It moves musical mountains with joyous funk, ecstatic hand-clappers, and fine redemption blues. [Sep 2014, p.95]

[Signs Under Test] satisfies the soul without losing its precision-tooled digital lustre. [Mar 2015, p.97]

It's the jubilant reach and dynamite in the details that make The Scholars a rock opera worthy of the form. [Jun 2025, p.85]

The extras will delight Ig-heads and Bowie buffs, likewise the thoroughly annotated 40-page booklet, featuring new interviews with key participants. [Jul 2020, p.92]

Supple rhythm section underpins Rowley's abstract lyrics facing existential ills with charisma and skill. [Dec 2020, p.89]

Goat shapes up as one of 2024's most enjoyable albums so far. [Nov 2024, p.89]

Despite its bleak outlook, this is a record big on nagging choruses and arm-punching emo punk that--more often than not--aims for the mainstream artery. [Dec 2006, p.110]

Many of these sessions trump the original album versions. [Mar 2005, p.100]

Pissed Jeans' fist-pumping tunes, thrilling noise and acidic wit ensure their permanent bummer is always a good time. [Apr 2024, p.87]

A logical next step then, which stays the right side of MOR. [Mar 2013, p.96]

There is no great leap into the unknown here, but rather a fusion of the band's previous two records. [16 Jul 2005, p.50]

Secret Sisters ably court both the family market and those who haunt Past Times stores in search something new. [Mar 2011, p.108]

Knockin' Boots shuttles between classic disco, '80s electro soul, Gallic House tropes and stripped-down future funk with significant aplomb. [Aug 2015, p.88]

The pervading mood of Dedication is oppressive and borderline paranoid, but it makes for wonderfully innovative, state-of-the-art urban electronica. [Aug. 2011, p. 104]

Spiral slowly reveals a core mood, triangulated between Talk Talk, Radiohead and Pink Floyd models of taut, blissful, trance-inducing rock, but often beat-driven. [Sep 2021, p.86]

Alternate/Endings is sprawling, cinematic and agenda setting. [Feb 2014, p.97]

It's Bramwell's knack for a kind of "surely this one must be a cover-version" classicism that impresses most. [Feb 2013, p.96]

A serious set that delivers on his promise. [Dec 2014, p.93]

Minimal, murky, magnificent. [Aug 2015, p.96]

For all her professed preference for slower, gothically-inclined blues, it's old-time rippers like Sometimes There's Blood or land speed banjo record attempt, Oh, Command Me Lord!, where she really excels--and, critically, excites.[Aug 2018, p.88]

Their traditional strengths remain, chiefly McVeigh's rich vocals and their knack of emphasising a simple hook with a cacophonous, multilayered production. [Mar 2019, p.98]

A superlative crooner with grit, soul and impeccable phrasing, James caresses and finesses every syllable of his highly literate, deeply personal songs. [Apr 2020, p.88]

A late-onset triumph. [Oct 2020, p.92]

Proceedings occasionally veer toward earnestness, but gorgeous textures of clarinets, guitars and synthesizers keep the project bracingly alive. [Dec 2020, p.82]

Barry also produces with an ear to the sonics of yesteryear. ... But some of the vocal sections aren't as strong. [Jun 2021, p.87]

Over time and repeated plays, Showtunes weaves its magic, maintaining its mysterious atmosphere throughout, along with a welcome sense of stillness amid life's ongoing dramas. [Jun 2021, p.81]

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

He's not strayed too far from his usual template: beautifully crafted yet unashamedly earthly songs which soar and contemplate at just the right moment. [Nov 2022, p.89]

For all its filigree detail, Spring Eternal is a big philosophically questing record, a velvet glove hiding a death-like grip. [Mar 2024, p.90]

As well as less oft-aired selections from Stoogean days (I'm Sick Of You, a ferocious Death Trip), the Bowie era (Mass Production) and later solo outings (The Endless Sea, off '79's New Values), there's a trumpet-led singalong for The Passenger, and Loose rendered with a near-big band swing - weird but actually rather wonderful. [Feb 2025, p.85]

Not a thrill a minute, but a steady antidote to chaos. [Sep 2025, p.83]

The Brooklyn foursome's debut is the work of some feverishly creative minds, as it effortlessly genre-hops between dusty Americana, Breeders-style angular art-pop and off-kilter folk. [Jun 2016, p.93]

Musicians writing and singing about being in the seventies is a rare thing in the Peter Pan world of rock--but The Who do it exceptionally well. [Dec 2019, p.92]

Featuring a previously recorded vocal by Davy Jones, who died in 2012, it’s a match for any of their ’60s hit 45s. It also features all four Monkees, the only song of the 13 here to do so. The remainder, penned by the group, musician fans and long time cohorts, feature Tork, Dolenz and Nesmith and for the most part recapture the enchantment of the original group.

Sade has, as ever, fashioned an album that sounds both classic and current. [Mar 2010, p.91]

Witty, tender pieces to charm even those for who wrestling means Shirley Crabtree. [May 2015, p.100]

Its sprawling, ambient techno is a sensory overload of submerged beats, like windscreen wipers during drizzle, over which drift icy phrases and fragments. [Jul 2018, p.95]

F&M hit peak funkiness on this fat-free blend of Krautrock pulses and pop melodies. [Nov 2022, p.94]

The years don’t fall away – you feel every one – but this recording shows just what a beautiful thing that can be.

Dwyer's crew are oft-cited as the world's most exciting live rock band; they're also making some of its most exciting rock records. [Sep 2017, p.93]

The Complete Budokan 1978 is a richer picture of this restless nerve at work. [Jan 2024, p.101]

This is a very traditional U2 album, the sort of album people want U2 to make. [Dec 2004, p.96]

The Dap-Kings lent their powerful Muscle Shoals-esque funk licks to Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and even Robbie Williams. But they work best together in their Brooklyn studio, as 100 days proves. [Nov 2007, p.100]

An album of gauzily reflective--but engrossingly atmospheric--pieces. [Nov 2005, p.108]

Ultimately, though, the resolutely rubbish recordings--distorted, trebly drum breaks, scratchy guitars, monotonous voices--and near-total absence of melody, might test your stamina for mindless entertainment. [May 2003, p.104]

This has wit in spades, an irrepressible love of language and genuine originality. [Oct 2004, p.110]

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

At times, it's almost too tasteful a refinement of her work.... Yet there are some fabulous moments from both sides of Harvey's brain. [Jun 2004, p.100]

An album of humming, depthless power. [Nov 2011, p.102]

It's Thornton Wilder's Our Town divested of optimism, yet retaining that play's twilight feel. [Aug 2012, p.86]

This is music for interiors, sequestered days in tune with the beauty of our immediate surroundings. [Dec 2020, p.85]

When they crank out breathless melodic euphoria like Darkened Rings, originality seems a pointless objective anyway. [Feb 2017, p.98]

Songs with fuller backing reveal much melodic moxie. [May 2016, p.96]

Almost three decades into their journey, age has only emboldened them. [Jul 2009, p.99]

This first widely available release is a superb distillation of the duo's talents. [Dec 2008, p.112]

It's the resulting acoustic simplicity of his songwriting that makes this collection such a treat. [Jul 2012, p.101]

While the production still feels ill-judged, there are some crackling tracks. [Jun 2016, p.92]

That he is reunited with producer Mitchell Froom only partly accounts for the likeness this album shares with his '90s work. [Jun 2006, p.111]

Like other recent albums, this is not consistent enough to be classic Wilson but her voice still regularly seduces. [July 2008, p.109]

He has created a wooded lattice of crackling guitar and dusky electronica. [Jun 2012, p.87]

These gradual pleasures fly in the face of today's pop/rock hardsell, for sure, but inexorably you are drawn into Kurt's world. [Mar 2002, p.100]

If these last two [fire and freshness] are tough to keep up 15 years on, it doesn't show. [Aug 2014, p.93]

This is impressive, soul-bearing torch-pop, yet despite some bravura vocal performances, Almond's typically declamatory delivery at times, feels rather awkwardly appended to the airlessly slick soundscapes. [Apr 2015, p.91]

Sinewy. ... Lines brings a clear echo of mid-period Pink Floyd to the table. [Mar 2022, p83]

They're also practitioners of the ancient art form of popcraft, constructing tight, clever confections then working with longtime co-producer Pat Dillett to ensure the hooks are delivered cleanly and efficiently. They remain funny, too. [Jun 2026, p.88]

Much of Days Are Gone packs bubblegum snare, toe-stubbing synth bass, and contemporised '80s pop trappings that evoke everything from Scritti Politti's Cupid & Psyche 85 to Laura Brannigan's Self Control. [Oct 2013, p.95]

In total, the rejuvenated, rockier Numan's finest hour. [Nov 2013, p.86]

It's sleek through and through; vicious when it needs to be, yet overwhelmingly classy. [Jun 2016, p.93]

Tricolore feels like an imaginary soundtrack. [Jan 2014, p.103]

The recurring hallmark is Ritter's literate storytelling. [Nov 2015, p.94]

A-grade pop songwriting. [Aug 2020, p.94]

A searching, typically heart-warming record about middle-aged men somewhat adrift, yet ultimately anchored to people and place, Endless Arcade testifies to the Fannies' endurance. [Jun 2021, p.82]

Wolf has established his own distinctive and mighty voice. [Jul 2021, p.89]

Warpaint's finest album so far. [Jun 2022, p.88]

Though musically more fulsome, lyrics are still key. [Sep 2022, p.96]

A blissful escape from whatever ails you. [Feb 2023, p.89]

The alien instrumentation here is systematic rather than fundamental--atmospheric colour that shows Hawley's current mindset rather than confirming some fundamental musical shift. [Oct 2009, p.94]

At times, her fluency leaves you wishing for a smudge or run that hasn't been place deliberately, but from the Tom Petty love-the-one-you're-with of Apples And Oranges to Cherry Baby's soft-focus disco, Lewis is a smart, fluent builder of her world. [Jul 2023, p.90]

Flawless.

Powerful to the point of brutality, but affecting. [Oct 2017, p.98]

Once more, Daptone has come up trumps; this is solid gold soul. [Jun 2015, p.90]

This is uneasy listening with little in the way of recognisable groove or plotting. [Jan 2015, p.94]

From the title track's monolithic defiance down, this one's an out-of-the-blue, anti-establishment classic. [Nov. 2010, p. 106]

The 2CD "best of" is a strong cherry-pick of his catalogue. [Oct 2012, p.102]

The words "necessity", "mother" and "invention" spring happily to mind. [Jul 2013, p.92]

Open's success lies in its final effect on the listener, an enveloping state of reassuring calm. [Dec 2013, p.84]

He's still a whiz with a tart lyrical couplet, too. [Oct 2018, p.94]

This London quartet's third LP avoids indie cliche, taking various routes to achieve electro-pop lift-off. [Oct 2018, p.94]

The incomplete tape of his concert. ... Some of the best moments on the 11 surviving songs from this University of Tuscaloosa show with Jack Nitzsche, Ben Keith, Tim Drummond and Kenny Buttrey are the mellow, almost hymn-like After The Goldrush and the edgy Alabama. [Jul 2019, p.107]

Bathed in hope and spiritual substance. [Mar 2020, p.93]

A bold work of divine and nourishing textures. [May 2021, p.86]

This album again showcases Marshall's exceptional ability to burrow right into the marrow of a song. [Feb 2022, p.82]

Crooked Tree is a bountiful harvest, fruit of more dedicated application. [May 2022, p.91]

Isn't shy about where it's coming from, and it is assured. But ... It lacks their previous warmth. [Nov 2022, p.93]

It retains the singer's inherent quirks while offering a more accessible sound. [Dec 2022, p.87]

Trouble... is thrillingly fresh. [Jun 2023, p.86]

At times City Of Gold may sound a little hungover after the euphoric heights of 2022, but Tuttle shows every sign of pushing through. [Aug 2023, p.78]

There's a full band, a string section Swarmatron and brass. Reassuringly, the songs are strong enough to carry the new load. [Mar 2024, p.85]