An album rich in kaleidoscopic colour to contrast the diluted greys of its sleeve, marked with the expert touch of true masters of their art. [April 2012, p.96]

A Sailor's Guide to Earth is audacious in a genre that prizes hat size over innovation, a concept album about parenting and childhood intended for consumption in one continuous sitting like a short story. [Jul 2016, p.114]

While it lacks the sheer otherworldliness of his heyday, it is still a startling successful marriage of old and new. [Aug 2020, p.102]

What it lacks in orginality, it makes up for in sky-filling exhilaration. [Oct 2009, p.107]

Wicked Grin is a bona fide revelation.... A rambunctious joy from beginning to end.

It makes you feel like you've stepped into a funhouse built by Picasso out of neon light and awesomeness. [Jun 2012, p.106]

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]

The results are excellent. [Oct 2015, p.110]

As with the Beatles, the outtakes and rarities are the best place to appreciate the abundance of songwriting chops and interpersonal chemistry Blur had at their disposal. [Sep 2012, p.118]

Playland is better than its predecessor in pretty much every respect. The songs are better, the palette broader and there's a genuine sense of Marr hitting his stride as a solo artist. [Nov 2014, p.103]

If the original Bat Out Of Hell was Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run as scored by Richard Wagner, this is even more theatrical. [Nov 2006, p.140]

Complex, yet approachable rhythmic sketches. [Mar 2020, p.117]

A record that embodies a whole world of vulnerability, confusion and unsteadiness without losing shape. [Mar 2018, p.102]

Mostly the pace unfolds with the urgency of a melting icicle, couching expressions of fear, hope and love amid forlorn synth arcs and just enough fuzz to keep things frisky. [May 2018, p.105]

Tellingly, there isn't a weak song here, just 13 slices of original Pirate material. [Mar 2008, p.108]

New Path has an almost cinematic drama that makes its propulsive dancefloor rhythms thunderously exhilarating. [May 2018, p.108]

An album of subtle, but nonetheless wonderful ear-worms. [Jun 2018, p.110]

MBV isn't perfect; sometimes the songs do drag, but the brilliant moments are so brilliant, and the exciting moments so exciting that you'll forgive them. [Apr 2013, p.108]

A brooding collection. [May 2004, p.108]

Both mysterious and inviting, Helplessness Blues retains and expands what made the debut so special. It's an open door to a private world. [Jun 2011, p.108]

Previous albums threatened to impress but always came with bits missing. This is the finished article. [Dec 2003, p.130]

A more thoroughly radical-sounding album than even Ray Of Light...

The voice and their lyrics sit differently, somehow, against Knopf's arrangements, which can be by turns delicate, mischievous and furious. [Nov 2015, p.105]

This compilation of that [debut] album, Apple, plus preceding EP Shine, show what all the fuss was about. [Jan 2017, p.117]

It's only on lightweight tracks Army and Devotions that Delirium drags. [Jan 2016, p.107]

Razor-sharp songs that do valiant justice to the desperate optimism of gutter-bound dreamers. [Mar 2007, p.115]

Serotonin finds them back in more familiar territory, delivering screwball pop gems under the guidance of veteran knob twiddler Chris Thomas. [Aug 2010, p.123]

While it doesn't always hit its mark, people after some cartoon-rock fun with great tunes will find this their most consistently satisfying set of songs since 2009's West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum. [Jun 2017, p.100]