1. Cities – Talking Heads – Despite the botched geography (ancient Egypt folks), it remains a wondrous beat as Bryne catalogs the world as a series of strange observations, “I got it figured out…” he claims but does he? Deranged and brittle bouncy – A+
2. And She Was – Talking Heads – In case you had forgotten that they were a pop band, they use the quirk to great effect – A
3. Girlfriend Is Better – Talking Heads – Have you heard of really big bands like Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire? Now listen to where they came from… – A
4. Love And Affection – Joan Armatrading – Daley’s superb cover (on what appears to be the album of the week) is only beaten by Joan’s huge hit original – A
5. Talking In Your Sleep – The Civil Wars – The other big winner this week is the Civil Wars covers EP, here they give power poppers the Romantics an intense once over – A-
6. Sour Times Live – Portishead – Yes indeed, I was at Roseland when this was recorded… quite near the front as well if memory serves though you could barely see anything… but you could hear – A
7. Sour Times – Marsha Ambrosius – Takes out the atmospheric dub effects and discovers the soul ballad underneath – A-
8. Sour Times – The Civil Wars – Resurrect the Portishead classic by stripping it down so the voices take over – A
9. Fields Of Gold – Sting – This is such a rarity, I wanna remind you that Sting owes so much to Mark Knopfler on this track that might fit onto Local Hero – A
10. Lights Of New York – Neil Finn – Because I’m not a fan, I don’t care that this is a very experimental dizzying piece of work though not what we expect from Neil – B