If not a match for the brilliant yet underperforming 'Big', The Sellout certainly maintains high and admirably consistent standards.

An underwhelming end to a sly, bitter, rocking album it maybe, but at least it makes plain the point that being polite does nothing for her and a bit of passion and rock'n'roll attitude goes a long way.

The Fame Monster says nothing new lyrically, and has its troughs, but it's a bolder and more coherent record than GaGa's debut.

Although it is an immensely enjoyable experience featuring often breathtaking dexterity and turntable trickery, it rarely deviates from a strictly old school template.

At 68 minutes, "White People" outstays its welcome and the skits are lame at best... but there's still much to like here.

Brave is actually one of her strongest albums to date.

All told, it's pleasant to actually have a buzz album that lives up to expectations; long after people stop talking about them, this album will still be a surprising and compelling listen.

Despite a preponderance of uptempo songs that puts Freedom in similar territory to Ne-Yo, the record is still very recognisably Akon.

A dignified and enjoyable end to a frequently astonishing career.

Most people will deem this album a significant piece of work, and maybe if you haven't heard much Pavement then it is.

So while this isn't "The Desert Sessions" - sadly, Isobel Campbell is no Polly Harvey - "Ballad Of The Broken Seas" remains an engaging curio whilst we wait to see what both artists do next.

It is not the Foo's finest moment, but for all its flaws and flab, this meandering record may just become one we all learn to love.

Even as the band grow tighter, their insecurity deepens. That's not prevented them from making a fine record which is loaded with instantly memorable hooks.

Marks a return to warm homespun acoustica.

Wisely though, they've seen this as a time to consolidate, not experiment or wander off on the tangents which have undermined them in the past.

"So Divided" sees …Trail Of Dead leaving their footprints in some intriguingly unlikely places. Whether the faithful choose to follow them or not, they deserve respect for that alone.

That's the thing about Asleep In The Bread Aisle, it's all about promising potential, rather than the delivery of it.

Raises the nu-metal bar by weaving maturity, passion and the craft of songwriting into its steaming pile of passive-aggressive chord chomping.

Flawlessly interesting is what we’ve come to expect from Williams and Hugo, but "Fly Or Die" is rather interestingly flawed.

Eno and Byrne's twist, however, is the optimism and hope that breathes through every minute of what is not another boundary-demolishing collaboration, but a delicately crafted work that could only have been recorded after dispensing with the rules.

If all that this still-decent album does is pique interest in what Dananananaykroyd are like live, then it will have done its job because that is where the magic lies.

Femme Fatale is also unevenly paced, overlong (16 tracks in its deluxe version) and burdened with filler like the generic 'I Wanna Go', which tries to find a shortcut to the dancefloor but gets lost en route. But the weaker material is outweighed by the fantastic, from the slamming, techno-tinged 'Trouble For Me' to the glorious bubblegum house of 'Up N' Down'.

Three albums in, their belief that success and integrity don’t have to be mutually exclusive, is finally starting to pay off.

Still, if not perfect, there's plenty to like on Discipline, and while none of it is exactly vintage Janet, there's enough here to keep the Jackson name on pop's A-list for a little while longer.

As challenging and glorious as rock can go when filtered to it's basic elements, but not without a whiff of indulgence.

Neither Callahan's trademark poetic gloom nor his even-keel misanthropy have been ditched in time for 'Supper', but it does see him breathing deeper than before and moving with a surprising spring in his step away from the claustrophobic intensity of his previous work.

There's nothing on this record that has any danger of keeping you from your beer. There are two gears: fast and slow, shoutalong and sobalong.

"The Pick Of Destiny" is likely to be among the finest cock rock albums about magical plectrums released this year.