Occasionally, things lift out of the bluster--unfortunately, in the case of Preacher, a terrible lyric--but even the Everybody Wants To Rule The World guitar on Life in Color or the relatively stately synth-pop of Something's Gotta Give can't make Native Anything but a great gas giant of a record. [Jun 2013, p.103]

Too much of the material is lightweight, ultimately making this an exercised in what might have been. [Oct 2012, p.101]

Some workmanlike settings, but when the vocals spar and catch the tune just right, it all soars with a gospel-like wonder. [Aug 2017, p.100]

Their most focused album to date. [Apr 2006, p.118]

Nothing if not consistent, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel's sixth studio album sounds effortlessly Air-like. [Nov 2009, p.110]

Relaxer is a special album. [Aug 2017, p.101]

[Her] penchant for pretension remains irksome: the dot in her name, the cringey album title, the worthy lyrics and constant namechecking of soul greats. [December 2002, p.96]

Yet while the sound of these songs is often great, the bad news is that most of the songs themselves leave little lasting impression.

Lou Reed guests and she's brave enough to wrestle with both Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan's unsettling The Stations, while her four lugubrious originals show the drugs didn't turn her brain to much. [Apr 2011, p.101]

The slower numbers, built around pneumatic electro basslines and memories of Giorgio Moroder soundtracks, aren't as slick, though 58BPM's is a stylish, slow-motion homage to the neon-lit world of '80s synth-pop. [Apr 2014, p.120]

His reluctance to engage, ego issues and occasional sexism speak of a vanity as large as any of the major-label players he opposes. [Nov 2004, p.117]

It's more accessible than more tripped-out previous releases. [Dec 2012, p.110]

While there may not be anything startingly new here, there is a definite sense of ease with Murphy's past. [Aug. 2011, p. 123]

An admirably muscular and direct effort. [Jan 2007, p.145]

Sunny melodies abound, even if the results are more pleasant than thrilling. [Aug 2008, p.139]

When the volume dips and Smith takes centre stage, United We Stand suddenly comes alive. [Jul 2012, p.95]

Sara Lucas's strident vocals are often incomprehensible, rarely alighting on a tune for long enough to become memorable. [Feb 2013, p.102]

Alongside the routinely powerful rocking there are tracks that might have similar impact to 2006 smash Chelsea Dagger. [Dec 2013, p.106]

Too much feels half-baked. While the songs aren't without charm, they're torpedoed by Doherty's distracted, sloppy performance. [Jul 2019, p.109]

As with the other great British debut of 2004 so far, by Franz Ferdinand, Up All Night ripples with cocksure sangfroid and a barely contained sexual fever. [Jul 2004, p.111]

Wildly collaborative, pan-globalistically luvvy-duvvy and heaps of fun, it just about hangs together as her best outing since 2007's Kala. [Oct 2016, p.102]

The result is that a few songs in you find yourself rather craving a bit of imperfection, something scruffy and incorrigible to disrupt all this generic rhythm and gusto. [Mar 2016, p.116]

Bizarre, but not without appeal. [Feb 2006, p.104]

9 may be quiet, but it is never easy listening. [Dec 2006, p.125]

This is a luxurious but ultimately hollow Faberge egg of a record. [Feb 2014, p.121]

But even knowing that [it's inspired by a Sam Shepard play], it's impossible to tell what's going on. [June 2008, p.149]

In short: challenging stuff. [Dec 2016, p.113]

This band aren't about confrontation, and to those attuned, this is exactly their strength. [Jun 2013, p.109]