This sumptuous riddle of a record is a celebration of everything but normality. [Oct 2014, p.100]

As an attempt to connect while keeping aloof, it succeeds. [Feb 2015, p.108]

This mix of fearlessness, craft and believability is irresistible. [April 2012, p.90]

While the individual elements all sparkle, at times there are so many stylistic tics that the songs can get lost in the mix. [Oct 2016, p.106]

A dense dish to consume in one sitting, perhaps, but Bootsy's spicy narrations and undulating, jazz-informed basslines hold it all together. [Dec 2017, p.105]

Mockingbird Time, the band's first album in eight years, places them right back in the hazy glow of Laurel Canyon sunset. [Oct 2011, p.123]

Not surprisingly, To Dreamers doesn't stray far from what's gone before. [Dec 2010, p.114]

It really is hard to distinguish between the eight tracks here, but when a theme's this good, the variants are never going to be a problem. [Mar 2003, p.113]

Back to basics. [May 2003, p.100]

While there are plaintive acoustic moments, listen closely and [Oliveri's] inciting listeners to necrophiliac cannibalism. [Aug 2003, p.110]

The album's middle section is an exercise in restrained songcraft. [Mar 2003, p.114]

Be warned: wisdom, soul searching and politics often lead to earnest power chords and clenched fists when coupled with poodle rock. [May 2006, p.123]

The best track here is named after a local town called Sheffield but the massive wall of guitars and tidal wave of drums and cymbals put you in mind of Happy Mondays or The Stone Roses in a tussle with The Jesus And Mary Chain. [Dec 2008, p.123]

Once again it's a showcase for some dextrous prog-jazz metal guitar work that on occasion veers dangerously close to tuneless skronking. [Mar 2009, p.104]

Still Life rarely strays out of the comfort zone. [#361, p.117]

Where You Stand finds the quartet catching up with themselves and displaying real depth and maturity. [Sep 2013, p.108]

Best of all is Cruisin' FDR, which oozes carefree joie de vivre... as it transposes the Californian lifestyle to the East Coast, where even the dark sky is grey "in a beautiful way." [May 2012, p.102]

Fans of early Beck, Spacemen 3 and Galaxie 50 will love it. [Apr 2013, p.109]

It's a mostly dazzling performance, though on the histrionic Gone Insane, they get carried away by their own virtuosity. [Apr 2016, p.109]

Undeniably bold and ahead of its time, it also remains rather easier to admire from a safe distance than to actually like. Or listen to. [Nov 2008, p.121]

If Ski Mask fails to be a hit now, though, give it 20 years and it'll be cult gold. [Nov 2013, p.102]

[Disc 1] is impressive stuff--the sound of a muse regained. Pity the acoustic disc is nowhere near as good. [Jul 2005, p.109]

You'll fall for Peter Broderick's humour and ingenuity in the end. [Nov 2012, p.90]

Unashamedly retro, yes, but delivered with out irony--and at ear-ringing volume. [Dec 2012, p.105]

If there's a flaw, it's that Mathe's songwriting is more conventional than the arrangements. But there's no denying the emotion behind his heartfelt croon. [Sep 2013, p.97]

Plastics is a deeply impressive debut. [Aug 2014, p.105]

There's nothing here to suggest either a problem with what he's doing--Heavenly is as heavenly as its title suggests; Middle of Love shows how friendly Sexsmith can be; and the jaunty-sounding Eye Candy is covertly acerbic as they come--or that things will turn around for him. [Apr 2011, p.109]

The trouble is, for all its inventive wordplay and expert pastiches, Join Us swiftly becomes the musical equivalent of that witty, but rather-too-clever male party guest who always ends up going home alone. [Sept. 2011, p. 119]