While Heart-Shaped Scars might not be the first flowering of such wistful folk mysteries, it still brings in a good harvest. [Sep 2021, p.80]

A lofty ambition [songs to heal some souls], perhaps, but one this resonant and deeply pleasurable album achieves with grace and groove. [Aug 2021, p.78]

There is plenty going on: doomy folk blues; sparse Woody Guthrie-esque folk; slow, sad Sweet Refrain and The Levee On Down. There's also passionate, pissed-off, rousing country rock. [Sep 2021, p.85]

Their unique gift for sounding at once thoroughly unhinged and ferociously in control is intact. [Aug 2021, p.80]

Thirstier comes on like a bold, heady catharsis. [Sep 2021, p.86]

Native Sons adds a local twist as Los Lobos roll back--with new, inventive detail--through their LA roots and influences, binding the Chicano branch of '60s rock and California from the other side of town. [Sep 2021, p.78]

Animal admirably slips standard musical taxonomy to take on a life of it own. [Aug 2021, p.83]

An enthralling step on her musical journey. [Aug 2021, p.83]

This is Sign 'O' The Times territory. ... When Prince wanders from the funk path the results are more mixed. ... Yet there's strength in Welcome 2 America's commitment to the idea of the Classic Prince Album. [Sep 2021, p.93]

A joy to behold. [Sep 2021, p.81]

There are some anthemic rockers--the '70s Stones-esque Until Justice Is Real is good, the strident backing vocals not so much--but most of the album's highlights are the midtempo or slower songs. [Sep 2021, p.84]

Spiral slowly reveals a core mood, triangulated between Talk Talk, Radiohead and Pink Floyd models of taut, blissful, trance-inducing rock, but often beat-driven. [Sep 2021, p.86]

Amid the chaos, some rare calm and solace from Emmylou Harris's favourite rhythm guitarist. [Sep 2021, p.78]

Audaciously, it all coheres. The vision is precise and the execution meticulous. The album's 14 songs are tightly arranged and energetically delivered. [Sep 2021, p.81]

These songs engage on intimate, interior level. [Sep 2021, p.95]

It is Crosby's stubbornly enduring voice--the will to live and create in that gift after he came so close to throwing it away--that binds the wonder and mission on For Free. [Aug 2021, p.81]

Yellow scatterguns through P-Funk, Alice Coltrane, gospel, Sun-Ra, electric-era Miles Davis and '70s jazz-fusion with glee. [Aug 2021, p.85]

Capturing his bad life choices, regrets and hopes at their most immediate. [Aug 2021, p.84]

Shades of Harry Nilsson and the odd splash of Allman Brothers-like lead guitars further distinguish this one-man band outing. [Jul 2021, p.84]

U-Roy remains on form throughout, delivering everything in his relaxed yet confident style, all testament to his enduring talent. [Aug 2021, p.87]

Riotous takedown of eco-hypocrisy and corporate greenwashing to the accompaniment of rhythms so wildly exuberant they could rearrange loins. [Aug 2021, p.89]

It's his best original work by some yards. [Aug 2021, p.84]

The musicianship's great, Lloyd Maines' production's gorgeous and there's a slew of highlights. [Aug 2021, p.87]

It's like watching people chuck matches into a box of fireworks: sparks everywhere, but - excitingly, frustratingly - you're never sure where they're going to land. [Aug 2021, p.80]

Bowie's live vocal is excellent on a cover of Jacques Brel's Amsterdam, and the sound is seriously beefed up by the addition of Tony Visconti and Mick Ronson partway through the set, but massively new or consistently brilliant it is not. [Aug 2021, p.98]

Overall, Preacher's Sigh & Potion ... has a sketchy feel that will likely only appeal to those keen to hear every stage of Dear's musical development. [Aug 2021, p.95]

Vibrant and uninhibited, dotted with rule-bending twists, Mood Valiant is the sound of summer. [Aug 2021, p.88]

Mvula is a gifted arranger with a distinctive cri de coeur, and this is where she soars. [Aug 2021, p.83]