A new buoyancy runs through the album from the sprightly, Eno-esque Italy to the waltz-time drama of Surrounded, and Heal, where the voice of her daughter features. Nonetheless, murk is not far below the surface--in Creep, blossoms are rotting. [Dec 2018, p.92]

The pace down Mark Knopfler's latest road is steady and unruffled, like a 72-minute walk around a familiar locale--reassuring but rather lacking in excitement. [Dec 2018, p.87]

If any art is currently encapsulating the sense of "wrongness" abroad in our land, this is it. [Dec 2018, p.82]

By the closing traditional, Fair Annie (Child Ballad 62), much of the atmospheric murk has lifted, revealing a radiant kinship with the like of Trees, similarly uncanny folk-rock alchemists from the cusp of the 1970s. [Dec 2018, p.88]

B.E.D.'s nine-tracks barely top 20 minutes, but it's terrific while it lasts. [Dec 2018, p.87]

The gold standard rock double LP, Ladyland now boasts 12 solo demos, eight studio outtakes (notably the stunning Angel Caterina, alias 1983), plus a September '68 Hollywood Bowl show. [Dec 2018, p.104]

Ambitious, complex, raging and poetic. a testament to the possibilities of thrash. [Dec 2018, p.103]

While much here errs toward vanilla and cheese, delectably idiosyncratic morsels are also on the menu. [Dec 2018, p.100]

Corgan's ear for pop-hooks is keen throughout, but save for Knights Of Malta, with its piano, strings and backwards lead guitars, the music on Shiny And Oh So Bright... seems a tad under-imagined for its portentous title. [Dec 2018, p.84]

Martin's remix feels like the closest anyone can get to sharing the headspace of the people who made the music. The detail is staggering. [Dec 2018, p.98]

Though humour abounds, there's also some serious musicianship on display, both from the mercurial Goldblum and his excellent band. [Dec 2018, p.90]

This Giorgio Moroder-soundtracking-Black Mirror approach isn't always successful. ... The slick AOR of Something Human suggests their decision to move away from riff-rock isn't wholly misjudged. [Dec 2018, p.84]

Even at 52, this Dinosaur senior is a miracle of ongoing evolution. [Dec 2018, p.88]

Moon-June-balloon lyricism can let him down, but when he;s good (see Smiths-ish portrait song John) he's great. [Dec 2018, p.94]

Daft and serious, catchy and strange. [Dec 2018, p.93]

It's no surprise that there isn't the immediate drive of 2011 Daptone debut No Time For Dreaming, it the energy and cohesion of follow-ups Victim Of Love (2013) and Changes (2016). But Black Velvet's appeal grows. [Dec 2018. p.85]

Spencer build this world of thrift-store influences and acid wit, and he sounds happy there. [Dec 2018, p.88]

These are exquisitely sad songs of spare belongings and reduced circumstance, about men who fail, and the women who stay with them. [Dec 2018, p.91]

Yawn is a sublime show of songwriting strength. [Dec 2018, p.86]

No Tourists may be an open-topped bus ride around a familiar sonic landscape, but it's also a lot of fun. [Dec 2018, p.84]

Solemn, aesthetically rigorous environment this music occupies. [Dec 2018, p.93]

Where the comic thesp rabbitholes back to 1980s telly music, with sincere, library-esque 'ommages. [Dec 2018, p.94]

Warrants deep exploration. [Nov 2018, p.95]

If you need reminding, it demonstrates what a good singer she is. [Dec 2018, p.90]

Filmic instrumentals ranging in mood from Badalamenti oddness to bright piano etudes and reflective gloom. [Nov 2018, p.96]

While there's a surprisingly low glam quotient, Fudge Sandwich finds odd harmonies between funk and anarcho-punk, plus more predictable psych. [Dec 2018, p.84]

It's an album that is, by turns, melancholy and unsettling, tragic and nightmarish, unfolding with a creeping narrative dread. [Dec 2018, p.93]

The Londoner's high soul voice shines through on astral-themed second album. . [Dec 2018, p.94]