Flabbergasting... a genuine revolution in the head. [Dec 2006, p.133]

A long, sometimes hard, often inspired haul, this could easily have been pared down to a uniformly excellent double disc. [Dec 2006, p.138]

The good news is Songs For Christmas isn't the self-indulgent folly it may appear. [Jan 2007, p.152]

[Curator Paul] Morley's selection is generally spot on, but those who already own 1998's more concise retrospective Endless Love won't need this. [Dec 2006, p.150]

Utterly entrancing. [Dec 2006, p.141]

The sound of a maverick band raging against the dying of the light. [Dec 2006, p.132]

A remarkable balancing act. [Jan 2007, p.150]

9 may be quiet, but it is never easy listening. [Dec 2006, p.125]

There are no real songs here, only weak gags and unfunny skits. [Jan 2007, p.152]

Hoppus, whose flat vocals once dovetailed deftly with Delonge's nasal whine, is sorely exposed as sole frontman. [Dec 2006, p.132]

Campbell's voice seems to have been recorded in a lift shaft, rendering her too murky. [Dec 2006, p.133]

A cheap production slightly undermines, but the world is hers. [Mar 2007, p.111]

There's little of the fire and invention that characterised 2000's White Pony. [Nov 2006, p.140]

The best Nelson set since 1996's Spirit. [Dec 2006, p.138]

That it doesn't fall completely flat on its face must be considered some kind of triumph. [Dec 2006, p.126]

If the original Bat Out Of Hell was Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run as scored by Richard Wagner, this is even more theatrical. [Nov 2006, p.140]

It's a powerful formula, but one the band perfected with their 2002 album Oceanic. [Dec 2006, p.141]

There's still no getting over the patchiness. [Mar 2006, p.106]

It's soulful, not funky, and brims with spiritual joy. [Dec 2006, p.134]

Fans will be baffled, but this is magnificently deranged stuff. [Nov 2006, p.147]

A set of modestly sparkling gems. [Dec 2006, p.147]

On this showing he's bored and directionless. [Nov 2006, p.134]

A hugely moving affirmation of life. [Nov 2006, p.136]

The sheer speed can be exhilarating, but changes of pace... are disappointingly few and far between. [Nov 2006, p.149]

An oddly affecting collage. [Dec 2006, p.132]

The band's punk credentials are immaculate. But that doesn't make them any more fun to listen to. [Feb 2007, p.99]

Makes for exhausting listening. [Sep 2006, p.108]

Between the unfinished and the clumsy, Pollard produces diamonds such as the wracked Give Up The Grape and sweetly breezy Boxing About. [Jan 2007, p.150]

Unbearably stark. [Nov 2006, p.136]

Now they are finally more punchy than punchable. [Nov 2006, p.140]

Display[s] a broad musical taste that brings elements of Jack Johnson-styled folk and XTC jerk-pop to their unbridled, youthful joie de vivre. [Mar 2006, p.107]

The Information... is hamstrung by the sensation that, though Beck likes rapping, he has little to say beyond smart-alec one-liners. [Nov 2006, p.138]

A much better record than its predecessor. [Oct 2006, p.112]

If there's a better little band in America right now, they're keeping very quiet. [Feb 2007, p.104]

Precisely assembled, melodic songs that shiver with emotion. [Sep 2006, p.107]

[It] could easily have been a staggeringly pompous exercise; instead, it's rendered intriguing by a liberated approach. [Feb 2007, p.99]

Brown's pleasant if largely unremarkable voice rid[es] a set of lean and sultry funk grooves. [Nov 2006, p.149]

Shine On is "new old rock" at its finest. [Nov 2006, p.136]

His most conventionally rocking album in aeons. [Nov 2006, p.143]

He's not so much turning into his father... as his wimpy half-brother Julian. [Nov 2006, p.143]

[It] finds her on familiar territory, offering 12 concise yet fully realised vignettes. [Oct 2006, p.124]

Absorbing. [Jan 2007, p.153]

Of the 11 tracks, five are lovely, three are makeweights and an equal number excellent. [Dec 2006, p.133]

The results, while never quite suggesting imminent breakthrough, are sometimes elegiac. [Nov 2006, p.147]

Anything approaching a tune seems to have been muffled under a duvet of drowsiness. [May 2006, p.122]

If the songwriting isn't quite up to the standard of 1992's high-water mark It's A Shame About Ray, The Lemonheads marks a welcome return. [Oct 2006, p.122]

They haven't just picked up where they left off last time; they've recreated the sound of their debut wholesale, then tossed on a couple of extra layers of flamboyance for good measure. [Sep 2006, p.104]

Sparklehorse's resulting leap transports the group away from gloomy country to a modern psychedelia that achieves its creator's ambition of "making Kid A with choruses." [Oct 2006, p.120]

A heroic performance. [Nov 2006, p.147]

[A] heartfelt tribute to country music. [Dec 2006, p.133]

Many of [the debut's] ragged edges have been smoothed out, and in the process some of The Zutons' collective personality has gone. [May 2006, p.122]

As ever, The Outsider's production is immaculate. But by frontloading the album with forbidding hip hop, [Shadow] knows he's driving away the floating voter. [Sep 2006, p.106]

Generally there's a lightness here he'd do well to retain. [Oct 2006, p.118]

Tightly controlled melodic songs reminiscent of R.E.M. or The Velvet Underground. [Oct 2006, p.120]

Naysayers may write this off as a derivative mash up of early-'90s indie moves, but on Empire Kasabian have become bigger than the sum of their record collections. [Oct 2006, p.116]

He finally seems to be getting the hang of things. [Oct 2006, p.122]

For those prepared to dig in, it's another reliably rewarding listen. [Oct 2006, p.125]

Despite Our Differences bustles with invention, righteous anger and the typically sunshine harmonies. [Apr 2007, p.120]

This is Elton's best album since, well, Captain Fantastic. [Oct 2006, p.118]

The majority of tracks scream "poor old bored celeb." [Nov 2006, p.139]

Not quite as beautifully forlorn as 2003's Long Gone Before Daylight. [Nov 2005, p.123]

It's incontestably menopausal, but fairly dapper with it. [Oct 2006, p.122]

An album full of playful daring. [Aug 2006, p.115]

With nary a tune in earshot, it sounds like an explosion in a guitar shop. [Oct 2006, p.124]

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

Here Greenspan takes a more direct approach, showcasing his feel for melody and melancholy to brilliant effect. [Oct 2006, p.125]

Ultimately, this is dour stuff reminiscent of a yogic Sting. [Dec 2006, p.138]

A serious let-down. [Oct 2006, p.119]

A set of forward-thinking pop reminiscent of Sign O' The Times-era Prince. [Oct 2006, p.115]

Their best since '95's Electr-O-Pura. [Oct 2006, p.127]

The Black Keys may have as much in common with the conventional '70s blues-rock of Canned Heat and Free as they do with the more left-field THe White Stripes. [Oct 2006, p.118]

While never quite as fiendish as its title suggests, it's certainly sinister. [Sep 2006, p.112]

Baffling, but exhilarating. [Nov 2006, p.144]

No band can survive on novelty alone, and Electric Six still thrive on parody rather than invention. [Dec 2006, p.134]

Perfect rainy day music. [Nov 2006, p.147]

Bracing stuff. [Oct 2006, p.127]

Harmless fun. [Nov 2006, p.149]

Out of step with the modern world. [Sep 2006, p.108]

While he has never sounded quite so full of empathy, this is a grumpy old record. [Oct 2006, p.114]

Classic Roots. [Oct 2006, p.126]

There's nothing new here. [May 2006, p.131]

In creating a party record that will easily translate to the festival season's main stages they've also reversed out of the narrow tunnel that, for all their adventure, they were being led into by the bombastic Xtrmntr and Evil Heat. [Jul 2006, p.110]

Idlewild is a dazzling album. [Oct 2006, p.124]

In its progress from raw ambition to actual intent, this mirrors U2's great leap forward from Boy and October to War. [Aug 2006, p.108]

This isn't anything like a Best Of, but there remains plenty of enjoyment in these spacey oddities. [Sep 2006, p.118]

The arrangements here are written specifically with a touring quartet in mind, adding ever greater layers of haunting melancholy and soaring grace. [Sep 2006, p.109]

A laid-back affair clouded with melancholy. [Sep 2006, p.109]

A commanding return. [Nov 2005, p.131]

She sings [everything] so prettily that you wonder just how authentic her misery really is. [Aug 2006, p.113]

She's convinced an army of writers and producers... to furnish her with above-average R&B to pant suggestively over. [Sep 2006, p.108]

Kelis is blessed with a unique voice. [Nov 2006, p.143]

Sadly, CD2 is a disastrously misjudged, cartoon homage to juke-joint jazz. It is awful. [Oct 2006, p.122]

A tough, focused, danceable album. [Jun 2006, p.113]

It's fantastic stuff. [Sep 2006, p.107]

It's cute--like a super furry animal, perhaps. [Jan 2006, p.127]

For the most part Christ Illusion is flabby and arthritic. [Oct 2006, p.126]

A return to their roots. [Aug 2006, p.113]

The bulk of the R&B tracks are gloopy. [Mar 2006, p.106]