Musically, these tracks take in '60s flavour Farfisa-sounds, abstract electronica and, on Citizens Nowhere, the neglected style clash of hip hop and glam rock. [Jun 2003, p.98]

Presents Led Zeppelin in all their ragged glory and heavy splendour. [Jul 2003, p.119]

Its kitsch-free excellence confirms Hawley as a balladeer of the very highest order. [Mar 2003, p.109]

Another dollop of rock sludge with a remarkably honest title. [Aug 2003, p.115]

It's... strangely coy, preferring to camp it up than give in to full-on indecency. Which isn't to say it doesn't have its moments. [Jul 2003, p.101]

Something rather lovely with a jittery edge that halts proceedings well before they arrive at saccharine-sweet. [Aug 2003, p.115]

Unhinged but snow-cool. [Apr 2004, p.114]

The feelgood hit of the summer? Quite possibly. [Sep 2003, p.110]

The usual blend of knockabout punk rock, nutty-boy ska and witty lyrics. [Jul 2003, p.108]

In a genre considered creatively bankrupt, this is genuinely new metal. [Jul 2003, p.102]

Like his debut, From Every Sphere chokes on moments of indigestible excess. [Mar 2003, p.108]

A treat. [Jul 2003, p.108]

The good news is that Grotesque rocks like a bastard.... Not so good news is that Manson's shock shtick still lacks real substance. [Jun 2003, p.103]

Alkaline Trio subvert their perky, zinging three chord mall-punk with misanthropy, melancholy and alcohol-sodden, world-weary wisdom. [Jun 2003, p.92]

Targets all things "bling" with the same mix of bitter storytelling and star guests, only it's not as funny. [Jul 2003, p.111]

The absence of Liz Fraser's warbling--or indeed vocal distractions of any kind--means it comes and goes without leaving any lasting impression. [May 2003, p.106]

Slideling ditches the Bunnymen's arch neo-psychedelia in favour of four-square indie-rock. [May 2003, p.110]

This is maverick electronica without the headaches. [Jul 2003, p.103]

Exhausting, but borderline brilliant too. [May 2003, p.102]

Lamb have finally perfected the trip hop/classical fusion they discovered on their career-high Gorecki, though the beatific sumptuousness of their sound can be overwhelming.

Sounds like a malfunctioning iPod loaded with The Neptunes, Aphex Twin circa Windowlicker and The Last Poets--only with all the fragments miraculously falling in just the right places. [Jun 2003, p.104]

A record of jerky, twilit, hard-edged electro.... But for all its experiment and inconsistency, Black Cherry is still a thoroughly likeable album. [May 2003, p.101]

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

Imagine if a Morrissey-style frontman--sharp, tender and taboo-breaking--was also sexual. [May 2003, p.107]

There are guitars, but they are rarely central. The beat-driven tracks veer towards the arty, white boy-with-beatbox line of Talking Heads and The Clash. [May 2003, p.96]

While his taste is textbook classic, his arrangements are not. [May 2003, p.104]

An impressive pop artefact, propelling its creators clear of the current garage-rock morass.... It's the sound, if not the smell, of teen spirit. [May 2003, p.111]

It's startlingly spirited stuff. [Aug 2003, p.116]