Likely to be an even bigger smash is STEPHEN FRETWELL's new album Man on the Roof'.

His first album Magpie' in 2004 was a gold seller and you can expect this offering from the Scunthorpe singer songwriter to be even bigger.

His obvious influence is Dylan, in his singing and his music and lyrics and the curly-ginger has penned 14 tracks for this album.

It's a sort of soulful folk rock mix which swings between some upbeat tracks and slower darker ballads.

Much of the album has acoustic guitar and piano to the fore and the lyrics provide the usual mix of lovers tiffs, being saved by a woman, couples struggling to get past first base.

There is one major stand-out track from the rest of the album for me and that is the opener, Coney, a lilting swaying seaside oompa sound with fuzzed megaphone vocals and I think it would make a great single which would catch on quickly.

But that would not be a fair sampler of the rest of the album so the actual first single from it will be Scar, slightly reminiscent of Rosie' from the 60s, with catchy guitar and snare; not knowing what his woman wants in Dead; and the lyrics of Funny Hat' given by the "creepy guy right before you in the room .. You know you're not too great when you're drunk in the afternoon".

But nothing beats the line "stick another wasp up your nose" in the mellow San Francisco Blues, and somehow I wanted William Shatner's Dog', with the line "where you were sick on the floor" to be a funny yarn to end the session.

There one other track worth a mention - the one minute long Saturday: "it wasn't a very good day for me", he growls from what appears a drunken stupor perhaps it was?!

This isn't as melancholy as Magpie, but the magic is there if you're a Fretwelloid. (Fiction Records, September 10).