A move to their own label sees them lose the plot entirely, sliding into the stodgy AOR navel gazing of From A Window Seat and listless choogling. [Sep 2013, p.90]

It's more showbiz than authentic, being knee-deep in the kind of epic balladry that wouldn't be out of place at Eurovision. [Apr 2013, p.91]

Flute and horn fight for breath alongside swampy vocals, and a heavy-handed rock bombast doesn't hide a dearth of hooks or memorable pop melody. [Sep 2007, p.110]

Smith often finds herself stuck in a musical straitjacket of tired R&B tropes, rarely able to break out of a narrow comfort zone. [Nov 2023, p.88]

Evokes a sense that this has all been done before, and better.

Raw and revealing though still rather opaque. [Dec 2018, p.94]

All passable fare. [Jul 2009, p.92]

No amount of heavy-friend noodling can redeem One Night Stand and Driving Me Wild, and Ferry's Send In The Clowns would have Krusty renouncing his vocation. [Dec 2014, p.88]

Simon's songwriting ability is unquestionable, and the similarity with his father's voice is hard to ignore, but his quest to re-imagine Elliot Smith's XO too often gets in the way. [Apr 2013, p.86]

Lyrically, the pair stitch together vaguely gothic turns of phrase, yet devoid of any emotional insight or narrative point. [Dec 2010, p.95]

The overall effect is like being trapped in a lift with McFly on a sugar-rush. [Apr 2011, p.98]

Three LPs in a year is only a good idea if you have enough songs. [Oct. 2010, p. 94]

They're a little short on the kind of tunefulness necessary to make these chorus-less songs stand out. [Dec 2003, p.112]

Even a rasping guest vocal by White Denim's James Petralli is unlikely to upset the clientele. [Dec 2013, p.92]

The sneeringly portrentious title and tracks called'Being Bad Feels Pretty Good' or Epic Last Song' would be forgivable--japes, even--if there were a sense of bona fide abandon bubbling beneath the synth squelches, vocoder-shrouded vocals and obligatory cowbell bashing. [Apr 2008, p.114]

There's nothing here to advance the small-scale acclaim gathered by their debut. [Aug 2009, p.95]

What used to work well just doesn't any more, even though Finn still conjures street stories with a rank, raw conversational truth. [May 2014, p.87]

A doldorous racket. [Dec 2013, p.86]

Frustratingly, that search [for plaidits] and presumably producer du jour Ethan Johns--has led them into the uncomfortable territory of bombastic, charmless "October/War"-era U2. [Oct 2007, p.92]

Too often, though, a combination of slight songcraft and waters' awkward tendency to sound simultaneously angry and platitudinous starts to wear thin. [Jul 2017, p.89]

Gravez is scrappy, fun but unoriginal--free in spirit but limited in execution. [Jul 2013, p.105]

Much of it is unreconstructedly rockist. [Jun 20009, p.102]

It's hard to fathom what such a talented songwriter needs to indulge her inner karaoke quite so far. [Mar 2017, p.97]

Twenty-five years after their creative peak, it seems as essential a purchase as a book of new jokes from Bobby Darvo. [Nov 2009, p.91]

While there's some decent garage-punk dirt in 'Roughshod,' and lengthier tracks like 'Free Kitten on the Mountain' and Monster Eye' both briefly echo the menancing screwl of Magik Markers and early Sonic Youth, there's little here that really pushes the envelope much beyond an awkward and mildly abrasive collection of indie rock off-cuts. [July 2008, p.102]

The rest, it must be said, is extremely dull. [May 2011, p.108]

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]

Steve Mason's second album under his own name is more melancholy meander than Molotov Cocktail. [Apr 2013, p.95]