The Horrors manage to balance vinyl excavation with experimentation and a huge dollop of pop magnificently. [Aug. 2011, p. 90]

There's no happy ever after, of course, but at least this excellent record has come out of the darkness. [Mar 2016, p.92]

It's the garlanded ritual folk of Kan Me ("May Song"), however, that underlines this is a record of changing seasons and transitional states. Accept the offer of tea but prepare to lose days in the process. [Aug 2022, p.90]

Rare, Forever's prevailing mood is sensuous and luxurious. [May 2021, p.88]

With hooks as deep as heartbeats, this has the sweep of the desert dunes in it. [Apr 2020, p.93]

Her voice [is] a soft, soulful instrument that draws the listener in with seemingly minimum effort, then delivers whatever message she wishes to impart to willing ears. [Dec. 2011 pg. 94]

Third shows Portishead in the tradition of, say, Fairpoint Convention as much as Massive Attack, and though it might not convert sceptics it is convincing, and occasionally thrilling, demonstration that the wilderness can be a great place to cook up new ideas. [May 2008, p.103]

Storytime and Greensward Days showcase Andy Strickland's thoughtful guitar work, Dr Clarke essays a home counties kind of Pebbles psychedelia while Ten Years celebrates the quiet joys of 60-something man chat. [Apr 2025, p.78]

Gibbons' gnarly guitars and sand-blasted voice are impeachable. [Jul 2021, p.80]

Into his eighth decade of unblinkered creativity, Hayward continues to thrill. [Dec 2023, p.93]

Microcastle could be 4AD's best release in well over a decade. [Dec 2008, p.108]

The Chimp awakes. [Jul 2017, p.96]

As lush, escapist pop, Waiting On A Song is a triumph. [Jul 2017, p.90]

Hallelujah, melodies and lyrics are not just sensitive but sharp and witty, glittering with a dazzle reminiscent of Britpop at its deftest. [May 2015, p.96]

Springsteen's choice of songs, especially in the deep tracks and left turns, also i=underscores a deeper retrospect and aspiration. [Jan 2023, p.82]

Hey Panda may seem whimsical at first, but its depth is all the grander for the work it takes to mine its many gems. [May 2024, p.84]

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

Acute while charming, she captures the sadness and silliness of the months when she hightailed it out of Ortonvile, Michigan, pop. 1,442. [Jun 2014, p.95]

A very fine record. [Feb 2003, p.86]

Ratchets up the accessibility quotient considerably. [Nov 2004, p.102]

While the nebulous quality of Mercy was very much feature-not-bug, a cloudiness indicating the limits of memory, here Cale seems to have sharpened the edges of his songs, any mist or drift purely down to old fashioned meandering. [Jul 2024, p.86]

Behind the parachute silk and dry ice, the smoke and mirrors, stands a record in high emotional definition, its outline becoming sharper by the second. [Nov 2019, p.92]

Subtitled "Ghana Music Power House", a fitting epitaph for Dick Essilfie-Bondize. ... Highlight: the blissful whirl Yeaba by CK Mann's Carousel. [Feb 2022, p.103]

A terrific set that explores the themes of loss, friendship, aging and legacy, in 12 songs that are both familiar sounding and something new. [May 2023, p.84]

While opener Der Lange Marsh 1 sways like a marram grass in the breeze, there's a relentlessness to the album's overall progress. [Mar 2022, p.87]

This Fascinating, individual and exhilarating fusion welds classical tropes to such diverse elements as Arcadian folk, doo wop, Steve Reich and Greek Mythology. [Oct 2012, p.95]

Thirty years on from Dubnobasswithmyheadman, the masters of post-rave audio narrative still know how to blow your tiny mind. [Dec 2024, p.90]

Rarely has ruminations on decline, in fact, sounded so vigorous. [Mar 2025, p.90]