You've heard this album before then, but it's never sounded quite this crazed and pressed for time.

It's surely a compliment to suggest that someone as abundantly gifted as she is can do better than this enjoyable, occasionally brilliant but disappointingly generic record.

If it was 1985, they'd be the biggest band on the planet.

Dos offers proof that, while less may indeed be more, Wooden Shjips give you more of less.

Compared to 'Psyence Fiction''s ruthlessly cut glass exterior, this is a rounded, more human record, considerably less calculated and therefore far more approachable.

Cowboy Junkies have made a 'growing older' record - there's a greater preoccupation with loss and death, reflected in a heavier, darker musical cast.

It's overlong, like almost every rap album today, and it's not the sort of place to come expecting erudition or insight. But for one singular rapper unwilling and unafraid to stick to his guns, it's a deeply satisfying record.

On closer inspection, it's clear Cyrus is hell-bent on stepping out of that pop princess territory--but only just.

Depending on your temperament, this translates to either the Feelgood Band Of 2006 or a horrific saccharine overdose.

Travis have always been Quite Good, sometimes a little more, rarely less. This album heads a perceived slide into insignificance off at the pass and ensures the status quo.

This is a record that will happen to you, and when it clicks, the realisation that As I Am is a genuine classic is overwhelming.

'Pole' is so minimal it's almost naked. But, by only including the things that matter, it's deceptively atmospheric.

Though hardly in the running for rap album of the year, there's plenty to recommend "The Naked Truth". Yet equally, there's an abundance of wearing phone skits, phoned-in guest performances and shameless fillers to get in the way.

Indulgent though it may be, it's easily his best. And despite an unfeasibly craggy production job, the rambling arrangements and recurrent references to nature and the elemental give it the feel of a dusty, long lost prog-folk curio.

A whole album as hyperactive would be exhausting, of course, but unlike the majority of indie plodders, The Feeling have real range.

One of the most downcast albums of 2007.

This is the sound of a band returning to their roots, to the dramatic Celtic infused epics of their early records.

In-between the chaos and peace, 'Drukqs' induces a whole host of emotions using acid squiggles, plucked piano strings and 80s electro-breaks.

Cannibalising a musical canvas splattered with decades of paint, little here is truly original and the quality veers throughout, as is inevitable from the recordings of one - albeit artistically ferocious - city.

Woomble’s lyrics, while literate, are never quite as clever as his supporters would like to believe.

Maroon 5 are the new Police, the new U2: a wildly exciting rock band who understand how to make great pop music that works everywhere from the bedroom and the iPod to the radio and the stadium.

Without question, for all its eclecticism, "For Screening Purposes Only" is a dumb, disposable record that no one will listen to in 12 months' time.

At 68 minutes, "White People" outstays its welcome and the skits are lame at best... but there's still much to like here.

Its eclecticism does make for disjointed listening though, which almost distracts from their songwriting skills. But ultimately it's all so assuredly done that The Zutons make it almost impossible to not be swept along for the ride.

Orbital have once again managed to make an album that's precisely what you'd expect from them, while being neither dull nor predictable.

Where her former act just made sneering grunty fight-punk, Spinnerette have proper tunes, proper lyrics and proper choruses. Marriage to two proven master songwriters has probably helped. But whatever, it's a positive move.

Cold War Kids are perhaps the only band out there ambitious enough to tackle head-on the contradictions and heartaches of America, past and present, and to do so with this passion and intelligence.

The songs of OCD Go Go Go Girls stand-up to a certain mood--one, passed a certain age, that's usually buoyant and beer-fuelled.