Live shows have shown that they have an even more cutting, vital album waiting to be recorded. If they can harness that live edge with this recorded willingness to experiment, their next album will be a monster.

Weller fans can once again breathe a sigh of relief, for the man's still got it.

It's not all brilliant, but there's enough of brilliance here to convince.

While those seeking a quick fix of cheap thrills hip hop will be disappointed, anyone who likes their music lush, multi-layered and lyrical should pick this up without delay.

Amazingly, perhaps, this is a cogent, compact and really quite good record, one that mixes upbeat, perhaps slightly clinical R&B with uber-ballads and occasional snatches of what appears to be an attempt at intimacy.

A plodding collection of ballads carefully designed to show-off her jaw-dropping vocal range to the fullest.

In many ways, 'Evil Heat' comes across as something of an amalgam of the Scream's many phases and, because of that, it doesn't necessarily take them forward as their work in the past has done.

Like all of Boards Of Canada's wonderful records, the whole seems to add up to far more than the sum of its parts.

The fact that experimental, abstract beats have become so popular is partly down to him, but now that everybody's doing it, he has to do it more, or better, or different.

What makes 'Paid Tha Cost...' such an unexpected joy is the way in which Snoop's comic persona offers all involved an opportunity to loosen up and have some fun.

What is different about the overall feel of this messy and ambitious album is that it marks The Roots' liberation from genre, the neo-soul meanderings of 'Things Fall Apart' only appear when they're wanted and never outstay their welcome.

This is 'All Killer No Filler' with bells on and 'Does This Look Infected?' will rightly have the Blink 'boys' quaking in their trainers.

The result is pretty much what you'd expect from an album bearing Lynne's name on the credits.

Braxton has gotten brave and ratcheted-up both the attitude and tempo.

Little more than comic book soundbites, wilting in the jagged, feverish shadow of their illustrious forefathers.

Way more consistent than your average over-long US R&B release, whilst still being stuffed with just as many potential singles.

Lopez' voice frequently sounds a trifle thin accompanied by the sort of sounds that we're better used to hearing behind a Creative Source or Gwen McRae vocal but the honeyed backing massages any real concerns from your mind.

A perfectly contemporary hip-hop release rescued from the ashes of independent hip-hop cliche.

The first truly great rock band of the 21st century.

'Up!' is not without its little oddities and delights.

'Riot Act' may be neither 'the-best-album-since' nor 'a-brilliant-return-to-form', but neither is it more-of-the-same-but-less-so.

'Under Construction' isn't a retro album, so much as it's informed by both new and old. But it also isn't beyond question whether this return to roots doesn't conceal a lack of inspiration.

There's a good album in here crying to be let out.

There are few absolute duffers here: '3D' makes for a perfectly pleasant 50 minutes of slick and homogenised R&B. It's just that, from such a reputable firm - and at such an emotional and auspicious point in their career - it's impossible not to expect more.

While not much of a departure from the honed formula of 'White Ladder', much of 'A New Day At Midnight' opts to pare down that winning mix of gentle dance beats and piano even further, leaving Gray's gorgeous gutsy vocal to do more of the talking on his melancholy tales of love and loss.

Where once the bark was of Beck, we have - and this hurts - Wings.

There's so little substance here, it's difficult to engage with the record or its creator.

A cold and unengaging collection.