The most worth-the-wait long-awaited album in the world... ever? Could be...

In their quest for paper, The Roots have lost their way.

Bugger if the Furries haven't gone and exceeded their own expectations with this, a total stonker of a new record that cannot fail to excite and delight on, oh, so many levels.

'Sound Of Silver' is the album of the year.

Unlikely to be defined by any passing scene, Herren seems likely to go his merry way in the way production auteurs do, body-swerving ham-fisted attempts at pigeon-holing or categorisation.

This is not just an album that can be appreciated by fans of the avant-garde, pop and rock alike but a genuine fuck you to the people claiming modern music has nowhere left to go.

Few artists can master the trick of capturing ambience and atmosphere without resorting to cliche. M83 are among the few.

Basically, it's the album they'd always promised us they'd make; consider 'The Decline...' British Sea Power's entrance pass to the ranks of the truly mighty.

A triumph of style and content, a precious thing and proof positive that acid is well good for you.

I defy anyone not to seep happiness through the pores of their skin once in possession of this record.

LCD Soundsystem have set 2005's bar very high indeed and they sound like they’ve barely got started.

Calexico provide drama, atmosphere, tension and tenderness in the 16 tracks here, not only because they have soul but because they're so good at their craft.

A confident, rampant holler that bristles with the energies of prime new wave, the proselytising vigour of the most barnstorming white soul, and the wry, cerebral kickback of most of the artier artists of the last thirty years.

Most of all, though, what we find ourselves thinking of when enjoying 'The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place' - and, rest assured, readers, it's an enjoyable experience right the way through - is the magical spangliness that elevated the Cocteau Twins from absolutely all of their more ghettoised contemporaries way back when.

A patchy, flawed effort.

'The Mysterious Production of Eggs' is unmalicious, delicious classical indie with enough originality to mark it apart, and what it lacks in jaw dropping charisma it somehow makes up for with songwriting and instrumentation of the highest order.

On 'Fox Confessor Brings The Flood' Neko's voice and sheer poetry of her song-writing make hyped also-rans like Jenny Lewis look like hot-pant wearing desperados, proving to her rivals and beyond that style and substance aren't mutually exclusive.

The quality is high throughout.

KW's album can only be thought of as even remotely good while we don't have a young, hungry KRS One, RZA, Rakim Allah, Gift of Gab or Ol Dirty Bastard to challenge him.

There's a rural beauty, crafted by man and machine, in places as exotic as an orchid.

'Mesmerize' is a frantic, frenetic brutal assault on the senses. It mashes up the most intense hardcore, the fiercest fire-starting punk rock with ridiculously complex riffing that’s like amphetamine prog.

Intelligent, melodic, poetic and funny, so this is what Now sounds like eh?

'The Drift' is an extraordinary piece of work, even more challenging and expansive than Scott Walker's startling last album.

This is Mogwai distilled to their essence, and the result is an album of huge power, emotional depth and feeling, with vocals submerged under a claustrophobic blanket of effects and guitars battling with viola, cello, violin and piano. It's just as Eno as it is S***t, and all the greater for that.

'Streetcore' shows he was still producing vital music to the end.

This is the sound, throughout, of a remarkable institution doing all the things they do best and sounding as alive as they ever have.

Lanegan's lyrics are poetic, well thought out and devastatingly honest, making this more a serious artistic account than some braggadocio bullshit. And then add to that the fact the music is just fantastic.

But the use of the twin-pronged vocal attack as an instrument in its own right is never relied upon to be the sole weapon in Blood Brothers' arsenal. Intelligence is mirrored in the deployment of the music behind it.