Spencer's shtick seems slightly threadbare after 11 years and the musical innovation of earlier outings is conspicuous by its absence.

Vigorous and wise, this is dance music for grown-ups, with Cook keenly aware that any number of spritely garage and trance chancers have stepped in while he's been away making babies. Rather than match them in the disco stakes, he's re-grouped and drawn on previously concealed depths instead.

My God Is Blue is sorely lacking in vision. [Jun 2012, p.112]

It's a curious detour rather than a sturdy follow-up to 2012's Animal Joy, but as a distillation of all those scattered flyers and setlists, it's a quietly touching piece of memorabilia. [Jan 2014, p.125]

Expansive opener, 'Crocidile' finds them locked into the pulsing techno groove that made 'Born Slippy' so maddeningly addictive. [Nov 2007, p.148]

The sunny, country-ish melodies of opener 'Beathless' and 'Savorin' Your Smile' aren't quite matched by her limited voice, but when some darkness descends, as on 'Pictures Of You,' her perky nature adds a bittersweet twist to the added emotional weight. [mar 2009, p.104]

Diver's appeal is immediate, its effect short and sharp. [Sep 2012, p.104]

Too much of This River is more The Commitments, less The Bar-Kays. [Aug 2013, p.98]

Here he crafts some intoxicatingly beautiful music all built around the sparkling chime of his 12-string guitar. Inevitably it recalls The Byrds. [Sep 2013, p.99]

Sounds like a natural follow-up to the original Ommadawn. [Mar 2017, p.112]

A sparkling record whose polished exterior barely masks the turmoil at its heart. [Jul 2018, p.116]

One album might have served better than two. [Jun 2006, p.116]

Here Lies Love stacks up as an oddly entertaining, off-beat treat. [May 2010, p.126]

The result is an exciting, albeit one-paced, record, but one that arrives with a significant question mark over its purpose. [Oct 2013, p.98]

Given the strength of their earlier work, Penny Sparkle is a big letdown. [Oct 2010, p.104]

His revisiting of old tapes and melodic ideas from his tenure mean it echoes his former group's discography in rewarding ways. [May 2013, p.95]

They've neglected to write anything catchy enough to score them a hit. [Apr 2006, p.118]

Sensitive souls had best avoid, but fans of John Carpenter's soundtracks, early Aphex twin and the creepier end of Doctor Who will find themselves in familiar, if not entirely welcoming territory. [Sep 2012, p.102]

Condon proves that less can be more. [Oct 2015, p.102]

There are rather too many old-fashioned slow songs here, and as a result, the album is predictable. [Oct 2004, p.114]

This is a better than promising start. [Jul 2009, p.118]

Bracing, cynical, state-of-the-art fun in the spirit of Little Richard, Van Halen and The Damned.

Too many of the album's more poignant moments suffer from a slick but formulaic production. ... Graham is at his best when he delivers it straight. [Mar 2017, p.114]

While sometimes determinedly slight, these cunning community-minded grooves - People Power In The Disco Hour, in particular - do gradually insinuate their way into the affections.

There are few surprises here: white trash raps hollered over a musical backdrop that sounds like an evil pub rock band.

Even the Sharks and the Jets might find ARE Weapons' street hassle a touch quaint. [May 2003, p.98]

The result is almost entirely vaudevillian. [Mar 2002, p.116]

It can meander--Mind To Be Had never quite knows what to do with its initially exciting Neu! vibrations, Defeatist Anthem doesn't shift beyond pretty--but they texture Barragan with a delicacy and precision that makes you want to keep picking away at these songs. [Oct 2014, p.114]

Their debut positions itself somewhere sonically between the avant-gardism of These New Puritans and Siouxsie And The Banshees at their most stridently gothic. [Feb. 2011, p. 114]

It's not quite the classic they desperately want it to be, but Danger In The Club exudes a ragged rock'n'roll spirit which simply can't be manufactured. [Jun 2015, p.109]

Come Around Sundown is the sound of them trying to wrestle its relationship with fame back under control. On a musical level, they've succeeded--they've scaled back the ambition with out throwing the baby out with the bathwater. [Nov 2010, p.102]

MDNA's dirty dozen rank it her best since, in all sincerity, the career high of 1998's Ray Of Light itself. [May 2012, p.88]

Compentent and glossy, Oceans Will Rise sounds like a lot of effort has been expended for a rather meager retuyrn. [Dec 2008, p.135]

While accepting that his odd but beguiling hybrid of rap, country, folk, and Butthole Surfers/Tom Waits-weirdness will never eclipse 1998's platinum "Whitey Ford Sings The Blues" he's injected impetus into what threatened to become a stale formula. [Oct 2008, p.142]

While his fourth album shows he has learnt his way around a reasonable tune - opener Back To The Wild has a distinctive grace - his lyrics can descend into trite cliche or inane observation ("Time it goes on/Life it goes by", "you'd love to pretend you were right/But you're wrong") [Feb 2010, p. 108]

True, he lacks bandmate 50 Cent's raw charisma. But his leisurely delivery carries weight. [Mar 2011, p.101]

The sequel gets off to a spotty start with lightweight songwriting and dated production....The '00 material, however, represents a creative revival. [Mar 2012, p.117]

Derivative/ Certainly. Mesmerising? Definitely. [Jul 2012, p.104]

These new songs sound like they came straight from a traditional songbook. [Jan 2013, p.102]

Their take on the latter's [Rustie's] maximal funk inevitably lacks the shock of the new, a heard-it-all-before feeling which persists through bumping house jams and detours into vintage jazz. [Jun 2013, p.100]

It might lack Ryder-Jones's delicate invention, but it's still a lesson in enjoyable lucid songwriting. [Jul 2013, p.109]

What really fascinates is the way Davidge pulls the musical strings throughout. [Mar 2014, p.111]

At 15 tracks long there's occasionally some saggy moments, but with plenty of verve and sparkle in the main, The Melodic's debut proves unexpectedly life-affirming. [Apr 2014, p.115]

Idol's magnetism is simply colossal--an invaluable commodity in these times. [Dec 2014, p.110]

It's a step in the right direction. [Oct 2015, p.113]

Stein sounds like she's coming of age on this album, addressing both her past and future, and mostly liking what she sees. [Aug 2017, p.112]

The album's title is a nod to America's addiction to prescription drugs, while the 21st-century pop production gloss of Actual Pain, for example, hides an inner turmoil. [Oct 2018, p.111]

It's claustrophobic at best, and, after a while, a little tiring. [Feb 2019, p.108]

It's good to have them back. [Apr 2008, p.102]

Fusing strange, arresting rhythms with gothic atmospheres, these surprisingly modern-sounding soundscapes should earn Korn a deserved second wind. [Jan 2006, p.127]

It's a qualified success, he rocks harder here than he has done for years, but there's still plenty of fat left to trim from the bloated ballads. [May 2010, p.121]

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

An album that feels necessarily smaller than its predecessor. [Aug 2014, p.105]

They have toughened up. [Jun 2005, p.113]

System is a one-paced, staid affair, where almost everything suggests a tired version of Seal's first hit, 'Killer.'

It delivers patches of sheer brilliance, but the overwhelming urge is to ask them to cut to the chase. [Dec 2012, p.109]

The majority of Reality Killed the Video Star - a reliably punning title, and this one almost works - seems to have taken its glum atmospheric cue from Morrissey's Vauxhall And I or Rufus Wainwright's less fruity concoctions - without necessarily taking on board any of their melodic or lyrical gifts. [Dec 2009, p. 108]

As ever, the drawback is a surfeit of earnestness; some of the irreverent humour of their live shows qouln't go amiss. [Aug 2010, p.127]

It builds upn the spirit that made his debut, "Yours To Keep," so warm. [Aug 2008, p.136]

Despite a few missteps her and there, it's good to have them back. [Oct 2015, p.109]

A short and sharp, but ultimately shockless, album that would have benefited from changing its tune once in a while. [Feb 2009, p.112]

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

Black Rainbows is the right album at the right moment. With its rich, layered sound and its hugely enjoyable preening, it is unashamedly Suede-esque. [Nov. 2011, p. 127]

Their second album...doesn't quite venture out into shark-infested experimental waters but it does prove that there's more to The Drums than fishy pastiche. [Oct 2011, p.113]

There's something ageless about these songs that make them art-school tasteful rather than genuinely unsettling. [Oct 2011, p.112]

Epton On Broadway Part 1, delivers elastic electro-funk with a knowing Italo-inspired wink. It's a winning formula they never stray far from. [Aug 2019, p.112]

Too often the reworkings of the songs are either not different enough, or ... just plain boring. [May 2012, p.91]

The sound of an artistic slump coming to an end. [Dec 2017, p.107]

By definition, it's a water treader and there's nothing surprising. [May 2011, p.124]

Raposa's songs are often just a little too aimless. [Dec 2008, p.126]

The two 40-minute "acts" open with cinematic flair, building from atmospheric, Mark Lanegan-assisted opener Requiem (When You Talk Of love) to the Massive Attack-like turbulence of Nothing To Give. The second act proves less assured. [May 2019, p.116]

This 11th album refines their sound and gives it a modern productive tweak. [Oct 2010, p.112]

Godrich's production gives the album exquisite depth but also smothers its soul. [Dec 2012, p.114]

It is both slick and accomplished. [Oct 2011, p.120]

The Amazons are much better when they add a little intricacy to their snarling rock. [Jul 2017, p.110]

Amazingly Brain Thrust Mastery manages to be both calculating and emotional in the same breath. [Apr 2008, p.117]

A follow-up that's both more consistent and more predictable. [Sep 2013, p.104]

With his piano-playing accompanied by Daniel Joseph Dorff's drumming, the arrangements are minimal affairs, placing Moore's voice centre stage and allowing the songs to breathe. [Mar 2011, p.112]

Graffiti On The Train is a powerful attempt to drop their meat-and-potatoes image. It doesn't always work, but it's to be applauded. [Apr 2013, p.110]

This compilation of remixes doesn't find too many revelatory portals in St. Vincent's fifth album Masseducation, but there are moments that know just how to push open the wormholes in Annie Clark's flexible, fluid music. [Feb 2020, p.116]

Beautiful Future isn't quite as onsistent as it could be. [Aug 2008, p.138]

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

Yucca is pure pop primitivism that's all distorted vocals and fuzzy guitar swirls, just like The Jesus And Mary Chain never happened. [Aug 2011, p.126]

There is a whiff of leftovers to You Don't know Anything's six songs. [Feb 2014, p.120]

The lack of an absolutely killer song and an aversion to hooks may yet derail them, but there's hope to spare. [Jun 2014, p.122]

There's a compelling quality to mainman's Dave Simmonett's lonesome laments that ensures the attention rarely wavers. [Sep 2014, p.115]

It often feels a little formulaic, but, boy do they have that formula down to a fine art. [Nov 2016, p.107]

Their sky-scraping melodies may not enjoy the same reverence and ubiquity as, say, The Smiths' catalogue but these rearrangements are magical. [Nov 2018, p.105]

The perfect soundtrack to a hazy autumn evening. [Nov 2002, p.96]

For the most part, it's standard shouty punk designed to appeal to white male American virgins... Yet, they surprise. [Dec 2004, p.147]

Spikily brilliant. [Apr 2003, p.111]

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

Most of the 10 songs here are still well-crafted exercises in ceaseless forwards momentum. [Dec 2014, p.106]

Like other scary experiences, it's also frequently exhilarating. [Mar 2004, p.107]

The Gallaghers sound more comfortable than ever in their skins. [Jun 2005, p.102]

What makes Head Carrier work is that the Pixies see, to have rediscovered what they're great at. [Nov 2016, p.109]

The smart-arse-ometer goes off the scale from time to time and a thin production hardly helps matters, but when Deez gets snappy on Kill Your Attitude and Melange Mining Co, he's far from a lost cause. [Oct 2015, p.104]

Whatever she's doing, it's working. [Aug 2015, p.109]