Richard Ashcroft - Science of Silence (Hut/Virgin)

With his now trademark strings framing this mid-tempo ballad, Ashcroft languidly strolls through a tale of cosmic angst. The lyrics are a bit uninspiring, with a chorus of "We are on a rock, spinning silently", and would you believe "she's a university, a cosmic library, wait and see". With a definite feeling of treading water, it's hard to get excited about this single.

It's all pleasant enough, but the frustrating thing is that Ashcroft can do so much better than this.