Madonna and Adele to rock into 2015 with new albums

Imagine being the one who gets to tell the so-called Queen of Pop that a good portion of her new album has leaked online? Oh, and it was the demos, too. Yikes.

Which is why, as 2014 drew to a close, Madonna and her peeps decided to hit the ground running.

In light of said leakage, they announced that Rebel Heart (her 13th studio effort), would be released in March and hey, those who'd already pre-ordered the album on iTunes were promptly treated to six new songs. Take that, internet criminals! And now, we can get back to the question of whether or not the world actually needs another Madge record (answer: absolutely not).

It's a good thing, then, that the rest of 2015 should throw more than a few welcome musical goodies our way. Just wait until the inimitable Adele marks her comeback with an album we can only guess she'll have christened 25 (Ms Adkins has a habit of naming her records after the age she recorded them at). A wee bit of love, heartbreak, regret and a few extra zeroes on the bank balance guaranteed.

Elsewhere, the eldest Gallagher brother (Noel) has reconvened with those High Flying Birds of his for Chasing Yesterday, due for release in March, and there are plenty of, ahem, rumours flying about involving Fleetwood Mac's "last act" (a new album to accompany this year's tour is in the pipeline, says Lindsey Buckingham).

SCINTILLATING

But there's a lot for younger listeners in the crowd to get on board with. The inexplicably popular US rock outfit Imagine Dragons toss out a second album, Smoke and Mirrors, next month, and the fabulous Marina and the Diamonds return in April with third album, Froot (nice title).

Personally, we're quite excited about Mark Ronson's Uptown Special, released later this month. Oh, come on, lead single Uptown Funk was one of the tastiest jams of 2014, with a scintillating turn from MJ sound-alike, Bruno Mars. "Too hot," indeed.

Back home, two-time Choice Music Prize winner Richie Egan (aka Jape) returns with This Chemical Sea on January 23 and the wonderful Cathy Davey is due to hit us with something new before the summer.

But we've saved the best for last. No, not the new Coldplay record (yep, A Head Full of Dreams is on the way).

We're talking about Bob Dylan's collection of covers made famous by Frank Sinatra, Shadows in the Night, hitting shelves February 3. No word of a lie, lads.

Enjoy.

> CHRIS WASSER