Three stars

Not bad at all for a compilation/soundtrack.

Though it errs pretty much on the commercial side, the soundtrack to the current film about the halcyon days of the Madchester music scene will fill a yearning gap in your CD collection if you missed the whole thing first time round.

Tony Wilson, the guy who helped kick the whole thing off with Factory Records and who the film follows, wrote the liner notes to this run-down of 70s and 80s tunes and is a proud man indeed.

And so he should be. If you do nothing else with your time on Earth, spawning Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays is a pretty decent achievement.

Much of the album features their tunes like Blue Monday, Love Will Tear Us Apart and Loose Fit, but there's the odd Clash or Buzzcocks tune thrown in and even the Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the UK.

Apparently they played Manchester once and went down well. Fair enough.

Oh yes, 808 State's sublime Pacific State also makes an appearance which will make many people's lives complete.

You could at least have a 77-minute party with this.

JS