2002 Irish Albums

David Holmes [right] will be hoping to go top 10 in February with the Ocean's 11 soundtrack – a mixture of old '50s and '60s favourites and his own compositions such as 'My Mate Paul' and 'Gritty Shaker'. Currently at number one on the U.S. Box Office chart, the film premieres here next month and includes Matt Damon, George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt among its A-List cast.

Also due in the first half of the year are new offerings by Woodstar (single/February), Turn (mini-album/February), Gemma Hayes (album/April), ex-Bawl/Fixed Star man Mark Cullen (album/January), Marc Caroll (album/January), and Wilt (album/May) who've been piecing together the follow-up to Bastinado with Manic Street Preachers associate Mike Hedges.

The heavy hitters are likely to come in the autumn, with U2 already working on All That You Can't Leave Behind's successor and The Corrs entering the studio in February. According to a well-placed source: "The word from the Corrs camp is that they want it to be their Rumours – a clearly adult record that'll properly break them in the States."

Other studio-bound acts are The Prayer Boat (January), The Frames (summer), Mellaton (TBC) and Sinéad O'Connor who's one of the featured vocalists on the next Massive Attack album.

On the pop front, Ronan Keating's "slightly rockier" new offering is due in February; B*Witched's much-delayed third album should emerge in the spring; and Samantha Mumba[right] and her 12-year-old brother Omero are both expected to spend the summer topping up their studio tan.

While there's no definite word on an Irish release, Carly Hennessy's Ultimate High album has been sufficiently well-received in the States to suggest that it'll appear here in 2002. Ditto Rubyhorse who are currently readying an updated version of their D-I-Y How Fare Have You Come? album for Def Jam America.