Without Marshall, they're less overtly folk-based and on the stand-out Caroline, they're as rewarding as David Gray at his most up-tempo, while Madison Cunningham brings a feminine touch to Blood On The Page. [May 2025, p.87]

[Doesn't] always make satisfactory listening. [Dec 2005, p.104]

Not much subtlety, but if some of the lyrics and playing are sometimes tough and ready, righteous passion overrides it to carry the day. [Aug 2015, p.88]

[An] impressive return from the veteran doyens of acid jazz. [Jun 2013, p.95]

Though still in thrall to the synthetic '80s new wave ttemplate as perfected by Devo, Fasciination is nevertheless the sound of a band who've finally found the space to nail their own sound. [Nov 2008, p.119]

While they're hardly cutting-edge these days, The Orb's gently pleasing grooves... still work as aural enhancers for the cannabinoidally-incliined. [Jun 2004, p.114]

Overall, the pickings are too thin for a band of their capabilities.

Somewhere Only We Know is one of 2004's loveliest tunes, and while nothing else on their debut album quite matches this apogee of woebegone non-energy, there's plenty to keep the eyes welling up. [Jun 2004, p.116]

The opening futurefunk salvo gives way to some soulful ballads. [Mar 2014, p.96]

Listen throws a helluva lot at the wall, and not much sticks. [Oct 2014, p.89]

Quirky, detail-rich arrangements nodding at dub and death metal. [Jun 2003, p.108]

Stone pens 14 of the 15 songs and has clearly overstretched herself; the material is bland and only on sublime, transcendental 'Baby,'featuring Betty Wright and a cappella showcase 'Go Back To Your Life' do we hear the Angie of old. [Nov 2007, p.96]

An uneven yet entertaining debut. [Jun 2012, p.85]

Rosenberg's gently-rendered songs too often rely on stock images. [Oct 2016, p.96]

Though making the common mistake of over-investing in the frame of guitar and piano licks and bodging the big picture of the song, Ron Wood's tribute is not the worst in the world. [Jan 2020, p.84]

On the plus side, Ross is in good voice, but as comeback albums go, this is an underwhelming affair. [Oct 2021, p.96]

Green writes with a compulsive frequency, like an office joker cracking funnies. And after 20 of his songs, the appeal wanes in not dissimilar fashion. [Apr 2008, p.114]

Better than the conceptual barf of its predecessor Holy Wood, but not as sharp as his best record to date, '98's glammy Mechanical Animals. [Jun 2003, p.100]

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

Not quite essential, unfortunately, and you might even long for a bit more shredding. [Jul 2014, p.90]

Languid, warm, West Coast psych set. [Oct 2017, p.98]

Purists may wince, but the takes are fresh. [Oct 2018, p.93]

There are some very bad lyrics on this album. [Dec 2007, p.99]

Album number 11 twitches with the same darkly neurotic pop as 2009's Destroyed. [Oct 2013, p.98]

Quality inessential entertainment. [Mar 2010, p.97]

This is top-drawer pop, ambitious and thrillingly contemporary. [Feb 2012, p.94

When Jones starts singing about Clapham over the clipped, welter-weight indie of this quartet's second studio album it begins to seem a curiously south-eastern English rock vision - the clean guitars and Cure-style vocals suggesting a lighter shade of Bloc Party. [Feb 2010, p. 92]

This bunch of Southend art school layabouts, constrastingly, really cut the mustard, kicking up a distinctively murky din. [Oct 2008, p.108]