All this introspection wouldn't be so bad if Stained put a bit of oomph behind it, but the musical changes lack dynamism and frame the groaning vocals almost reverentially. [#180, p.111]

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]

Too much else here is a plodding, monochrome take on '60s psychedelia, lacking in originality or imagination. [Mar 2013, p.108]

The Internet still feels like an important first step, not only for its willingness to test the limits of current hip hop/R&B, but as proof that Odd Future is more than just a one-man show. [Mar 2012, p.108]

Its pleasures lie almost entirely in the storytelling, bolstered by Mueler's between-songs narration. [Dec 2012, p.110]

A sleek collision of burbling basslines, adversarial vocals and downtuned brutality. [Mar 2006, p.109]

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

Bursts of corrosive techno that have all the instrumental variety of a car alarm. [Sep 2016, p.108]

Combining Koretsky's electro throb, Rourke's funky bass and O'Riordan's distinctive, albeit newly toned vocals. It particularly works on the uptempo and lush The Moon and the more hardcore Gunfight, enhancing everyone's reputation. [Oct 2016, p.107]

[Mangini's] speed is not in much evidence on A Dramatic Turn of Events, though, where prog-metal riffs give way far too easily to pianos and technical indulgence. [Oct 2011, p.120]

Throughout, Man Of The Woods seesaws brilliantly between pop and country. [Apr 2018, p.116]

This is wishy-washy music for moody goth-lite teens. [Apr 2014, p.112]

The forgettable radio-pop of Laughable or Show Me The Way suggests a musician with nothing to prove having fun with his friends. After five songs, though, Give More Love nosedives into by-numbers country rock. [Oct 2017, p.111]

McLachlan's gorgeous voice has always been her strength, and even Pierre Marchand's soft-rock production can't diminish its power. [Mar 2004, p.107]

Some rubbishy funk aside, Robinson sounds more energised than he has in ages. [Nov 2002, p.113]

Enjoyment of this LA tribute act's wilfully non-PC parody of '80s hair metal entirely correlates with one's familarity with Poison and Faster Pussycat's liking for double--often single-entendres. [Jul 2009, p.117]

When countless Miracles anthologies exist, anyone who reaches for this is a bigger clown than the weepy one in Smokey's song. [Dec 2014, p.116]

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

Numbingly tedious, bashed-out-in-an-afternoon grunt-a-longs about, well, numbingly tedious stuff that we may already have come to term with. [Aug 2012, p.109]

It's frustrating when you know they can do better. [Jul 2006, p.116]

While Bloc Party Mk II don't quite reach the dizzying heights of hits such as Banquet or Flux, Hymns restores your faith in both their ability and ambition. [Feb 2016, p.114]

In a sign that they've struggled to progress since [their debut], almost every song on this fifth alum similarly ends with Willett combusting into a figure of angst. [Dec 2014, p.108]

The sound of a band growing old comfortably. [Sep 2006, p.110]

He has rediscovered the knack of making Beach Boys records again. And make no mistake, in sound if not personnel, this is a Beach Boys record. [Aug 2004, p.119]

On Mine Is Yours they take flight at last: the distinctive Willett is excellent throughout and the songs almost all snap and bite. [Feb. 2011, p. 114]

It's early days yet, but right now Twin Atlantic are doing nothing wrong and much that is right--their future looks bright indeed. [Jun 2011, p.124]

The band sound bored. [Dec 2012, p.103]

The fun and fake snow does wear off after a few songs though. [Jan 2016, p.112]

An agreeably self-assured comeback from a talent who's come up the hard way. [Summer 2018, p.106]

Hopefully they'll focus on [their country roots] next time. [Nov 2015, p.104]

Generally there's a lightness here he'd do well to retain. [Oct 2006, p.118]

Simpatico is too bland to stand. [Jun 2006, p.113]

By the end you might feel like you've just had your ear bent by a particularly forthright mum outside school gates, but Havoc and Bright Lights is Alanis Morissette's most inviting album in a long, long time. [Sep 2012, p.103]

A couple of hours negotiating the treacherous whirlpools of Waters's fears, paranoia and loathing can still prove a slog, mind, no matter how stately the settings.

Imagination and maturity abound, energy less so, although it bodes well for the next album. [Dec. 2001 p. 127]

Bontempi organ drum tracks merge together to create a hypnotic funk. [Sept. 2010, p. 118]

It is, triumphantly, among the most camp mainstream pop records ever made. [Mar 2007, p.113]

Ambitious and heartfelt, Music For The People is the sound of a band caught between rock and a hard place. [May 2009, p.111]

It's warmth and occasional flashes of wisdom ensure it's a dignified protest at modern life rather than just the mitherings of an old(er) man. [Jan 2015, p.132]

It's a solid enough LP, but it's hard to see this appealing very far beyond their fanbase. [Feb 2017, p.119]

Walker distinguishes himself from the herd with the frenetic, chest-beating chorus to the mighty Dominoes; the shyly addictive duet with Zara Larsson, Now You're gone, co-written by Fulham FC Women striker Chelcee Grimes, and the bereft Angels, all of which sparkle in very different, yet equally beguiling ways. [May 2018, p.116]

The results may not add to a fanbase that struggles to extend beyond the UK and the good folk of Belgium and Germany, but Editors give themselves a new lease of life here. [Aug 2013, p.94]

Any good news – Liam’s decent fist of songwriting, the less oppressive sound, the professional playing – is rendered largely irrelevant by the gaping chasm where more decent songs should be.

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

Best In Town adheres to its authors' trademarked, if confused, formula of generic metalcore verses, gratingly incongruous pop choruses, borderline misogynistic lyrics and gags that presumably sounded far funnier in the studio. [Jun 2009, p.119]

An album that plays too safe in its thirst for hits. [Jul 2015, p.110]

Ambitious and crackling with smart riffs, the end result achieves a brooding intensity all of its own. [Apr 2011, p.111]

I-Empire is so in thrall to Edge's guitar sound circa 1984 it could almost be the work of a /u2 tribute band. [Dec 2007, p.112]

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]

Clearly aiming for som eof the Lady Gaga's action, debut album Animal contains more of the same surging synth-pop and invitations to party. [Mar 2010, p.110]

At excessive volume, Payable On Death sounds like a state-of-the-art metal album, but there's a painful dearth of decent ideas. [Jan 2004, p.118]

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

When they hit their still groovy '50s psychedelic rock stride on 'Second Sight' or the bonkers hippy wig-out 'Song of Love/Narayana,' the truth is that Kalu Shaker still aren't so awful after all. [Sept 2007, p.92]

There's nothing of similarly instant appeal [of 'Torn'] to be found on Come To Life, despite the presense of three tracks co-written by Chris Martin. [Nov 2009, p.114]

The problem here isn't sullying Jackson's memory and reputation: he was perfectly capable of doing that himself. The problem is that Michael simply isn't good enough. [Feb. 2011, p. 108]

Fans will enjoy this career-spanning double live album. [Apr 2012, p.94]

At album length the apologetic beats and tuneful but numbed vocals quickly pall, and it neither delivers one the wig-flipping promised by the intricate Ocean Floor nor the narco-pop of Disappeared and Turn 2 U. [Aug 2012, p.111]

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

Guttural, brutal, and very unpleasant. [Mar 2013, p.101]

It struggles to hold attention because even Blunt's poppiest songs start the same way as his ballads: a downbeat vocal about ghosting, love or how Twitter hates him. [May 2017, p.100]

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

Patchy... Little of his indignant bluster hits the mark. [Oct 2004, p.130]

A tasteful and delicate record--but one that not quite as much fun as it first seems. [Aug 2018, p.116]

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]

This is a record marked by its elegance, pace and excitement. [Jun 2015, p.110]

When Green is good here, he is very good, and the mis-steps are minor niggles.[Dec. 2011 p. 132]

This follow-up is still falls between Dido's mild AOR and Lily Allen's bouncier moments while being as memorable as neither. [Mar 2009, p.101]

Highly charged without being mawkish. [July 2002, p.115]

The message is as subtle as a street riot but the delivery mechanism ('90s funk metal, barked tirades) creaks with age. [Oct 2017, p.108]

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]

Especially on the Thin Lizzy-esque 'What Do I Have To Do?' and the irresistible 'Wasted,' they sparkle. At other times, though--the unloveable 'Here For The Party' and childish 'Girl Talk'--these four 28-year-olds still think they're in high school. [Nov 2007, p.137]

First single "Stop The Music" suggests they may yet escape this postmodern cul-dul-sac, but by the time they get to "I Vibe You," it feels like being trapped in a lift with The Saturdays. [Aug 2010, p.124]

The album finds them hamming up their debauched image to the point of self-parody. [Oct 2008, p.149]

Inevitably, it's a bit of a mess.... But if you like Poe, or Reed, and can tolerate the incoherence, there's fun to be had. [Feb 2003, p.105]

A numbing montage of half-formed ideas and too-slick production. [Jul 2003, p.100]

It feels like a splash of teenage aftershave: a pass at sophistication, not the real deal. [Oct 2011, p.123]

It's hard not to think that CSS's moment has passed. [Jul 2013, p.101]

Corny soul pitfalls are navigated via satisfying hooks which erupt every time the four-part harmonies kick in. [Sep 2002, p.101]

Their second should eclipse even that [100,000 copies of their first album sold], given the songwriting strides they've taken since. [Apr 2009, p.97]

McPhun's chirrupy high-register and a synth-pop gloss, which washes over the album from start to finish, only serves to ramp up the all-consuming mawkish tone. [Feb 2013, p.110]

Aladdin could more properly be called Peter Pan, the work of a boy who never really grew up. It doesn't help that it comes with a sickly, stoner-friendly concept attached. [Jun 2016, p.111]

Rudolf's sound is his own on an album full of scarf-waving choruses, insistent hooks and surprisingly reflective lyrics. [Mar 2009, p.104]

The sex tracks themselves are more scary than seductive.... [But] the dancefloor tunes are far more slinky. [May 2004, p.107]

It's nothing if not ambitious... [but] they simply don't have the depth, or the authority, to pull it off. [Dec 2004, p.143]

Even when HitNRun improves, it implies creative drought. [Nov 2015, p.102]

Punk funk can be a prickly thing, but they never overdo the art-rocking, always placing the emphasis on melody. [Feb 2005, p.101]

The likes of Umbrella Beach, Cave In and Vanillla Twilight blend bittersweet longing, wintry elemental imagery and melodies that worm their way into your consciousness with effortless aplomb. [Apr 2010, p.119]

While lately the LA quartet's output has largely been preoccupied with reclaiming their crunchy alt-rock sound, The Black Album often exorcises it with synth and piano. It works superbly. [Apr 2019, p.118]

This solid--if unspectacular--sixth managed a very respectable Number 3 (on the Billboard charts). [Nov 2008, p.107]

It's not completely without merit--Brave New World has a certain swagger--nut this does stray bafflingly close to tribute band territory. [Jan 2019, p.114]

Her sauntering melodies struggle under the weight of their worthy load. [Aug 2006, p.110]

On his incredibly busy album, Light, there are signs of diversification too. [Jul 2010, p.140]

Starsailor, then: not very exciting, but damned reliable. [Oct 2003, p.117]

Now on their fourth singer, their music is built on lunkheadness, all dumb riffs and blustery choruses. [May 2013, p.99]

It turns out to be a bit of an understated charmer. [Dec 2010, p.114]

They just sound bored. [Feb 2005, p.98]

On this showing he's bored and directionless. [Nov 2006, p.134]

Rendered with all the warmth of a fax machine. [Sep 2004, p.117]