Still brokenly melodic, still whimsical. Still momentarily irritating - why WHY?! this obsession with drawling through a poxy loudhailer?! But Albarn has grown steadily more expert at refining his fascinating collages of sound and stylistic leftovers: disco, electronica, rap, dubstep…‘80’s kids telly theme tunes... It’s noticeably less dance-y, less poppy and less studded with the Obvious Big Hit than expected, but that just made me like it more. And maybe these (potentially?) risky omissions are responsible for the random assemblage of more famous cameos than a comedy show Christmas special. Sometimes inspired: Lou Reed drawling all over perky, electro toy-town bleeps on ‘Some kind of Nature’. Sometimes brilliant: Mos Def on the exciting, beaty voodoo of ‘Sweepstakes’. Sometimes disappointing: Bobby Womack yodelling on 'Stylo' – the album’s clunky lowlight. And sometimes just plain incongruous - Snoop Dogg’s languid rap intro is just…well...'Eh?'