Oddly compelling, even if the coldwave atmosphere seldom rises above freezing-point. [Aug 2013, p.101]

Songs swerve through ranting country, Celtic balladry and doo-wop. And you have to raise a glass to anyone who dares defile Like A Rolling Stone by redirecting its venom inwards. [May 2018, p.114]

There are questions over his naive writing, which often relies on hokey wordplay, but the horn-filled arrangements, his driving Stax-fuelled band and that voice carry him through. Just. [Jun 2010, p.131]

The [album] may be icily impressive ... but long before the end you're left wishing that 2:54 would occasionally pull back the curtains and let a little sunshine in. [Jun 2012 p.96]

Nothing scary or difficult ever happens. [Feb 2003, p.96]

Her most rounded album.... However, many lyrics have taken a sudden, baffling turn into mystical territory making this two steps forward and one back. [May 2003, p.114]

Recaptures their hallmark bright-eyed power-pop sound while rarely scaling fresh heights. [#184, p.135]

Lavigne displays a musical guile way beyond her years. [Sep 2002, p.109]

Pretty yet inconsequential, like a collection of half-finished spy film themes. [May 2004, p.108]

A sublime collection that surpasses its predecessor. [Apr 2004, p.121]

There's too much instrumental cleverness to get to grips with the theme. [Nov 2004, p.118]

No longer ahead of his time, he has a deft enough touch to keep irrelevance at bay. [Jan 2003, p.120]

Peace Is The Mission feels like too much of a splurge to be enjoyable right through. [Jul 2015, p.109]

More often than not, The Ponys end up stranded in a morass of pointless guitar static. [Apr 2007, p.121]

Living Thing, equally lovely and contrary, is somewhere between the two [albums, "Young Folks" and "Seaside Rock"]. [May 2009, p.116]

Yet whatever they're singing about, be it bad donkeys, clouds or river snakes, they make a spine-tingling noise. [Mar 2011, p.106]

While it's less draining than some of his earlier work, it still speaks the language of lamentation. [May 2012, p.99]

They adopt a slightly wider palette of influences on the follow-up, with mixed results. [Mar 2014, p.116]

It's a stripped-down and straight-ahead rock record. [Apr 2014, p.121]

Red Flag is both consistent and memorable. [Jun 2016, p.108]

Holland's fragmentary syntax, rendered in a variety of heavily treated voices, rarely proves as mesmeric as the music. [Aug 2011, p.116]

The fun doesn't always translate to the listener. [Jul 2012, p.113]

It's a good sound, and he has past form here. [Apr 2014, p.120]

Elson's theatrical but appealing voice adds genuine drama to the darkly brooding Stolen Roses, while the title track is a handsome murder ballad. [Jul 2010, p.133]

It's thrilling stuff and a reasonable guide to where the Klaxons are heading with Surfing The Void, this dense, doomy, psychedelic album with its tough punk edge. [Sept. 2010, p. 112]

This wonderfully bleak record exists in a cocoon of early-hours introspection, with melancholy guitars rippling around the pair's half-whispered vocals. [April 2012, p.105]

It is lighter sonically than the Hendrix classics and laced with a handful of instruments that, despite spotlighting the guitarist's jaw-dropping fluidity, might be of limited appeal. [Apr 2010, p.127]

Step Back is better when Winter plays it straight. [Nov 2014, p.120]