This 11 track-LP is bursting with energy and invention. [Jun 2012, p.99]

It's the sort of manic outsider funk that succeeds or fails on the basis of how charming you find Nguyen's delivery. [Apr 2013, p.95]

Too much... is just art for art's sake. [Oct 2005, p.121]

Here the diverse mix of everything from jazz funk to Pink Floyd seems better realised. [Mar 2005, p.101]

Anthems For Doomed Youth has plenty of reminders of why people fell in love with The Libertines in the first place.... For better or worse, the habit of both spinning and dwelling upon their own mythology remains too. [Oct 2015, p.112]

It's a record that opens the door with its's robe falling to the floor: louche, suggestive clammy in places. [Jun 2017, p.104]

As the title promises, it's not so much a departure as a significant advancement of a career-long mission. [July 2010, p. 130]

Maybe not vintage Willie, but entertaining enough. [Jul 2012, p.107]

When it's muscular, it can be very good, but too frequently it veers off into more confused, mystical or plain boring territory. [Jul 2011, p.114]

Grote can at times sounded penned in by the relative straightness of the source material, yet this is an enjoyable noisy debut. [Mar 2015, p.106]

There's an intriguing musical intelligence operating underneath. [Oct 2015, p.113]

Despite its avowed politics, it lacks firm presence or real weight. [Apr 2017, p.112]

Occasionally... it cloys. [Mar 2007, p.110]

An exhilarating ride from a group who sound completely revitalised. [Jul 2015, p.108]

The joyful whole has a depth and swagger that is as life-enhancing as popular music should be. [Mar 2005, p.100]

Dinosaur Jr producer John Angelo coaxes dreamy harmonies from their skewed sound. [Sep 2011, p.114]

At times, it teeters between nostalgia and self-parody. .... But you can forgive the odd-slip-up, because the whole thing sounds so joyous. [Mar 2018, p.115]

Art Official Age, regrettably, is something we have heard before: an overlong, pan-generic concept album. [Nov 2014, p.107]

This is as bold, daring and vibrant an album as we'll hear this year. [Oct 2009, p.106]

Woken By Noises [is] reminiscent of the third Velvet Underground record. Elsewhere, however, the songs come across as elegant but a little flat, with a noticeable dip around the middle of the album. [Oct 2015, p.116]

It's warmly unreal how in thrall he remains to The Beatles, from melodic progressions down to the thwack of drums, but these heartache-powered ballads retain a simple elation at the power of rock'n'roll. [Jan 2020, p.110]

The melodies running through City People, City Things and Julie, with their hints of Paul Simon at his most wistful, are the measure of anything from Rouse's 2002 purple patch. The rest is charming if sometimes sugar-sweet and a little too inoffensive. [May 2013, p.109]

Mood music in extremis. [Apr 2003, p.110]

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

Peachtree Road is home to three songs that can sit alongside his best work.... [but] there are too many saccharine ballads. [Dec 2004, p.128]

It's almost a carbon copy of their early work. [Sep 2003, p.101]

When it works, it works brilliantly. [Dec 2001, p.120]

Musically it's formulaic, with plodding college rock verses morphing into bellowing, nu-metal choruses. [Dec 2003, p.121]