Perhaps not something you'd put on to get the party started, Yung Lean has though nailed the comedown. [Jan 2018, p.114]

Potent stuff. [Jan 2018, p.114]

An LP that, on balance, really is just for Christmas. [Jan 2018, p.113]

Sometimes overly busy album. ... Swift soars when she is most herself. [Jan 2018, p.112]

[Her] final LP gives as much pleasure as her 2002 breakthrough. [Jan 2018, p.110]

It's clear The Architect has elevated her to a whole new level. [Jan 2018, p.109]

It starts off well. ... It's a shame then, that the second half of the album is so unspectacular. [Jan 2018, p.109]

The balancing of Gainsbourg's natural good taste with this deeper emotional resonance remains key throughout. [Jan 2018, p.109]

Utopia is like walking through a vast tropical greenhouse, full of sunlight, oxygen and the twittering of birds. [Jan 2018, p.108]

The manic arrangements sometimes overwhelm, but there are worse places to drown than Baths' ball-pit of an imagination. [Jan 2018, p.106]

Songs Of Experience will likely go down as a late-career classic. [Jan 2018, p.104]

His best record in more than a decade. [Dec 2017, p.104]

Smart, witty and warm. [Dec 2017, p.113

Memory reverts to his early-noughties down-tempo incarnation as OCS, which only illuminates his frailties as a singer/lyricist. [Dec 2017, p.109]

His second album evokes a fragmented, at times nightmarish, digital world. [Dec 2017, p.113]

The frequently heavy subject matter is brightened musically by flashes of pedal steel and taut strings--meaning things never get too oppressive. When it's over though, you're left feeling you've been touched by something deeply elemental. [Dec 2017, p.109]

Morrissey, at 58, once again proves himself a pop provocateur of enduring efficacy. [Dec 2017, p.100]

This 25th anniversary deluxe edition includes a collection of curious demos and live takes. ... The record itself remains a masterpiece, a cross-generational smash hit from which they'd never truly recover. [Dec 2017, p.115]

A roster of guest vocalists elevate his noir-shaded take in Detroit techno and '80s "dark-wave" synth-pop. [Dec 2017, p.102]

The album is drenched in the cosmic swirl of warm synths and dreamy atmospherics. [Dec 2017, p.106]

While odd duds such as Cryin' In Your Beer occasionally stall proceedings, this trip down memory lane otherwise yields compelling results. [Dec 2017, p.113]

Fans of his early output will continue to wonder why he's forsaken immaculate prog house so completely: those up for the trip, conversely, will just be keen to know where he's headed next. [Dec 2017, p.108]

A joy throughout. [Dec 2017, p.105]

Politics seldom sound this heartfelt and honest. [Oct 2017, p.108]

Deacon's score is all subtle mood shifts and intriguing instrumentation. [Nov 2017, p.108]

Dillards-quality instrumentals such as Office Supplies keep the whole album zinging along. [Dec 2017, p.106]

Admirers of The Boo Radleys, the group Carr side-stepped stardom with in the '90s in favour of eclectic cult-dom, will appreciate the sophisticated dance-pop, rock, soul and Brian Wilson-like orchestral curlicues in evidence. [Dec 2017, p.102]

A dense dish to consume in one sitting, perhaps, but Bootsy's spicy narrations and undulating, jazz-informed basslines hold it all together. [Dec 2017, p.105]