The Saturdays cover Aloe Blac's I Need A Dollar & Mann's Buzzin' for Radio 1's Live Lounge

Wowza! It's fair to say Radio 1's Live Lounge is usually something of a mixed bag, throwing up as many dodgy cover versions as it does inspired ones.

But The Saturdays' mash-up cover of Aloe Blac's I Need A Dollar & Mann's Buzzin' was without a doubt one of the best performances I've heard on the show in its long history.

Smooth, soulful and showing off the girls' harmonies to their very best, the track sounded thoroughly professional - a genuinely excellent performance that holds proper merit in its own right.

With Una playing guitar too, they without a doubt left their individual stamp on the track.

The girls also treated us to a lovely acoustic version of their latest single Notorious and talked about *that* Twitter beef with Example as well as their December tour and Mollie's love of Wimbledon.

(You can now watch a video of the girls performing Notorious on the Radio 1 site too)

New releases round-up - 4th May 2011

Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar

Silky smooth soul vocals and an infectious piano hook. With endorsements from US TV series, not only is this track a fitting anthem to the recession age, but it's a great pop tune too. Real class.

Download

Beyonce - Run The World (Girls)

The diva is back. Sampling Major Lazer's Pon De Floor, after a series of early versions of the track released, On Air/On Sale was triumphant once again, propelling Beyonce's come-back single straight into the charts. Fierce, feisty and one hell of a future club smash, Beyonce's firing on all cylinders here.

Download

Elbow - Open Arms

A return to the big, uplifting mood of One Day Like This for the arty rockers. After a stunning performance of the track on Comic Relief, the band release the song with new b-side Buffalo Ghosts... do buffalo's have ghosts? Do they haunt the still-alive buffalo's?

Download

Britney Spears - Till The World Ends (The Femme Fatale Remix)

All the Britney you want, with added Ke$ha and Nicki Minaj. Now there's a dream party line-up. This extended re-tweak packs a real punch. What with Nicki now formally confirmed as the support act for Britney's tour, it's easy to imagine we could see a live version of this mix in the near future too. Exciting times.

Download