Dervan Jazz Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble The Eleventh Hour ECM . . . .

BRITISH soprano saxophonist Evan Parker is perhaps the de"nitive avant-garde musician, a visionary who has stuck resolutely to an abstract path throughout the ever-changing fashions in jazz. In his Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, Parker takes conventional instruments like saxophones, pianos and violins, and offers their sound to a team of 'processors' who manipulate the sound live on stage before passing it to the audience. The results are not what you would call melodic, but those of open mind and curious disposition will "nd much to delight the ear. Parker himself remains as compelling a voice as ever. Cormac Larkin