Against the odds, Norris and Alkan really do possess the magic touch. [Aug 2016, p.108]

As armistice appears to exist on this sixth album; the more ethereal elements of the band's sound have been reined in, but so has much of the agresion, resulting in a smoother ride that allows Moreno's melodic ear to shine and seduce. [Jun 2010, p.123]

Mulvey is very much his own man on this highly intriguing debut. [Jun 2014, p.117]

[In The Now] doesn't stray too far from the latter-day Bee Gee template as songs such a s Grand Illusion, Star Crossed Lovers and the swooning ballad The Long Goodbye combine harmonies with memorable melodies. [Nov 2016, p.105]

Packed with intriguing melodies. [Mar 2005, p.99]

Hideously wrong, fantastically right. [Jan 2019, p.114]

All thoughts of age, celebrity and stadium itineraries melt away as the Stones work their peculiar alchemy with vigour, mastery and jeu d'espit. [Feb 2017, p.114]

The gamble has paid off in a sometimes challenging but constantly rewarding musical odyssey. [July 2008, p.96]

It's intimate, folkie, more Anglo than Mojave 3, not at all Slowdivey. [Dec 2008, p.108]

Mesmerising. [May 2012, p.96]

Utterly cinematic, it owes as much to Vangelis's Blade Runner soundtrack as derrick May's minimal techno. [Jan 2010, p. 120]

The Courage Of Others charts a terrain more folksy and pastoral with a greater sense of melancholy and fear at its core. [Feb 2010, p. 106]

In the moving figure of The Bride, Khan has delivered her defining statement as an artist. [Aug 2016, p.109]

Play's inventiveness will restore his reputation as a puck-like, maverick talent.

It's the their best album yet. [Aug 2012, p.102]

His simple, unadorned songs of longing, belonging and love are so striking that contributions from such distinctive guests... pass almost unnoticed. [Apr 2005, p.118]

It's an album that more than makes up for Franz Ferdinand's extended absence. [Sep 2013, p.96]

It's a record that might even disappoint on first listen, but one that reveals many subtleties and wonders over time. [May 2006, p.118]

It is their poppiest, most direct album yet, with a '60s swing permeating throughout its 10 tracks, but Cox has never sounded so disconnected from the world. ... It is a lean and often brilliant album. [Feb 2019, p.110]

Vague prog touches and thrash influences soon emerge, offering breadth and depth. [Dec 2012, p.109]

The sonic scope here is far wider, incorporating both industrial and squawking jazz into something that chimes perfectly with uncertain times. [Jun 2020, p.106]

The end result is a heavyweight tour de force, and Polly Harvey's most fully-realised album to date. [May 2016, p.102]

Heavenly. [Mar 2012, p.97]

That you are compelled to stay listening to see what it might be is proof of this record's eerie power. [May 2016, p.111]

They have shed their gormless, drifting amateurism and turned themselves into a classic American pop band. [Aug 2009, p.109]

In truth, there are unexpected delights at every turn here, not least in the realisation that Mercury Rev may only just be hitting their collective stride. [Sep 2001, p.115]

It won't dethrone Endtroducing... from the pantheon but at last Davis has rediscovered the hidden door to that entrancing night-time world. [Aug 2016, p.111]

This freewheeling third record is picthed just the right side of sobriety. [May 2010, p.112]