Jones admits a queasy air of self-congratulation to her third album of jazzified covers.

Patchy seven-song set. [Feb 2017, p.105]

Generally, the undistinguished R&B pop and trite lyrics he and his long-term bandmates come up with bear no comparison to the salty good cheer of 'It Don't Come Easy' and 'Photograph.' [Feb 2008, p.100]

This feels like production line Muse: big riffs, bass squelches, conspiratorial dialogue, but few new ideas. [Aug 2015, p.88]

It's early Erasure fans who seen likely to enjoy the '80s electro sheen of the all-action rhythmo-melodic hooks and subplots. [Nov 2011, p.100]

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]

Listeners outside their target teen demographic will find all this painfully sincere emoting pretty joyless. [Dec 2010, p.106]

The root of the malaise most surely [lies] in the protracted production, which appears to have sucked the life out of whatever good material there was. [Nov 2004, p.110]

They fare less well when they get ambitious. [Jul 2005, p.112]

He sometimes gets it right: the rare restraint of Positively 4th Street and Gates Of Eden hints at the fine album this might have been had Ferry and co given us more Dylan and less esque. [Apr 2007, p.108]

The new dad has ditched the gap-year spirituality to reach for a more adult world where poverty, war and uncertainty must be confronted, and it's a world beyond his expressive abilities. [Mar 2008, p.102]

It feels hemmed in by its own musical limitations. [Apr 2013, p.94]

Too much of it passes by easily, leaving little lasting impression. [Aug 2005, p.101]

Too much of this double album plods. [May 2017, p.98]

A selection of his own trademark cliches. [Oct 2014, p.90]

The use of borowed items invites comparisons, not only with the originals but also with other versions of the same song. And there Moorer fails the test. [Apr 2008, p.102]

He can make a sweet music, as on the soulful warble of 'Georgia,' but on most of the other occasions when Votolato's choppy riffs and off-beam melodies threaten to seduce you, Whitney's caterwaul butts in again. [Sep 2008, p.110]

Pale and pensive indie-pop, cooled to a chill, with [lead singer] Nouvion floating over a similarly tranquil, dreamy wash, like an American Sundays. [Apr 2012, p. 90]

This lot, however, aim for anthems, armed with zero melody. [Apr 2011, p.100]

Green can turn on the charm--countrified finale Blacken My Stay and Castles And Tassles are winners, and "castles and tassles and fatulent assholes" is a hysterical refrain - but overall, Minor Love is a curiously enervating affair. [Feb 2010, p. 95]

Plenty of nightmare visions of Skid Row LA, but really no fun at all. [Jan 2013, p.93]

All the ingredients for another hit album are here. The only thing missing is soul. [Dec 2007, p.110]

If you open your album with a song, 'Hard Times,' which rails against the mediocrity of the modern world, it might be worth ensuring it isn't the only tune out of 14 that sticks in the memory. [Jul 2009, p.105]

The orb's Dr. Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann conduct themselves as if overawed by their hero. They allow Perry to prattle away unchecked. [Sep 2012, p.88]

Stereophonics jab at the same buttons that previously scored them six number 1s without breaking the mould. [Dec 2017, p.86]

Much of With You Tonight lacks vim and will likely have vacated your memory by tomorrow. [Mar 2017, p.90]

While the power-soak guitar solos ard gung-ho buck of Crazy Horse are present and correct, it's curious that Americana packs songs that don't fit its brief. [Jul 2012, p.88]

It's too mixed a bag of highlights and lowlights to be lovable. [Feb 2007, p.100]