Most tracks succumb to unambitious disco stylings. [Sep 2001, p.108]

As fine as anything he's done, but overall Grand Champ makes too many R&B concessions to be a fitting epitaph to his record-breaking career. [Nov 2003, p.129]

At their best, as in 'Sometimes,' they drag you into their circling obsessiveness and measured rhetoric. But, too often, Yoav's cleverness feels calculating--unless it's the reverse that, over-tasked. [May 2008]

Stripped back to vocals, drums and piano not a million miles from Nick Cave's Boatman's Call, of 10 tracks, not one's a duffer. [May 2013, p.87]

The results are hardly raw skiffle, more sophisto-shimmery roots. Best on Fleetwood Mac-ish Butter Flutter but over-long and mawkish (SOS, for Syria). [Dec 2017, p.96]

The World is Yours falls too short. [October 2007, p.102]

Too much of this sounds like recycled plastic pop. [Dec 2024 p.84]

A rare feat: gentle and kind without becoming soppy or daft. [May 2005, p.109]

A charged return. [Mar 2006, p.96]

Much of Supermodel feels alienatingly dense. [May 2014, p.86]

Papa Roch no doubt think there's venom in songs like Hollywood Whore--and they're certainly more visceral heard live here--but these ears just hear the low-IQ goofiness of Motley Crue combined with the stylistic similarities of rockers-by-rote Nickelback. [Sep 2010, p.96]

Packs too many failed experiments. [Dec. 2011 p. 98]

Stragglers carp it's not as good as 1985, fans thrill to the fractal energies. [Dec 2014, p.102]

It's a wholehearted, utopian and irrefutably exciting record. [Nov 2007, p.94]

Godhead take this '80's obsession one step further, crafting a sound so hypnotically synthetic it makes Heaven 17 sound like Robert Johnson. [Feb 2001, p.94]

Worth a listen, but not game-changing. [Apr 2016, p.103]

California five-piece coming soon to a stadium near you. [Sept. 2011, p. 100]

There's a confident, liberated spirit at play. [May 2005, p.95]

The songs are beautifully crafted in that Davies/Weller/Doherty English tradition. [Aug 2008, p.103]

Emotion & Commotion embraces tunes so big you'd think no more could be wrung into them. [May 2010, p. 93]

The hi-gloss but uneven Credo only partially convinces. [Feb 2011, p.100]

What could have been overly esoteric instead recalls Vampire Weekend playfulness, albeit with 4/4 beats. [Jul 2013, p.96]

Of seven swing covers and duets, only the high camp title track with Rufus Wainwright sparkles. [Dec 2013, p.92]

Embrace is schizophrenic stab at modernity, bolting synths and clattering drum patterns to forgettable harmonies, with limp results. [May 2014, p.88]

Intelligent, pan-generation pop you won't mind taking your teenager to the O2 to see. [Jul 2014, p.96]

Its icky love songs sadly have no beating heart, and very little soul. [Jul 2015, p.93]

Capable, often catchy, but the Shaker fail to truly stir. [Mar 2016, p.100]

Beneath the bells and whistles, there's gold as well schlock. [Nov 2018, p.93]