producer Don Was has tried to capture a country legend in his veteran state, but he's missing all the tricks. [Jan 2013, p.106]

The technical proficiency can't make up for the uneventfulness of the material. [Mar 2015, p.104]

Their debut bounces up and down rather a lot, resorting to ska-punk when everything fails. [May 2009, p.119]

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]

Carry Me Back feels like a sidestep towards a more traditional sound. [Jan 2013, p.108]

Future Songs is minimalist and alien, haunted and pained: like a bloodless Cocteau Twins.

As tame as it is conventional. [Apr 2005, p.124]

It's a loose affair, typical of Chilton's slapdash attitude towards heritage curation. [Oct 2005, p.114]

There's nothing new here. [May 2006, p.131]

Davies' voice, weathered but still fine as a Waterloo sunset, is complemented by few here. [Dec 2010, p.113]

If anything, [Disc 2] is the real rip-off, as unsuspecting buyers will be shellshocked by these FX-laden, space-ambient settings. [Dec 2004, p.135]

Despite such big hitters as Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire, it's an overly introspective affair, with little standing out bar contributions from The Decemberists and Dave Sitek. [Mar 2009, p.102]

The main impression left by Nobody's Daughter represents no great surprise: that for all her raging intelligence, Courtney Love is only as good as her collaborators. [Jun 2010, p.121]

Oh how it drags. [Aug 2003, p.106]

Petty sounds like a bitter old man howling at the moon. [Dec 2002, p.110]

The majority of tracks scream "poor old bored celeb." [Nov 2006, p.139]

Clever as it is, there's all too little that actually engages the heart as well as the mind. [May 2015, p.111]

Much as their guitars cascade and their lyrics have a dark undertow, there's too much heavy-footed stodginess, notably in the plodding Staying Up, to make them truly engaging. [Jun 2013, p.103]

This is as cynical a mish-mash of popular trends as you can imagine. [May 2004, p.106]

There's no denying that CSS have grown in songwriting flair and musical sophistication. Unfortunately, this seems to have come at the expense of raw energy and quirky character. [Aug 2008, p.133]

For all her searing honesty and her undisputed craft, her voice is too frigid too often and she seems strangely melody-phobic. [Apr 2010, p.119]

Over 27 unpredictable tracks that run the gamut from soaring Byrdsian harmonic rock to the sound of wind in the trees played backwards, Black Foliage is a marathon.

The message is as subtle as a street riot but the delivery mechanism ('90s funk metal, barked tirades) creaks with age. [Oct 2017, p.108]

An assured start, though he'll need to be braver next time round. [Aug 2014, p.115]

Like the rock equivalent of an SUV, All The Right Reasons is huge, polished and ultimately pointless. [Dec 2005, p.155]

At its worst, only the quality of the backing band distinguishes it from pub rock. [Jul 2006, p.112]

In a half-hearted effort to dilute the homogeneity, Harris grouts 18 Months with flimsy instrumentals, as if to create the illusion of a proper album. He's not fooling anyone--maybe not even himself. [Dec 2012, p.108]

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