It is lighter sonically than the Hendrix classics and laced with a handful of instruments that, despite spotlighting the guitarist's jaw-dropping fluidity, might be of limited appeal. [Apr 2010, p.127]

Beat the Devil's Tattoo finds BRMC edging ever further toward parody. [Apr 2010, p.109]

It's a good move, supercharged power pop melodies and sparky guitars combining to good effect on tracks such as "Gimme The Wire." [Jun 2010, p.127]

The enveloping crescendos of "Albatross" define the album's blend of beauty and pure power in a record that puts "classic" back into classic rock. [Apr 2010, p.106]

It works surprising well. [Apr 2010, p.120]

Quarantine The Past, a 23-track Best Of, blazes their reunion trail, working as either a tremendous primer for the uninitiated or a dizzying reminder of their remarkable abilities. [Apr 2010, p.124]

The results are spooky, poignant and impressively unique. [Apr 2010, p.111]

Her debut album, indeed, is something of a mess, the sense being of an artist trying to run before she can walk. [Jul 2009, p.123]

So we get stomping piano pop hits (I'm All Over It), supper-club R&B (a cover of Rihanna's Don't Stop The Music) and finger-clicken' ruminations on the stage of the planet (Wheels, If I Ruled the World). Proof the thrill is in the chase. [Dec 2009, p.111]

The whole album passes without anything you could call a tune, but there's a keen intelligence at work: while fiercely odd, it's frequently electrifying, too. [Feb 2010, p. 112]

As a covers album, this is about as good as it gets. [Mar 2010, p.104]

Their best and most cohesive album since 1999's "Vertigo." [Mar 2010, p.111]

It may lack enough heavy hitters to equal the sucess of "Merriweather Post Pavilion," yet the aptly named McPhun has created a Technicolor, synapse-tickling delight. [Apr 2010, p.119]

The sound is richer and the mood conveyed by Sambol--think a Muppet Show Sylan--is more rueful. [Apr 2010, p.121]

Few tracks are any way immediate. [Apr 2010, p.116]

It features much gastly US po-punk. but Robert Smith and Franz Ferdinand take on songs from former Alice In Wonderland productions and just about win. [May 2010, p.125]

A sleek fusion of minimal bass, subtle breakbeats and surpise vocalists. [Apr 2010, p.111]

The Open Road restates his credentials, mostly with fleet-footed aplomb. [Apr 2010, p.111]

Songs such as "Don't Ask" strike, but with nothing to sweeten the blow. The sound of baby going out with the bath water, in short. [Apr 2010, p.109]

The sextet have simply folowed their instincts and made a gloriously upbeat pop collection, packed with kitchen-sink productions and thumping choruses, invariably underpinned by Rasmus Nagel's stentorian keyboards. [Apr 2010, p.106]

The resultant upgrade sounds like a ZX Spectrum wired to a jack hammer. Add the occasional pause for breath--as on the glacial "The Erskine Bridge"-- and Come Down With Me is a thrilling invitation. [Mar 2100, p.101]

Instead of setting alarm bells ringing, One-Arm Bandit manages to be both playful and innovative in a '70s prog-rock kind of way. [Mar 2010, p.110]

The melodramatic clatter of Corridors and Meridian's airborne melodic spores mark then out as rare species, but their underlying pomposity remains an albatross around their necks. [Mar 2010, p.108]

This Ronson-produced collection of swinging '60s pop and blue-eyed soul is still well-crafted, with standouts. The problem is Merriweather's voice, which is technically agile but emotionally anodyne. [Jul 2009, p.127]

While there's plenty to admire, Magic Chairs feels like th work of a band who can't quite allow themselves to make the anthemic indie-rock of which they're clearly capable. [Mar 2010, p.101]

Thier latest mixes elements of ambient, post-punk and psychedelia. Often a recipe for a mess, there are moments of coherence. [Mar 2010, p.97]

Maybe it's simpy the case that, Cash and Rubin having done similar things together so often in the past, the magic and power ro move have worn off, only to be replaced by an uneasy feeling of exploitation. [Apr 2010, p.108]

The title track sets the tone with its exploration of heroin addiction as a metaphor for relationships, but it's "The American Scream"--a gritty, neo-gothic parable--that best illustrates Alkaline Trio's unique take on three chords and the truth. [Mar 201, p.97]