Prince didn’t put a foot wrong in his golden era, right down to what was left in the vault. [Jan 2021, p.94]

What’s most thrilling about Big Fish Theory is that it doesn’t sound leftfield or challenging; instead it provides a scintillating snapshot of both the state of the art and the untold history of underground black music for the past 30 years. [Aug 2017, p.65]

In the end, Vespertine commits its magic by daring to go places more obvious and more human than one would have ever expected. [#210, p.52]

The meat of the set almost certainly wouldn’t have been released if Prince were still with us. ... They add up to arguably the strongest new set of Prince recordings since Lovesexy. [Aug 2017, p.70]

A highlty nuanced album which is at once razor sharp, and rich in new openings and possibilities. [#206, p.60]

Their most beautifully conceived and ambitiously extended work to date. [#252, p.59]

This ludicrously exhaustive deluxe edition includes hour after hour of live takes, demos and interviews. Fascinating, but none of it overshadows the original album. [Dec 2017, p.70]

The magic of demos is being able to discover well known songs anew. In this form, the yearning and invitation of “Colour Me In” takes on a more literal meaning (“I am grey still on the page… Just an outline, sketchy but fine…Somehow I feel that I’m just the idea”), but is somehow even more poignant, and a reminder of how songs that began so deceptively simply would be taken into so many hearts, coloured in with countless listeners’ emotions and experiences. [Oct 2024, p.69]

Approaches the psychedelic grandeur of Spiritualized or Mercury Rev at their finest while still offering a wealth of carefully placed sonic detail. [#229, p.71]

Countless Branches does nothing different, but seems to knock them all dead by virtue of its naked simplicity alone. Some of these tracks are scarcely crafted songs at all but simple musings, addressed to no one in particular, not even an inward self, just uttered over soft, slow piano chords. [Mar 2020, p.48]

The folk inflection and multiplicity of Gately’s vocals make the album seem ancient. Or conjured. The songs aren’t ghostly as much as they feel witnessed, imbued with a palpable presence. ... Gately has sampled and mixed in her mother’s voice with her own, as if in acceptance of the balance of life and death. This co-existence – or the yearning for it – is ingrained in this astonishing album as a freshly carved cut in a foundational wooden beam. [Mar 2020, p.48]

Knowles’s instincts guide the cultural conversation in a way that feels healing, intentional and authentically collectiveminded. A well-constructed spell, cast with intention. [May 2019, p.63]

Imagine cLOUDDEAD jamming with Wilco, with David Lynch producing, and you're only halfway there. [#257, p.70]

These performances have been rightly cherished by collectors for decades. [Oct 2011, p.54]

Jurado's spare, edgy songs are miniature masterpieces of mood and character. [#229, p.68]

Though clearly labelled as demos, it’s hard not to think of this as a completed work. Cargill’s sequencing is impeccable and the material is compelling throughout. This is no mere collection of odds and sods, but a substantial release from the band that enriches their legacy. .... A reminder of what was lost. But it also feels like a gift. [Jul 2024, p.68]

This remake justifies the whole shebang. So perfect is the fit, in fact, that it feels uncannily like Scott-Heron’s sonorous rasp must have been recorded to fit this backing. ... Though often dark, this is both a celebration and a vindication: a truly great album. [Mar 2020, p.56]

Narkopop has a symphonic majesty, a sense of form and forward movement that no prior Gas record quite reached. Voigt's forest no longer merely murmurs; it positively exults. [May 2017, p.46]

This is a remarkably rich and complex achievement. [#267, p.52]

The most triumphant volume in the series, an at times nearly orchestral realisation of Branch’s unique compositional vision. It’s a shame there won’t be further volumes, but this caps off one of the great catalogues in 21st century jazz. [Oct 2023, p.46]

A taut, brutal collection which is as strong as anything they've released in their previous incarnations. [June 2003, p.65]

GNX plays like a extended victory lap. None of the year’s singles are included, references to the beef are scattershot and subliminal but its embers suffuse every preening boast and putdown. There’s no need for big conceptual flourishes of previous albums. This time around Kendrick is the concept, his creative intensity manifested as weaponised normality. .... From thereon [“Wacced Out Murals”] it’s a rap masterclass. [Jan/Feb 2025, p.86]

Despite its complexity, the album is full of ravishing, soulful production and vocals--as catchy and emotionally stirring as it is subversively and intellectually thrilling. [Dec 2012, p.75]

Burial has transcended his dubstep origins, belonging to a Gothic tradition that takes in Massive Attack and even 4AD at their most grandiosely despondent. [Jan 2008, p.53]

The album glows white-hot with fury and energy, familiar yet fresh. [#243, p.66]

Both totally entertaining and instantly accessible to both avant rap devotees and curious passers-by. [#246, p.66]

The posthumous tracks that have emerged are among the best of Hendrix's late work. [Apr 2013, p.50]

Blues Dream is both a compendious evocation and synthesis of a range of genres that never sounds merely eclectic... It's one of Frisell's most ambitious productions to date. [#207, p.61]