Oh Dear...oh deary me. What are we going to do with The Uncle Devil Show? I guess it all depends on your particular view of the situation. There are flashes of absolute brilliance contained on their debut (and one can presume their final) album, 'A Terrible Beauty', that makes you wonder what I'm really whining about in the first place. The problem with the album is two fold: The album as a whole is a tad uneven and you don't know whether to take the whole project seriously or not.

Shall I back up and start again?

The Uncle Devil Show is the side project of former (?) Del Amitri frontman Justin Currie (If anyone can give me a definitive answer on whether the Dels are still technically a band please let me know. They are one of the few bands I would ever go into bat for). Of course the three-piece all have assumed names and go about looking like a wedding band that you hired when you were obviously drunk: Leather pants, zebra-print waistcoats, bad facial hair etc.

Sharing vocal duties with fellow Scot Kevin McDermott (a.k.a. Langton Herring), the two do well considering they have the nasty business of their tongues permanently planted in their cheeks. 'Leonardo's Bicycle' starts things off well, a sweet slice of 60s Brit-Pop that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face for the next month. 'Bimbo In The Limo' is yet another wry observation by Currie (a.k.a Jason Barr) on the excess of fame: "The fridge is full of lager and I'm pissing on the seats, there's a bimbo in the limo and the bimbo is me".

'She Cuts Her Own Fringe' is also a riot. The subject, a certified nutter, does outrageous things like teaching her canary to belt out Motorhead numbers and trash its cage 'rock star style'. In fact the only song that doesn't take the piss is the cover of the Helen Reddy tune 'Angie Baby'.

Sadly though the rest is either very poor ('Strange Umbrella') or sub-Dels material ('Dandelion'). Though you would be a hard bastard not to smirk when listening to songs with titles like 'Sidelong Glances Of A Pigeon Kicker' and 'I Had A Drink About You Last Night'.

Rumour has it that the band has already parted ways (no forthcoming gigs, no activity on their website). No doubt their aliases are quietly blaming the media for not taking them seriously as a musical force. Fine, I'm happy to play my part in this little charade; it's not like I have anything better to do with my time.

Easily the most confusing release this year.