It doesn't help that the album features a glut of dull mid-tempos. [Nov 2012, p.95]

Sometimes erratic and headstrong, at others whimsical and somewhat listless, it ultimately sounds like an unsatisfying curio. [Nov 2008, p.110]

Mess's crepuscular predecessor felt both more innovative, and more likely to open up Liars' demographic. [Apr 2014, p.92]

Partly dependent on the oft-derided production tics of '80s pop and soul, and partly a lagging stab at a (fairly) contemporary dance album, it may even disquiet the Toddheads. [May 2013, p.84]

The possibilities of "first ideas" is fatally undermined by a lack of ideas. [May 2011, p.110]

[Highly Suspect] may alarm those who recall grunge and nu metal. [Jan 2017, p.104]

Much of this album's re-booting of Waits' back pages in an ambient '80s style is fussy and forgettable. [June 2008, p.112]

No One Ever Sleeps, even with harmonies from Robin Pecknold, feels not magical, but hollow and sluggish. At the rockier end, Heartbreaker adds Arcade Fire urgency and may score alt-radio love. The rest, however, is lukewarm. [Jul 2012, p.83]

While Grace Potter's vocals are unquestionably impressive on this fourth album--she still hasn't carved out a trademark voice of her own. The music is equally bland. [Sep 2010, p.102]

There's substance to 'Long Sad Goodbye's accusing lament for his late father and Vietnam's denunciation of the Iraq war, but Kravitz generally limits himself to muscular yet uninspired multi-instrumental expertise and sloppy-thinking hippitude. [Mar 2008, p.114]

His near facsimile approach to fond memory demands a revitalising new element and he hasn't got it. [May 2008, p.112]

There's no joker in this kind of casual big top tourism, and the album flatly perches in the middle like some neutered, latter-day Green Day. [Jan 2011, p.100]

Viva Brother lack much of Blur's charming artyness and all of the Gallaghers' battering rock immensity and football terrace touch. [Sept. 2011, p. 96]

Pleasant and forgettable. [May 2012, p.84]

There's little attempt to get under the skin of these songs, or really bend them into new shapes. [Oct 2004, p.100]

Sadly, if you possess any of Embrace's four other albums, you'll have heard it all before. [May 2006, p.98]

Moderate in everything but length, Big Wheel And Others seems to go on forever. Again not in a good way. [Nov 2013, p.84]

Unfortunately the reality doesn't quite live up to the concept, because unuually for Squarepusher it isn't quite bonkers enough. [Dec 2008, p.100]

It seems more about Africa's love affair with US urbana, and so less endearing. [Aug 2012, p.94]

Frankly this sort of thing makes Athlete, Snow Patrol et al sound like fire-breathing berserkers. [Oct 2005, p.102]

The tunes dry up alarmingly. [Jun 2007, p.108]

[Boy & Girls] casts Brittany as a soulful singer, but the album is more Xerox copy than feel and spirit based. [May 2012, p.86]

The Straight Hits! is front-loaded with positivist rockers, but these are ramshackle. ... The second half mercifully reverts to Pearson's true calling as a funereal balladeer; even then, the transition's too jarring to cohere to the conceptual/titular framework. [May 2018, p.90]

Sounds like one long mobile phone ad. [Mar 2013, p.98]

Slo Light's sky-high production values come at the expense of soul. [Apr 2014, p.96]

Mashup of overused modern dancefloor styles and rote bragging, with odd moment of classic purple peculiarity. [Dec 2015, p.94]

It buries some strong writing, singing and potential. [Aug 2012, p.96]

The whole album is uncertain and unconvincing. [Jul 2012, p.94]