Alabama Shakes' nods to vocal giants past never overshadow the fact that their music has a raw, aggressive style that is completely their own. [May 2012, p.90]

Albarn seems bent on exploring unsettling moods and shuffling rhythms rather than gleaming melodies and addictive choruses. [Feb 2007, p.94]

Mount Moriah give the Southern tradition an indie-rock twist that's more effective the further they go. [Apr 2013, p.107]

This homebrewed, spacious music can still sound pretty blissful, but the quality songs have a directness and variety that will please David Gray fans as much as the acid folk devotees. [Jul 2006, p.119]

With the help of Animal Collective produce Ben H Allen, Girls in Peacetime busts the band out of a complacent rut by rendering them in full colour, as a pop group with depth of talent and breadth of vision. [Feb 2015, p.108]

Full marks for envelope-pushing, but this third album is very much an acquired taste. [Dec 2014, p.110]

A collection of songs that are either from or reflect different eras of his work--all linked by his idiosyncratically engaging vocals and melodies. [Jun 2013, p.108]

Rice is much more appealing when he blatantly ramps up the theatre, sticks a bit of greasepaint over his sincerity, tips irreversibly into show business. [Dec 2014, p.114]

The worthiest addition yet to her legendary status. [Nov 2004, p.119]

Only the title track, with its surge of guitar fuzz, really matches the idea with the execution. [May 2011, p.120]

A fascinating new direction. [Nov 2019, p.115]

A surprisingly well-nourished beast. [May 2013, p.105]

The result is one of his most rounded, fulfilling solo records. [Jul 2014, p.111]

You would not have predicted, however, he'd settle for an album of songs that sound like leftovers from the Dear Science sessions. [Sep 2010, p.116]

As complex and remarkable as everything that preceded it. [Jun 2003, p.92]

This is music that exerts as much effortless cool as young pups The Strokes. [Oct 2001, p.118]

This is an album which manages the rare trick of being accessible and head-warpingly barmy both at the same time. [Nov 2002, p.96]

Trendy, sure, but occasionally terrific.

Unrest follows a clean electronic trajectory, which manages to project both urban complexity and domestic quiet, while Oye's free-associative lyrics meander amiably here, there and nowhere. [Mar 2003, p.109]

Who would want another version of We Shall Not Be Moved is, surely, debatable, but elsewhere the results are more persuasive. [May 2007, p.129]

It features a clutch of terrific songs delivered with a sense of real elation. [Sep 2013, p.106]

The quality dips towards the album's close, but all told, this is a solid return to the fold. [Jul 2015, p.102]

At times they lack the focus to quite surmount their influences. [Aug 2006, p.117]

The result is undeniably lovely, if never truly transcendent. [Jan 2020, p.114]

Everything here delivers the predominant warmth "Sky Blue Sky" lacked and betrays a sharp ear for melody that has often been obscured by sonic theatrics. [Aug 2009, p.1000]

A moody, low-key opening does them few favours, but there's no shortage of intensity once they hit their groove. [Apr 2016, p.105]

Far from rocket science, but immense fun nonetheless. [Jun 2006, p.117]

Rock N Roll Animals is a particularly curdled creation. [Sep 2013, p.104]