Tally Hall - Tally Hall

"You & Me"from the album Good & Evil2011iTunesIt has taken nearly six years for quintet Tally Hall to release a sophomore follow-up to their whimsical debut, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. A band often noted for upbeat rock melodies as colorful as their trademark ties, they have kept their signature wardrobe staple intact, but it’s clear that Tally Hall has matured as a group. Good & Evil is certainly whimsical and fun, but there are signs Tally Hall is growing up.With help from producer Tony Hoffer (Belle and Sebastian, Beck), Good & Evil...

The Chemical Brothers - The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole

If their debut, 1995’s Exit Planet Dust, set the Chemical Brothers stall out as purveyors of large beats and chunkin’ funk, then Dig Your Own Hole shot them right into the stratosphere. With its number one singles, Grammy award and multi-platinum status, Dig Your Own Hole took Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons from the backrooms to the stadiums.

In a year that saw some incredible albums such as OK Computer, Ladies & Gentleman..., and Homework, Dig Your Own Hole sits easily in such company, a joyous melange of psychedelia, acid house, hip hop, funk and colossal beats...

Jeff Buckley - Jeff Buckley - Grace

While Jeff Buckley’s sole complete studio document has achieved two million sales worldwide since its mid-90s release, its impact at the time was far from impressive. And that’s from both critical and commercial perspectives, as although today it’s regularly held in high regard come top-albums lists, a mixed reception greeted it on its initial emergence.

Listening today, almost 17 years to the day after that first release, it’s easy to hear why reviewers weren’t universally moved by Grace. Its best-known track isn’t even one penned by Buckley, Hallelujah being a cover of Leonard Cohen’s haunting masterpiece. Nor is Corpus...

Radiohead - Radiohead

"Separator"from the album The King of Limbs2011iTunesPlenty of bands are perfectly content to find a sound that suits them and spend their careers making variations on the same album. Radiohead is not one of those bands.In fact, you could argue that Radiohead has never really settled on a sound at all. From Pablo Honey in 1993 through The King of Limbs in 2011, the English band's most consistent hallmark has been the restless wanderlust of a never-ending search for what's next.That's a source of frustration for fans of the band's early work, who...

Stevie Wonder - Stevie Wonder - Innervisions

Remarkably, Innervisions is Stevie Wonder's 16th studio album. It is the album that best celebrates his musical maturity and completes the transition from Little Stevie Wonder to the grown-up artist with an active imagination and burning social conscience. Coming just nine months after Talking Book, Innervisions is Wonder at the absolute peak of his powers, a 23-year-old man with the world at his fingertips.

After the release of Talking Book, Wonder said: "We as a people are not interested in ‘baby, baby’ songs any more, there’s more to life than that." As a result, Innervisions is like a snapshot...

Eels - Eels (Latitude 2011)

Having seen Eels a fortnight prior to Latitude at Main Square Festival, I was appropriately excited for the sublime set I knew was in store. It was a performance that converted me from a casual fan to a full on screaming teenage girl.

Mark Oliver Everett's life has been blighted by tragedy, much of which has been the influence behind his 13 albums. His lyrical black humour, gruff vocals and rock n' roll style instrumentation translates well on stage but what makes E's performance really special is the emphasis on entertainment. The band is visually fantastic, with each member looking identical...

Joss Stone - Joss Stone - LP1

Steadily rising Brit-soul teenager Dionne Bromfield â€" currently 15 years old â€" would be wise to study the career path of Joss Stone, who broke into the mainstream at the age of 16 with 2003’s The Soul Sessions. Study it, carefully, and then walk in the opposite direction for a few albums. For while Stone’s a multi-million-selling artist, her catalogue to date is a classic example of diminishing returns. Her second set, 2004’s Mind Body & Soul, diluted the singer’s natural grit for a mainstream-pleasing pop-soul sound to a chorus of general indifference, and 2007’s Introducing... couldn’t...

Coldplay - Coldplay - Parachutes (2000)

Lightly tasteful tablature stories and fables is the best way to describe the debut album that put Coldplay on the maps of the music industry. 

Just like the reality of a Parachute, this album will seem to be taking its time. Truth is, the combination of musical professionalism and lyrical content is truly going the speed of light. Track three, “Spies", resembles an overcast system hovering over beautiful tropic skies. From one environment to another, using every format of creative instrumental technique to blend into one 5 minute and 18 second song. “ And if we don’t buy here, They’re going to find us,...

Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright - House of Rufus

Not for Rufus the typical annotated reissue package, compiled a respectable time after the originals first appeared. House of Rufus is more a one-stop career shop, the ultimate extravaganza for the besotted collector. Because it’s a given no Rufus virgin will jump into bed with a 19-disc, 193-track box set, no matter how seductive the red velvet packaging and 90-page hardback (no sniggering, please) book containing handwritten lyrics, art prints and interview gush with the likes of sister Martha and Pet Shopper pal Neil Tennant. So what awaits the committed Rufus lover after all that foreplay?

Setting aside...

Robert Palmer - Robert Palmer - Riptide (1985)

This is a solid little pop album which seems to aspire to little more than that. Now there is nothing wrong with such a stance of itself, but there are limitations which pop albums are placed under by their very nature and this one is no exception. Add to that, eighties pop albums often suffered from the same generic faults â€" unimaginative drum machine programming and slapped bass guitars. These are the very things which turn many people off the eighties. Sadly, both are in abundance here: it wouldn’t be an eighties pop album if they weren’t. Any length of...