It’s not going to change the musical horizon, as there’s absolutely nothing new here. But the oldies – the hilarious Chicken Payback, the beautiful 50s ballad I Love You, or the exuberantly wonderful One Glass of Water – are strong enough to make this both a worthy successor and a promise for the future.

I can tell that you are dubious, but I can assure you, gentle listener – these are the goods.

The White Stripes continue to surprise and entertain simultaneously.

The Woods is solid, well crafted and intensely energetic, but a magnum opus it is not.

Face the Truth is probably the most eclectic of all Malkmus’s work. There are elements of every Pavement album in amongst the tracks, with familiar noodly guitar intros, shouty, jaunty refrains and languid deadpan-rap segments.

OK, it’s a depressing mess, needlessly turning the existential dread-ometer up to 11. But hey, it’s got a nice tune and you can dance to it.

Rather than a credible follow-up, it’s another great album in its own right.

As far as the songs go, there’s not a bad apple in the bunch. And some, like Lavender and its wonderful one-note melody, or No Reason to Cry and its breezy vocals, are really terrific. But oooooh, the cheese in that sound.

It takes an album like Pretty in Black to make you realise the life affirming power of great pop music.

Rather than the nostalgic, distant wistfulness of last year’s work, Bem-vinda is much more open, and while there are complex rhythms and arrangements in abundance, none of this gets in the way of some eminently hummable tunes.

There’s so much here to enjoy, we can tolerate the occasional lyrical overreach.

One of the best rock albums of the past twenty-five years.

Barnes seems to draw from a bottomless well of creativity, and is capable of the most sublimely unexpected melodic phrasing. At the same time, he can come off as a little too intellectual for his own good.

It shows off a fantastic songwriting talent, if not conveying the live magic.

British Sea Power are not only the best band around, they’re also the best songwriters.

There's such an embarrassment of riches in Lost and Safe.

An absolute beauty of an album.

These are essentially songs of innocence and experience tinctured by world-weariness simultaneously infused with an earnest lack of guile. A brief criticism would be: a little more sound and a little less fury, please Will.

Guero is a record with lots of great ideas and some very good songs... but I can't help thinking that there's just something missing from this release.

What makes M.I.A. so good is her simplicity. Not quite electro-clash, not quite hip-hop, not quite grime, she's a world onto herself with little more than a groovebox and her voice to sustain her.

Sensitive enough to charm you, yet with songs hard enough and strong enough to keep you from getting bored, Silent Alarm is already a strong contender for debut album of the year.

Their best full length yet.

Inexplicably, predictably, Daft Punk have become the first band to produce a retro post-parody of their own work.

Wind in the Wires is a beautifully executed album that has everything: pace, panache, and clean sentiment.

If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve heard before, you won’t be disappointed – all the darkness, grime and perversion is here or implied.... But if you’re looking for variation, innovation, or thematic depth, it’s unlikely you’ll find it here.

Dignity and Shame is just another day in the world-weary lovelorn characters that Bachmann has so vividly brought to life for the past five years with his Crooked Fingers entourage.

If you have everything by the Scottish gang of five, this is good excuse to remind yourself of their genius in different circumstances. If you are new to them, then it is a fine introduction to a band whose importance and integrity over the years is unquestionable.

This is the year’s first great summer album.