Out Of Control is, generally, yet another excellent album from a group who may have risen from a lot of people's 'guilty pleasure' to becoming full-on national treasures.

At its best Intimacy is taut and claustrophobic or movingly sentimental, but for the main part it is repetitious and bafflingly poorly realised, especially given that they could have had an extra six months to work on it.

Erratic songwriting is evident from start to finish on the record.

Obviously nobody's expecting them to record anything revolutionary at this stage of their career, but it's fair to say that this album will probably only get Cure enthusiasts excited.

A Hundred Million Suns isn't a bad album - in fact, in parts, it's rather good. It's just that to find those good parts, you have to wade through acres of very average filler.

Angst is very well in small doses, but over an entire album it can start to grate.

The sounds on Microcastle form a lush landscape.

After this blisteringly good start, Cardinology settles down into a languid country-rock groove - beautiful at times, intensely listenable and professional, but probably not breaking any new ground.

Empty lyrics are all part of the game when it comes to creating pop music--and Lady GaGa looks to have hit the jackpot here with her blend of sassy attitude, metallic beats and sharp, incisive songwriting.

Just A Souvenir contains more music than you might expect from two separate albums, and it's a thrilling if occasionally saturating listen.

You'll find more wit and invention on a solitary track by Ethan Kath and Alice Glass than you will on this depressingly retro and lumpen homage to a scene that wasn't even all that back in the day.

In each of the 21 songs there is something to draw from, an instrumental colour to enjoy or a sentiment with which to relate.

If you've approached Herbert's music before you'll already know to expect the unexpected. If it's your first time, use all the surround sound you have and revel in the power of free musical speech and a fantastic update of timeless jazz styles.

Rather than offering reinterpretation, Malin sounds like an annoying guest at a house party, who despite all efforts to hide the guitar has found it and insists on playing a disparate bunch of songs much to the annoyance of everyone else, none of whom quite have the heart to tell him to stop.

Skeletal Lamping flicks across channels like a man with an itchy trigger finger who trigger finger is actually itchy, but it excels in making a brilliant kind of sense.

Yet, at its simplest and most sedate, Bookish's new work is utterly beautiful.

Anyone already in love with tracks such as 'Good Arms Vs Bad Arms,' 'Backwards Walk' and 'Poke' will probably enjoy hearing these live versions, and for others this will serve as a good primer and incentive to go back and discover the original recorded versions.

I realise that bemoaning the inclusion of crowd noise on a live album is a bit pointless, but when it detracts from the enjoyment of the album then it's a valid grumble. But it's a minor issue.

While this isn't the daring brave leap forward that was whispered about when Spiralling was released, it will no doubt prove another multi-million seller for the trio from Battle.

It may not contain anything as seismic as 'First Wave Intact,' from their debut "Now Here Is Nowhere," but the band's self-titled third album reasserts the Secret Machines identity whilst revealing a fragile underbelly.

Gloriously free of filler, it would be an easy and enjoyable task to eulogise every track on Changing Of The Seasons but it seems a little brash to over-stamp opinion on such an individual and immersive listen.

six songs may only run to seventeen minutes, but for the devoted it will be a case of quality overriding quantity.

The 16 tracks here aren't just duplicate recordings--with sudden new depth we are able to complete an emotive, triumphant musical triptych.

They rarely take a step out of their neat little country twinged pop-rock corner. This is a real shame because these songs belie a musicianship that can produce work much greater than this.

The slower songs do have the effect of balancing the album. Even some of the upbeat tunes, usually The Little Ones' strength, are sometimes in danger of veering from endearing into cloying.

More than anything it's just a relief to see this rare talent back from the brink, still, as always, one step ahead of the game

To that end, and overabundant allusions to The Beatles aside, Dig Out Your Soul is a feat in its own right.

Give Oh Ohio time--there's more than enough here to breath life back into a resurgent band.