A welcome change of gear. [Jun 2005, p.118]

At 25 minutes, Minotaur is slight but still a fine distillation of the band's deceptive charms and retains the sense of something very unsettling lurking at its core. [Oct 2010, p.105]

While the depth of the band's musicianship and production skills continues to impress, Road To Rouen feels emotionally blank. [Sep 2005, p.111]

Caracal proves a more stealthy beast than its predecessor.... It's indeed the songs, though, which really shine. [Oct 2015, p.105]

Opener Drifting In And Out, a shimmering piece of dream pop, is beautifully realised, but the other nine songs fail to live up to its promise. [Feb. 2012, p. 110]

Wild World is the right album at the right moment. [Oct 2016, p.112]

Their 14th album sees them once again focusing on stripped down Nuggets-era garage rock. [Oct 2012, p.107]

180 captures all the exuberance of the sweatbox gigs they've held in its basement, while showcasing them as a scorching rock'n'roll band. [Mar 2013, p.106]

Splendidly queasy listening. [May 2004, p.100]

Another dicey sell for the moshers probably happier to indulge in the record's belligerent breakdowns and build-ups. [Dec 2012, p.109]

In places it lacks the character to make Horse Thief truly stand out, but this first outing is a fine enough place to start. [May 2014, p.111]

The album comes to life with the radio-friendly, dancefloor-ready banger Operator (He Doesn't Call Me), but only one track, Love Is Blind, errs on the side of the saccharine and straightforward. [Apr 2016, p.109]

Music [that is] deeply evocative of sitting on a magic rug. [Jun 2012, p.99]

Intriguing as this glimpse behind the curtain is, it's hard to imagine many purchasers playing the entire EBW disc more than once. The same might even be said about Brotherhood itself. [Oct 2008, p.156]

Immersive and enigmatic, it's the work of a singular talent. [Sep 2017, p.116]

An absorbing, exuberant flourish of outwardly incompatible genres. [Apr 2005, p.122]

Despite its grandiose title [the album] is actually more concerned with sound than ideas, an experiment which proves more intriguing as a concept than it does as a complete listening experience. [Jun 2012, p.100]

It's an intriguing scrapbook of ideas and frequently enjoyable, but could use a banger or tow. [Apr 2016, p.112]

Captivating. [Oct 2011, p.120]

It's slightly more accessible than his previous work. [Sep 2013, p.102]

Chronological sequencing would have painted a more coherent picture of how she developed over the decades and although fine in themselves, a bunch of remixes belong to an album of their own. [Jan 2016, p.120]

INHeaven's potential is huge, it's just not fully realised here. [Oct 2017, p.105]

If the closing tracks' chaotic guitars comes close to unlistenability, many fine moments beforehand make forgiveness easy. [Oct 2008, p.142]

It's hard work at times, but ultimately adventurous and rewarding. [Jun 2011, p.120]

A decidedly loveable record. [Apr 2016, p.113]

Mostly this is the swingingest easy-listening country you can shake a cocktail at. [May 2010, p.127]

Making A New World resonates with hidden meaning and lost connections. [Feb 2020, p.111]

Sounds like the work of a band reinvigorated. [Aug 2019, p.117]

A great leap forward. [Oct 2003, p.113]

The lesser known shoo-ins often struggle. [Sep 2003, p.104]

Terrific stuff. [Dec 2003, p.129]

The 11 [songs] selected for The Green Album hark back to the keenly observed power pop of Weezer's multi-platinum '94 debut, and there isn't a bad apple among them. [Aug 2001, p.142]

For a record that initially seems nothing more than a charming little reverie, it's difficult to shake off. [Dec 2012, p.102]

A supremely confident collection from an artist just gearing up for greatness. [Jun 2016, p.111]

Dalmais's new album arrives wrapped in conceptual packaging and plays beguiling tricks with her remarkable voice, at times airy, at others earthy. [Aug 2017, p.100]

Even if this album is only for a limited audience, it's the sound of a band pushing onwards and upwards into the blue. [May 2013, p.94]

It once again showcases just how satisfying a Talking Heads obsession coupled with an ability to craft uncommonly graceful ballads can be. [Apr 2009, p.97]

If the production is a little soft, there's no denying the old boys can still knock out pop thrills. [Sep 2012, p.99]

The overall effect is expansive--this is kosmische musik for a desert rather than an autobahn--and it's far-out in the best possible way. [May 2015, p.105]

It works as an excellent overview of his career. [Jan 2016, p.118]

Maybe if they had calmed down a bit, Crazy Itch Radio wouldn't be Basement Jaxx's fourth best album. [Oct 2006, p.126]

Lively third outing from Brighton collective. [Feb. 2011, p. 117]

There is a danger it might all drift away in a haze of gossamer-light stylishness if it weren't for the interesting places they nudge these gentle songs. [Nov 2018, p.112]

Winning UK indie rock/US power-pop fusion. [Feb. 2011, p. 113]

There's... a luxuriant, bubble bath-like quality to proceedings so often lacking in imitators. [Aug 2005, p.134]

This is one of Biffy Clyro's best records yet. [Aug 2016, p.106]

It's prevented from turning fancy by its grounding in some rudimentary rock dynamics. [May 2006, p.122]

Their first album since 2009's Broken, gains strength from being all Gahan, all the time. [Jun 2012, p.111]

La Futura is better when ZZ Top and producer Rick Rubin mess with the formula. [Nov 2012, p.112]

As it stands, the lack of genuine emotion here does the musical invention shown on Turbines a disservice, and ultimately delivers Tunng's least satisfactory album to date. [Aug 2013, p.107]

The resulting clash of classicial forms and electronics is a startling mix of chance and design. [Oct 2009, p.108]

There's enough deviation from Lowe's fastidiously tasteful norm to prevent YU descending into dullness. [Jul 2019, p.113]

Fans will appreciate Yo La Tengo reinventing their own The Ballad Of Red Buckets and Deeper Into Movies from noisy chaos to whispered, but still intense, quiet. [Oct 2015, p.117]

Insane, but in a good way. [Nov 2005, p.123]

Yet however familiar its themes may be, they all seem reinvigorated... by Petty's songwriting smarts and fantastically weathered vocals. [Sep 2006, p.110]

A dense sci-fi metropolis, rich in atmosphere, but light in the edge and unpredictability of urban life. [Nov 2013, p.111]

Entertaining in the flesh maybe, but a considerably less engaging proposition on record. [Jan 2008, p.105]

Memory reverts to his early-noughties down-tempo incarnation as OCS, which only illuminates his frailties as a singer/lyricist. [Dec 2017, p.109]

The Aliens' album often has the wide-eyed beauty of Brian Wilson or Jonathan Richman. [Apr 2007, p.120]

Though the quality rarely dips, at almost 2 hours long it does get rather wearing. [Aug 2009, p.110]

Standouts Everybody Wants To Be Famous and Something For Your M.I.N.D.. The rest divides between disposable cut-and-paste experiments and breezy indie-dance, at least making up in energy what it lacks in depth. [Apr 2018, p.115]

Represents a career high for the Chili Peppers. [Jun 2006, p.106]

Fixers keep their cosmic meanderings well anchored with strong pop hooks throughout. [Jun 2012, p.101]

It's a low-pressure affair that variously recalls such non-rocking reference points as Phillip Glass, Debussy and Chopin. [Sep 2012, p.100]

A solid, tribal-sounding collection of dramatic, literate rock with cello, brass and hints of frosty country. [Dec 2013, p.111]

The 1991 session hasn't aged well--the bongos are a problem, but 10 years later they'd mastered the art of subtle delivery. [Jul 2014, p.123]

[A] coolly unnerving full-length debut. [Apr 2015, p.102]

The follow-up to 2009's Everything To Nothing crackles with energy. [Jun 2011, p.119]

Unbearably stark. [Nov 2006, p.136]

Here they lean too heavily on space-age boogie-rock. [Jul 2019, p.110]

Once cosmic scallies dazzled by pop's sepia-tinted past, Butterfly House is proof that The Coral;s psychedelic pop is now just as beautiful. [Aug 2010, p.118]

Magic's problem is that the two Bruces don't sit together comfortably. [Nov 2007, p.132]

If the songs on St. Catherine are remarkably pretty, there's also a lurking sense that their beauty isn't built to last forever. [Aug 2015, p.104]

A long and winding and faithfully atmospheric cover of Pink Floyd's Echoes that closes the album is perhaps the main attraction here, but too much of what precedes it tends to waft away into the ether. [Jul 2019, p.114]

Geographically, one would here have to imagine a borough between The Stills and The Walkmen. [Nov 2004, p.120]

A credible effort, then, but not so groundbreaking as to prompt deep re-evaluation of their place in the world. [Aug 2017, p.109]

The only life in these monochrome songs comes from some feedback on Lazy Rain and squalling jazz horns on Revanchism. [Oct 2001, p.130]

Simone and Amedeo Pace weave intricate musical patterns on a collection of songs distinguished by their fundamental lack of tunes. Aside from the exuberant frisson of This Is Not, the album staggers unsteadily between serene chamber pop, looping layered electronics and shouty, full-on hyperactive thrashy punk...

The Electric Soft Parade are one of the few young British bands to have successfully navigated the hype and emerged with something genuinely promising.

There are moments where the glory years are emulated.... Even so, after 17 long years, both band and audience deserve better than a wandful of magic and some rehashes. [Oct 2003, p.102]

If you're it the mood for a trawl through R&B's greatest hits delivered on R. Kelly's own terms, if not always in his own style, that's just how you'll like it. [Aug 2012, p.101]

The work of a solid pro rather than gripped by genius. [May 2016, p.111]

An exercise in restraint. [Aug 2018, p.114]

Steele may be in thrall to [Brian] Wilson and The Beatles, but his talent is precocious enough to give him his own very singluar voice. [Aug 2006, p.112]

Charming, dexterous and completely compelling. [Oct 2012, p.108]

Reserve space and time for it. [Feb 2005, p.104]

Captures her in full, unrepentant swing. [Jun 2005, p.111]

For all the celebrity firepower, however, Dark Night Of The Soul never quite adds up to more than a handful of great moments. [Aug 2009, p.111]

Last Night makes for a perfect farewell, with tracks from across the band's career. [Apr 2018, p.116]

It's all tastefully executed, but there is painfully little to get excited about here. [Sep 2013, p.104]

It's been a rocky road, but maybe he's finally home. [Dec 2014, p.109]

While skillfully executed--some songs, notably 'Murderer,' definitely have legs--the whole never rises far above a clever exercise in technique. [Apr 2009, p.105]

Intricate and thoughtful, it recalls the work of Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson. [Jul 2012, p.102]

The occasional glimmer of pop genius seen in the albums past is mostly absent, with plodding piano ballads in place instead. [Jul 2012, p.112]

There are unnerving, alone-in-the-forest atmospheres aplenty here. [Apr 2014, p.108]

Traces of Interpol, The Chameleons and post-rock heavies Trans Am are all over these songs, but if Fews don't wear their influences lightly, they know how to show them off to dark advantage. [Jul 2016, p.106]

Another year, another Jah Wobble album knocked out with a slew of collaborators and little interest in much, you suspect, beyond the immediate entertainment of its participants. [Sep 2016, p.114]

The album is drenched in the cosmic swirl of warm synths and dreamy atmospherics. [Dec 2017, p.106]