GO: ROCK: AN ALBUM TO CROWN QUEENS' CAREER.

Byline: By Alan Poole

ALTHOUGH their albums have always sold well and they almost invariably steal the show at any festival they play, Queens of the Stone Age have remained very much a work in progress.

But eight years and four albums on, Lullabies to Paralyze, released on Monday, is unquestionably the finished article, a superb collection that triumphantly confirms them as top-of-the-bill material.

It's their first album since the departure of Nick Oliveri, the bald, bearded bassist with streaking tendencies who gave QofSA their visual trademark, leaving Josh Homme as the last link to previous band Kyuss.

And, whether because of or in spite of that schism, it has unleashed an extraordinary burst of creativity by this gifted and very canny musician. Lullabies clocks in at over an hour's worth of music without a hint of padding - there are a dozen tracks here that shape up as natural singles and the first one selected, Little Sister, is, if anything, one of the less obvious candidates.

There is an admirably wide range of styles on offer (although any of them could certainly be filed under classic rock) and further variety is added by a string of guest-star cameos - Billy Gibbons, Jesse Hughes, Shirley Manson and Homme's significant other Brody Dalle.

It makes their last effort, the excellent Songs for the Deaf, seem positively puny in comparison, and will unquestionably be well to the fore of all those album of the year lists that will emerge in nine months' time.

BRIGHT EYES, aka Conor Oberst, has been widely hailed as the latest in a long line of new Dylans but perhaps The New Neil Young would be a more fitting, if equally unfair, label.

Although still just 24 he has already proved that, like the great man himself, he has an extraordinarily adventurous attitude to music, underlined when he released two totally different albums on the same day.

I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is a brilliantly fresh take on conventional folk-rock, including some exquisite ballad harmonies with Emmylou Harris that stand comparison to her work with Young and the late Gram Parsons.

Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, in contrast, is a stark, experimental affair, the sort of album that used to baffle and infuriate Young's record chiefs and stretch the patience of Radiohead fans.

It's a lot to take on board for any newcomer, but a good introduction to an exceptionally talented artist is First Day of My Life, released as a single on Monday and also including When the President Talks to God, the protest song that featured prominently on his pre-election Vote for Change appearances with the likes of Young, Bruce Springsteen and REM.

CAPTION(S):

MASTER WORK: Queens of the Stone Age are back with an impressive fourth album; FRESH: The originality of Bright Eyes, aka Conor Oberst, has earned him the tag of being the new Dylan