Taken as a body of work it is certainly more consistent than Hot Fuss.

At most, half the songs on this album are capable of successfully fusing Finn’s compelling narratives with rather less than impressive instrumentation for an effect that’s worth some merit. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t ‘hold’ for the remainder.

Seventy minutes for only eight tracks is excessive, be they remixes or not, and each track is suffocated and diluted until it proves to be just some noise, somewhere.

Friendly Fire is better than anyone could have predicted.

Where Subtle use many words to convey many things, I will use one: perfection.

Comparing Homesongs to Love and Other Planets, as is sadly unavoidable with a debut and its follow up, reveals the former to be the more immediate, the more melodic and the more understandable. However, Love and Other Planets, despite a glossier overtone, is the detailed, developing record.

For latecomers to The Lemonheads this record isn't a bad place to start. For long-term fans it's a sure sign that Evan Dando isn't ready to be written off just yet.

A guilty pleasure it may be, but when the pleasure is as intense as this, quite frankly who gives a fuck?

A beautiful, touching collection of songs, and one which marks an important rite of passage in one man’s career, even if it doesn’t always feel like his best work.

The heart of the album lies in the unparalleled excellence of Oldham’s songwriting – simple yet complex, understated and profound at the same time.

Return To Cookie Mountain is a party soundtrack for a fucked-up generation and an opus that inhabits the midpoint between the scarcely conjoining circles of eclecticism and enjoyability whilst maintaining consistency throughout.

All in all, Amputechture can be compared to watching a Hollywood car chase: impressive, but ultimately a heartless experience.

If you boarded the good ship 'Jaxx back in the Nineties, Crazy Itch Radio won’t see you throwing yourself overboard any time soon. If you were waving it away from the shore, though, this won’t see you splashing your way through the sea to catch up.

So This is Goodbye is the perfect example of how aiming for perfection in music can end in alienation.

The Rapture have kept all the ingredients from their previous successes, but they have forgot to ignite the oven.

On the first spin this is a set of highly listenable light pop tunes. However, this is by no means insubstantial and some real gems begin to reveal themselves.

Ultimately Into The Blue Again disappoints.

Great in parts though it is, Magic Potion isn’t quite the album to attract a raft of newcomers to The Black Keys’ archaic rock.

This is an organic, homegrown creation that sounds as though it's had a lot of time and love invested in it; lend an inquisitive ear and find yourself instantly besotted.

It seems, in musical form, this album moves back and forth between sore tenderness and a violent turn - coercing the listener into adoring the beauty and open-wound vulnerability, but simultaneously pushing the same listener away with a dirty menace and obtuse lyricism.

If you’ve any interest, whatsoever, in rock music in any of its subgenre forms, you need to afford Blood Mountain some considerable attention.

Brilliantly inspiring while intoxicated, Gala Mill holds its own well under sensible, concentrated scrutiny.

Intelligent indie-rockers, look nor listen no further for your possible album of the year.

They’ve merely decided to exchange one set of quite transparent influences for another, less-effective set.

Damaged... rises to the same dizzying heights achieved by their last few long-players.

What makes the largest impression though, as ever, is Darnielle's ability to build the most affecting of scenes from the smallest suggestion.

A little too homogenous to warrant many a repeat listen.

While some tracks don't exude the same kind of enticing mysticism Ward excels at, Post-War remains a warm, enjoyable listen.