So J did his usual effortless stand-in thang on guitar, and with Lou writing two beautiful soft rockers and Murph powering away on drums created another album to stand if not quite the equal of the original Dinosaur albums that around the end of the 80s helped change the face of US alternative rock, then somewhere close.

The ultra-catchy pop-punk of old is there in spades, but they're taking a cold hard look at America on This Is Not Utopia. ... Not all gambles pay off. ... A fun romp with a serious undercurrent. [May 2021, p.91]

Showcases an undeniably more varied sonic palette, even if that just means there are more classic bands that its 12 songs remind you of. [May 2021, p.84]

A game of two halves. ... Could please all. Or none. [Apr 2021, p.89]

Collects three albums and apposite era odds 'n' sods. [May 2021, p.97]

In Another World is a remarkable album and another marvellous continuation: power and pop. [May 2021, p.88]

4 lovers of gloriously degraded punk pop. [May 2021, p.88]

Great modern music. [May 2021, p.88]

Ringo has given us expertly produced and pensive meditations on the bigger pictures. [May 2021, p.87]

Cave remains inspirational working widescreen miracles from cataclysmic events. [May 2021, p.85]

An exhilarating, blustery document. [May 2021, p.84]

It's an astonishing set. [May 2021, p.84]

It’s the nearest Strummer has had to a ‘greatest hits’, replicating six tracks from 001, bolstered for diehards by a previously unreleased acoustic demo of Junco Partner, and 2001 Brixton Academy versions of The Clash’s I Fought The Law and Rudie Can’t Fail that so faithfully replicate Mick Jones’s complex arrangements it sounds like Joe giving it some welly over a well-drilled tribute band.

While Showdown and the Lennon cover feel almost jaunty in their lightness of touch, his cover of Guns N’ Roses’ Patience is a broody, brooding acoustic ballad, lonely and haunting.

Their sugar-coated badass swagger might be toothless and adolescent, but sometimes teenage dreams are hard to beat. [Mar 2021, p.87]

Despite the omission of radio sessions and later work, this is a blistering collection of songs by a band at their peak, and a fan-set by and large without compare (the live set alone being a fantastic time machine into a world where cool bands played Mekons covers and swore a lot).

Inevitably, the two extra discs are thick with superfluous alternative and extended mixes. But there are fine non-album singles here too, notably the glossy synth-funk stomper European Son and a plastic-soul remake of Smokey Robinson’s I Second That Emotion. Also included is the four-track Live In Japan EP first released in 1980, and a full live album recorded at the same show. ... Glorious.

Birchwood is still making rowdy brand of blues, seemingly unlikely to suit up or slow down any time soon. [Apr 2021, p.87]

A sultry, smouldering, non-committal vocal meanders over bass-heavy backdrops. [Apr 2021, p.89]

An unlikely masterpiece. [Apr 2021, p.89]

It's Biffy Clyro producer Dan Austin, who adds lustre to YMAS's lonely bones. [Apr 2021, p.89]

Cousins is in remarkable voice, his lyrics better than ever. [Apr 2021, p.87]

The Brighton metalcore band turn their attention both outwards and inwards: ferocious, barely contained rage directed towards global dysfunction and the looming, ever-increasing threats to mankind and the notion of personal responsibility, taking control of destiny. [Apr 2021, p.86]

When You See Yourself is their most clued-in record in a decade. [Apr 2021, p.88]

Detroit Stories is his most concise bolt of precision-tooled heavy rock in 50 years, enhanced by Ezrin’s robust production and Alice on lethal form, vocally and lyric-wise.

[The band] sound like they’re grabbing at big choruses like an alcoholic scrabbling for a bedside breakfast whisky. But on The Feelers, the motoric Spices and Me & Magdalena, Craig Finn’s sneered diatribe about a manipulative rock junkie, they nonetheless stumble across a rich, National-like lustre of dark grooves and opiated euphoria.

As The Love Continues sees Mogwai’s voyage into sound progress in a stately manner as tracks like Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever and the misnomered Fuck Off Money tread an unlikely fine line between waft and heft.

All 10 songs – here remastered by Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham, also credited on re-issues by Deep Purple, Rory Gallagher et al – sound rich and timeless. ... The fourth CD (discs four and five on vinyl) re-sequences live performances from the March 1973 UK tourheard previously as Live At Last (1980) and part of Past Lives (2002) – but former Free engineer Richard Digby Smith’s new mix proves third time lucky and outshines even the glorious 60-page booklet.