***

It seems an awful long time since The Libertines first captured imaginations with their nostalgic visions of a mythical Albion all set to a jaunty English indie backing.

It's been so long that the band have taken on a mythical status themselves, so well documented have been the subsequent self-destructive antics of former member Pete Doherty.

Set adrift from a songwriting partnership that some thought, had it survived, could have seen Doherty and fellow frontman Carl Barat become a latterday Lennon and McCartney, Barat kept his dignity and formed Dirty Pretty Things with bassist Didz Hammond, guitarist Anthony Rossomando and drummer Gary Powell.

With one well-received album, Waterloo To Anywhere, under their belts, the band are now shaping up to be like a UK equivalent of the Raconteurs, an affable gang of musicians doing their thing with quiet assuredness.

Once you've got past the disappointment that they're still not The Libertines, their second album doesn't disappoint.

There's more variety thanks to some creative songwriting, a move away from waffling on about Albion and the sharing out of vocal duties.

Standout tracks are the disarming opener Buzzards and Crows, the subtle yet catchy Truth Begins and the emotive ballad The North.

SETH LAKEMAN

POOR MAN's HEAVEN

***

He won't like being called it, but Seth Lakeman is the Jack Johnson of English folk, as easy on the eye as he is on the ear with his relaxed, Celtic-fuelled, indie-tinged folk.

His fourth album has a coastal theme, with the track Solomon Browne specifically recounting the events of the 1981 Penlee lifeboat tragedy.

Once again, you can't fault the sincerity of Lakemen's delivery, nor the performances of the musicians, but the lack of any truly catchy melodies mean that, like Jack Johnson's output, much of this is pleasant but forgettable.

THE SUBWAYS

ALL OR NOTHING

****

During interviews and live shows around the time of their first album, Young For Eternity, The Subways were a joy to behold.

Frontman Billy Lunn and bass player Charlotte Cooper were an item, and spent every second staring at each other so intensely it was like no one else was around.

They even got engaged on stage at one of their shows.

The pair have split up since their brattish 2005 debut, but the band has stayed together.

This album is a more mature, accomplished offering, yet still captures the youthful exuberance that won them such a following in the first place.

Who knew a bitter break-up could sound so good?


INFADELS

UNIVERSE IN REVERSE

*

Oh dear. Infadels were tipped for the top at the time of their first album in 2006, but the big time never arrived.

It's unlikely fame and fortune will come knocking on their door after this ambitious album either, which misses the mark by a country mile.

Opener Circus Of The Mad doesn't live up to its title, and sounds unforgivably similar to Hard-Fi's Cash Machine, while the rest of the album could be the Staines band under a different name, featuring members of The Feeling.

Single Free Things For Poor People offers brief respite, but it's not enough to stop this album drowning in its own banality.