It’s experimental in a kitchen sink (including Chris Isaak) way rather than studied and arty à la Everything Everything. Too often, the results are a bit of a mess.

Some of the bombastic stadium moments are so silly they’re fun but the more rustic pieces are where this Starr shines brightest. Speed Of Sound and Shake It Up have good-time rockabilly swagger, while the record’s highlight is So Wrong For So Long: a pedal-steel breakup tune which reaffirms Starr’s scouse-cowboy croon as one of the great lost voices of country music.

Only the hushed Living Lux, which closes the album in delicate velvet drifts, escapes unscathed. It is, sadly, not enough to give Bloc Party redemption.

Theis ruminative reminder that at their core they're equal parts inspired by Cohen and Bowie is a shrewd, often stirring step. [Jun 2025, p.103]

The 16th studio album by the former singer of punk band The Adverts sees a typically fierce set of lyrics set to a bunch of poppy tracks to excellent effect.

Fans of ST’s metal era (basically everything from the late 80s on) will appreciate Lombardo’s solid presence, though there’s a feeling that the master is slightly under-utilised here, more of his Cuban influences would have freshened up the slightly over-familiar sound a bit.

The album may not provoke the US Spring the band hopes for but, as an expression of rancour and frustration, it’s a teeth-baring smasher.

Move on, there’s nothing to see here.

Even the bluntest songs (Angry Bird, Party Liquor) have a dark, cautionary subtext, while the bereft, beautiful Something From Nothing (“about becoming dependent upon faith, which is as much a danger as a source of solace in troubled times”) genuinely stands shoulder to shoulder with Rundgren’s finest ballads.

Musically, Heaven And Earth is (generally) concise and catchy.

All Fired Up, though, is a touch too generic to have Young and his new cohorts making too many changes to the live setlist.

The guitar solos are the album’s single saving grace.

Sadly, Wyman can neither sing nor write a decent song.

There are a few misses here but Unleash The Love is a fun upbeat song that bounces along with the help of a choir, and both Pisces Brother and Cool Head, Warm Heart are strong ballads that sit comfortably in the live set of the touring Beach Boys. ... Disc Two is a head scratcher.