We’re All Somebody From Somewhere sounds like an album conceived as a therapy project, one in which all the interesting corners of Tyler’s persona have been neatly rounded off. There’s no pizazz, very little spirit, not much sparkle and no sex.

King monkey contemplates his navel. [Apr 2019, p.89]

It's basically business as usual here. [Nov 2013, p.91]

[A] meaty pop debut album.

[The Fratellis] still lack an identity beyond the decent Glaswegian doggedness that has got them this far.

A worthy addition to one of alt.rock's greatest canons. [Jul 2014, p.92]

One of the most musically interesting things he's done in years. ... However, a bitter aftertaste lingers long after the final notes. [May 2020, p.79]

It's a concoction that shouldn't work but does. ... Disarming. [Jan 2021, p.82]

Texas have gone back to basics, reconnecting with the solidly crafted simplicity of their earliest albums, Southside and Mother's Heaven. [Jul 2013, p.90]

What The Journey lacks in subtlety--nothing here quite matches the beauty of Porrohman or the sheer exuberance of In A Big Country--it makes up for in heart. [Jun 2013, p.92]

It sounds like just another FFAF album. [Mar 2015, p.91]

As a compendium of rock styles, it’s hard to beat--maybe that’s what they mean by Little Victories. But it’s all quite characterless.

A classical version of a rock album only reveals how tonally conservative rock is (formally, Quadrophenia’s compositions would have sounded hidebound in the late 19th century), while at the same time revealing classical music’s inability to convey the electric volatility and the spine-tingling, physical frisson that’s unique to rock.

Old ground, yes, but viewed through bright, fresh eyes. You want the real vintage rock’n’soul deal? Look this way, and then make sure you catch them live.

As a trad dad pastiche it isn’t funny enough, and as a parallel career it’s a painful vanity project. Either way, avoid.

All in, it’s superior stuff, brimming with self-effacement and fun that belies the quality and seriousness from which it’s constructed.

Overall the album comes together in somewhat less cohesive fashion than Ride Out, and listeners may end up wishing for a Seger to take firmer grip on the steering wheel for one final album.

Peace Trail is a wide-open-sky gem that feels wild and free, while Cowgirl Jam s stupendous, a vintage Young showcase of instrumental assault and battery. Frustratingly, these highlights are punctuated by the six Paradox Passage instrumentals, which desperately miss a visual accompaniment to hang off. [Jun 2018, p.90]

Nobody's pretending that this album is a masterpiece, but it's convivial. [Dec 2019, p.85]

The heaviest tracks of a surprisingly rocking outing find Santana sounding more energised than he has in years.

When not recycling hand-me-down Gallagher-by-numbers, has his moments. [Sep 2022, p.77]

Forever sounds like a Bon Jovi album. Rock songs, power ballads, it's a big-sounding record designed to be played to big rooms. Admittedly it's no New Jersey, but that's like expecting to still fit the T-Shirt you bought on that late-80s tour. [Jul 2024, p.76]

Much of We Can Do Anything, their first album since 2000 and following on from last year’s Happy New Year EP, is a breezy return to what they do best: acoustic folk-punk with ragged edges, held together by Gano’s ear for a ringing melody and delivered like a peculiarly skittish Lou Reed.

This is a more conventional album. [Dec 2014, p.104]

If You're a lapsed follower, this record will make you believe again. [Jul 2014, p.91]

Stockdale’s magpie career continues to show not an inkling of musical mutation. Let’s call it treadmill rock--one man putting a lot of effort into going absolutely nowhere.

Primus are an acquired taste, but a taste worth acquiring. [Dec 2014, p.107]

They may have a more muscular setting, but there’s no denying the appeal of Argent’s ornate piano and Blunstone’s breathy warble.