Get Hurt is neither weird, nor, unfortunately, all that wonderful. [Sep 2014, p.116]

An experiment in performance art that'll put you in touch with your inner Brian Sewell. [Jul 2012, p.105]

Cells remains more a collection o would-be club anthems than an album. [Dec 2012, p.104]

What works onstage doesn't necessarily translate to disc, and that'sthe case here. [Oct 2007, p.108]

Once again it's a showcase for some dextrous prog-jazz metal guitar work that on occasion veers dangerously close to tuneless skronking. [Mar 2009, p.104]

They can still write a tune but they've done away with much of what made them unique. [Jul 2013, p.101]

Taking into account the great things expected of those once promising likely lads, Romance At Short Notice offers only more disappointment. [Aug 2008, p.144]

Disappointing return from orchestral indie types. [July 2011, p. 117]

Sadly though, the pairing of this reflective Rod with 2018's ultra-slick production and some route-one songs often disappoints. [Nov 2018, p.112]

Passable psych-rock that rarely disappoints, but equally never really soars. [Sep 2014, p.117]

A disappointment.... While the voice still burns, the lacklustre songs cannot bear his weight. [Apr 2006, p.113]

The beats simply aren't up to snuff. [Feb 2013, p.103]

Most of these versions bear only the scantest similarity to the originals. [Jun 2016, p.116]

He's never that far from plunging towards obviousness. [Jun 2004, p.108]

It feels awkward. [Oct 2006, p.119]

Lacking the chutzpah of Beyonce or a signature voice to rival Mary J Blige, it's another curiously polite mix of soul and pop hip hop. [Dec 2007, p.118]

Whether that relatively small selection of highlights justifies buying this package is a moot point. It may depend on whether there is something of interest in the sound of great talent stuck in a deep rut. [Nov 2016, p.116]

There's is much self-dramatising talk of "crazy dreamers," but no magical thinking in the music. [Mar 2013, p.102]

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]

The wait for the first great Frank Black solo album continues. [Sep 2002, p.100]

You're left with a decent retro rocker who's treading water when he should be kicking up dust. [Dec 2012, p.110]

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

It all feels empty, like they're striking a pose without knowing why. [Jul 2013, p.104]

Sadly, bra-burning rhetoric and gospel warbling make poor substitutes for addictive songs, and nothing here rivals her previous best, Genie In A Bottle. [Jan 2003, p.112]

Gibb's style is frustratingly monotonic. [Sep 2004, p.119]

It's all resolutely urbane and largely unmemorable. [Dec 2013, p.110]

It's audacious, sure, but it neither makes sense nor sounds good. [#180, p.102]

Enclosure, his 11th solo record, is uncomfortably disjointed. [Jul 2014, p.107]

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

A feeling of "not a lot happening" pervades. [Apr 2006, p.118]

Beneath the distractingly high-pitched, multi-tracked vocals and tastefully tribal drama, there's nothing more threatening than a synthesized Florence + The Machine. [Jul 2012, p.107]

Now remastered from the UK tapes, these albums are utterly pointless. [Mar 2014, p.123]

A Fool For Everyone is serviceble moan-rock that only splutters to life when he slips into angular, Tom Verlaine guitar-playing mode. [May 2009, p.119]

They've unfortunately discovered dance music several years too late. [Dec 2002, p.112]

A less spirited affair, with little spark or enthusiasm. [Mar 2003, p.102]

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 relentlessly summery mega anthems sound identical. And exhausting. [Sep 2013, p.109]

Clapton sounds exactly like what it is: the work of a musically satisfied 65-year-old. [Nov. 2010, p. 106]

Although things quieten down on the pseudo-R Kelly front as the record progresses, the squirm factor never totally vanishes. [Apr 2014, p.106]

While Nightfreak... is not spattered with great songs, it does have its moments. [Feb 2004, p.101]

The uninitiated may find the unrelenting nerve-soothing a little too much like anaesthesia. [May 2012, p.100]

There's nothing unlistenable... but nothing hugely inspiring, either. [Dec 2003, p.120]

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

Feels oddly half-baked. [Apr 2003, p.100]

They spend half their time griping that they haven't got girlfriends and the other half whining that they've just been dumped. [Apr 2006, p.114]

Talk Normal have made an album that's by turns thrilling, frustrating and annoying, often within the same song. [Feb 2013, p.111]

The problem is that when they do attempt something different [as on some parts of this album] things go horribly wrong. [May 2012, p.100]

Their combination of surreal lyrics and Krautrock now sounds pedestrian. [Oct 2008, p.142]

Sees him progressing further towards becoming a punked-up Bruce Springsteen. Trouble is, someone's got there already--his best mate, Ryan Adams. [Jul 2004, p.118]

Beautysleep veers from the exquisite (Keeping You) to the frustratingly bland (Moonbeam Monkey), with single The Storm the main highlight.

Disappointingly unremarkable. [Apr 2015, p.97]

Gossamer's a pleasant listen, but since when has that been enough? [Aug 2012, p.108]

The Meadowlands represents an impressive triumph of persistence over talent. [Oct 2005, p.121]

[It] is a lusher and less challenging listen than recent efforts, but it's also curiously featureless, the sound of a group drained of passion and fresh ideas. [Jun 2006, p.118]

Alas, the only memorable moment is a cover of Fang's Money Will Roll Right In. [May 2007, p.129]

It's all very valve, very analogue, and Kongos' morality feel equally antiquated. [Oct 2014, p.113]

59:59 wanders prettily yet aimlessly through the atmospheric post-rock undergrowth. [June 2008, p.149]

Devoid of the chest-thumping drama of the real thing, this sprinkling of tracks, largely taken from Second Toughest In The Infants and its follow-up Beaucoup Fish sound curiously neutered.... Hugely disappointing.

Impenetrable in the extreme. [Apr 2005, p.118]

While his big, piano-led MOR tunes are launched from a good place, they land in a fairly awful one. [Apr 2009, p.105]

William's slick pop-R&B effectively smothers Snoop's signature drawl. [Jul 2015, p.113]

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

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 an oppressive brew of heavy rock with pounding Kasabian beats, but Harvey, sounding agitated throughout, makes heavy weather out of it. [July 2008, p.108]

It may not be an unpleasant listen, but it's a strangely soulless one. [Aug 2009, p.101]

It's hard to listen to this deeply disappointing record for long without wanting to revisit Vertigo instead.

Fine for the dancefloor, less so the sofa. [Dec 2002, p.112]

The album's not without its moments--most notably the sense of urgency propelling recent single Have Faith. But too much sounds bloodless. [Jan 2017, p.111]

Now reunited--minus Ibold--they are unlikely to win over many fans with this. [Aug 2008, p.135]

Giant "woooaaahhs" abound but as with anything frantically chasing arena singalongs, Love Lust Faith + Dreams feels empty in the extreme. [Jul 2013, p.111]

It's disappointing to find a glut of songs seemingly calibrated to appease the demographics. [Jan 2005, p.126]

This is a patterned Wellington boot of a record, more suited to looking boho at a festival then actually having a splash around in the swamp of the human soul. [Aug 2013, p.104]

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

The thing that's missing from Detour, though, is emotion. [Jul 2016, p.110]

It almost inevitably fails to live up to those lofty aspirations. [Nov 2009, p.114]

Speed Of Darkness dishes up more of the same. [July 2011, p. 120]

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

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

Sadly this spirit of renewal doesn't translate to the music. [Sep 2010, p.114]

The highlights are outweighed by tracks such as Glitter Gold Year, a half-formed sketch of jabbing bass and meandering riffs. [Jan. 2012 p. 120]

As super cutesy as a Hello Kitty hair-grip. Best avoided, in other words. [Mar 2011, p.101]

What comes across is a band still in love with music, not necessarily their own. [Jun 2012, p.99]

The elusive magic of their initial work seems further away than ever. [Oct 2014, p.108]

The Balcony is a debut as polite as potpourri. [Oct 2014, p.106]

Aside from the Flying Lotus-produced curio tucked away at the end, there's little sign here he's willing to attempt a new role. [Jul 2011, p.111]

Another marathon slog through the alt-country undergrowth. [Jun 2005, p.118]

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]

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

Everything comes dripping in portent and seems too in love with its own seriousness to excite any emotions. [Mar 2003, p.106]

Tom Vek's charm has lost its spark. [July 2011, p. 121]

Sounds derivative and over-produced. [Sep 2004, p.123]

Dominated by common-or-garden blues workouts, with few of the startling dynamics that marked his former band's finest work. [Sep 2002, p.100]

After a promising start too much else glides by as a wash of warm, organic--yet unremarkable--background music. A Shame. [May 2011, p.116]

The pleasure rapidly dissipates over 17 formulaic numbers, some of which come with an accordion. [May 2004, p.98]

Unfortunately, Iha's anemic vocals are as terminally starry-eyed as ever. [Dec 2012, p.107]

It's at its best on Drive, where throbbing bass and a giant chorus dominate, but then Peace slides--albeit stylishly--into a repetitive blur. [Oct 2013, p.102]

Accomplished but pointless. [Jan 2016, p.115]

Its meticulously layered creations are hampered by both a pervasive aura of high seriousness and general lack of sonic variation. [Mar 2015, p.110]