The wait for the first great Frank Black solo album continues. [Sep 2002, p.100]

A safe, calculated release. [Jan 2004, p.121]

Long-vowelled and nasal - Redman without the charisma - and with a tasty line in mortuary slab terminology, he's never knowingly caught short of a rhyme.

Some Nights is ultimately a confused, turgid tangle of ideas. [Jul 2012, p.100]

Serviceable camp pop as it is, there's little here to attract anyone who hasn't already bought into Gossip. [Jun 2012, p.102]

His lightly jazzed guitar shuffles pleasingly.... But when he attempts to bring the funk and steam up some windows on Until You're Satisfied, your toes will curl for all the wrong reasons. [Feb 2013, p.113]

Their break-up songs are built around a dynamic of sweet boy-girl harmonies and bursts of swearing. [Mar 2006, p.109]

Hoppus, whose flat vocals once dovetailed deftly with Delonge's nasal whine, is sorely exposed as sole frontman. [Dec 2006, p.132]

It's a faintly embarrassing trifle that only a 69-year old ex-Beatle could get away with. [Apr 2010, p.120]

It's straightforward rock'n'roll and it's done with irresistible vim and contagious melody. [Jul 2016, p.107]

Shrigley's humour quickly suffers from the law of diminishing returns; once the initial shock has dissipated, it fails to stand up to repeated listening. [Jan 2015, p.128]

Storytone presents the same 10 songs twice: compellingly naked save for a guitar or ukulele, then dressed to kill in Hollywood strings and big band brass. [Dec 2014, p.119]

Music Kills Me occasionally drifts into the overly familiar world of laid-back jazz grooves, Latino rhythms and flutes, but there's enough elsewhere to intrigue. [Apr 2002, p.120]

Certainly there are some weak tracks... but Long Long Way To Go and Unbelievable are expertly crafted pop-rock tunes. [Aug 2002, p.122]

It is by turns funny, dark, ridiculous, exhilarating and -- most strikingly of all -- relentlessly personal. [Apr 2004, p.104]

Symphonica feels supper-club safe. [Apr 2014, p.103]

There's still no getting over the patchiness. [Mar 2006, p.106]

His hard-hitting electro is basic, but brutally effective dancefloor fare. [Feb 2009, p.119]

These are genuinely moving, but a change in pace wouldn't have gone amiss. [Oct 2012, p.98]

It's all done with a cheeky girl's charm. [Jun 2014, p.115]

The album has a polished sheen, but Leto's delivery of his earnest, sci-fi-tinged lyrics gets monotonous over the course of the album. [Dec 2002, p.96]

It's only on what passes here for a ballad, Black And Blue (A letter), that they overreach themselves. [Mar 2012, p.106]

Actual thrills are in short supply. [Dec 2019, p.114]

The Prodigy's fifth studio album sounds just like The Prodigy should. Only leaner, harder, and even faster than before. [Apr 2009, p.96]

Hits? Smoke + Mirrors bristles with them. [Mar 2015, p.116]

An unexpected treat. [Apr 2007, p.122]

Former Simian singer Simon Lord and Wiseguys mainman Theo Keating fail to do justice to the idea. [Aug 2008, p.132]

An engagingly quirky rock record. [Oct 2003, p.100]