FOR a band who cite Talk Talk as a major inspiration, it is appropriate that Doves don't ruffle feathers by endlessly boasting of former glories.

The Mancunian trio keep their dishevelled heads down, adopting a workmanlike attitude that would delight the forefathers who laid the foundations of their hometown on factory-floor grime.

Doves' two previous albums - Lost Souls and Last Broadcast - updated a niche sound: windswept, desolate Pennine soundscapes rooted in classic rock but harking back to the Bunnymen's Heaven Up Here.

Nothing changes radically here, although the opening title track is a call for an edgier, angrier sound. Cloaked in a chainsaw Fall riff, Some Cities segues into Black and White Town. A potential single of the year, it laps the toes of greatness by evoking the utter despair of urban decay through a stomping Motown melody.

Impressively, the quality control doesn't dip. One Of These Days and Walk On Fire sit snugly in the band's formidable back catalogue and other highlights are the Wigan Casino orchestral bombast of Snowden and the glistening melodies of Almost Forgot Myself. Elsewhere, the stark piano-driven Shadows Of Salford raises the ghosts of Manchester past so you can almost smell the sulphurous chimney soot, while Ambition closes a formidable album with a heavenly hush.

These angels of the North are in full flight.

Dan Jones

Win the CD

The Evening Press has three CDs of Doves' Some Cities to be won, courtesy of Heavenly. Three runners-up each will receive a Doves' T-shirt, hat and badge.

Question: What was Doves' first album called?

Send your answer with your name and address, on a postcard, to Charles Hutchinson, Doves Competition, Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN, by next Friday. Usual rules apply.

Updated: 09:02 Thursday, February 24, 2005