six of the best buys this weekend

SIX GOOD POP AND JAZZ CDS

1. John Coltrane: The Heavyweight Champion (Atlantic) Seven CDs in a box, documenting the great tenor saxophonist's heady experiments after leaving the Miles Davis quintet.

2. Blur: The Great Escape (Food/Parlophone) Modern life continues to be rubbish, as Colchester's top band demonstrate.

3. Eusebe: Tales from Mama's Yard (EMI) Eusebe take rap and make it parochial, British and real.

4. David Bowie: 1. Outside (RCA) A concept to conjure with - a Bowie album you can actually listen to.

5. Joshua Redman: Spirit of the Moment (Warner Bros) Splendid, double, live CD from this spirited tenor sax contender.

6. The Flaming Lips: Clouds Taste Metallic (Warner Bros) Continuing their voyage to the outer reaches of mutant pop.

1. Verdi: Rigoletto (Sony) Renato Bruson, Roberto Alagna, Andrea Rost/ Orchestra of La Scala Milan cond. Riccardo Muti. Powerfully gripping.

2. Strauss: Don Quixote & Lalo Cello Concerto. (EMI) Jacqueline du Pre cond. Boult and Barenboim. A miraculous performance of the Lalo.

3. Berlioz: L'Enfance du Christ (Hyperion) cond Matthew Best. A choral masterpiece well served.

4. Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Op 46 & 72 (Supraphon) Karel Sejna and the Czech Philharmonic. A prize-winner in 1959 and still fresh and energetic.

5.The Lily and the Lamb (Harmonia Mundi) Anonymous 4. Gorgeously inauthentic womens' voices in chart-topping early monody.

6.Michelangeli: The Vatican Recordings (Memoria) A four-CD set with peerless performances including Beethoven's Emperor Concerto.

SIX GOOD CLASSICAL CDS