They've deployed four singers, reined in their more cinematic flourishes and gone for a punchier approach. Those four singers inevitably mean a lack of cohesion. [Feb 2015, p.105]

Some may scoff at the limited musical palette on tracks such as the La's-like Lazy Love, but beneath the bluff exterior beats the heart of a great pop band. [Jun 2018, p.109]

Errol makes the listener work for its pleasures, but they're worth it. [Apr 2020, p.112]

Odludek feels more like a mixtape than a sole artist's work. [Apr 2014, p.107]

The vocalist work fine but instrumentals like Tempest and Velcro demonstrate that Rustie's personality is plenty big enough on its own. [Oct 2014, p.118]

A quarter of a century on, that still holds, right down to the same old ponderous rhythms, Daniel Ash's screaming guitar fuzz and Peter Murphy's ridiculously portentous vocals. [Apr 2008, p.102]

Piano-led ballad rock songs tell their own story of heavy-duty emotional drag but Hansard's voice carries such weight you can forgive him. [Jul 2012, p.102]

On the down side, it's a record that fails to keep pace. [Aug 2002, p.133]

The 6ths is all about incongruity (where else could you find Gary Numan, 70-year-old folk diva Odetta and Sarah Cracknell sharing space?) and as such it`s an eclectic affair.

Featuring no less than 15 different songwriters, Fever is step-aerobic heaven, each song shiny, bouncy and as expertly arranged, if ultimately soulless, as one would expect from so many contributors.

The Australian quartet's debut album justifies the fuss that followed its title track's bubblegum approximation of Nirvana. [July 2002, p.121]

Sounds derivative and over-produced. [Sep 2004, p.123]

Great non-rap spoken-word albums comprise a list shorter than Wiiliam Shatner's critically acclaimed film roles. Yet [Shatner and Folds] have got closer here than most. [Dec 2004, p.144]

He's an even limper pastiche of [Michael] Jackson than Jackson himself. [Jan 2003, p.123]

Not here the gliding elegance of Drive, but an almost self-conscious rewrite of that brilliant debut's mechanical pop rock. [July 2011, p. 106]

The album lacks the breathless show-stoppers that have long peppered their records.

This live effort confirms what many suspected of Ditto all along: she makes for a terrifically ballsy rock star. [May 2008, p.134]

Her debut album, indeed, is something of a mess, the sense being of an artist trying to run before she can walk. [Jul 2009, p.123]

The homage is wearing a little thin, and it's time someone called last orders. [Sep 2012, p.112]

The sentiment of the latter is clearly that the doubts and fuzziness of the past have gone and the future is now dazzlingly bright. On the strength of this sharply-focused, wholly impressive record, that much is certainly true for Guillemots. [May 2011, p.113]

Trail Of dead have kept faith with their traditional mix of prog pomp and grunge power for their sixth album. [Apr 2009, p.97]

This is great music for driving. In a hovercraft. With someone chasing you. [Dec 2015, p.111]

Despite this being their widest-ranging album, their lack of of a truly great song is ultimately frustrating. [Sep 2007, p.99]

Her debut skips frrom glam-disco and bubblegum punk, to quavering piano laments and cabaret ditties. All the while, her imaginative reach is complemented by a winning pop savviness. [Mar 2010, p.105]

While there's nothing on Drastic Fantastic to spook the horses, neither is it an obvious rerun of its predecessor. [October 2007, p.90]

It's an album that shows the breadth of Harcourt's talent, certainly, but you can't help but miss the warm burr of his voice. [Jan 2019, p.109]

Possibly the greatest campfire singalong ever. [Dec 2009, p. 113]

Rebel Heart often strikes a more tentative note.[Apr 2015, p.100]