The Blue God - Martina Topley Bird

One might argue that Martina Topley Bird is more famous for the people she's worked with (Gorillaz, Tricky, David Holmes, The John Spencer Blues Explosion and Mark Lanegan to name a few) rather than as an artist in her own right. If that's a true statement, things aren't likely to change with her new album The Blue God.

With uber-hot producer Danger Mouse behind the decks, it's certainly fair to say that there's a lot of variety on show but the vast amount of sounds that Topley Bird tries on mean that the album lacks a cohesive whole.

The likes of Phoenix show just how special this album could have been and on Carnies she perhaps come up with her best pop melody to date. Far too often though the albums seems to play safe; there's nothing offensive, but there's little that makes you sit up and take real notice of the album as it's playing.

Still, I'm sure another high profile collaboration will be along soon.