It's similar to the debut.... But there's a more vivid light-and-shade to the textures and a craft and depth to the compositions that represent a welcome distillation of Jones' art. [Mar 2004, p.92]

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

This isn't a great departure from The Coral but mainman James Skelly's increasingly witty words and ear for a killer jig put this in a loveable place of its own. [Aug 2003, p.95]

Most of which 'works', all of which comes thick with a sense of joy and love for the denim and leather. [Mar 2004, p.106]

If anywhere, this stuff belongs in interviews, not in songs. [Mar 2004, p.94]

This is manna for hip hop fans starved of basic but ballistic beats-and-breaks fare in an increasingly litigious age. [May 2004, p.102]

Explores Incubus' inner jam band. [Feb 2004, p.94]

The record's near-constant gloom and woolly arrangements are difficult to digest. [Feb 2004, p.99]

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]

An arresting cocktail of post-punk angularity and instinctive pop savy. [Feb 2004, p.102]

Darnielle is a lyrical genius, for sure, but... you're left wishing for a song, just one song, that doesn't sound like a man strumming or plucking that damned folky guitar. [Mar 2004, p.96]

Bows & Arrows might seem like the ideal rock'n'roll yuletide soundtrack--and it is, but only for those who spend their Christmases in dive bars with nothing but a gold-hearted hooker, bottomless highball glass and volume of Bukowski poetry for company. [May 2004, p.100]

Modern without being self-conscious, metal without being stupid. [Mar 2004, p.106]

Has a strangely nostalgic feel. [Mar 2004, p.104]

A better advert for time-share life it's hard to imagine. [Feb 2004, p.102]

The lyrics have become downright soppy and the melodies turned trite. [Feb 2004, p.92]

Despite a blip of vital signs, this 4-CD sprawl does The Cure's reputation no real favours. [Feb 2004, p.106]

Elbow... have let new-found bliss propel them to yet loftier heights. [Sep 2003, p.106]

Another like this and they should consider naming themselves after a different Tim Buckley album--Look At The Fool, for instance. [Oct 2003, p.107]

No great surprises, then, but as aurally seductive as ever. [Mar 2004, p.101]

A varied, febrile affair more often than not in pursuit of the lunatic. [Feb 2004, p.93]

This time there's noticeably less fuzz and extraneous squall piled on top. [Feb 2004, p.92]

Unessential, yes, but hardly uninteresting. [Feb 2004, p.101]

Makes you smile without even really listening because the whole sound is such a cheering mix of grunt and grin. [May 2004, p.104]

Keeps an unsteady path between fine altered-state atmospherica and irritating cosmic twittering. [Feb 2004, p.100]

Epic, exhilarating, extraordinary. [Feb 2004, p.98]

Molina's darkest, most achingly desolate work so far. [Apr 2004, p.102]

Brilliantly original. [Aug 2003, p.106]

Legion of Boom is more like the soundtrack to a horror movie than a night of DJ breaks and body shakes. [Feb 2004, p.102]

The whole affair comes off like a desperate bit of trend trawling. [Feb 2004, p.99]

No self-indulgence, no grandstanding, just excellent. [Mar 2004, p.100]

Her voice is as irresistible as her songs. [Feb 2004, p.103]

Throughout, Splinter's sound is powerful and dense, with The Offspring weaving and surging within it like the experts they've become. [Dec 2003, p.109]

Aside from a handful of instrumental snatches... Democrazy's main events are six or seven tantalising sketches. [Jan 2004, p.96]

An hour of heartful, artful singing enhanced by dense, yet fuss-free arrangements. [Jan 2004, p.106]

Thematically thin and, consequently, lyrically disappointing. [Jan 2004, p.96]

Her melodies are stirring but the headstrong album only works to a limited degree. [Dec 2003, p.122]

[Korn] sound both out of focus and curiously out of date. [Feb 2004, p.95]

He is, if anything, singing better than ever. [Dec 2003, p.104]

These are songs to admire rather than lose oneself in. [Jan 2004, p.116]

The heart of the album sticks closely to their well-tried formula: sing-song melodies and puerile lyrics set against a steady backdrop of numbingly bland riffage. [Jan 2004, p.106]

The cleaning up, editing and resequencing has brought out a warmth and depth of colour we've not heard before and allows the album to stand up to scrutiny next to modern records that aim for this kind of down-homeness and simplicity. [Dec 2003, p.134]

A magnificent record. [Jan 2004, p.104]

Top heavy with gleeful dysfunctional relationship songs, though eventually stalling via forgettable '80s rock mediocrity. [Dec 2003, p.109]

Their best in years. [Dec 2003, p.118]

Dangerous, magical, and gleefully noisy. [Dec 2003, p.113]

Some of the best songs he's written since Heartbreaker. [Jan 2004, p.98]

Upbeat and jubilant... a showcase for Wyclef the songwriter. [Dec 2003, p.107]

A vapid yet relentlessly self-regarding solemnity prevails. [Feb 2004, p.95]

[Kozelek] has never sounded more inspired, achieving a rich balance of haunting atmosphere and twangy grit. [Feb 2004, p.101]

Mostly, a terrific piece of work. [Nov 2003, p.120]

The four tracks on which they collaborate are timely reminders of The Stooges' initial impact and their ongoing influence. [Oct 2003, p.106]

Top-down pop that sparkles like a lifeguard's teeth. [Jul 2003, p.109]

P.O.D. have evolved into one of the more inventive bands among metal's dimwitted hierarchy. [Dec 2003, p.112]

The Strokes come across as a world-sized band that's tethering itself.... Nonetheless, this record is good. [Nov 2003, p.124]

The tribute album of the year, a cavalcade of orch-pop joy, an object lesson in songwriting smarts. [Dec 2003, p.106]

An engaging genre exercise. [Dec 2003, p.112]

Truly, a glorious noise. [Nov 2003, p.128]

Rich, but foreboding stuff. [Mar 2003, p.106]

A similar osmosis of Bunneymen and Chameleons' dramarama as Interpol. [Mar 2004, p.106]

A collision of punk-fuelled cacophony, halting balladry and guttersnipe sensibility. [Dec 2003, p.112]

Streetcore is an amalgam of all that made Joe Strummer, the musician and the man, so great. [Nov 2003, p.131]

Their patchwork approach to psychedelia recalls the shoestring ingenuity of cult mid-'90s act Neutral Milk Hotel. [Jan 2005, p.104]

If The Rapture haven't quite transcended their influences yet, they are at least making a thrilling, febrile noise on the way. [Sep 2003, p.106]

It sears through the essence of what makes this band special, the brave voice and ebullient delivery of singer-songwriter-guitarist James Mercer. [Apr 2004, p.98]

Coral Fang finds The Distillers aping the bloodless Hollywood impotence of Hole's Celebrity Skin, their 'punk rock' inoffensive and utterly forgettable. [Dec 2003, p.113]

A clear rejuvenation, the occasional triteness that softened earlier work largely absent from these close-woven songs. [Nov 2003, p.125]

They're a little short on the kind of tunefulness necessary to make these chorus-less songs stand out. [Dec 2003, p.112]

An extended groove workout, akin to Erykah Badu's Worldwide Underground EP. [Jan 2004, p.102]

Gorky's play it spare and (mostly) live, placing further emphasis on their long-established pastoral bent. [Sep 2003, p.100]

A modern soundtrack for city life--an aural survival pack that pulls out moments of delicate beauty from all the shit and cacophony. [Dec 2003, p.122]

A ghosts' convention set to music. [Nov 2003, p.130]

An amibitious record. [Dec 2003, p.113]

Less exotic perhaps than the West Coast, Brazilian, German and Franco-Italian musical forays of the past, but even more remarkably musical, intriguingly textured and affecting. [Nov 2003, p.130]

Arguably the band's most magical record to date. [Nov 2003, p.123]

Although Evening... has this unexpected core of angry commitment, she's still slick with Californian cruisers. [Nov 2003, p.123]

It's among the best albums ever made. [Nov 2002, p.92]

Delicate without being twee. [Jan 2004, p.98]

A further suite of touching vignettes, choice observations and killer lines. [Dec 2003, p.122]

It's an honourable outcome for such overreaching ambition to fall inevitably short, but not flat on its face. [Oct 2003, p.110]

Easy listening with just enough unease to tease. [Nov 2003, p.125]

Using jaunty jigs and marches, [Matmos] mishandle flutes, bagpipes, violins and God knows what else to illustrate the mid-1800s battlefield. [Oct 2003, p.111]

Some of it hisses and gurgles like early Future Sound Of London. [Oct 2003, p.118]

Stalking drumbeats collide with lush chords and Joel Cadbury's smoky vocals for an emotionally fragile record. [May 2004, p.104]

Despite such flamboyant touches, the songs here are more caustic than camp. [Oct 2003, p.120]

A combination of fierce electro-clash, stabbing rock riffs, and the rudest raps on the planet. [Oct 2003, p.118]

Those who want their Emmylou full of sweet, sad longing will play a quarter of this album to death.... Elsewhere, there's righteous anger and an assertiveness and sexuality to the love songs. [Nov 2003, p.128]

Every time you think you've got to the bottom of a particular song, another layer of intrigue presents itself. [Oct 2003, p.118]

An odball masterpiece. [Oct 2003, p.110]

North radiates a humanity that wasn't altogether apparent on, say, The Juliet Letters or When I Was Cruel. [Oct 2003, p.104]

Represents a major leap forward. [Nov 2003, p.130]

The genius of past Outkast isn't diluted or diminished across these disks, rather it's doubled, expanded and explored. [Sep 2003, p.99]

It's messy, seductive stuff. [Dec 2003, p.113]

A vast, often splendid affair that recalls the lavish expanse of Roger Waters-era Pink Floyd alongside the psychedelic crash of The Who. [Dec 2003, p.122]

The dozen self-penned songs blend traditional genres rather than rewriting the style guide, but that weight of musical and emotional heritage only adds to the compelling effect of the whole. [Jan 2004, p.99]

An astonishing album... a nu soul master that should ride high on any 21st century 'best of' lists. [Dec 2003, p.109]

As fine as anything he's done, but overall Grand Champ makes too many R&B concessions to be a fitting epitaph to his record-breaking career. [Nov 2003, p.129]

[A] perplexing, 'is it irritating or is it glorious?' album that meshes the oddball with the serious in a quirky, plastic-punk manner not entirely unlike that of The B-52's and Devo. [Mar 2004, p.108]