Come Around Sundown is the sound of them trying to wrestle its relationship with fame back under control. On a musical level, they've succeeded--they've scaled back the ambition with out throwing the baby out with the bathwater. [Nov 2010, p.102]

MDNA's dirty dozen rank it her best since, in all sincerity, the career high of 1998's Ray Of Light itself. [May 2012, p.88]

Compentent and glossy, Oceans Will Rise sounds like a lot of effort has been expended for a rather meager retuyrn. [Dec 2008, p.135]

While accepting that his odd but beguiling hybrid of rap, country, folk, and Butthole Surfers/Tom Waits-weirdness will never eclipse 1998's platinum "Whitey Ford Sings The Blues" he's injected impetus into what threatened to become a stale formula. [Oct 2008, p.142]

While his fourth album shows he has learnt his way around a reasonable tune - opener Back To The Wild has a distinctive grace - his lyrics can descend into trite cliche or inane observation ("Time it goes on/Life it goes by", "you'd love to pretend you were right/But you're wrong") [Feb 2010, p. 108]

True, he lacks bandmate 50 Cent's raw charisma. But his leisurely delivery carries weight. [Mar 2011, p.101]

The sequel gets off to a spotty start with lightweight songwriting and dated production....The '00 material, however, represents a creative revival. [Mar 2012, p.117]

Derivative/ Certainly. Mesmerising? Definitely. [Jul 2012, p.104]

These new songs sound like they came straight from a traditional songbook. [Jan 2013, p.102]

Their take on the latter's [Rustie's] maximal funk inevitably lacks the shock of the new, a heard-it-all-before feeling which persists through bumping house jams and detours into vintage jazz. [Jun 2013, p.100]

It might lack Ryder-Jones's delicate invention, but it's still a lesson in enjoyable lucid songwriting. [Jul 2013, p.109]

What really fascinates is the way Davidge pulls the musical strings throughout. [Mar 2014, p.111]

At 15 tracks long there's occasionally some saggy moments, but with plenty of verve and sparkle in the main, The Melodic's debut proves unexpectedly life-affirming. [Apr 2014, p.115]

Idol's magnetism is simply colossal--an invaluable commodity in these times. [Dec 2014, p.110]

It's a step in the right direction. [Oct 2015, p.113]

Stein sounds like she's coming of age on this album, addressing both her past and future, and mostly liking what she sees. [Aug 2017, p.112]

The album's title is a nod to America's addiction to prescription drugs, while the 21st-century pop production gloss of Actual Pain, for example, hides an inner turmoil. [Oct 2018, p.111]

It's claustrophobic at best, and, after a while, a little tiring. [Feb 2019, p.108]

It's good to have them back. [Apr 2008, p.102]

Fusing strange, arresting rhythms with gothic atmospheres, these surprisingly modern-sounding soundscapes should earn Korn a deserved second wind. [Jan 2006, p.127]

It's a qualified success, he rocks harder here than he has done for years, but there's still plenty of fat left to trim from the bloated ballads. [May 2010, p.121]

Not quite as beautifully forlorn as 2003's Long Gone Before Daylight. [Nov 2005, p.123]

An album that feels necessarily smaller than its predecessor. [Aug 2014, p.105]

They have toughened up. [Jun 2005, p.113]

System is a one-paced, staid affair, where almost everything suggests a tired version of Seal's first hit, 'Killer.'

It delivers patches of sheer brilliance, but the overwhelming urge is to ask them to cut to the chase. [Dec 2012, p.109]

The majority of Reality Killed the Video Star - a reliably punning title, and this one almost works - seems to have taken its glum atmospheric cue from Morrissey's Vauxhall And I or Rufus Wainwright's less fruity concoctions - without necessarily taking on board any of their melodic or lyrical gifts. [Dec 2009, p. 108]

As ever, the drawback is a surfeit of earnestness; some of the irreverent humour of their live shows qouln't go amiss. [Aug 2010, p.127]