Here and now

As readers of the Virtual Cocktail Party over at the Good Girls Kill for Money blog will know, in recent weeks I've been listening to a lot of Del Amitri, the Scottish band that had its biggest hit back in the '90s with the ubiquitous "Roll to Me." Despite featuring some of the best pop songwriting since Lennon/McCartney, the band - essentially the core duo of Justin Currie and Iain Harvie - dropped off the radar after the release of their last album, 2002's import only Can You Do Me Good?"

But although they've since languished without a record deal or label (Mercury dropped them after the relative failure of that last album), they haven't been idle. Chief songwriter Currie has been involved in other projects, but has also put together a solo album, "Rebound," that has regrettably yet to find a label. However, thanks to modern technology, Currie has recently posted four of his new songs to his MySpace site. Better yet, they're all terrific. And at least one of them, "If I Ever Loved You," is as great a track as Del Amitri ever recorded.

The band itself isn't quite defunct yet though, it seems. Currie and Harvie have also apparently been recording a new Del Amitri record as well, and sample tracks can be found at their site.