Tulsa

Since 1977 it's been a litany of bad business decisions, dodgy labels and the odd tantalising near-miss for Dwight Twilley, a pop classicist, who not only boasted outstanding writing skill and the kind of voice echo chambers were designed for, but also took a mean'n'moody photograph. I swear, if Louis Walsh ever got his hands on five Dwight Twilleys we'd have had to surrender the future. But enough of that, lest we patronise the man's present with his past.

Tulsa is astonishing, simple as that. Over the album's twelve tracks Twilley uses recognisable elements from the past forty years of rock'n'roll but twists and pulls everything together for his own purposes without ever sounding as if he's indulging in an academic exercise. There's nothing remotely post-modern or ironic here, just an absolute, almost naove belief in The Song.

On the piano-led ballad 'Baby's Got The Blues Again' he comes close to drifting into at least four songs I'm sure I know but can't quite place (the bastard!) before nailing a chorus which has infiltrated most of my waking moments this past fortnight. You just do not fluke things like that.

Similarly, 'A Little Less Love' initially suckers you into thinking that he's about to break into 'Will You Still Love Tomorrow?' until the entire song changes tack and heads off into a unique, downbeat and fiendishly infectious chorus. There are echoes of classic Rockpile rifferama on the title track, hints of Holly and bursts of Beatles and Beach Boys all over the place. God, it's glorious!

The only thing remotely 'modern' about Tulsa is the fact that it's been released in the year 2000, but with this album Dwight Twilley has created something my power pop instincts tell me is truly timeless. See you in the end-of-year Top 3 listings, Dwight!