Tom Ewing

You can see Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded as a great rap album dragged down by pandering, but you could equally see it as a triumph that one of the biggest pop records of the year leads off with a half-dozen tracks of blistering, filthy, idea-jammed hip-hop.

Nothing But the Beat may sound like a one-man hit parade, but it also takes its title far too literally.

The Help! soundtrack album is as haphazard as Beatles For Sale, but it lacks that record's glowering intensity; it's a great but confusing record.

The angriest, most aggressive record in the Beatles catalogue, For Sale finds them reaching back to their Hamburg club days in both attitude and sound.

A Hard Day's Night is from an era when pop and showbiz were inseparable-- and if it doesn't transcend that time, it does represent its definitive peak.

With so many surprises in the arrangements, you might overlook what a strength Li herself is, how well she unifies Youth Novels' scattershot imagination.

Santi White used to work in A&R, which gives her put-downs on debut single "Creator" a professional air: "Sit tight I know what you are/ Mad bright but you ain't no star." As Santogold, White is putting her knowledge of star quality into practical effect. At its best, her album's cross-genre confidence is dazzling, combining dub, new wave, and hip-hop to create some of the year's freshest pop. At its worst, it feels annoyingly overthought.

Foals' debut, like many British records, trails clouds of homeland hyperbole, but it's harder than usual to cut through and get a fix on what exactly they do. Reviews have offered afropop, math rock, and techno as reference; the band members themselves cite Gwen Stefani and Steve Reich. Antidotes suggests these are mostly red herrings. Foals are squarely in a more recent and less exotic tradition-- the hi-gloss end of the post-punk revival: Think a more playful Bloc Party, a more measured Futureheads, a less heartfelt Maxïmo Park.

Likability has got Kylie Minogue this far, and it pulls her through again --even the weak tracks on X have a sparky enthusiasm that makes their magpie modernism sound less cynical.

A record that's been occasionally imitated but never matched.

The Help! soundtrack album is as haphazard as Beatles For Sale, but it lacks that record's glowering intensity; it's a great but confusing record.

A Hard Day's Night is from an era when pop and showbiz were inseparable-- and if it doesn't transcend that time, it does represent its definitive peak.