Stay Positive has consistently stronger material than its preecessors and, perhaps more importantly, is sequenced to maximum efficacy. [Aug 2008, p.100]

Neither sparkly nor weird enough. [Sep 2008, p.110]

Mellencamp croaks a sequence of raw, all but nihilistic yet far from self-pitying first-person tales about, well, death mainly, leavened by the odd rather forlorn reference to the life, love and freedom elements of the title. [Nov 2008, p.111]

The Allstars have that same dynamism plus a similarly brutal rhythm section, which sounds like a billion wasps playing Sister Ray in your brain, but they have found some missing ingredients, such as melody and variation. [Sep 2008, p.112]

Sometimes erratic and headstrong, at others whimsical and somewhat listless, it ultimately sounds like an unsatisfying curio. [Nov 2008, p.110]

So does the pairing work? The answer, from the first, strutting beats of Modern Guilt's opener, 'Orphans,' is a gleaming Yes. [Aug 2008, p.104]

¿Cómo Te Llama? is not a bad record, just so unrelentingly average that you wonder how in this age of music biz recession, it could be worth anyone's 14.99. [Aug 2008, p.112]

[A] gem-filled recording. [Aug 2008, p.111]

Sexsmith's mournful voice and lyrical skills, so admired by the likes of Elvis Costello and Neil Finn, detail a world of love and hopeful expectation. It all makes Exit Staretgy... an almost infinitely rich and subtle album. [Sep 2008, p.98]

Nude With Boots alternates between their trademark, skin-crawling sludge rock, and more accessible, almost anthemic moments. [Aug 2008, p.106]

Away from the atmosphere and visuals of live performance, over an hour of such dense and highly personal account of pain and beauty on the threshold of death is particularly demanding; a pity it's not available on DVD. [Aug 2008, p.103]

This sort of works, but clearly their obsession lies with the lyrics. [Sep 2008, p.106]

An impressive debut. [Nov 2008, p.109]

Though she occasionally loses focus Leila mostly pulls off this ambitious album and ends on a high note with 'Why Should I?' [Aug 2008, p.106]

A more charming and seductive album you're unlikely to hear this year. [Nov 2008, p.116]

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

Hercules And Love Affair exist in that mighty unreal demimonde where dancing and art are not mutually exclusive. [Apr 2008, p.105]

There's still some beautifully glacial music....but now, occasionally, the Arctic exploration party becomes simply a party. [Aug 2008, p.103]

The Watsons' approach is softer, and more affecting, than wry, tack-sharp Lewis. [Aug 2008, p.114]

Digi Snacks is pleasingly lean on fillers , and finds RZA again at his peak as a producer, effortlessly balancing the slow burn bangers wirh tracks of soulful uplit. [Sep 2008, p.110]

On record, it's nutty maze-rock with hair-raising highs and the odd dead end. [July 2008, p.112]

Any number of Zutons and Corals have already trod this path, and to keep up Kane will have to try harder than insering words like "insane" and "psychotic" into music that sounds as if it was made by James Shelley's naive young cousins. [July 2008, p.101]

Clean, reverbed electric guitar chime and twang gorgeously and the production is simple and simpatico, but it's Berman's strange yet archetypal-sounding tales of gulible skinsmen and prisons built from sweets that keep you coming back for more. [July 2008, p.108]

While they fight shy of radical "Kid A"-style reinvention, hats should be doffed to Coldplay for at least having artistic cojones to mess with a winning formula. [July 2008, p.101]

This belated reunion has developed further into thr most affectingly sad, sweet, sepia sound rooted in Marcus's forlorn vocal and delicate ripples of detail--jazzy-to-motorik rhythm and haunting synthetic drones. [JUly 2008, p.102]

The resulting oestrogen charge--an operatic Tori Amos with a dab of Jane Siberry--is terrific when Worden reins in the "hello trees, hello sky" imagery, wincingly precious when she fails. [July 2008, p.110]

The piano-led 'New Beginnings' is one of several sombre mood pieces on what is the most ambitious work of the band's 40-year career. But fear not, headbangers: 'Revelation,' all chugging rifferama and panto villany, prove that Priest are still mad for it. Metal, that is. [July 2008, p.100]

O resoounds with the lustily imparted vocals of Kianna Alarid and Neely Jenkins, while the band's signature instrumental palette--fizzing guitars, chunky '60s organs--has expanded into a thick sonic cheesecake. [Nov 2008, p.109]