A fabulous record, a baffling, joyful, touching, frustrating, silly, totally seductive album that you can lose yourself in for an hour, a day, a week. [Aug 2003, p.92]

There is a remarkable consistency about Smile's complex tapestry of delights. [Oct 2004, p.98]

If only all pop music could be this smart and soulful. [Dec 2006, p.106]

An extraordinary record... It's not, nor is it intended to be, easy listening. [Sep 2004, p.94]

Protest music that doesn't protest too much -- a music with such a joy and wit to its outrage that it acquires a universality beyond its subject matter. [Nov 2001, p.98]

Ultimately The Sea And Cake are just making timeless, faultless pop music.

A fantastic consolidation of everything good about LCD. [Apr 2007, p.108]

Fantastic! [Aug 2002, p.112]

It's exhilarating stuff, the kind of record that sets new parameters as to what is possible from a punk rock'n'roll band in the 21st century. [Oct 2004, p.106]

Frankly, you could get drunk just on the minutiae here. [Feb 2005, p.92]

The result is their best and most thematically complete album since Achtung Baby. By turning towards their past, U2 have found their way back to the future. [Nov 2014, p.88]

An effervescent rush of melody, invention and magic. [Jan 2006, p.119]

The mind-boggling intricacies and moody, broody sound-sculpting on tracks like Pen Expers find Autechre zooming off, leaving their followers eating cosmic dust. [May 2001, p.110]

Their masterpiece--the re-interpretation of Western rock history as some consenual power-prog dream narrative where Led Zeppelin and Soft Machine are more important than The Beatles. [May 2004, p.105]

Her songs, paradoxically both epic and intimate, shimmer and pulsate as their kaleidoscopic images and mysterious characters drift in and out of focus.

The most fully realised Lambchop record, the most perfect blend yet of their alt country roots and their obsession with soul.

Damon and Naomi haven't so much altered what they do as augmented it, often beautifully. The results are occasionally breathtaking.... A rare and graceful record. (Oct 2000, p.92)

Sits to the right of the likes of Philip Glass and Glenn Branca while outdoing the experimentalism of either Radiohead or Sigur Ros. [Jan 2003, p.98]

It is Nas's poetic erudition that makes it a stone cold classic. [Mar 2007, p.100]

Choosing favourites is almost futile with so much scintillating brilliance on offer.

A sonic quantum leap. [Jul 2005, p.100]

Vaporous, layered, beautifully evocative, with moments of discordant madness. [Co-Album Of The Month [with 'Blood Money'], May 2002, p.94]

While it still whispers, this third endeavour works its way into your soul.

This record is full of surprises, roping in all manner of esoteria for a sweaty, beer-splattered and tune-drenched rock'n'roll party that rivals even Nevermind for balancing the pop sugar with the twisted underbelly and subtle smarts. [May 2003, p.90]

A brilliant second album unembarrassed about building on the strengths of the first, delivering 13 knockout tunes betraying not an ounce of flab or self-indulgence. [Nov 2005, p.94]

The result is 31 minutes of constantly surprising music, more absorbing and less conventional than anything on their self-titled 2005 debut. [Feb 2007, p.102]

Though the production isn't listener-friendly and the lyrics can be lovelorn in excelsis, Arthur's strong melodies and arresting imagery always win through.

Invigorating and intriguing, as hummable as it is inventive... it's also possibly the best thing Blur have done. [May 2003, p.88]

This is thrilling, incontrovertible evidence of a major new talent in our midst. [Mar 2006, p.102]

What they achieve here is hard to get right: lush, summery music-for-pleasure that sounds effortless. [Album of the Month, Sep. 2002, p.92]

Since I Left You fuses dozens of different styles -- and over 600 lovingly reconfigured samples -- into one riotously enthusiastic, awesomely seamless whole. [May 2001, p.116]

It is Kweli's diligently intelligent worldview, dextrous wordplay and often breathtaking flow that enrapture. [Jan 2005, p.96]

There's not a single weak link on this excellent record. [Aug 2005, p.100]

A satisfying, and often very moving, body of work. [Dec 2001, p.100]

Compare this latest instalment of vivid, left-wing existentialist pop with past triumphs like Mars Audiac Quintet and Emperor Tomato Ketchup, and it's every bit as good. [Apr 2006, p.102]

This time Linkous lets his gift for fractured folk song to resonate without encumbrance from freaky noise slugs. The results are sensational. [Jul 2001, p.98]

For those new to Sylvian's work or for those who tuned out after Tin Drum, this welcome career cherry-picker serves as a perfect portal to discover some of the most haunting and beautiful music of the last two decades.

Nothing here is naive or inaccessible. [Jun 2013, p.89]

A noble addition to the Giant Sand canon. [Sep 2004, p.96]

(I)NC's pop-punky take on early Deep Purple-ish blues-rock is elegantly streamlined by Rubin's lucid production. [Sep 2004, p.104]

It signals the charged completion of a circuit, the final bridging of a gap between conductors. [Aug 2012, p.91]

The upbeat rockers certainly pull no punches. ... Better still, some gentler tunes reveal his more vulnerable side. [Nov 2017, p.95]

The Window Is The Dream initially seems opaque, but keep looking through and all becomes beautifully clear. [May 2023, p.92]

As Is Now may be his finest and most consistent record since 1993's Wild Wood; possibly even since the days of The Jam. [Nov 2005, p.100]

It's all funny, sardonic, heartfelt and loveable. [Apr 2006, p.106]

They sound joyous even when they're miserable. [Oct 2006, p.96]

The resulting fusion suggests nothing less than an Eastern Astral Weeks. [Feb 2020, p.94]

He and his band sound focused and spry over eight beautifully arranged songs produced by Jackson and Pat Dillett. [Feb 2019, p.90]

All told: here's blues, raw'n'alive. [Sep 2023, p.83]

They do an excellent if eccentric job of evoking the pixelated ineffability of, well, existence itself. [Apr 2021, p.86]

Eccentric yet accessible avant-electronica. [May 2021, p.88]

It's charming, understated and has to be heard in context. [Oct 2007, p.100]

A dizzying tapestry of rave, Chicago footwork, jungle, hip-hop and soulful pop. [Aug. 2011, p. 104]

A lively fusion of politically conscious Afro-beat electro pop. [Apr 2017, p.99]

The music swings again, even if Currie's damning viewpoint hasn't lightened. [Jun 2021, p.87]

[The tracks] are stripped back, letting the raw essence rise to the surface and evoking the strength of feeling that comes through their live performances. There’s the swing of Sam Cooke at the Harlem Square Club, the search for ecstasy of the Family Stone at Woodstock, the power of Aretha Franklin at LA’s New Temple Missionary Baptist Church and the fervour of Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples at 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival. [May 2025, p.82]

A more charming and seductive album you're unlikely to hear this year. [Nov 2008, p.116]

The surprises keep coming. [Nov 2008, p.108]

They've upped their game. [Jun 2020, p.87]

This colourful fruit ain't rotting yet. [May 2013, p.90]

It's intimate but also voyeuristic. [Oct 2021, p.86]

The group demonstrate their vocal prowess on Hamba, a relentless dance groove featuring plaintive a cappella harmonies. [Dec 2022, p.89]

Musically and vocally, this is Franti's most confident and varied work to date. [Jul 2003, p.106]

Dizzied, delirious, conflicted, Night Reign draws in tight around you. [Jul 2024, p.91]

Always a unique voice, Phillipps is as refreshingly conciliatory as he is arrow straight. It may be nothing particularly new, but it's the way he tells 'em. [Oct 2018, p.90]

Live albums often give you the gist of the jam, inviting you to imagine studio details; The War On Drugs invert that expectation, letting the rest sparkle beneath stage lights. [Jan 2021, p.86]

This album is a beauty. [Nov 2018, p.93]

[Tony] Rice would have loved it. [Feb 2022, p.86]

If it has a fault, it is that its relentlessly innovative music can overshadow often superlative lyrics. [Apr 2005, p.102]

Where Kloot's self-titled second had moments of glowing, maximalist production, here the sound is pared back. [May 2005, p.106]

The album's 12 intimate essays, described as "elegies as much as songs," feel like ghostly, poignant testaments to our times. [Mar 2022, p.86]

Their best by a country mile. [Oct 2005, p.118]

A yin-yang parity asserts itself with the wistful, jazzy, Rose-sung Simple Days, electro-pop You Saw and epic, wicca-ish Druantia. Elsewhere, there’s arty chamber pop, demented swing-jazz and the epic Surf’s Up-echoing closer Sunrise: middle-aged bliss has rarely sounded so weirdly magical. [Nov 2024, p.91]

Like all the best dreams. [Oct 2011, p.100]

[An] extraordinary beautiful debut. [Dec 2015, p.87]

Snares feels more like No Age's greatest hits than their fifth album. [Feb 2018, p.95]

These 12 tunes pack an almighty sonic punch. [Apr 2007, p.96]

From the vogueish cat on their album cover to the deliberate non-production, Crazy For You comes wrapped in a hipster cloak, but Cosentino is no slacker. [Sep 2010, p.98]

[This album] finds a glorious similitude between the two disciplines. [Jul 2010, p.92]

Tastefully gauzy production elevates Indian-based KK's indie-psych pop second. [Mar 2020, p.96]

They still pack a metallic, tight-as-you-like punch that's more than ready for 10 rounds with Yow's gnarled voice. [Oct 2007, p.98]

Wild abandon never sounded so inviting. [Aug. 2011, p. 104]

Intense. But the much tougher stuff here is emotional. [Sep 2022, p.86]

Blacc's wise-beyond-his-years tenor, sounding eerily alike a young Bill Withers, perfectly fits I Need A Dollar's dignified mourn. Elsewhere, he skillfully evades mawkishness or trite sentiment on the moving Momma Hold My Hand. [Sep 2010, p.106]

There's peace and a wild purity to it. [May 2017, p.92]

He and Lucille are still as one and the guitar licks come exquisite and often. [Nov 2008, p.119]

Serene, mostly, where free improv is usually abrasive. [Jul 2020, p.88]

A fitting, touching elegy for a bewitching talent. [May 2019, p.87]

Urgent, retro-futurist and profoundly absorbing. [Jul 2020, p.84]

Altogether, a brilliant and very welcome return. [Jun 2016, p.88]

Sciubba turns in surreal, lo-fi rock, delivered with the drop-dead charisma of Patti Smith and in the dark-brown tenor of Nico. [Apr 2014, p.97]

No huge amounts of new ground broken... but even a mediocre Kraftwerk album is still a work of near-genius. [Sep 2003, p.101]

No Name is a much more nuanced record, more of a piece with White’s entire varied discography, than it might have first appeared.

Her balance of mesmerising, confessional intensity with sculpted pop instincts remains an unfailing pleasure throughout. [Mar 2022, p.85]

SpiderBeetleBee is part history lesson, park New World exploration; the familiar made strange by glistening harmonics. [Nov 2017, p.102]

In Of The Earth he has slipped its bonds almost entirely, crafting a holistic, electro-acoustic world music that defies categorisation. [Apr 2026, p.89]

Undoubtedly one of his strongest. [Feb 2017, p.97]

Haunted and intimate, Balfe's deep brogue ultimately salvages hope from the wreckage. [May 2021, p.83]