Showcas[es] Rufus as one of, if not the best songwriters of his generation. [19 Mar 2005, p.59]

If you don't mind flicking the fast-forward, there's enough hot shizzle to keep you returning for more. [20 Nov 2004, p.57]

The pedestrian half of 'Encore' only serves to underline how awesome the other half is. [20 Nov 2004, p.53]

Rule of thumb for this album: ballad good, uptempo shocking. [20 Nov 2004, p.57]

Often witty and always wise. [27 Nov 2004, p.61]

Size has merely moved from the coffee tables of the last century into the elevators of the next. [30 Oct 2004, p.65]

Sounds like helium-voiced rockers Rush discovering a social conscience. [30 Oct 2004, p.65]

His sleaziness is hilarious. [30 Oct 2004, p.65]

A titanic assault of monstrous proportions. [29 Jan 2005, p.59]

This is murderously good stuff. [25 Sep 2004, p.64]

At 60 minutes plus, it’s too long, and neither Cocker and Eno’s ambient doodle nor 3D’s ‘Invasion’ work. But, nonetheless, ‘Never...’ is sleek, deep and full of ideas.

Pleasantly tuneful pop-punk. [23 Oct 2004, p.51]

A sparkly, concise art-rock delight. [10 Jul 2004, p.47]

For all its flaws, 'Up All Night' bristles with passion, energy and, most importantly, amazing songs. [26 Jun 2004, p.53]

A demented, disjointed, delicious-as-human-rump-steak modern classic. [23 Oct 2004, p.49]

Firecracker mod-punk and allegorical political cut-and-thrust. [5 Mar 2005, p.51]

Another fine fusion of volcanic arena-rock and cherry-poppin' slow burners. [9 Oct 2004, p.56]

A shiny slice of mirrorball punk rock. [9 Oct 2004, p.57]

[A] groovily electronic, acid-addled collection of throat-tickling, Venusian rhyme formations. [23 Oct 2004, p.51]

While this is clearly not the record Smith intended to make, it's still an immensely gripping and cohesive piece of work. [23 Oct 2004, p.47]

It's a fine debut that hints at a finer future - and for their determined attempts to twist something new out of retro influences, we salute them.

Doesn't life already seem cruelly short? Do you really want to waste any of it ploughing through a new Duran Duran record? [9 Oct 2004, p.56]

It's full-on rock carnage. [6 Nov 2004, p.59]

It's not so much that [they] sound a bit like The Rapture so much as, occasionally, they seem to be running off Xerox copies of specific Rapture songs. [29 Jan 2005, p.58]

It's frustrating, because when they quit mucking about, The Hidden Cameras have the power to produce songs that tickle your heart. [10 Jul 2004, p.49]

What it shows is that if you're going to do the hits, the thing to do is pin them down, fuck them up and HURT THEM. [average of scores of 90 for Disc 1 and 70 for Disc 2; 16 Oct 2004, p.48]

Funny, heartbreaking and at glorious odds with the world. [4 Sep 2004, p.73]

Not all of it works... but the 'What's Going On'-sampling 'Modern Marvel', mumbling folk-soul of 'Boogie Man Song' and widescreen shuffle of 'Champion Requiem' prove that not all hip-hop albums come with an expiry date. [23 Oct 2004, p.51]

The stuff of jagged, ornate artistes living in a weird pop monsterland with defiantly anti-wacky lyrics. [13 Nov 2004, p.57]

[Their] penchant for pastiche has evolved... into full-blown plagiarism. [9 Oct 2004, p.57]

Sound[s] like Marvin Gaye fronting The Smiths while the London Philharmonic Orchestra has a stab at the Burt Bacharach songbook. [9 Oct 2004, p.55]

Doomed to lurk unplayed at the back of your collection. [2 Oct 2004, p.64]

The first REM album to really disappoint. [2 Oct 2004, p.60]

'Real Gone' is not by any means easy listening. It is, though, possibly a new type of music. [2 Oct 2004, p.64]

Listen once, chuckle lightly, rip 'Together,' then run a fucking mile. [9 Oct 2004, p.57]

This is the sound of the US underground realising that its message is easier to swallow if it has a smile on its face. [9 Oct 2004, p.56]

Half the time, Good Charlotte sound like Blink-182 after the snip, the other half they sound like the Backstreet Boys without the songs. [16 Oct 2004, p.48]

Whether or not you'd want to listen to it more than once depends on your pain threshold, but those 45 minutes will be among the most terrifying of your life, guaranteed. [13 Nov 2004, p.56]

Self-loathing, self-pitying, self-centered, bad-tempered American rock. [6 Nov 2004, p.59]

None of [the guest producers] manage to shift the band far from their roots--an intense punk Elvis growl that's impossible to replicate. [16 Oct 2004, p.49]

An underground delight. [13 Nov 2004, p.57]

What remains is pure, unspoilt guitar-pop genius that demands to be marvelled at. [18 Sep 2004, p.65]

Reasserts what's great about her. [2 Oct 2004, p.64]

At times it sounds like pastiche but when they're themselves... the 'Couture...' club are amazing. [6 Nov 2004, p.59]

An album scored through with a vehement beauty that, with each listen, becomes all the more acute for its unwillingness to shy away from life's bleaker, more painful moments. [25 Sep 2004, p.62]

'Smile' stands up with any of the great music of the 20th century. [25 Sep 2004, p.63]

It's thrillingly obvious that Junior Boys have made one of the year's best albums. [31 Jul 2004, p.41]

VHS Or Beta hit on a candy-coloured disco-funk previously only thought possible by men wearing daft robot masks. [9 Apr 2005, p.58]

An onslaught of varied and marvellously good tunes presented in an unexpectedly inventive way. [18 Sep 2004, p.65]

No great departure, rather 16 more tracks of campfire folk, quivering vocals and a brilliant baby's-eye view of the world. [25 Sep 2004, p.64]

Their preoccupation with '70s British metal finds them wandering dangerously into gobilin-and-ghouls prog-rock territory. [5 Jun 2004, p.54]

One of the most cosmopolitan albums to carry the Giant seal of oddness. [11 Sep 2004, p.55]

An older, wiser, more mature and more accomplished Thrills but -- to be honest -- the heart of 'Let's Bottle Bohemia' could quite easily have been made from the leftovers of 'So Much For The City.' [11 Sep 2004, p.54]

The main thing 'Sweat' has going for it is the fact that it isn't 'Suit.' [2 Oct 2004, p.63]

Will shock conservative punk purists everywhere. [11 Sep 2004, p.57]

Trouble is, although forced to move on, Howlett had nowhere particular to go, and so much of this album sees him squatting on the floors of other acts. [14 Aug 2004, p.47]

Suit represents Nelly going smooth and seductive for an entire LP, and it is about 9,000 times as bad as that sounds. [2 Oct 2004, p.63]

Har Mar's best effort to date. [4 Sep 2004, p.72]

Lyrically it's astonishing. [28 Aug 2004, p.55]

Spiky, occasionally over sugary. [14 May 2005, p.67]

What Paul Weller uniquely manages to do to the 12 songs... is to make every one sound exactly like a Paul Weller song. [11 Sep 2004, p.55]

For those of us who still believe in music's power to redeem, 'Funeral' feels like detox, the most cathartic album of the year. [5 Mar 2005, p.49]

The Faint continue to ensure that across the pond there's an infinitely sexier state of dance-rock affairs. [11 Sep 2004, p.55]

They sound like they actually mean it. [11 Sep 2004, p.57]

While Mandarin certainly rock, they do so at a pedestrian amble. [11 Sep 2004, p.53]

This Bronx rapper-producer makes genuine party bangers out of dustbin scraps. [18 Sep 2004, p.65]

It's just a shame that quieter moments such as 'The Lengths' sound a little weedy in comparison. [4 Sep 2004, p.72]

It seems Shaddix still writes most of his songs in purple ink in diaries with little locks on. [28 Aug 2004, p.56]

Poetic lyrics, tender guitars, tortured synths and Olivier's heavenly vocals. [29 Jan 2005, p.59]

What you have here is the most agonisingly voyeuristic listening experience in rock, ever. It's also some of the most exhilarating and brilliant rock'n'roll of the past 20 years. [7 Aug 2004, p.46]

Crisp, rolling rap beats and lush instrumentation. Lyrically, ... she's brutally honest about sex and her failings with men. [11 Sep 2004, p.55]

A notch below the genius of 'Debut' or 'Homogenic' but precious nonetheless. [4 Sep 2004, p.73]

A miniature classic. [14 Aug 2004, p.49]

They can still write the most incredibly beautiful songs. [23 Oct 2004, p.49]

Like the enraged hormones of Iggy Pop slugging it out with the grandiose pomp of Queen. [28 Aug 2004, p.57]

The best Guided By Voices album yet. [28 Aug 2004, p.57]

Music as taut, spare and ominous as The Bad Seeds at their most malevolent. [21 Aug 2004, p.49]

On first listen sound[s] like someone taking the piss out of The Rapture. [11 Sep 2004, p.57]

Triumphantly succeeds in underlining Dulli's deft touch in understanding the magic woven into the fabric of great pop. [4 Sep 2004, p.73]

Stultifying moroseness and a constant furrowing of the brow permeate from start to finish. [21 Aug 2004, p.49]

It's relentless, occasionally breathless but always absorbing. [4 Sep 2004, p.73]

Exquisite, state-of-the-art beats, rhymes and vocal hooks. [25 Sep 2004, p.65]

'Ariels,' which never raises above shuffling pace, is beautiful in places. [28 Aug 2004, p.56]

Listening to 'Blue' is like meeting your first girlfriend ten years on, and realising that the things you fell in love [with] are long gone. [19 Jun 2004, p.56]

The beats may be basic and the quality fuzzy... but there are diamonds among the dirt. [21 Aug 2004, p.49]

Album of the year? It's definitely a contender. [7 Aug 2004, p.49]

A record filled with such emotional scope and range that it's tailor-made to showcase Lanegan's world weary roar. [24 Jul 2004, p.47]

With only three 'songs' to speak of here, 'All Watched Over...' smacks of another great British songwriter having their melodic nous chewed away by electro-moths. [7 Aug 2004, p.49]

As airbrushed as an Athena poster, 'Alphabetical' is nonetheless an emotional experience. [19 Jun 2004, p.57]

Trading bolshy indie for pin-drop lullabies and pedal steel guitars, 'Whiskey Tango Ghosts' is Donelly's 'I'm a full-time mum and dammit I'm happy' record. [24 Jul 2004, p.49]

A record which is closer in spirit to the rustic eccentricity of his '...Bewilderbeast' debut, while still moving things forward. [19 Jun 2004, p.57]

Kittie are rubbish, with a permanent lyrical setting of "Feel A Bit Miserable, Parents Don't Understand Me" and no original ideas whatsoever. [21 Aug 2004, p.49]

Hushed vocals, strummed guitars, creeping cello, and an all-encompassing sense of politeness are the order of the day. [19 Jun 2004, p.57]

By celebrating what it is to be a freak in 2004 they've made a debut that's unique yet uniting, deep yet designed for the dance-floor.

Sadly, The (I)NC have mistaken the ultra-safe sound of maximum R&B for the scream of revolution. [24 Jul 2004, p.49]

Don't start here before the essential LPs... But once you've fallen in love (and believe us, it's inevitable), this is a mesmerising next stop. [17 Jul 2004, p.48]

As intelligent as it is ferocious. [31 Jul 2004, p.40]

Thirty minutes of chugging and howling, you go from one killer riff to another with barely a millisecond to recover. [17 Jul 2004, p.46]