The production seems to capture a band that's playing live, with the guitarists constantly pushing each other and tunes evolving on the spot. [#11, p.122]

Jean's histrionic singing and simplistic lyrics can intensify his material... or derail it via self-parody. [Dec 2003, p.138]

All in all, time well spent. [Aug/Sep 2001, p.122]

With help from someone who’s been through it all and had time to think about it twice, Carlton has made music for growing-ups that is neither cloying nor pretentious.... Yet a sneaking sense remains that she can reach deeper.

Still recovering from 2004’s tepid Tical 0: The Prequel, Meth hints at the bluster and wit that made him an instant star nearly 15 years ago.

[Some] attempts at genre-mashing suffer from some uncharacteristically sluggish Muggs production. [May 2004, p.120]

Matthews's singular skill is adroitly tipping his elastic, emotive voice and sorority-seducing melodies from buoyant to melancholy. [Oct 2003, p.123]

An only sometime thing. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.112]

If there's a fault here, it's in the slightly hand-wringing lyrics, which, of not overwrought, are certainly pretty darned wrought. [#4, p.123]

For every killer raise-your-hands hook there is a snoozer of an SWV-esque torch ballad, and she can't seem to tell the difference. [Jul 2005, p.116]

A handful of tracks--the shuffling 'Fill Me In,' the swinging 'What It Is'--work an assured swagger, but Wood never quite nails his role model’s tomcat growl or sly nonchalance.

None of it is groundbreaking. [Oct 2003, p.120]

His desire for gravitas, though, is dragged down by his lack of imagination. [Nov 2006, p.153]

Some of her material still has an emotional earnestness that would make Bono blush. [#16, p.121]

Simple pleasures rarely get any simpler--or more good-natured. [Dec 2007, p.152]

Out Of Season's usefulness as ambience almost trumps its self-importance and paucity of standout material. [Dec 2003, p.136]

The album's an impossible mess, but so lively that it's worth sifting through the shrapnel for the tasty bits. [May 2006, p.106]

Luckily, all the ironic distance doesn't blunt the band's attack. [May 2006, p.109]

The music is sexy in the dirtiest possible way, which makes up for the band's stoopid posing. [May 2003, p.114]

A handful of affectionate Neil Young pastiches, a rocked-up hymn, and some tipsily swaying ballads. [#10, p.122]

May demand close listening compared to the boisterous immediacy of most dance efforts, but it proves utterly entrancing. [#10, p.120]

This collection seems less pointlessly abstract than 1999's similarly staffed Cobra and Phases. [Aug/Sep 2001, p.130]

Even the strongest songs... are hobbled by sickly vocals and Mick Jones's pallid, needle-thin production. [Mar 2006, p.109]

Mood enhancers like 'Blind Confusion' and 'Blister on My Soul' set tart melodies to a guitar punch that compensates for a shortage of coherent content. But from there, things slow down and bloat up.

It's great fun, but Come Feel Me Tremble has more ballast. [Nov 2003, p.123]

Only the relatively sprightly "Just Got to Be" and the haunted-house voodoo of "Strange Desire" cut through the mire. [Oct 2006, p.130]

The production feels lethargic and unmelodic... and Foxx's lyrics are all corny come-ons and cheesy sentimentalisms. [Mar 2006, p.113]

The five new songs all feature Merritt's meaningfully inexpressive monotone, shrewdly minimal arrangements and flatly clever lyrics. [Jan 2004, p.107]