Various: Cafe Del Mar: The Best Of

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * *)

After an endless series of CDs based on what cool and serene music they play during happy hour at the Ibiza bar turned brand name, it's apparently time to compile the compilations.

That means a 27-track double CD consisting of wall-to-wall mellow Spanish guitar pickings, lightly tossed Europop, wispy electronica, two lots of the fractured trip-hop of Lamb, and a couple of almost-intriguing remixes of rock names including Coldplay (God Put a Smile on your Face), U2 (In a Little While), Bush (Letting the Cables Sleep), and veteran jazz-rocker John Martyn.

There's not much that disturbs its endless air of calm or really holds the interest but it all sounds deeply stylish. Which makes it just the soundtrack for frock shops or open homes in more fashionable suburbs.

Label: Mercury