Pop album reviews: Karl Hyde, Steve Martin & Edie Brickell and Snoop Lion After the triumph of sound-tracking the Olympic opening ceremony, Underworld's Karl Hyde has made his first solo album. It's a fascinating affair, stepping away from the duo's dancefloor electronica into jazzily ambient terrain, bending songs around effects laden guitar parts and treated vocals. Found sounds, musical noises and rhythmic distortions intrude in constantly surprising fashions as fluid songs surface and congeal around Hyde's understated vocals, thoughtful lyrics and gently unfolding melodies. Elusive and ethereal, it hints at the late night soulscapes of the Blue Nile but remains boldly, if at times frustratingly, out of focus. Steve Martin & Edie Brickell, Love has come for you Rounder £14.99 * * * Here's an odd couple: comedian Steve Martin and Mrs Paul Simon. Martin, of course, has a credible side-line as a banjo virtuoso while Edie Brickell was an accomplished singer-songwriter before she hooked up with Paul Simon in 1992 and all but disappeared into the hinterland of married life. They work effortlessly together, Martin's silvery, tinkling banjo melodies conjuring up lilting, lovely melodies and deep, folky lyrics from Brickell. Sympathetically produced by Peter Asher (of Peter And Gordon), the duo's co-written songs are deftly shaded by fiddles and guitars, with voice and banjo always beautifully balanced. Simple but lovely. Download this: Fighter Snoop Lion, Reincarnated The slickest of gangsta rappers, Snoop Dogg has reinvented himself as a Rastafarian reggae singer. At 41, this allows him to move beyond narratives of sex and violence, whilst continuing in his role as America's most notorious stoner, still singing the praises of his favourite indulgence on Smoke The Weed. Rebel Way is a sweet, sleek groove that suits his laid back melodicism but mostly this is a gimmicky album with ill-fitting techno and electro influences on plastic, poppy songs. His claim to be the reincarnation of Bob Marley is just a dope addled boast. Download this: Rebel Way