Mraz is an entertaining smartass. [Feb 2006, p.98]

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

The writing on this third album's greatest strength. [Feb 2009, p.109]

Drum-heavy powerpop is more comfortable in bleached denim and white trainers, about three decades too late for assured heavy rotation on MTV.

Though Old Sock ultimately feels somewhat stop-gap, it genre-hops beautifully, Clapton and friends reliably able. [Apr 2013, p.86]

If Swingle Singers melodies and mind-numbing repetition is your bag, you're on a winner here; basically, it's easy listening with a bit of electronica.

White Lies naivety is emphatically brokered by their songs ability to rouse and inspire. [Feb 2009, p.109]

Gibb's voice might be audibly timeworn in parts and the production is a bit vanilla, but there's no denying the poignancy here. [Nov 2016, p.86]

McClure has since retracted his retirement outburst, and rightly so: a third attempt might make him a contender. [Aug 2009, p.95]

The music is taut, the vocals, if anything, under-emoted, and the overall feeling is that of a muse rediscovered. [Jun 2009, p.108]

The One's meditation on the price of fame is especially good value, but the Ace of Base-style of What Do They Know is hard to forgive. [Jan 2011, p.99]

Confusing mix of glam-influenced punk and would-be party bangers a tad disappointing. [Apr 2020, p.93]

The record is such a sprawling, unwieldy beast that the instrumental hooks take time to emerge.

The message songs are delivered from the heart. [Aug 2016, p.95]

The resulting album is, as expected, old school chest-beating man-size heavy rock. [Jul 2009, p.104]

Here, Scott 'Spiral Stairs' Kannberg's music feels more direct and unguarded than might have been expected given the more crafted, at time arch, music that has hallmarked his two groups. [Dec 2009, p. 90]

Fierce, minimalistic but defiantly pop-sensible hard rock. [Apr 2005, p.88]

The bonus material features a first release for the fabled "Mustique Demos": just Noel, a drum machine and Owen Morris's portastudio in the Caribbean, suggesting a humbler alternative might have been possible, had reality not intruded. [Nov 2016, 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]

A record designed to ensnare the as-yet-uncommitted listener without abandoning their extant fan base. [Aug 2006, p.103]

Many are banal love songs, devoide of narrative impact, or even identity. [Aug 2006, p.90]

Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have knuckled down alongside relative newbies Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer to make a half-decent rock'n'roll record. [Nov 2009, p.90]

That Joe's naturally high-pitched vocals bring urgency and drama is good, but the record's two tail-enders are weak. [Jul 2012, p.90]

Does little to extended their reputation beyond that of a band big on amp buckling bluster and low on pop harmonies. [Oct 2004, p.104]

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

The lows arrive all too often. [Mar 2018, p.97]

When the Vampire pals are good, they are very good, but they just occasionally sound like their bloody Marys have been spiked with garlic. [Aug 2019, p.92]

The results are strangely disorientating and at times Carr's brittle, acoustic sketches are smothered by skull-jarring percussion. [Sep 2004, p.92]