It begins to wilt with tedium as it continues, as the drum machines and synthesizers give way to unimaginative organic instrumentation and bland, stale melodies.

Stillmatic features the best rhymes from Nas since his debut, Illmatic, and possibly the best rhymes of the year, rivaled maybe only by Ghostface Killah’s Bulletproof Wallets. Nas rhymes wonderfully on every song, dropping knowledge like.

Pink has fought the record companies for control of her career and won- and with the sage advice of producers and executives she has come out with one of the best pop albums of last year.

This is, quite possibly, one of the finest releases of last year, and certainly one of the most overlooked.

With Change... The Dismemberment Plan feel little need to show off with self-conscious musical ostentation and excess, instead choosing to focus themselves on making a fantastic, understated and involving record.

This is an album that seems to effortlessly evoke the kind of lazy summer days that everyone claims only ever happened when they were kids.

You can see the Angel/Heaven/Cocaine lyrics coming a mile off and the predictable bass that punctuates them soon becomes just as banal.

It is when Adams veers from the hook-orientated path that the record suffers.

Labor Days is a wonderfully complex piece of work.

Although the album is far from a failure, it rarely reaches the peak of its creator’s potential.