Intermittently challenging; ultimately it offers a comforting embrace. [Dec 2025, p.85]

The parallel blossoming of a writer and performer climaxes in two discs of Dylan's October 26, 1963 show at Carnegie Hall, the apotheosis of the vibrating imagery and magnetic command of his breakthrough phase, where Ballad Of Hollis Brown is a demonic spell but in truth every damn song is a transcendence. Who needs electricity? [Dec 2025, p.92]

It works beautifully, the band gently distorting their songwriting surfaces wit sudden psychedelic sun-spots and experimental flares. [Dec 2025, p.81]

There's a fine story-telling country song (No One Knows Us); a dramatic rocker (Church & State) - and songs whose piano and multiple harmonies feel like church (You Without Me; Joni). But it never sounds less than gorgeous. [Dec 2025, p.78]

Love Chant might also be described as scrappy, vulnerable and heartfelt, but it is also loose, exuberant and animated in a manner that seems faithful to who Dando is today. [Nov 2025, p.84]

Great to hear these session giants unchained. [Oct 2025, p.83]

The results are sometimes sublime, like the numinous drones and electronic eddies of Do, at other times unsettling and vaguely dystopian. [Nov 2025, p.89]

The wait, rewarded. [Dec 2025, p.85]

Holy grail or curate’s egg, diehard fans will run to this 5-disc package and relish even its flaws. Adding the original album simply emphasises what we already knew: Nebraska represents the very best of Bruce Springsteen. [Dec 2025, p.92]

Hamdan works slowly, but this has been worth waiting for. [Oct 2025, p.87]

With production cash lavished on them, the songs lustre anew. [Dec 2025, p.84]

There's a succinctness to Some Like It Hot. .... But pleasingly, they've not junked their angsty edge amid this pop-oriented realignment. [Nov 2025, p.88]

Skinner and band navigate uncharted waters with sass and skill. [Dec 2025, p.82]

Pollock might not take up space often, but when she's finally front and centre, you don't want the lights to go down. [Nov 2025, p.83]

It struts with confidence. [Nov 2025, p.85]

While the concept means Parks' violin takes a backseat, it makes for a dizzying, future-facing hybrid of dancefloor sounds. [Dec 2025, p.85]

Completists will appreciate the three-disc focus on the One To One charity concert from August 30, 1972: one disc apiece for the afternoon and evening sets and a ‘hybrid’ selection of the best of both. But intimate ‘home’ recordings, in fact taped in hotel rooms, are more tantalising. [Dec 2025, p.67]

The new sound of young Scotland. [Dec 2025, p.82]

Her voice is as earnestly soulful as Tracy Chapman, as deep and characterful as Nina Simone - and, like Simone, when the emotion engulfs her, the results are electrifying. [Sep 2025, p.87]

The album gels and is unexpectedly airy: with its souffle-light facade and full-fat core, this is a delight. [Dec 2025, p.83]

The poetic soloing ad celestial melodies of Carried It All Around and woozy, irresistible anthem In Hollywood affirm that The Besnard Lakes are masters of their art. [Dec 2025, p.83]

Wasner downplays the rockier aspects of her previous two solo records to delve into her Joni bag, pulling out both folk and AOR models - with streaks of Americana - sourcing gorgeous melodies to match her glowing vibrato that resembles a young Lucinda Williams. [Dec 2025, p.84]

There are meanders and lulls. Yet for a record intended to reflect and connect Lateral and Luminal, Liminal stands up on its own, not so much a final destination as a buzzy, fluid crossing-place for Eno and Wolfe's ideas. [Dec 2025, p.79]

The tempo is up, the brass arrangements individual, and St. Paul's extraordinary voice is swooping effortlessly between falsetto and gravel. [Dec 2025, p.86]

As with all Necks recordings, it's essentially one long piece of music, a slowly unravelling fabric that continues to delight, surprise and beguile but never repeat. [Nov 2025, p.88]

While Corporal is recognisably Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, their seventh LP is evidence for a reinvigoration; one which may bring fresh ears their way. [Nov 2025, 85]

Gedge's throaty warble remains his band's only real constant, but this is a rollercoaster ripe for re-evaluation. [Oct 2025, p.97]

One could argue the 68 tracks of live Material and multiple versions of certain songs - five of Heathen opener Sunday, for example - might be overkill. .... The exclusive four-disc Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, recorded on July 18, 2002, has a weak sleeve, but the music is blistering. [Nov 2025, p.100]