'The Sun'... lacks urgency and focus.

There is disappointment that a number of U2’s big-hitters don’t translate well on ‘Stories For Surrender’, but this revision hasn’t been a totally fruitless endeavour: you just have to dig a little bit deeper to find the reimagined material that’s truly worth savouring.

‘Always Tomorrow’ boasts a handful of punchy, promising songs but it’s frustratingly unambitious in scope. When the album treads old ground, the ideas are stale. Hopefully a bigger rejuvenation is on the horizon.

A painfully honest, emotionally draining album. [22 Jan 2005, p.49]

However much he hollers, Dave McCabe can’t escape sounding bored, and his often-schoolboy lyrics have begun to actively jar.

They have the relentless persistence needed to stick to the wall long enough (this is their third self-released album), but despite their striving for the grandiose (Kings producer Ethan Johns provides the country-ish bluster) and breaks (a spot in rom-com Going The Distance for last album "Union"), there's still that dark sparkle missing.

'The Altogether' adds weight to the increasing suspicion that Orbital's best work is, like their hairlines, behind them.

Inevitably, the record descends into a series of multi-band cover-offs, the listener acting as Caesar, deciding which ‘winning’ version should really have made the cut. Half the time you feel like you’re doing the compiler’s job for them.

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

We feel like we got sold herbal E and it didn’t even get us stoned.

Almost in defiance of poor sales and cult following, CWK and their charming second album embody everything you hoped music might be.

[Shonen Knife's] 13 Ramones covers sound exactly like you'd expect.

This, for all the fighting talk, has the feel of a lightweight flailing around for another KO.

OCD Go Go Go Girls is, as ‘Think’ was, simply an imperfect heads-up for Lovvers’ live skills.

They’re not reinventing the wheel, but pulling the Harley out of the ditch.

The record sags in the middle when the pace dies down (on ‘Haunt’ and ‘It’s Getting Dark’), but ‘Transparency’ never overstays its welcome. It may not produce the “massive hit” McTrusty once pined for, but it’s a sign there’s life in the old dog yet.

Sanchez’s gorgeous vocal is what truly stands out.

'Plans' is produced within an inch of its shiny, whitebread life and the Cutie seem to have lost their faux-naive subtleties, becoming the non-thinking man's Coldplay along the way. [27 Aug 2005, p.74]

While Tyranny is wildly self-indulgent--and often at the expense of quality - you could never say that it's boring.

Their careers adviser-flouting debut is in the mould of the greats rather than carving a new sound.

The band's best album yet - which is to say that it contains considerably more than three good songs.

Their fourth album rarely disappoints...

Pummelling electro punk at it's finest.

If you really feel you need another Canadian choral indie troupe in your life, this is worth a punt.

Comprising of 14 scorching, razor-sharp vignettes – some scarcely a minute long – this is the sound of a songwriter standing on the top of their mountain, chest puffed-out and giving it the biggun’. Those confrontational moments are spiky and fun.

The real achievement of 'A Weekend In The City' is its path to this conclusion, pulling hard-won moments of contentment from a maelstrom of anger and confusion.

Kasabian's paranoid mindset is so in tune with the zeitgeist you almost imagine singer Tom Meighan has a sell-by date stamped on the arse of his corduroy strides. [4 Sep 2004, p.71]

By the time closing waltz 'Bring Me Down' ends, intimacy levels are so high that you feel like a contented voyeur.