The tunes are all there but the mood is woozy, the arrangements spare and programmed to hypnotize. [Oct 2011, p.98]

After the initial shock, the pair's songwriting smarts cuts through persuasively, alongside strong messaging about acknowledging your needs and vulnerabilities. [Feb 2024, p.88]

Brilliantly produced and performed, rather than astoundingly well written. [Jun 2004, p.112]

The concept here by Mac and co-producer/trombonist Sarah Morrow is terrific. [Sep 2014, p.88]

X&Y is awash with cliches, non-sequiturs, and cheap existentialism; at times it all becomes nigh on unbearable. [Jul 2005, p.97]

Overall Ghettoville feels unsettlingly cold; a stubborn statement of retirement in the form of a half-finished work. [Feb 2014, p.97]

Benefiting from a stable line-up throughout, Song of the Pearl manages to sound brighter and more dynamic while retaining its predecessor's visionary essence. [Apr 2009, p.107]

There was mmuch to anticipate, but it falls short of the promise. [May 2011, p.114]

The wait has been worth it. [Oct 2011, p.98]

If it doesn't reach the sustained invention of John Coltrane's odyssey in E, Africa/Brass, Youngs' talent for wringing emotion from base materials remain undimmed. [Jan 2017, p.102]

Simple, homespun arrangements shift between folk pop and folk rock with an emphasis on bittersweet. [Sep 2020, p.85]

It's his best original work by some yards. [Aug 2021, p.84]

Assured and challenging. Unlikely to convert the uninitiated, it will thrill the Volta Nation. [May 2012, p.92]

Every time you think you've got Idlewild figured out, it zips off in a totally unexpected new direction. [Oct 2006, p.97]

The Errant Charm lacks the edge needed to be more than a counter-cultural accessory. [July 2011, p. 102]

Aficionados will hear a master ambient craftsman in his element. [Dec. 2010, p. 95]

There’s joyous invention at work here, along with nagging hooks which bury themselves deeper with every play.

Even introspection is realised on a gargantuan scale, with the climatic rock symphony Exogenesis. Over the top? For Matt Bellamy and Muse it's the only way to go. [Oct 2009]

The mood is meditative, a West Coast dope-smoker's take on Neu!'s unvarying grooves; the songs are mostly named after ancient villages dotted around Somerset. [Dec 2009, p. 93]

Glazed soul music that's both lucid and ambiguous, that chimes simultaneously with Donna Summer, John Barry and Suicide, beautifully schizophrenic and poised on the edge of ruin. [May 2003, p.91]

As this crackles with youthful brio and subtlety, we can start speculating what this band may go on to achieve. [Aug 2009, p.98]

It's still high camp stuff, but Wolf's world suddenly seems like a more welcoming place. [Jun 2011, p.97]

A diverting, stoner-friendly 39 minutes. [Dec 2014, p.89]

There are moments when things don't quite work as they should. But the Blind Boys, left to their own devices on the funky Jesus, Hold My Hand, do what they do best. [Jun 2011, p.104]

He's boosted by a heart-and-soul R&B ensemble, but every hard-earned wrinkle on that still fierce visage remains in working order. [May 2013, p.90]

A remarkable, wonderful calling card. [Jan 2014, p.100]

Promise of Love's cyclical episodes unravel at an amenable mid-pace, each one allowed just enough time to establish a mood bfore halting as over-familiarity threatens. [Jul 2003, p.101]

Although [Future Songs] reveals no radical reinvention, it does see them stretching their creative legs. [Jul 2001, p.96]