ALFIE are back with more lounge-friendly pop and a tour of the UK. The Mancunians are in concert in Bristol and Cardiff on Thursday, January 29 and Friday 30.

And new single, No Need, is out on Monday, February 16, taken from their third album, Do You Imagine.

The former is another dose of Burt Bacharach like pop with a harder edge. It drifts passed quite nicely, powered by some very 70s, and very kitsch, horns, over which guitars jangle and vocals croak.

The horns, played by session musicians, are the musical highlight of the whole Alfie affair.

Lee Gorton's lead vocals can't replace the likes of Patti Page, who sang for Bacharach, although the backing vocals are better.

The guitars are nondescript and it plods along at a uniform 4x4 with little of interest from Sam Morris and Sean Kelly on bass and drums.

In short, it's the worse of Burt's world and a post-Oasis, softly, softly punk. The band started the story in 2000 with If You Happy With You Need Do Nothing, which showed more promise.

Sometimes a deranged production, it featured more battered instruments than you could cram into the venues they played, mostly bought from flea markets in northern towns.

In the ramshackle setting Gorton's voice didn't grate quite so much. And where Alfie fell down musically, humour was always there to pick them up.

Now it's gone they're sounding a bit flat. See Alfie in the Anson Rooms or Barfly. Surf to www.alfie.net for more info.