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.

Like [David Gray and Damien Rice], Powter writes faceless tunes landmined with unsubtle hooks that can devour your brain in less time than it takes for an expert barista to whip up a cappuccino. [Jun 2006, p.143]

He's done it before, and better. [Oct 2006, p.135]

This album, the second from Angels and Airwaves, is thick with U2-aping major-chord bluster and well-meaning meaninglessness.

Skips from one song to the next without leaving any great impression or displaying a single sentiment Jessica Simpson would find distressing. [#4, p.118]

Another brazenly varried set. [Oct 2005, p.142]

Skimps on warmth and even grit except on a few blood-curdling screams--when, blessedly, you don't have to hear their words. [Nov 2003, p.119]

He has nimble delivery and a pleasing Nelly-esque hiccup to his voice. [May 2008, p.78]

Young sounds fresher here than he has in nearly a decade. [Apr/May 2002, p.110]

Many beats... sound cheap, and many rhymes... trade drama for tough-guy same-old. [Oct 2004, p.128]

Even Booth's uncanny vocal resemblance to Bono isn't enough to keep this overlong set interesting. [#10, p.118]

Our suggestion for a more honest band name: Used Cars. [Jul 2006, p.100]

The format is so rambling and fragmented that is serves neither Poe the storyteller noor Reed the songwriter. [#13, p.97]

Isn't so much minimalist as just plain minimal. [Aug 2003, p.120]

The gorgeous arrangements are still firmly in place, and the wavery vocals more earnest than ever. [#9, p.143]

What's titillating about Damita Jo isn't some easy flash of sexuality, but the varied soundbeds that Jackson and her producers create to house her love games, and the confidence with which she plays. [May 2004, p.116]

Welcome to tonight's Very Special Episode of pop-punk. [Nov 2004, p.130]

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

Her lyrics drown in anti-gangsta correctives... but her best tracks transcend daily affirmations. [Jul 2006, p.96]

Problem is, 23-year-old frontman James Walsh remains the same sap. [Jan 2004, p.109]

One can't help but miss Erasure's old-school glee. [Apr 2005, p.116]

Mostly plays it safe. [Nov 2005, p.140]

The resulting batch of songs... just pad out the duller bits of blink, then add walls of mid-'80s-era U2 guitar chimes. [Jun 2006, p.136]

For Beep Beep, New Wave means not zippy synth-pop but the brute force of '70s punk turned into screwed-up yet finely calibrated outbursts. [Sep 2004, p.134]

He devotes himself largely to unremarkable romance chronicles and blandly competent hooks. [Oct 2007, p.107]

Being shallow and immature is both his strength and his weakness. [Apr 2003, p.131]

There's something undeniably irritating but strangely satisfying about lyrics so baldly declarative, especially over riffs this explosive. [Jun 2006, p.144]

Cook's dance music has seen better days. [Oct 2004, p.115]