Sprawling four-CD, 64-track (11 previously unreleased) retrospective. ... Overwhelmingly, it’s Cornell’s voice that wins through--a star-burst of a scream, a full-throated delight.

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]

Disc one's the gold. [Jan 2024, p.87]

Frankly, your head spins. Unpick it all, though, this is one of the most probing and pioneering avant-retro-pop albums of the age. And when Furman swerves from his Seraphiel & Louise narrative to discuss his issues with religion, coming out and the rise of the Far Right on the album’s jauntier ditties, it’s one of the most provocative too.

Rather than straying too far from the path, Robinson returns with his usual stew of blues, country, warm psychedelia and rock’n’roll. But within that template, they’ve left a trail of surprises to uncover, and the band have built themselves a playground and given themselves the time and space to thoroughly explore every corner.

Alice In Chains fans should prepare to love this, but expect more echoes of Jar Of Flies than of Dirt.

Suede’s ninth album is a back-to-basics ‘punk’ affair utilising their raw alt.rock thrust to deliver some equally unvarnished personal truths.

Heartache has rarely been so touchingly danced away. [Jul 2024, p.79]

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

From Saturnine & Iron Jaw’s haunting ambience and chugging Led Zeppelin guitars, to the trippy, pitch-black tones of See You Next Fall and the cathartic finale Rats In Ruin, it’s a dark, enticing feast for the senses, with one foot in ancient times and the other in some far-off dimension.

Uncompromisingly creative, it's an album designed with the absence of neighbours in mind. [Jun 2019, p.87]

One of Voivod’s finest works, Synchro Anarchy stands as proof that a band can please the crowd and themselves at the same time.

If you do like a bit of in-depth rock luxury in your life, In Cauda Venenum delivers by the caseload.

The band focus on capturing moments rather than arranging songs, interspersing tracks with tone poems including Millenial Prayer.

Recorded just weeks after Barre’s arrival, the album shows Tull still clinging to a blues root although reaching for something entirely new.

All the albums, and the odds-and-sods presented on this 11-CD collection are remastered, but only Lodger, in a move approved by Bowie before his death, is given a Tony Visconti 2017 remix. This new mix illuminates the giddy mood of experimentalism abroad, a contrast to the intensity of its precursor’s, and a band fresh from the tour captured on the exemplary Stage (also here), in fine, resourceful fettle.

The Gospel according to Water hovers in a mystical space between country, folk and jazz, his literate lyrics providing the thread which holds it all together. [Dec 2019, p.85]

This is an utterly brilliant collection. [Mar 2022, p.90]

Quality levels are consistently high, with sublime finger-picked folk-pop reveries like I Woke Up nestled alongside sumptuous, harp-kissed, Bacharach-sized chansons like Rise Up Singing and Glimpse OF You. [Jul 2024, p.80]

A CD of unreleased outtakes, which doesn’t just bring the creation of the songs to life, it brings the people behind them to life too. .... More than just a celebration of an album, Queen I provides a vivid snapshot of a moment in time. [Nov 2024, p.82]

An instant classic. [Apr 2013, p.94]

Bob Vylan arrive as a much-needed wake-up call, but it's one that's already electric. [May 2022, p.81]

As determinedly quirky as its title, The Girl is Crying In Her Latte is a very strong collection of vintage Sparks moods, plus a few new left-field twists. [Jul 2023, p.84]

Heaven is an adrenalin-charged barrage of intelligently crafted, hook-heavy material, enlivened with hairpin tempo twists, and impressively free of punk cliches. As Hell surges into action with Rise Up's thrusting fusion of shout-along punk chorus and metallic riffing, it's clear they're not playing their heavy side for laughs, using it instead to inject their characteristic sound with well-suited darker aspects on It's All Me and You Wanted War. [May 2024, p.79]

This is a clever hybrid of prog, hard rock and dance; there’s even a full-blown power ballad (that’s part The Tubes, part Kate Bush atmospherics) in the shape of All We Have Is Now.

Such is the attention to detail that it evokes an eerie world of rattling ghost trains and deserted penny arcades as successfully as a windswept day-trip to Blackpool. [Jun 2021, p.81]

At first you think, "Meh, more generic LA stuntcore." then realise you're loving it. [Nov 2022, p.75]

Gloriously raucous, with memorable tunes that bury themselves deep in the psyche, Bass Drum Of Death encapsulate the spirit of garage rock'n'roll. [Mar 2023, p.79]