Buoyed by a blissful, lovestruck mood, this album's sumptuous tone elevates it beyond familiar terrain. [Aug 2002, p.128]

This is aching ramshackle folk rock. [June 2002, p.124]

Battered, bonkers and bewitching in equal parts, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at last finds Wilco's "interesting" phase becoming downright fascinating. [May 2002, p.121]

In the main this is a richly rewarding collection of lovingly realised songs. [June 2002, p.121]

Cornershop have clearly been biding their time, not squandering it, returning with the kind of meaty, substantial, truly multi-dimensional project they've long been working towards.

The new "proper band" architecture well suits these touching, often funny songs. [Apr 2002, p.119]

[Control] finds Bazan wearily retreading themese of religion and relationships. [May 2002, p.119]

The chill out crowd, and anyone else unbothered by such walk-ons, will happily drift off to the rich, inevitably orchestral backdrop, thinking it ever so classy. Which, of course, it is.

Crow still rocks. [Apr 2002, p.111]

Mostly what you'll hear, though, is the hollow sound of a man needing a good, long break.

Assured and dignified. [May 2002, p.119]

There's still a whiff of contrivance about it that spoils the good work. [May 2002, p.112]

Like all jokes, it's not as funny second time around. [Jul 2003, p.110]

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

Taken as a whole, it's liable to become soporific, but individual tracks are near perfect essays in understated melancholy. [May 2002, p.117]

She avoids excessive sugariness via edgy, sensual lyrics and Timbaland's superlative production. [June 2002, p.123]

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

It's a hypnotic mid-paced but hard-sounding beast which yields more with each play. [June 2002, p.112]

Admittedly Maas is hardly reinventing the wheel here, but there's a freshness and pace that's been missing too long. [Mar 2002, p.126]

Aurally, Super Furry Animals are evolving into a hybrid of Blur and The Cardiacs. (Drawing) Rings Around The World, Shoot Doris Day and Presidential Suite are excellent, most of the remainder pass muster, but there's nothing to change anyone's world.

He tackles unexpected covers to pleasing effect. [Mar 2002, p.120]

While lacking the high-concept drama of the similarly-minded Rammstein, KMFDM are more sonically adventurous: drum'n'bass and digital dancehall spice up the usual murderously heavy riffing. [May 2002, p.115]

Everyone will say this sounds like Beck, but at the last count Beck would be lucky to sound like Eels.

As predictable as rain in February. [Mar 2002, p.123]

Still a stunningly individual reinvention of hip hop and R&B, with great songs swimming in a murk of bizarre arrangements. [Apr 2002, p.119]

After a couple plays, his just-crawled-out-of-bed falsetto and homemade designs start taking root. [Nov 2002, p.102]

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]

Music Kills Me occasionally drifts into the overly familiar world of laid-back jazz grooves, Latino rhythms and flutes, but there's enough elsewhere to intrigue. [Apr 2002, p.120]

[Falls] between the arch electronic vistas of later Magazine and skewed, Giorgio Moroder-esque avant-pop. [Feb 2002, p.114]

Slick samples and buoyant melodies are in, dissonant atmospherics pretty much out. [Feb 2002, p.111]

There's much daftness along the way. [Aug 2002, p.121]

Imbruglia's thin voice can't keep pace with the excellent but demanding Everything Goes and Sunlight, while the half-dozen ballads aspire only to T'Pau's China In Your Hand. [#184, p.137]

Melodically, this matches The Lemonheads at their best. [Aug 2002, p.126]

A very slick example of production-line soul. [Apr 2002, p.110]

There's something rather pinched and prescribed about this weirdness.

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

It holds its own, just. [May 2002, p.114]

Featuring no less than 15 different songwriters, Fever is step-aerobic heaven, each song shiny, bouncy and as expertly arranged, if ultimately soulless, as one would expect from so many contributors.

For his eighth album, he has returned to renowned metal producer Ed Stasium, who delivers both high-impact guitar and sufficient clarity for enjoyment of Heat's droll way with words. [Apr 2002, p.120]

Their pure pop rock is both uncomplicated and uninhibited. [June 2002, p.120]

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

...Trail of Dead have reached a point where the need for convention outweighs the joy of using guitars as weapons. [Feb 2002, p.104]

An inspired, invigorating concoction. [Feb 2002, p.108]

Like Beck before he developed the Prince fixation, Fog's anti-puritanism makes this a constantly startling, wholly addictive joy.

Many tracks are meaningless in isolation.[#184, p.146]

Quietly thrilling. [Feb 2002, p.113]

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

A perfect chill-out album for those of an acoustic inclination. [Apr 2002, p.122]

The result glitters like diamond.

One very minimal idea being stretched over 11 songs to the point that it starts to look very washed-out indeed.

It's all good fun. [June 2002, p.126]

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

Satisfying in every way that Aphex Twin's Drukqs wasn't. [Apr 2002, p.110]

Has only occasional flashes of inspiration. [Jan 2002, p.107]

It's a little one-paced over the long haul, and she does wail at inappropriate moments, but there's enough here to build on. [May 2002, p.108]

This offering is bedevilled by elaborate, overly fussy instrumentation. [May 2002, p.114]

Their now drab and dense psychedelia has been "updated" with the occasional drum machine but is still populated by willowy, damaged girls called Esmeralda and songs with "chrome" in the title.

Struggle, New Disco, and Dance To The Underground are too-self conscious by half but they're still hoisted by a steamrolling dynamic and sharp hooks. [Nov 2002, p.110]

The Electric Soft Parade are one of the few young British bands to have successfully navigated the hype and emerged with something genuinely promising.

While good, clean, hedonistic fun, it feels over-familiar, like somewhere you've visited once too often. [Jan 2002, p.97]

Midway through, the sound of Lowery and co's batteries running down becomes almost audible.

Droll, baffling and brilliant in equal measure. [Mar 2002, p.128]

The nine songs retain an insular, slept-in charm, with the same Californian Nick Drake brief as Mojave 3.

An often-inspired collection of eccentric pop songs and unexpected proggy workouts. [July 2002, p.108]

A superb piece of work. [Apr 2002, p.117]

Few bands epitomise so well the virtues of not fixing that which isn't broken.

From rock riffs to cheesy electronics, nothing is off limits here, the gurgling stream of playful beats and gorgeous melodies carried along on a tide of Can's dreamy krautrock, ambient instrumental bliss and infectious '70s rock grooves.

The tracks featuring Prince soundalike vocalist Harrison Crump are as fine as ever - dreamy, melodic, melancholy.... The trouble is, elsewhere, this ladies man seems convinced that a woman talking (especially in a European accent) is all the melody anyone could possibly need.

This is a complex record, full of bleak lyrical themes, but it's also riveting, hypnotic and really very good indeed.

A heartening set of high speed melody, humanism and pessimism.

The new electronic direction is likely to lose more fans than it gains.

Napolitano's lyrics exemplify the "perfect turn of word" for which she praises Bryan Ferry in a tribute song called Roxy. [Jan 2002, p.98]

Future Songs is minimalist and alien, haunted and pained: like a bloodless Cocteau Twins.

Their debut bears the hallmarks of carefully assembled, widescreen pop-rock.

An underwhelming, cursory thing. [Mar 2002, p.125]

Although RZA tries crisply updating his trademark murk for the new rap age, the results rarely cohere. [Jan 2002, p.108]

By manically pinballing between ideas, Rock Steady soon flirts with disaster. [Dec 2001, p.119]

What on paper sounds like an awkward hotch-potch, actually makes for an hugely enticing, fluid record.

This really is a joy. [Dec 2001, p.121]

On occasion, Ludacris fumbles the ball... but he can certainly mix it with the big boys. [Jan 2002, p.104]

Goddess In The Doorway is the work of a man who is generally interested and occasionally inspired. [#184, p.135]

While the lyrical freedom of Dear Diary, My Vietnam, and Family Portrait is refreshing, stylistically they are less than revolutionary. [Jan 2002, p.105]

While he boasts none of the verbal dexterity of Eminem, he takes America's Dumb & Dumber obsession and has mighty fun with it. [Jan 2002, p.102]

In places, though, the live show is a little too freeform and rambling. The 11 new studio tracks on CD2 are much more focused.... [Dec 2001, p.131]

His most consistent work since 1991's Diamonds And Pearls, although you'll need to ignore the peculiar narrative episodes in order to fully enjoy it. [Jan 2002, p.106]

O'Rourke revisits the lush orchestration and dreamy atmospherics he pioneered in Gastr Del Sol, but hanging out with Thurston Moore also appears to have had an effect. [Dec 2001, p.128]

Patchy and sometimes plodding... but that gruff, urgent voice remains a potent instrument in the right setting. [Feb 2002, p.106]

At times her dark warnings about the devil and bluesy intonation sound affected, but full marks for trying out new ground. [Dec 2001, p.127]

Its charms are bound up with the subtle pleasures of listening to these songs anew and re-understanding their make-up. [#184, p.127]

An album of tuneful but calculated pop-rock to be admired rather than loved.

Scarecrow's sense of defeat actually makes it a better record. [Jan 2002, p.96]

Out there, but compelling all the same. [#184, p.137]

Continues in the same vein as its predecessor, matching Lynne's soulful vocals with an array of catchy tunes. [#184, p.140]

The embryo that is Manic Expressive promises much from the future. [Nov 2001, p.122]

Coy, genail and funny... a potent antidote to the usual chill-out porridge. [#184, p.140]

While her normal source of junior raunch [Max Martin] churns out the usual fesity hits... the remaining chastity-endorsing mush is nowhere near as exciting. [Dec 2001, p.131]

A record that finally fulfils sampling's original promise of generating fabulous new sounds from skilfully lifted bits of existing tracks.

As before, it's a heady swirl of rock, soul and hippy lyrics. However, it feels fantastic and, unless the record company is snoring soundly, it's full of hits.