The result is both shamelessly derivative and gloriously entertaining. [Jul 2013, p.88]

Overall, time has not diminished Frame's evergreen gift for bittersweet, heart-twanging introspection. [Jul 2014, p.95]

None of this is especially groundbreaking or radical, but the sound of a veteran in fine voice, making music with his pals (McGuinn and David Crosby are also along for the ride), is very persuasive indeed.

The result is varied, strange and engaging. [May 2025, p.75]

It's tip-top stuff. [Jul 2025, p.81]

As this once-fabled recording attests, the Family Stone's chops and their leader's startlingly innovative tropes (including scat singing and testifying) were already in place that March. [Sep 2025, p.85]

With Shooter Jening's outlaw holler and Sheryl Crow doing her backing-singer bit, the results are country slick but the execution is flawless. [Summer 2019, p.82]

A successful continuation of the Babymetal mission. [Sep 2025, p.74]

It's no surprise party - and less giant leap than consolidatory glide - but Can We Please Have Fun has its fair share of high times. [Jun 2024, p.74]

It's a singularly engaging soundscape you're strongly recommended to sample. [Jan 2024, p.80]

It's relaxed, and effective at that. [Sep 2014, p.92]

The formula is nowhere near broke, so why fix it? Stirring stuff. [Oct 2014, p.91]

Finds their former highs trapped behind glass, blurred and beclouded like the past year has been for all of us. [Jul 2021, p.86]

The classically trained musician's virtuosity - he plays all the instruments - is impressive, and it's matched by his lyrical themes, which are infused with quasi-spiritual belief in positive energy. [Oct 2021, p.72]

A proper ripper. [Mar 2023, p.76]

Thirty-four years and 16 albums in, Therapy? still sound as vital and hungry as they did when they dropped their debut. [Jun 2023, p.72]

A highly more-ish record with real soul and class. [Mar 2015, p.88]

Overall this album is Hynde's most adventurous experiment to date, opening new autumnal terrain for one of rock's greatest voices. [Sep 2019, p.85]

Sweet-voiced grrrl-angst vocals meet grunge dynamics; non-committal Veruca Salt do post-Nirvana loud bit/miserable bit. I Mean, it's fine, but... meh. [Summer 2022, p.79]

Climaxes with a haunting 20-minute prog epic complete with a musique concrete middle section. It's by far the most powerful piece of music they've ever made. The rest of the album is a mixed bag. .... But it's the scattered highlights you'll remember. [Summer 2024, p.76]

By placing the emphasis on Cash's then-overlooked songwriting flair, the album plays like a cohesive lost gem. [Summer 2024, p.79]

The whole thing sounds like they had a blast. [Jun 2013, p.88]

Unlike the mostly acoustic-led Lighthouse, Sky Trails finds him in full band mode, engaging in a nuanced blend of folk, soul and jazz that echoes vintage triumphs like Guinnevere and Déjà Vu.

It's a roguish enough distillation of Aussie rock's most okish corners. [Sep 2022, p.73]

Fans of Byrne's spiky post-punk oddball persona may feel short-changed, but his latter-day incarnation as a folksy, funny, starry-eyed romantic hits rhapsodic new heights here. [Oct 2025, p.73]

Bare-chested canyon rock is present and correct, but so too is much introspection, melancholia, hurt and hope. [Dec 2023, p.74]

Unlikely to win any new fans, then, but this richly textured mix of soft-focused funk, soul, jazz and R&B will delight those in thrall to an artist not so much laid back as horizontal. [May 2013, p.88]

Maybe hilariously, considering the video-friendly drama being aimed at, First You Break It conjures images of Justin Bieber when he makes that inevitable nasty rock album, cavorting in a black puddle. [Summer 2013, p.89]