An album that ably melds together ‘80s coldness and ‘90s warmth, and then brings it right up to date.

The potential is clearly there; The Naked And Famous just need to trim away some of the fat.

It’s well crafted and well paced, and features more than enough discordantly catchy riffs (at least two corkers in Beat alone) to sustain the listener’s interest. But for all that, it’s an album dusted only lightly with genuine greatness.

Loud Like Love has bright spots, but the laborious moments threaten to undo their good work.

Not only is it one of Costello’s best collaborative efforts, it’s also one of his best albums full stop. Recommended for Costello newcomers and long-time believers alike.

It’s a brilliantly consistent and, at eight tracks, concise offering that perfectly captures their sound.

The rich history which The Diving Board draws on also slightly undermines it: there is certainly nothing bad here yet so much of it has been done by Elton before.

When an album’s quality level ranges from intolerable to merely tolerable, it’s not a positive sign. Middling.

30 Years Of War aside, this is an album that finds the Manics in fine form.

With the lightweight numbers up front and the centrepiece dominating the lacklustre cast around it, the album is surely one of the most uneven and unsatisfying in recent memory from Callahan.

MGMT seem to have settled into their groove here, or more correctly their two concurrent grooves. On one hand, they seem able to produce easily digestible fuzzy pop songs slightly reminiscent of soft rock with what appears to be consummate ease; on the other, they can enter into all manner of sonic digressions with a noteworthy lightness of touch.

There may not be enough to lift them above the rather crowded market of similar sounding contemporaries on Weird Sister, but it does hint at a solid enough future.

This is real music, about real people, dealing in real emotion. That it sounds so gorgeously lush too is mere icing on a very rich cake.

The album’s relative drop in quality towards the second half is a minor quibble though. Obits have long since made their point.

A long delayed follow up, it has emerged in its own time as a gentle triumph.

Overall, If You Wait is an accomplished first LP, one that features a number of spellbinding singles and some moments of genuine, heartfelt emotion.

It’s always a joy to hear a band blossoming into something bigger and bolder. Apar is the glorious sound of Delorean taking that step.

They make up an entire color palette of music and lyrics, of sounds and themes, that when combined on Rutili’s canvas make up truly original territory.

Nobody Knows should be the start of a brilliant career, not the conclusion of a merely promising one.

The album is admirably steeped in pop music history without seeming derivative and where The Electric Lady triumphs is in its ability to connect with the listener.

While the days of the indie dancefloor hits from their first two records may be long gone, the Arctic Monkeys we’re left with now are undoubtedly at the top of their game.

This is a record with so much swagger, poise and confidence it could have been recorded by a band twice their age.

On The Worse Things Get, there’s not a weak song.

Most of the other tracks on the LP aren’t nearly as exciting to hear as the first two singles.

It’s hard to believe that The Strypes can make such an old-fashioned style of music cool for a younger generation but they give it their best shot in this fully committed album.

It may well be Múm’s most balanced, enjoyable record yet.

Basically, it’s a fantastic debut.

For a guy who nails the ’60s and ’90s indie pop sound so well, he didn’t do quite enough research; at least not enough to make an individual statement that’s unique and captivating for the rest of us.