Cover albums can be forgettable and throwaway, but not this one. This is a truly memorable and worthwhile tribute to the quiet Beatle.

All in all, this is an odd, but certainly not unlikeable, package of songs.

Complete Me is a clever, well crafted and painstakingly produced pop concoction that was well worth the numerous delays.

If plodding indie-by-numbers with the odd nice tune thrown in is your bag, jump right in. Those seeking a bit more invention may care to look elsewhere.

Musically, it's all mid-tempo indie-by-numbers, shimmery enough to accompany an scene of upbeat emotion in Dawson's Creek; yet sufficiently credible, as indie so often is, to provide the soundtrack to a montage of trailers in an advert for a new Film 4 season.

'With Every Heartbeat' is evidence enough that this man has talent. He just needs to use that Rolodex a bit more.

With the original foursome reunited it's as well that Midlife dwells mainly on the music they made together. As a playlist of what Blur were and capable of, it suggests a band with few peers.

In the final reckoning, a solid album is raised a bar by its direct communication, illustrated by the closing 'Hard Time For Dreamers.'

The standard of the songs never rises above the mildly pleasant, and occasionally - as on the self-consciously 'widescreen' title track or the wetter-than-a-fish's-wet-bits Mother Nature Goes To Heaven - it's pat and drab.

Put simply, it's a deeply beautiful record.

Blue Roses is a startling debut, a record that oozes warmth and charm whilst revealing itself slowly and patiently.

Totems Flare is his best album to date, sparkling with man made brilliance but sounding natural and organic at the same time.

The debut is by no means a hit-packed record, pop is firmly on the backburner here and thrillingly it's precisely this lack of obvious choruses and instead the bizarre little instrumental interludes, spooky stripped down ballads which build and build and attacking grooves that will have you coming back time and time again to it.

Sleepy Sun have managed to come up with an album that is beautifully entrancing, and doesn't encourage the listener to go to sleep before the mid point.

Shout it from the rooftops though--with this record, Broken Records could well have a contender for album of the year on their hands.

These Four Walls is rousing, pop-like in its immediacy and pretty damn enjoyable.

UUVVWWZ is undoubtedly promising, in the sense that the band have done the difficult part already, namely finding a signature sound. Now they just need to come up with the songs to match the distinctiveness of their instrumentation and that incredible name.

With not a dot ball or an overthrow, The Duckworth Lewis Method is an unqualified success.

For anyone wanting to hear a genuine progression from the blueprint laid out by "Play" and to enjoy the calmer, more ethereal and undeniably sadder side of Moby's music, Wait For Me is worthy of further investigation.

Taken on its own merits, this is life-enriching stuff.

Varshons is an admirable stopgap that proves that there is life in the old dog yet.

As long as you don't mind working for your alt rock fixes, however, Farm is certainly worth the effort.

It shows that for the first time they really can do restraint, without compromising the overall impact of the instances where things are let rip.

Far is her best album yet, and while it's a long way from early works such as Soviet Kitsch or 11:11, it perfectly illustrates the evolution of a woman who's becoming a truly great artist.

Call it the fascinating intersection of jazz, lounge, prog and electro, if you must, but ultimately Tortoise produce music of the most valuable and enduring kind--beyond genres and labels, in a category all of its own.

Rewild is a decent debut album with enough promise to justify keeping a watchful eye for the future.

Yet despite the occasionally black subject matter this is a fine and powerful album for lovers of red meat rock, served rare.