The album itself--whilst impressive in its seamless cohesion--does become rather formulaic in Birdy's treatment of the covers, and therefore suffers from a distinct lack of variety.

Those needing something to occupy themselves with during Annie's prolonged absence from the fold will find plenty to keep them happy (and, at the same time, a little bit sad) on My Guilty Pleasure.

The problem with Birthmarks is twofold: a lack of originality and a lack of hooks.

A welcome return of Jamiroquai's trademark blend of '80s funk and pop sensibilities - familiar, yet refreshingly different to so much of their current competition.

Snoop blends the old rap feel with the new style and adds some things to the mix along the way.

No embarrassing side-project, Let Them Talk turns out to showcase heartfelt and sensitively handled musicianship from one of our finest all-round entertainers.

Be that as it may, it is the band's recent failure to effectively collaborate, and for these 11 tracks to properly mesh, that has fostered the mediocrity inherent in A New Tide.

Throughout ARTPOP signifier upon signifier is piled on top of sometimes brilliant melodies, creating enough room for breathless readings of Gaga’s ‘art’ certainly, but failing on the more basic level as engaging pop music.

Hayes has hedged his bets, and it shows. Somewhere amongst these 25 tracks is probably a halfway decent album. It's just swamped.

Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent generally plays it safe, assuming the schtick that’s got Capaldi this far has more mileage in it, which gives the album a competent, workmanlike air.

It is a valiant, but ultimately fruitless attempt to add to the already brilliant back catalogue of the Ramones.

Compared to what went before, The Return Of... is a massive let down.

Out Of Nothing is a wonderfully affecting album that is the band's best to date.

At only 31 minutes long, there is absolute bewilderment at how varied the output on Stills can be; it’s an exhausting listen in general.

The second half of the album is less special than the first with just Drinking Song and the excellent two-note undulations of I Warned You perhaps worthy of a higher placing amongst the band’s fully loaded cannon.

Fink stays close to the sonic templates of both Now It's Overhead and Azure Ray, but has less impact than either.

Their most lukewarm effort. What was, in their early days, delicious in its languor is now turgid and inert, struggling for hooks with only the most tepid sense of melody.

A.M. may pick up some takers for fans of both protagonists' main bands but there is little here that will tempt the casual listener.

The curious would do best to avoid, and die-hard Robbins fans better advised to watch one of his multitude of films.

This self-titled final album, as you might well expect, sounds exactly like Megadeth.

There is no doubt that Prism will do exactly what it’s been created to do (sell millions, provide the backdrop for a lucrative tour and make a lot of money for a lot of people) but it’s safe and cold where it should have been daring and involving.

There are enough excellent moments on War Stories to judge it a success, but there's another sense of missed opportunity hanging over the album.

It's a perfectly satisfactory album, but save for one or two moments of brilliance, there's nothing here that will keep you coming back for more.

Seven Rainbows is too limited to reflect the globe-trotting wanderlust of this character, Alice Gold. It's too tame to namecheck her wishlist, too insipid to do them justice.

This feels like an unnecessary and slightly cynical afterthought, much like a lot of pop music. It isn’t necessarily all bad in terms of quality. But it is utterly dispensable.

This is basically the sound of 2003 with the addition of up-to-date electronics. There’s nothing you won’t have heard before, which is a big part of the problem with Collapse.

Ultimately, although the softer, folkier moments merit attention, the album does linger in parts and really could do with a shot in the arm to lift its energy levels.

Yet another unimpressive, tedious release.