When they're not trying to be someone else, these lavishly layered, exquisitely crafted songs add to the mystery of why The Veils keep missing out. [Jul 2013, p.112]

It's as complex and funky as the city that inspired it. [Dec 2008, p.133]

A more coherent album [than Play], it enchances rather than advances his previous approach, proving superior to its predecessor because its music is more sensitive, its emotions more personal, and what's on offer is a closer, more inviting experience. [May 2002, p.105]

A confident return. [Jul 2006, p.115]

Musically and lyrically, this has the same hazy, starry-eyed feel [as Music Of The Spheres]. [Oct 2004, p.121]

Despite spicy production it's really all squeaky-clean. [May 2007, p.124]

'Piece of Me' is a blast at the paparazzi, but her principle target is, inevitably, ex-hubby Kevin Federline. Not all pop stars give up their secrets so readily. [Jan 2008, p.112]

This is serious fun. [Mar 2007, p.106]

What she lacks in lyrical maturity, she makes up for in heartful conviction, channelled through a voice that's by turns sweet, savage and gut-wrenchingly vulnerable. [Apr 2009, p.110]

A muffled production makes it difficult to glean exactly what he's so cross about, but for all its catharsis, the furious intensity and bangarang clutter mask the absence of real tunes. [Dec 2016, p.110]

An impressive album with lovely songs, but greater originality is needed. [Apr 2010, p.112]

While his lyrics are lascivious to a point, songs such as "Love," "The Hardest Way" and "Heartkiller" are strictly soft-focus, with any semblance of attitude--or actual sex--air-brushed into radio-friendly oblivion. [Mar 2010, p.102]

Patchy sixth efforts from hip hop innovators. [Sept. 2011, p. 111]

No Doubt have always been a platinum-haired party band, but, over 20 years into the game, such platinum pop perfection feels far less forced. [Nov 2012, p.108]

This album should seduce fans of Red House Painters or American Music Club. [Oct/Nov 2001, p.130]

All a bit silly, but actually quite good. [Apr 2003, p.104]

Once over the shock of Mould's familiar tones being vocodered beyond recognition, Modulate offers some of his most effective pop songs. [June 2002, p.120]

[Morcheeba] return to what they do best. [July 2002, p.117]

Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand's label is an unlikely home for these militant lesbian rappers who screech sex-filled rhymes over tough, minimal beats, although thheir punky energy should appeal to Messrs Turner and Kapranos. [Oct 2008, p.152]

It remains to be seen, though, whether the record-buying public are prepared to give Glasvegas another go, but on this evidence they should. [Oct 2013, p.102]

His latest spin-off project sees Steele's musical wanderlust pay dividends. [Mar 2009, p.98]

As albums by models go, it's a blinder. [April 2012, p106]

While the icy Joy Division guitar chords and singer Davide Jones's faux-cockney delivery never sound entirely natural, their energy is compulsive. [Jul 2005, p.113]

Less impressive are the band's own art-rock statements. [Dec 2007, p.116]

Song quality is key: at home writing cheery or wistful postcards rather than deep and meaningful navel-gazing, Ringo had yarns to spin, vibes to spread and lucky stars to thank. [May 2015, p.112]

If there's a weakness it's Hutchcraft's florid vocal style. [Nov 2015, p.111]

Waiting for the Sunrise is a blissful alt-country album where the Hammond organ swells and pulses like it's being tickled by Al Kooper. [Oct 2008, p.152]

Having cornered the market in MOR pop, he brings these well-honed chops to bear on OneRepublic's second album, throwing up an immaculately mixed cocktail of soft-focused rock, white-bread R&B and heartstrung balladry. [Mar 210, p.107]

A missed opportunity. [Oct 2012, p.107]

It's exhilarating in short snatches but too samey over the long haul. [Apr 2014, p.110]

The first few tracks are like The Black Crowes without the cosmic sophistication. [Apr 2015, p.104]

There's still a feeling that the two albums might have worked better as one. [Nov 2010, p.114]

This follow-up to 2006's clubland sleeper Disco Romance revealing a polished synthesis of Balearic beats and featherly harmonies. [Oct 2009, p.116]

Birthmarks is far from being a poor record, but it's limited in ambition and reach. [May 2013, p.97]

Taut, and wired with determination. [Jul 2005, p.119]

The woozy G-funk of 2 Minute Warning and 1800's crunk rat-a-tat show his trademark drawl has lost none of its subtle menace, though too often it's left to guest cameos to supply the spark - rising R&B star Jazmine Sullivan brushing her host aside on soul-powered highlight Different Languages. [Jan 2010, p. 118]

He is undoubtedly a star, but Sisqo will have to work harder than this if he wants his audience to continue loving him as much as he so clearly loves himself. [Sep 2001, p.117]

Continues to adhere firmly to the rootsy rock of fellow travellers Matchbox Twenty and Counting Crows, while their earnest musicianship and hard work will delight fans of that sort of thing. [Aug 2003, p.115]

So Damn Lucky and Trouble are lyrical ballads that succeed through understatement, but elsewhere Gravedigger is an awful, hectoring anti-war lament. [Jan 2004, p.117]

Petty sounds like a bitter old man howling at the moon. [Dec 2002, p.110]

The likes of 'Win Park Slope' are pleasant, but also disappontingly unremarkable. [May 2009, p.112]

Yet for all the nostalgia, the lurching strut of tracks such as Boom Ditty and Breaktime remains undeniably potent and contemporary. [Dec 2005, p.156]

The melodies here are fine, they do a job, but nothing backs up Gag's Warholian rhetoric or scales the barmy heights of Bad Romance. [Jan 2014, p.116]

This crosses the border from homage to mimicry. [Dec 2013, p.108]

Benga is still adept at lacing abrasive beats with airplay-ready soul, but the songwriting doesn't always measure up. [Jul 2013, p.99]

A promising start, but there's room for improvement. [Oct 2018, p.108]

Rap rarely comes more unedited and spontaneous. [Oct 2006, p.125]

In spite of some good songs... the band's urge to be monumental at the expense of their vulnerability is ill-advised. [Oct 2004, p.122]

[They] continue precisely where they left off on 2002's Static Delusions..., bashing their way through 11 indistinguishable songs without recourse to wit, style or tune. [Jul 2004, p.112]

11 new songs of singularly cloying contentment; no soaring highs, no debilitating lows, just minor pop platitudes with hollow, echoing centres.

Unfortunately, too many of their other choruses aim high yet fall flat. [May 2011, p.109]

Fans will crave more drones and dreaminess (Deep War and Lioness (Requium) are half-hearted attempts) and newcomers less stoner arrogance. [May 2012, p.106]

Only really worth investigating if you already own everything by the constituents' day-job acts. [Aug 2009, p.109]

Worthy, but hard work. [Aug 2015, p.115]

Filth's fondness for combining high-minded conceptualism with base British humour is actually their strong point. [Dec 2008, p.123]

Their eighth record underlies their enduring problem: the songs are adequate but anaemic; the playing is slick, seamless and the wrong side of polite. [Jun 2013, p.94]

The charitable thing would be to blame record label micromanaging because surely nobody would choose to be this unoriginal. [Jun 2014, p.111]

Fasciination is supposed to sum up their entire ethos, then it is as a quasi-futuristic act wrapped in BacoFoil. [Nov 2008, p.114]

Prism feels transitional, the work of an artist clever enough to be restless, yet unable to split from a winning formula. [Dec 2013, p.110]

Bounce is the sound of a group who know what they're good at and why. [Nov 2002, p.97]

Sadly, not all the guitar-led tracks work, but for every failure there's a soaring, slo-mo anthem or a downbeat campfire singalong.

It's originality that's lacking. [Jun 2004, p.105]

Yet despite the quality of Can't Get Back To The Baseline and the Kinks-like Give Me A Letter, several semi-acoustic fillers -- of which the dreary, You Are Amazing is the worst offender -- water down the album as a whole.

As a collection of songs, this is hugely impressive. As a debut album, its confidence is right up there with Definitely Maybe. [May 2004, p.96]

When It Was Now comes across like French soft-rockers Phoenix without the arty twists. [Jul 2013, p.99]

It can feel on occasion like being rhythmically walloped round the head with a history book, but when Hamilton properly locks into the immediacy of his and Kim Moyes's immense electronic grooves, its undeniably powerful. [Nov 2013, p.114]

When she does go heavier, the results are tepid. Happily, it doesn't happen very often. [Aug 2011, p.119]

Melodic, expertly crafted and laced with wistful emotion, the only thing missing is the element of surprise. [Apr 2013, p.113]

Even the rhythmic energy can't disguise a shortage of quality songs. [Mar 2014, p.114]

Not for the first time, you find yourself wondering whether Squarepusher is taking the piss. [Dec 2010, p.113]

This is a very good album. The Kooks sound like a band rejuvenated. [Oct 2014, p.105]

Having already been feted by everyone from Thom Yorke to Mark Ronson, this second album arrives with an infectious gait that's nigh-impossible to resist. [Nov. 2011, p. 140]

The year-round sunshine [of new home L.A.] seems to have induced creative lethargy, sapping the adventure that elevated his last album. [Jun 2003, p.106]

Singer Jay Gordon spends much of the record predictably preening his way through third-hand Bowie and third-rate Simon LeBon impressions while the band labour on a set of half-baked electro-metal...

An album full of freshness and fun that's less sketchy than its predecessors. [Jul 2004, p.110]

The Offspring are nothing if not reliable. If you're after jangly guitars riffs, chart-thumping production values and shouty choruses, then the Orange County punk outfit are still very much your guys.

Her music is much the same as on her 1999 debut "Black Diamond," dulled by a surplus of smooth, bass-heavy slow jams. [Dec 2007, p.124]

Heavy, but not in a good way. [Jun 2012, p.96]

It's pretty--but also pretty pointless. [Oct 2013, p.113]

Hers is a mode that doesn't stray far from the pop status quo, but Glynne should still be applauded for mastering such a feelgood formula. [Nov 2018, p.106]

Bold stuff and proof Shinoda remains a richly talented creative force. [Aug 2012, p.103]

Things tail off towards the end--'Infidels Of The World Unite' is a clumsy stab at politics, but is so vague it might be about anything-but overall this is impressive enough. [Jun 2009, p.122]

The dense guitars and plaid shirts scream "grunge redux," but the attitude is pure hair metal circa 1987. [Aug 2010, p.116]

Hardly reinventing the wheel, but still a triumph of resilience. [May 2018, p.112]

There's a seductive, deliberately synthesized feel that's part Scissor Sisters, part Hall & Oates. [Feb 2006, p.103]

It's always catchy, but all 20 tracks are so short everything feels throwaway, and the free-association lyrics go from amusing to aggravating in an instant. [Apr 2008, p.107]

It's brimming with what he does well: competent, poppy-yet-street mixtures of rap, reggae, R&B and brazen cover versions. [July 2002, p.110]

The good news is that Grotesque rocks like a bastard.... Not so good news is that Manson's shock shtick still lacks real substance. [Jun 2003, p.103]

At times [Folklore] is too self-satisfied, throwing everything available into the mix in what seems like a desperate bid to grab some cred. [Jan 2004, p.114]

Like those '70s Teutonic adventurers tracks such as Treten, with its aerated harmonics and oddly motorik beat, aim for mind-expanding mantric intensity. [Jul 2012, p.112]

Eagles may be victims of a world in which their signature sound has been distilled into oblivion. [Dec 2007, p.110]

Most of the musical elements remain over-familiar-swelling strings, understated beats, the odd crackly blues sample. [Nov 2013, p.111]

Amusing on first listen but--as with so many records sold on amusing wordplay alone--it doesn't stand up to repeated exposure. [Feb 2010, p.105]

Sees Milo Cordell and Robbie Furze being drawn further into the stadium-electro wind tunnel. [Feb. 2012 p. 101]

Although reaching a touching peak on melancholic closer City By The Sea, two albums in Good Shoes still lack a defining personality of their own. [Feb 2010, p. 107]

It's difficult to imagine Carraba's earnest tenor appealing to anyone over the age of 20. [Sep 2006, p.107]

Though Gang Of Four are the same bracing proposition as they ever were, 2015's literary imagery and less blokey vibe mark a successful leap sideways. [Apr 2015, p.100]

There are strong cameos from assorted MCs, particularly Juicy J and Schoolboy Q, but his attempt to talk a girlfriend into a threesome on Story Time is proof there are even worse things in life than dabbling in Eurodance. [Apr 2015, p.108]