Orb nostalgists will find much to savour. [Mar 2008, p.108]

Wild Things is as likeable as it is cutting edge. [Aug 2016, p.113]

Cod-reggae and sunny R&B are the order of the day here, which as beach bar background music would no doubt suffice. But unless Stone is content with coasting she needs a serious rethink. [Aug 2015, p.112]

The idea of crossing over is approached like somebody running onto a motorway wearing a blindfold. [Mar 2012, p.111]

She sounds more engaged than she has in years. Not the disgrace it could have been. [July 2011, p. 117]

Pleasant, but it's never particularly special. [Jul 2005, p.120]

Free Somehow has its moments, but as ever, there's something missing. [May 2008, p.141]

12 songs of charming inconsequence that briefly make the world a slightly better place. [Mar 2009, p.105]

A limited vocalist,... he's a far better pianist and arranger. [May 2003, p.104]

It's not all bad, though, as the album possesses a killer repertoire of filthy bass lines and an undeniable pedal-to-the-metal verve. [Aug 2003, p.116]

When songs hit their mark, his latest incarnation squares up impressively to his Stateside heroes. [Dec 2002, p.97]

Barrera's vocals lack the sneer to carry the heavier moments, and a couple of songs are little more than lame US rock-lite. [Oct 2003, p.106]

None of their new album will be remembered in a few years' time. Yet, like most fast food, there's very little wrong with it right now. [Dec 2003, p.130]

Mostly, it's tight but standard. [Jan 2004, p.114]

Up front, Island is punk-pop par excellence, while, toward the end, Dorian's a blissful medium pacer about carefree journey home. [Jul 2015, p.114]

Entertaining in the same way as an episode of Joey: pretty dumb, fairly funny, and you're glad it's over in under half an hour. [Feb 2006, p.100]

Exuding vague disquiet rather than outright despair, the self-produced DRaw The Line freshens up the formula just enough to keep things interesting. [Oct 2009, p.108]

It's heroically earnest and not a little preposterous, but the singer's charisma carries it over the line. [Oct 2018, p.112]

It finds Morrissey wandering down some interesting musical avenues. [May 2020, p.109]

There are suggestions of better directions not taken. [Jul 2019, p.113]

Rather good fun. [Nov 2002, p.116]

With regular producer Swizz Beatz virtually absent here, this fourth album is definitely mixed. [Dec 2001, p.121]

Charming, if slight.

This debut has her trilling like Mariah Carey on fluffy R&B tunes. [Oct 2003, p.103]

Someday World is a joyous blend of busy rhythms and bright, surging melodies with fleeting hints of Hot Chip and Talking Heads. [Jun 2014, p.108]

Even Faith's super-powerful voice never elevates the material above the decidedly everyday. [Jul 2012, p.100]

Certainly the reverb/echo-drenched deconstructions of 'No You Girls' and 'Ulysses' pack a punch, but elsewhere it feels merely like an exercise in bolstering beats, amping basslines, then adding some beeps and FX. Pointless, really. [Jul 2009, p.122]

There are some fine moments, chief among them the searing Ordinary World and the delicate ballad Lost, but there's a feeling The Temper Trap will never again match the bombastic euphoria of their breakthrough track. [Aug 2016, p.117]

Largely they hit the sweet spot by turning these songs into tunes that could be straight off their own LPs. [Sep 2015, p.110]

Ultimately, A New Testament is for converts only. [Nov 2014, p.115]

The model can work successfully--There IS Nothing Left recalls a sunnier, more sugary take on '80s Cure, for example--but elsewhere songs would benefit from editing. [Nov 2014, p.111]

Thier latest mixes elements of ambient, post-punk and psychedelia. Often a recipe for a mess, there are moments of coherence. [Mar 2010, p.97]

New Found Glory's newfound maturity makes for a surprisingly palatable record that will soothe both lovelorn teenagers and their long-suffering parents alike. [Apr 2009, p.108]

Neil Young sounds like he's up on bricks with his exhaust pipe hanging off. [May 2009, p.106]

Some arena-pleasing riffs, a couple of polished acoustic numers and everyone goes home happy. [Apr 2002, p.114]

Over three albums Echobelly seemed confused as to whether to flog the pixie-esque appeal of singer Sonya Aurora Madan and seek the big money, go for the political jugular or just to pretend to be daft old hippies. Judging by People Are Expensive, the trio still haven't wholly resolved the dilemma...

The sound has changed little, and the level of emoting none. Still, thunderous grooves such as Everyone and Shining Star continue to be virtually irresistible, while the quieter moments, including the hit single Shape Of My Heart will wow the ladies and the more sensitive gents for a while yet

His fourth album sees credible Jean making a timely return. [Dec 2003, p.129]

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

His first album in five years is a very musicianly affair, stronger on feel than memorable songs but still a fitting vehicle for one who turns 60 later this month and has nothing left to prove. [June 2008, p.148]

Their sound has broadened, too, moving from callow mod-punk towards the big choruses of Kaiser Chiefs. [Nov 2008, p.120]

Not as instant as the old stuff, but there's more substance here. [Apr 2010, p.116]

The admirable rhetoric might mean something were it not backed by such a generic pastiche of Editors/White Lies/Interpol, all cavernous bass and drums and two-note guitar solos. [Apr 2011, p.98]

The Sisters' eponymous first release throws up the unlikely comparison of John Lennon fronting The Flaming Lips, only to result in something that's too unfocused and self-indulgent to be more than a passing curiosity. [Mar 2011, p.116]

At 21 minutes at least it doesn't outstay its welcome. [Apr 2011, p.102]

Idlewild's Roddy Woomble has made a surprisingly decent stab of his concurrent career as a born-again folkie. [May 2011, p.126]

Unsurprisingly, this posthumous album doesn't reach such heights [as a973's Solid Air], and comes with a little too much overlong, incoherent blues whimsy. [Jul 2011, p.114]

It's a mixed listen. [Oct 2011, p.128]

Well-intentioned, no doubt, but it's a clunky, unconvincing listen where even the few musical highlights are far between. [Oct 2011, p.130]

Their sound is instantly familiar - equal parts Fleet Foxes, Mumford & Sons and Coldplay - but executed with sufficient exuberance to avoid any staleness. [Feb. 2012, p.101]

The musical equivalent of a new model car: predictable, solid, well crafted but a lot like the one before it. [Nov 2012, p.99]

Guitars jangle and fuzz to no clear purpose, the rest of the instrumentation plods behind, and singer Wayne Petti fails to convince. [Dec 2012, p.103]. [Dec 2012, p.103]

[Co-producer Richard Hawley] takes Texas deep into their rock-soul roots without sacrificing their strengths or wearily re-treading past glories. [Jul 2013, p.110]

Deep is the word here. [Jul 2013, p.109]

These songs won't set the charts alight, but they're no insult to Adamson's memory and will fill the gaps between the fan favorites well at the band's shows. [May 2013, p.96]

Hardly groundbreaking, but there's heft, heart and humour here in spades. [Oct 2014, p.107]

The record suffers from a surplus of hired guns. [Nov 2014, p.112]

Aside from 1%'s hushed moments, they're stuck in a rut. [Feb 2015, p.109]

It's their broadening of the musical palette which is more impressive. [Aug 2015, p.112]

With hints of Maurice Jarre on the title song and Love Reign O'er Me achieving full-chest-beating catharsis, it suits its new symphonic frame. [Aug 2015, p.114]

It's not always a comfortable union. [Jul 2015, p.102]

Not the place to start an exploration of his musical output--that's the superb Witchazel LP--but it's impossible to dislike an album containing The Innkeeper's Song Couplet. [Jan 2016, p.106]

His once winning formula now sounds wanly formulaic. [Feb 2016, p.112]

None of it should work, but it does. [Sep 2016, p.105]

It sometimes sounds like it was prodded out on a tablet. At other times, the production and the plus-sized pop tunes are perfectly matched. It's an ongoing struggle between DIY and deluxe, with the latter just about winning. [Aug 2017, p.109]

The neverending quest for bangers leads Hurts to lean heavily on foot-stomping choruses to carry songs, but it's to their credit that Desire has a lighter touch than previous albums. [Nov 2017, p.108]

If there's a weakness it's the lack of an obvious pop banger. [Dec 2017, p.113]

Deacon's score is all subtle mood shifts and intriguing instrumentation. [Nov 2017, p.108]

This isn't an album that's really imbued with the sound of his own travels. that said, it's a warm, optimistic pop'n'roll record that is hard not to like. [May 2018, p.108]

It feels like a middling album that would've made an incredible EP, but when Wiley thrills, he really thrills. [Jul 2018, p.116]

Sun-kissed first single Love Lasts Forever aside, the songs are often suffocated by vaguely outre production flourishes. [Sep 2018, p.110]

A confident step on from 2015's Contradictions. [Jan 2019, p.113]

It's when they go to the dark side that things pick up. [Mar 2019, p.118]

It all ads up to an unlikely, if not unlovable nostalgia trip to a less fraught time. [Sep 2019, p.112]

A highly polished R&B-pop collection about every millennial issue from empowerment and self-love to mental health. [Sep 2019, p.112]

On Power they fully engage their inner Depeche Mode and LCD Soundsystem. ... Ordinarily this could point to an identity crisis, but it works. [Mar 2020, p.122]

Essentially, the Hollywood sunshine hasn't changed them. This is probably best, as Smith's eccentricities still elevate Maximo Park above the guitar-pop herd. [Jun 2009, p.128]

This follow-up to their debut shows more polish and a firmer grasp on rhythm. [Apr 2011, p.106]

On this first album in 16 years, return unspoilt, showcasing Gano's helter-skelter take on familiarly rootsy targets such as Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, country and rockabilly. [Apr 2016, p.116]

Jack Steadman's shaky voice does scant justice to a dozen songs that, in more adept hands, might have not been squashed at birth. [Aug 2009, p.103]

The whole never manages to lift off. [Oct 2005, p.120]

The sound of him working with a lean combo is so refreshing, and a welcome first in his mammoth catalogue. [Nov 2014, p.107]

The title track and Just Me stand out for their bubbly rhythms, but otherwise this feels grey an mopey. [Mar 2017, p.108]

Slightly wan and wispy. [Feb 2016, p.119]

There's no shortage of character. [Mar 2015, p.119]

Two years pm, this follow-up wavers between bouts of overblown, Arcade Fire-aping drama and Pavement slacker rock. [May 2008, p.139]

Creatively there are signs he's struggling to keep it up. [Feb 2014, p.114]

With its uncomfortable candour, Under Rug Swept is a serious business.

Human Conditions is not a musical disaster on the scale of Heathen Chemistry. It's just that, from Richard Ashcroft, more is expected. [Nov 2002, p.98]

Practically drips with misery. [June 2002, p.112]

While at times this debut with The Best-Ofs still portrays him as apotty-mouthed cynic who regards romance as black farce, it seems that a light of commitment and imminent parenthood has been turned on. [Mar 2009, p.102]

It's a loose affair, typical of Chilton's slapdash attitude towards heritage curation. [Oct 2005, p.114]

This won't alienate any fans--his voice is as soothing as ever--but it's pleasing to see him stimulating more than just a goofy grin. [Mar 2008, p.102]

Nominally folk gospel, they embrace an array of styles from rock to dance, via unashamedly esoteric. [Oct 2013, p.100]

In the end, it's all a bit too sensible. [Nov 2012, p.95]

Rather than sounding like musical magpies, The Fratellis are always their own men. [July 2008, p.100]

Mostly, he has little to say. [Mar 2011, p.109]

As so often happens, this is Neil Young doing what the hell he likes.