Cymbals do serious but successfully swerve the perils of the po-faced by being fun. [Feb 2014, p.96]

A dash more melodic brio wouldn't have gone amis, but its muted charms gather cumulatively nonetheless. [May 2008, p.109]

Track by track, these are nuggets of brilliance. As a whole, it's baffingly eclectic. [Sept. 2011, p. 106]

At turns comforting and disturbing. [Apr 2020, p.95]

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

Lovely. [Oct 2005, p.114]

Ndegeocello doesn't opt for straight covers, adding a fresh, and sometimes unexpected, twist on a 14-track collection that mostly reconfigures Simone's most famous songs. [Nov 2012, p.86]

Many sure-footed, instantly memorable songs. [Jun 2018, p.88]

Vessel Of Love is her most vital work to date. [Mar 2018, p.91]

She's still producing songs that stand comparison with those past and purloined classics. [Aug 2002, p.106]

This album has plenty of ideas and plenty of 'moments.' [Jan 2003, p.92]

Cave has managed to move away from the stifling atmosphere and the false captive environment of No More Shall We Part and somehow create a Cave world where The Bad Seeds can indeed stretch, howl, riff, sniff, grind and bark with a freedom unheard on record since 1993's Live Seeds. [Album of the Month, Feb 2003, p.84]

Deluxe, post-dance soundscapes from Simon Green's anthropoid alias. [May 2010, p. 97]

Ambitious, soulful and joyous. [Apr 2012, p.90]

Her expressive lyrics exude equal-parts watchful intelligence and first-person vulnerability. [Mar 2020, p.96]

Opener Wall Of Glass resounds with stirring audience participation while a robust rhythm section and lively Hammond organist help cut through the din. [Aug 2020, p.86]

Born In The Echoes finds them capturing the most elusive sound of all. They sound, at last, like themselves again. [Aug 2015, p.90]

Their early temper now lurks beneath, as chiming post-punk atmos channels affecting, emotional jabs. [Jun 2016, p.97]

It may prove hard for Matsson to get heard above the quiet din made by so many others who clutter his field, but he's one of the all-too-few worth listening to. [Sep 2012, p.94]

Garishly attractive. [Oct 2005, p.98]

At moments Other People's Lives sounds weird and forced, but it's never less than fascinating and it's frequently sublime. [Feb 2006, p.93]

Fans of pre-grunge American alt-rock come on in. [Jul 2015, p.96]

Up And Away is warmer and grittier than its '80s-polished predecessors, infused with the '50s/'60s trad folk and hybrid pop records her grandparents and parents spun for her. [Jul 2022, p.90]

More a set of unconnected pieces than a single, cohesive whole, while not short on individual charm it's hard not to see this as anything other than a warm-up for the main event to come. [Dec 2016, p.91]

A more than enjoyable stopgap. [May 2006, p.104]

Pop, but still an album for reflection. [Nov 2013, p.89]

Pare things back to an insistent Banshees-like boom and groove. [Nov 2020, p.90]

A real treasure. [Sep 2009, p.90]