A few good ideas emerge, but are then repeated endlessly to the point of sheer boredom.

Prince is at his best when his music is unmistakably his. Half of the tracks on 3121 could not have been made by anyone else, but the slushy R&B ballads are not amongst them.

Though The Duke Spirit lack the Tex Avery mania of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or the eye-bulging strutting confidence of Polly Harvey, they do have an easy way with structured reverberative grooves.

For all their individual talents and collective intentions, The Little Willies just don't measure up to the greats they invoke.

Casual and smartly-attired passers-by alike may find little to separate this excursion into meta-pop from the last.

It's speaker-shakingly loud yet somehow far too chilled-out to be anything but background music.

There's too much that should have never seen the light of day, that is little more than a band riffing on ideas in the studio without ever taking them anywhere near consummation. But Down In Albion just about remains afloat because there are moments on it when Babyshambles make us care.

There's a feeling that This Is My Demo is just geared too much towards the commercial audience.

The emphasis with Generation seems to be on cramming in as many styles as possible. This gets tediously close to "look I'm a DJ, watch what I can play," rendering listening the first few times a nauseating experience.

Unfortunately, it must be said that the results of this musical experiment aren't always as successful as they might have hoped.

Like a lot of her previous albums, The Breakthrough is overlong and spoilt by too many producers sticking their oar in.

Foxx's music and range of vocal techniques are not unique, but perhaps this added touch of genuine, heartfelt realism is what will see the actor make a successful jump into the music industry.

Even if you do persevere it's likely you'll find pleasure and irritation in equal measure, but at least he always provokes a reaction - a quality never to be underestimated.

An album of gentle, if sporadically confusing, beauty.

There's little familiarity, too little to relate to on Certified.

Compelling to some, maddening to others, it should be said that at least Gray's voice is tuneful.

The album's highlights far outweigh the more average moments, and there are enough signs here that The Like are going to be around for some time to come.

Fink stays close to the sonic templates of both Now It's Overhead and Azure Ray, but has less impact than either.

When the music peaks this is an enchanting listen, but it's unlikely to win the band any new converts.

Overall there's just too much bland corporate sludge rock here to make any geniune lasting impression.

It's shallow but sweet, light-hearted pop indulgence, like the love child of Elton John and Jamiroquai auditioning for Simon Cowell.

The overall effect is one of cloying, claustrophobic one-paced idolatry that needs a bit of fresh air and a good night out.

This is very much a fans only album, much like Missy's other efforts.

It's a sometimes bleak record, but one that shows that Armstrong and his cohorts are not satisfied by taking the easy route.

X&Y is far from experimental, but it nonetheless showcases a band demonstrating distinctive signs of evolution.