It's been a good week: another local CD out and another album from Bob. What more can one ask?

The local CD arrived courtesy of singer/songwriter Colleen Gibson, a smooth laid-back affair that I look forward to reviewing in the next little while. They're piling up a bit at the moment which is fantastic and in a few paragraph's time I'll look at the debut from SheJus Greedy.

But first nothing would, of course, stop me from a quick comment on Uncle Bob's new disc. Mr Dylan is now 71 and there has long been a growing undercurrent in the world of Dylan fandom that his best days might possibly be behind him. After all, his voice is that of a battered survivor and many recent songs have seemed to hold only a shadow of his former brilliance.

Well, forget all that.Tempest is a majestic piece of work, a sustained tumble of glorious, harrowing, mystifying words and images, drawing from old folk, country, rock ‘n' roll and blues to form the most ambitious sustained vision Dylan has created since possibly 1998's Time Out Of Mind.

To confirm the rumours: yes, the title track is about the Titanic; yes, it is forty five verses long; yes, it does mention Leo and his sketchbook; no it doesn't mention the iceberg. It's an extraordinary piece of work, a song for the universe.

The tribute to John Lennon, ‘Roll On John', is equally affecting, placing Lennon in a history of Liverpool which encompasses the early slave trade and the Quarrymen. It concludes with a quote from William Blake: ‘Tiger, tiger, burning bright / I pray the lord my soul to keep / In the forests of the night / Cover him over and let him sleep'. Dylan, of course, knew Lennon. At his first meeting with the Beatles -over forty years ago - they talked about William Blake. When you hear it in the song it just about rips your heart out.

But back to Tauranga...

There is a gig next Friday for all you punk rock fans out there. Normally I steer clear of mentioning cover band gigs but when a band is dedicated to reviving punk then I'll make an exception. Punktuation are playing at Brewer's Bar next Friday (21 September). They promise songs from The Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Strangers and their ilk and this'll be the first gig for new guitarist Jason Curtis, who joins bass player Peter Cook and drummer Steve Winnard.

OK. SheJus Greedy. These guys are legends amongst musicians. They've recently released their first album Natural World. The ‘legend' bit really refers to their rhythm section. The four-piece are powered by the grooves of Rob Paterson (bass) and Micky Ututaonga (drums) both once members of the band Cairo who, back in the eighties used to play four nights a week at the Tudor Towers in Rotorua.

There are a few bands that, at certain times, become 'must see” stops for musicians. In Wellington it was the 1860 band with Rodger Fox, Martin Winch and others. In Rotorua after your gig you went to Tudor Towers to be amazed by Cairo. These guys are the best.

On top of that you have singer/guitarist Grant Haua and singer Delayne Ututaonga, who got SheJus Greedy together in the first place.

Natural World is a very enjoyable album, a solid blast of catchy original partying blues/funk with frequently jaw-dropping playing. Check out ‘Mail Man' to get an idea: a furious guitar riff from Grant and breakdowns where the bass and drums do things that should be illegal.

Delayne has a great soul voice whether belting it out on the Otis Redding-tinged ‘Shame On You' or delivering an emotive ballad such as closing track ‘Troubled Water'. Elsewhere ‘Beetle Juice' finds her picking up the pieces after a wild night on the town.

There's a lot of variety here, with a couple of tasty acoustic tracks thrown in, though it comes as a surprise that the majority of the songs are sung by Grant rather than Delayne. That might make the band a little hard to define in commercial terms but doesn't detract from the very strong songwriting and immaculate playing. A great party album for summer!