'Yours Truly...' is a rip-roaring pop record - sprightly, lean and adventurous - a bold leap skyward from 'Employment'.

It's the less controlled, less sleek excursions that are more exciting.

Sustained power and little in the way of variety can make for quick fatigue, but at just 38 minutes long Cope has hooks and energy to spare.

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]

What 'Disappeared', in all its stealthy innovation and breathless compendium of sounds, amounts to, is a kind of avant-garde musique concrète - difficult noises shrouded in a cloak of accessibility.

It's managed that rarest of feats, a techno record with a heart.

They blend chiming, Television-style guitars and swooning miserabilism. [4 Jun 2005, p.58]

This is both a fine and fun album. [21 May 2005, p.65]

This is Americana of the highest order. [20 May 2006, p.33]

They're a confident band, but the tragedy is they're at the top of someone else's game.

Macy effortlessly combines the classic pop of Chic and Bill Withers with the sort of flamboyant, contemporary chart-frippery Mika probably thinks he's up to.

They have clawed their way back with an album encapsulating much of what initially made them such an exciting group.

'Sky Blue Sky' returns to the original formula with which they made their name.

As ever, the all-female pop-punk trio finds its inspiration in the seemingly mundane.

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

It's the sound of a band knowing exactly who they are, what they want--and how to get it.

Sounds as if it were recorded on one perfectly wasted afternoon. [22 Oct 2005, p.43]

Forget their poor punctuation: this debut LP is awash with bittersweet romance and deadpan derision.

Besides ‘It Is Only You’ and ‘Here Comes The Storm’, the mountain-shouting bravado of old tracks like ‘Borders’ and ‘Put You In Your Place’ has been dampened, but TSU is an intriguing new sunrise.

After the twin peaks of 'Watch The Throne' and 'My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy''s rap-pop grandeur, Cruel Summer feels slight in comparison. Still, as a cross section of the most brilliant, solipsistic mind in rap, it's an essential purchase.

It is indeed a really good record--but not a patch on their 1988 masterpiece 'Daydream Nation'. [17 Jun 2006, p.37]

It's the longer, wilder but more melodically repetitive screes that dominate the album, throwbacks to Spacemen 3's space freakouts that excite sonically but outstay welcomes like a nasal harmonica player.

By god is it ever long (it's 16 tracks), but on the whole it showcases enough of what makes the Chili Peppers a very good rock group – chief among these are John Frusciante's excellent, inventive guitar playing, and the fact that it is with tremendous conviction that Anthony Kiedis belts out even the most ridiculous words.

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]

It’s an impressive display, but the contrast between the two sides is so vast they could easily be two different records.

A one-way ticket to the outer limits of the solar system. [8 Apr 2006, p.39]

If you were merely whelmed by FF’s anaemic third, then this album of dub versions could be the infusion you’re looking for.

Bo Ningen have become more approachable without losing the ferocity and anything-goes attitude that made them so exciting in the first place.