If this is a weird nightmare its one that no one will be in a rush to wake up from. [Jun 2026, p.71]

Irritating... in the very best way. [Jun 2026, p.77]

Your Favorite Toy is a ferocious reaffirmation of the Foos’ initial post-grunge power that will overjoy diehard fans, and it hits the ground racing. [Jun 2026, p.70]

They don't go for the jugular of the tune as rabidly as they once did, although Wu-tang, the French-language Je N'en Ai Pas and several galloping new-wave track certainly do the business. [Jun 2026, p.77]

The whole thing breathes fire. [Jun 2026, p.76]

Heavy music rarely feels this absolute. [Jun 2026, p.75]

An ambitious, album worth investing in. [Jun 2026, p.75]

If only all music were this thrillingly inclusive. [Jun 2026, p.72]

An album of quiet, immense beauty. [Jun 2026, p.72]

By returning to their sonic roots, The Black Keys sound revitalised, urgent and gloriously unrefined once again. [Jun 2026, p.72]

This is a record to cherish, driven by bright acoustics, gently overdriven electrics, the occasional pedal steel and fiddle, and, above it all, Taylor's voice and exceptional songwriting nous. [Jun 2026, p.73]

Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful ('66) and Everything Playing ('67) include the odd classic, such as Nashville Cats, but don't gel so well, despite Yanovsky's flamboyant playing. The constant style shifting suits the soundtracks for What's Up, Tiger Lily? and You're A Big Boy Now, with groovy themes a-go-go. [May 2026, p.85]

The album's 2026 mix is revelatory. .... It's a bit of a trove, all told, a never more hard-rocking Queen in an iconic Mick Rock cover image for the ages. [May 2026, p.82]

Rich in reference to Greek mythology, teeming with restless spirits in various stages of rapture and sorrow. All this might suggest heaviness, but the music is unfailingly rhythmic and melodic, often sophisticated. [Apr 2026, p.79]

The most interesting bits of Engines Of Destruction are the moments when the beardy berserker mask drops. [May 2026, p.74]

This music doesn't so much rock as lurch, convulse and blister the paint off your toenails. [May 2026, p.75]

They're fully committed to the mythology of Gong throughout. [Apr 2026, p.79]

Some of his catchiest tracks of recent years offset the records indulgences. [May 2026, p.79]

Nico-styled, Stereolab-crafted, stylishly kosmische-ed, pastoral near prog. [May 2026, p.79]

yourprettyplaceisgoingtohell will melt you right into your couch, will jelly your brain. [May 2026, p.78]

This album is a pleasant listening experience, if not quite earth-shattering. [May 2026, p.77]

It's a bewildering but rather fabulous array of soundscapes, noise, arthouse street theatre, windswept melodies and jagged juxtapositions, which evokes Steve Miller's Macho City or Laurie Anderson's Home Of The Brave, But with a very 21st-century twist. [May 2026, p.75]

As first albums go, Honora is a risky play, but it's one that just about manages to pay off. [May 2026, p.75]

A record of sophisticated electronic alt. rock, where the organic and artificial merge wonderfully. [May 2026, p.73]

Another triumph. [May 2026, p.78]

With Childish's standard acerbic lyrics, antagonistic vocals and bluebottle guitar buzz, House On Fire is Medway Delta blues-meets-psychedelic desert rock with a southern gothic vibe. [May 2026, p.74]

The lone misstep is Bernard Butler's Not Alone, which without soaring strings loses much of its defining defiance. Caveat aside, this is an album of warmth and depth. [May 2026, p.74]

As ever, this band find their joie de vivre in jadedness. [May 2026, p.78]

Future Soul is sublime, and one of America's great bands just got a little bit greater. [May 2026, p.72]

A maximalist spectacle that ticks every Lamb Of God check-box yet still finds the space to become their most innovative album in years. [May 2026, p.77]

Dream Nails are evolving with grace and wit, trading the splenetic feminist rants of their early career for more musically and emotionally nuanced terrain. [Mar 2026, p.81]

If your bag is relentless hectoring from five angry, tune averse firebrands, feel free to have at it. Doubtlessly great live, though. [Apr 2026, p.81]

Heady stuff. [Apr 2026, p.79]

This fourth album from them is special. [Apr 2026, p.79]

A Pound Of Feathers is not quite as immediate, then, as Happiness Bastards, but repeated listens pay off. Its relationship to that record is similar to the way recently re-released Amorica sits alongside The Southern Harmony. The Crowes’ blessed resurrection keeps rolling. [Apr 2026, p.74]

It's an assured slice of post-Loaf songcraft. [Apr 2026, p.81]

At 72 Gordon is still smarter, more experimental and more inventive than just about anyone else in the art-rock sphere. [Apr 2026, p.78]

Like all the best crate-dogging comps it also unearths a wealth of wonderful obscurities. [Apr 2026, p.87]

It's Tripp's devotion to short, snappy expression that lends this album mist character. [Apr 2026, p.77]

This time around it's less epic overload and more barebones, twitching drum machines and sparse, discordant guitars, [Apr 2026, p.76]

A record imagined in youth, realised in maturity and vibrating with the thrill of possibility. [Apr 2026, p.75]

It turns out these eternal survivors have gone out with neither a whimper nor a snarl. [Apr 2026, p.76]

Confirm[s] that not only is this one of Gorillaz's best albums, but also that there's plenty of life in this cartoon outfit yet. [Apr 2026, p.76]

If you don't like jazz, this is another Metheny album that might change your mind. [Apr 2026, p.81]

It might not be essential, but it's not without merit. [Apr 2026, p.80]

Oddly archaic yet thoroughly modern. Which is to say he still sounds pretty timeless. [Apr 2026, p.80]

It all makes for a varied, sophisticated and somewhat restrained listen, as the Wakefield trio's bawling attack is tempered to allow subtler flavours to seep through. [Apr 2026, p.75]

Diggle has done his old friend proud with the Buzzcocks' new normal. [Mar 2026, p.81]

Eric Bibb manages to steer his unique blend of blues and folk in fresh directions. [Mar 2026, p.79]

Their seventh album is clever, arch and compelling. [Mar 2026, p.79]

A few more enticing tunes within the mix might really elevate them to a higher plane. [Mar 2026, p.78]

There’s no denying the lustre and passion in these songs. A case in point is the blistering call-to-arms, preacher-man fire-and-brimstone sermon True Black. Elsewhere, Tumbleweeds leans towards a darker Ryan Adams or brooding Jason Isbell setting. [Mar 2026, p.79]

The hooks go off like petrol bombs too. [Mar 2026, p.79]

Inspired song choices, delivered with real passion. [Mar 2026, p.78]

Biley turns the controls a little more towards vintage soul on this eighth album. Her voice is still a formidable instrument. [Feb 2026, p.81]

James Hunter's scuffed, sepia-toned soul holler remains something to here on this latest release. [Feb 2026, p.81]

Sleaford Mods are still kicking ass with acerbic beauty. [Feb 2026, p.80]

There is enough fire-breathing mania and lusty exaltation on Live God to make it a reliably thorough document of the Bad Seeds in full autumnal glory. [Feb 2026, p.78]

It's the sound of a man and his chums enjoying each other's gifts as they rattle out some slightly scuzzy slices of rock delight. [Feb 2026, p.78]

The set culminates in a version of Echoes, which unfortunately is absolutely blighted by a wailing, dreadful saxophone solo, an awful aberration. Otherwise, this is quintessence of Floyd. [Feb 2026, p.85]

Ascension hits the sweet spot between the gnarliness they've re-embraced over the last decade and the goth-tinged grandeur and sense of melody that has always been a part of their music. [Oct 2025, p.75]

A fitting coda for one of rock's great outsider voices. [Jan 2026, p.80]

Nathaniel Rateliff serves up a heavenly cloud of backing vocals on Beautiful Strangers. And while Eddie Hinton's Everybody Needs Love sounds a little trite written down, spiced by a Bonnie Raitt slide solo it's irresistible. [Jan 2026, p.79]

This beautiful album will continue to reveal more with every listen, and those repeated listens will be irresistible. [Jan 2026, p.78]

Black And Blue is the sound of an enduring rock’n’roll firm updating the business. .... Expanded versions of this reissue include loose workouts with Jeff Beck, who entertained himself on the Meters-like funk of Rotterdam Jam. [Jan 2026, p.84]

Eric's new version brings a new lo-fi energy and the maturity of a dark ray Davies. .... This is truly a great album. [Dec 2025, p.76]

Sure, there are no surprises here but then again, none are needed. [Dec 2025, p.77]

Satirising the music industry itself as impressively as The Fall, The Sherlock Holmes... is classic Headcoats. [Dec 2025, p.77]

As a collection, Anthology 4 charts a parallel path through the Beatles’ career, one with a tacky postscript in the 21st century. As a Beatles record, it is not very good, offering nothing exciting in terms of rarities (wow, the “strings only” version of Something from the Abbey Road 50th anniversary edition) or insight. [Dec 2025, p.84]

The 1LP version is heaven-sent hitsville. .... The 3LP version is where things loosen up, as (relative) deep cuts strut their stuff. [Dec 2025, p.83]

Punk never sounded more soulful. [Dec 2025, p.83]

It's a mad house of friction, attitude and ambition. [Oct 2025, p.77]

A vivid chronicle of his rapid ascent and growth as an artist, it captures the thrill of a young man finding his voice while making an indelible mark on history. .... A whole lotta Dylan for your dollar, and it's worth every cent. [Dec 2025, p.86]

What resonates is how creatively potent he remains. [Dec 2025, p.75]

While there's no getting around the fact that this five-disc set has been released to promote said film - even the Boss isn't above cross-platform media marketing - it still succeeds as the last revealing word on the album's gestation. [Dec 2025, p.83]

It can't and shouldn't replace the original, but this is a fascinating insight into the band's creative process and latter-day regrets. [Dec 2025, p.79]

It only ever recalls a fuzz-jangling, beefed-up Sundays is surprising, but yeah, it'll do. [Dec 2025, p.79]

For The Sake Of Bethel Woods confirmed that they are not the band they once were but A Bridge To Far flows directly on from there with many of the songs more theoretical in nature. [Dec 2025, p.78]

One of those rare and precious rock records: instantly bewitching but oozing with moments to feat on time after time. [Dec 2025, p.76]

The Charlatans of this 14th album have evolved into a far richer and more reflective band, as much concerned with inner as outer spaces. [Dec 2025, p.75]

It's rock. Everything pounds excitedly, Rick Neilsen's guitars garrulous, until the inevitable slow one halfway through as a token node to light and shade. [Dec 2025, p.74]

The pace of Duets Special is slow and steady, so inevitably there are moments where it drags a little, but to hear one of the great rock voices of her era in her element, sharing the music she loves with musicians she respects and complements, is a quiet, low-key joy to behold. [Nov 2025, p.80]

This is glorious stuff: the punchy, thin lipped Church & State; the affecting wonderfully harmonies of A Woman Oversees; the slowly uncoiling storytelling bound up in the lingering A Long Goodbye. [Nov 2025, p.77]

Love Chant is a wonderful and surprisingly vital return to the fray. [Nov 2025, p,75]

Idlewild remain as dependable as ever. [Nov 2025, p.78]

The best 1983 album released in 2025. [Nov 2025, p.78]

Lawrence has delivered the best daft/sincere novelty pop album you'll hear all yeat. It's a sugar rush. [Nov 2025, p.81]

Genre-defying angst never sounded so good. [Nov 2025, p.80]

The drunken waltz of Bad Reputation offers a few minutes of interest, but the album fails to adequately raise the temperature. [Nov 2025, p.81]

It is a wonderful life-affirming masterpiece. [Nov 2025, p.74]

Some of the album's best moments come when Wheeler turns the lens on himself. .... With Ad stra Ash are reborn again: older, wiser, but sounding not a wrinkle of it. [Nov 2025, p.74]

Some reasonably good live music (Elephant’s Memory bring to Lennon’s music a bluesy heaviness that sometimes suits it and sometimes doesn’t), some intriguing demos (arguably the best material here, whether it be rare Lennon originals or decent rock’n’roll covers) and most of Some Time In New York City, an album that suffers from: a) being terrible, especially The Luck Of The Irish, a song that makes Ed Sheeran’s Galway Girl sound like The Chieftains), and b) the omission of its one great song, whose title means it has been excised from the album. One for the history buffs. [Nov 2025, p.84]

Extensive sleeve notes featuring a perfect potted history by CR writer Mark Beaumont and background detail on each track by Gedge help make this a must have. [Oct 2025, p.87]

The result, albeit low-key, is a charming, warm-hearted collection. [Oct 2025, p.79]

While it might be pushing it some to claim it, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is a “weirdly prescient precursor of punk”, as Alexis Petridis suggests in the sleevenotes to this reissue. And there is no doubt as to its influence or longevity. [Oct 2025, p.82]

Overall this live album confirms how solidly he has established his post-Smiths identity. [Oct 2025, p.78]

They're a strange band. In places it's as if they've accidently ended up in a room together and just carried on doing their thing, and by some weird magic it all comes together - a game of aural chicken which no one backs down but everybody wins. [Oct 2025, p.78]

Plant's journey continues ever on, and it's one worth falling in step with. [Oct 2025, p.72]