Coldplay were faced with a difficult choice as they set to work on X&Y. They could either follow Radiohead’s lead and use their enormous success and financial security as a springboard to a brave experimental future-or they could play it safe, repeat the tricks used on the 16 million-selling A Rush Of Blood To The Head, and consolidate their position as one of the biggest bands in the world. In truth, despite the Tetris-inspired artwork and presence of teaser track "Talk"-which steals its melody line from electro-futurists Kraftwerk’s gorgeous "Computer Love"-X&Y is more the latter than the former. Fans will be delighted by "What If?", a piano elegy that takes flight on strings, and slowly builds towards a Beatles' "A Day In The Life"-style climax, while the likes of "Fix You" and hidden track "'Til Kingdom Come"-originally written for country hero Johnny Cash-proves Martin’s skill for simple, affecting songwriting remains intact. One development, however, comes through the judicious inclusion of some rather pleasant synthesiser work-see "White Shadows", where Martin gently beseeches "Come on love, stay with me" over a gentle Eno-esque keyboard wash. Fair enough: the experimental albums can come later. -Louis Pattison More Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head (CD) Parachutes (CD) Coldplay: Live 2003 (Limited Edition DVD with Live CD) Coldplay: Look at the Stars (Paperback) Find more from Coldplay.

Dave Grohl's sixth album fronting post-grunge rockers Foo Fighters finds him softening his game somewhat, although not in the manner of 2005's In Your Honour, which countered the Foos' stadium metal moves with a second disc of acoustic songs. Rather, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace sees Grohl taking cues from his beloved Led Zeppelin, penning a record that incorporates muscular rock shapes with piano ballads ("Statues"), picked acoustic moments ("Come Alive") and free-wheeling, classic-tinged jams like "Summer's End"-a song about romantic dalliances in the "sweet Virginia countryside". While it's undoubtedly a mature sort of record for the Foo Fighters, however, that's not to say that their edge has been blunted. With the band reunited with producer Gil Norton, whose skill for quiet/loud dynamics did a lot for 1997's The Colour and the Shape, tracks like "The Pretender" and "Erase/Replace" are muscular, dynamic rockers that balance subtle, atmospheric moments with epic bursts of rage. The track "Cheer up Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)", meanwhile, feels like a jibe at the emo hordes who've tried, but failed, to dislodge Grohl's crown. It's the sound of a band growing into middle age gracefully. -Louis Pattison.

The White Album was meant to be the record that brought the Beatles back to earth after three years of studio experimentation. Instead, it took them all over the place, continuing to burst the envelope of pop music. Lennon and McCartney were still at the height of their songwriting powers, with Lennon in particular growing into one of music's towering figures. But even McCartney could still rock, and the amazement on "Helter Skelter" was that he had vocal cords at the end. From Beach Boys knock-offs to reggae and to the unknown ("Revolution #9"), this has it all. Some records have "legend" written all over them; this is one. -Chris Nickson.

Leona Louise Lewis is something of an anomaly. Not only is she pretty and endowed with a wonderfully elastic (four-octave) vocal range-she's also a committed vegetarian and one of the few X Factor/TV talent show winners not to immediately try to capitalise on her success with an album of weak covers. Instead, her mentor Simon Cowell (and team) have coaxed Lewis into the studio with some of America's biggest talents-Dallas Austin, Jam & Lewis-and come up with an album of weak originals. You couldn't exactly call "Spirit" a bad album. It carries memorable melodies, some classic song-writing and, of course, Lewis' seriously potent voice (she's been compared to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey already). But what the album lacks is personality. Songs like "Bleeding Love" (produced by Ryan Tedder and Jesse McCartney) are technically flawless, but you're left thinking `is this all the sass and sparkle a bonafide Hackney gal can muster?' "The Best You Never Had", the Ne-Yo produced "I'm You" and many other songs here follow this play-it-safe formula, while the album's ballads-"Footprints in the Sand", for example-are so bland even Whitney and Mariah would wince. Still, there's no doubt Lewis is a real talent. Perhaps if she ditches the overpaid `superstar' producers next time and makes the album she wants to make, we might finally hear some of her real `spirit'. -Danny McKenna.

It takes a certain sort of band to fill Wembley stadium, one unafraid to embrace scale, flirt with pomposity, and perform the odd grand gesture. Watching Muse's live CD/DVD H. A. A. R. P-recorded over two nights in June 2007-you're left wondering if Wembley is quite big enough to hold them. From the grand opening, when Muse ascend from an underground chamber and walk down a central ramp flanked by men in yellow chemical splash suits to Matt Bellamy's lengthy, florid turns at the grand piano, no opportunity is missed to make H. A. A. R. [+]

Various Positions was Leonard Cohen's first album of the 1980s, yet was in keeping with the rest of his albums in two important respects: one, it sounded absolutely nothing like anything else anyone else was doing; two, it was a compelling reason for anyone else dealing in songs of love and its loss to wonder why they were bothering. As a lyricist, Cohen has few, if any, peers-he has never been the relentless doom-monger of popular myth, but a wise, warm and frequently very funny chronicler of heartbreak. Cohen, like very few others, has always appreciated that love is at least as much comedy as tragedy. Various Positions contains some of Cohen's best-"Dance Me To The End Of Love", "Coming Back To You" and a shortened, accusatory version of "Hallelujah", later covered to such majestic effect by Jeff Buckley. It also contains the bizarre country epic "The Captain", in which Cohen plays the part of a young officer being handed command of his unit by his dying superior. All are sung in Cohen's trademark husky drone and all are the work of a writer who, here as always, uses language like Vincent used paint. -Andrew Mueller.

Not since the days of the Clash and the MC5 has rock seen such political force as in the uncompromising debut from this American quartet. Expanding the hip-hop/metal style of bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage tap the spirits of vintage Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, coupled with hardcore punk intensity and Public Enemy-style grooves. "Bombtrack" opens the album with a shot of adrenaline and singer Zack de la Rocha's infuriated chorus of "Burn, burn, yes, you're gonna burn!" The intensity doesn't let up an inch on the militant "Killing In The Name" (with the inspiring chant, "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!"), the ultrafunky "Bullet In The Head," and the engrossing "Fistful Of Steel". Tom Morello combines time-honoured metal-guitar riffs with sounds that suggest a hip-hop scratcher over a rhythm section that simply takes no prisoners. Intelligent and aggressive, this is unimpeachably one of the best hard-rock records ever made. -James Rotondi.

In 1988, REM were a cult on the cusp of major success. In 1992 they were somewhere close to being the biggest band in the world. In 2003, they're marginalised again, a middle-aged institution purportedly on the wane. Still, uninformed listeners to In Time might find it tricky to work out which songs come from which era. The 18 singles collected here in non-chronological order show a band that's operated at a terrifyingly high standard throughout the period, so that less lauded songs like "The Great Beyond" stand proud alongside the familiar anthems from the early 1990s. Of course, these compilations are sent to irritate loyalists, whose relief at the inclusion of "E-Bow the Letter" (a mesmerising duet with Patti Smith from 1996) will be undermined by the bewildering absence of 1992's tearjerking epiphany "Find the River". For a more comprehensive survey of REM's excellence, you'll also need The Best of REM, the highlights of their elliptical early years. One suspects a box set which tells the full story of this enduring band can't be that far away. For now, though, In Time will do well enough. -John Mulvey.

Traditionally, Kylie Minogue has been at her best attempting pure pop, not chasing credibility, but X-her tenth studio album, and the first since 2003's Body Language-somehow pulls off the trick of being both. With production credits split between old hands like Richard Stannard and Guy Chambers and new faces like Calvin Harris, the Freemasons and Bloodshy & Avant, the Swedish team behind Britney's "Toxic", X does a neat job of matching big hooks with forward-thinking production tricks. The poptimistic Kylie fan will head straight for "2 Hearts", a sassy falling-for-you number with a glammy beat and a chorus poised to fill a thousand Karaoke rooms, and "Wow"-a thumping disco number with a lot of love to give. Scattered alongside these, however, are some slightly more adventurous productions that demonstrate that despite a few years off the stage, Kylie is well up to speed with 21st Century pop: the excellent "Speakerphone" begins with the sound of a strummed harp before diffusing into a shimmering, Scandinvian-tinged electro-pop number reminiscent of Robyn or The Knife, all snapping, sassy beats and vocodered vocal; meanwhile, the ghetto-pop bounce of "Nu-di-ty" proves raunch is still by no means beyond her. A very welcome return. , -Louis Pattison.

Beautiful Future-a hopelessly optimistic moniker for their ninth album, no matter which way you approach it, since Primal Scream are almost universally accepted to have strutted past their zenith around the same time they helpfully mislaid their vowels (on 2000's unrelentingly anarchic Xtrmntr). To claim any future, especially after the all-too-brief successes of 2006's turgid Riot City Blues, let alone a handsome one is foolhardy to say the least. But, you see, they're actually being cuttingly sarcastic, or so we ascertain from Bobby Gillespie's ham-fisted sloganeering on the title track's tirade against modern ills ("you live by the sword, you die by the sword, you're only free to buy things you can't afford", etc. ). If anything in particular is exposed as a spent force here it is he and his pen, sense disregarded to the point of parody, words drifting like flotsam amid the band's systematic attempts to reinvent themselves. The small miracle is that they just about manage. "Beautiful Future" leads into the album with a curious and eventually overwhelming infectiousness, gleaming like CSS delivering a Shirelles pastiche complete with cheesy bell-ringing and an effeminate vocal delivery that almost clouds over the lyrical content. "I Love to Hurt (You Love to Be Hurt)" actually features CSS's Lovefoxx as this album's Kate Moss and holds its own with some minimalist malevolence. As an album it jerks and it stumbles, lacking a definitive identity, but it at least ensures they'll live to see another day. A future of some sort is assured. [+]

In 2005, James Blunt was everybody's favorite overnight success story. In 2007, he's the guy who's making rock meaningful again. All the Lost Souls, the sophomore effort from the Brit responsible for restoring the seriousness of "beautiful" as a compliment, brims with big build-ups, epic-sounding ballads, and lyrics to lose yourself in. The vibe, laid out neatly on first single and opening track "1973", is clear-eyed and heavy-hearted; in anybody over 35, it'll produce nostalgia tempered by hopefulness. Here's a set that suggests rock has got its head screwed on straight again, that the path to real feelings need not necessarily be led by Norah Jones. In anybody younger, it'll cause the unsinkable suspicion that a lot of modern balladeers should be digging deeper. But in both cases it will satisfy. Compared with David Gray and Damien Rice last time out, this time Blunt seems to owe a debt to Barry Gibb-his voice quavers as sweetly and with the same delicate reach. Stand-outs on a brief but dud-less set include "I Really Want You," in which the sound of Blunt's breaking heart is set sparely and elegantly to something approximating the chirp of a cricket, the poignant and desperate "Give Me Some Love", and the VH-1 ready "Same Mistakes. " -Tammy La Gorce.

Even the production, laden with synthesized strings and cooing female choruses, is wry on I'm Your Man, a definitive Leonard Cohen album. Though still touched with the tragic ("Take This Waltz," based on a Garcia Lorca poem), the album often achieves its high points by combining Cohen's world-weariness with black-humoured evocations of social and romantic ills and artistic quandaries. "I was born like this, I had no choice," the gravelly Cohen intimates at disc's end. "I was born with the gift of a golden voice. " -Rickey Wright I'm Your Man appeared at a fortuitous moment for Cohen. The previous year, Jennifer Warnes had scored a major hit with Famous Blue Raincoat-an album of Cohen's songs. Possibly enthused by the idea of a large, primed and expectant audience, the 54-year-old Cohen delivered-in I'm Your Man-arguably the finest album of his illustrious career. The music here is never the baleful acoustic strumming Cohen is still popularly associated with: rather, he opted for a peculiarly sparse electronic style that often sounded as if it was being played on a variety of toys. This tack might have been disastrous-and indeed is, on "Jazz Police", the album's only clunker-but is redeemed by Cohen's gloomy, portentous voice, mixed well to the fore, and what might well be the finest collection of lyrics ever bestowed upon a rock & roll album. From the terrific opening line ("They sentenced me to 20 years of boredom/For trying to change the system from within", from "First We Take Manhattan") the words on I'm Your Man are relentlessly wise, rueful and hilarious, and capped splendidly by the climactic "Tower Of Song". [+]