Gore's brittle choirboy voice lacks the depth and grandeur of Gahan's, but he still gamely takes on some adventurous choices. [Jun 2003, p.108]

What makes B&S great is conspicuous by its absence.... For completists only. [Jul 2002, p.101]

America's Sweetheart is petulant and self-pitying. Worse, it's self-righteous. Worse still, it's musically crass. [Mar 2004, p.98]

Altogether lacking... is the crisp production that powered early hits like "Boo!", replaced by a rather unremarkable R&B job. [Nov 2005, p.94]

With just two original compositions, it looks as if they may be running out of steam. [Sep 2005, p.108]

What has sadly gone missing here, however, is Farrell's voice. [Jul 2007, p.112]

Liverpool 8, which stands happily beside Starr's recent hits compilation, holds its own as a companion piece to McCartney's similarly vital "Memory Almost Full," and makes a nice day off from having to like Radiohead.

All very impressive, if hallow at its core. [May 2011, p.88]

It would be nice to see Dido with more adventurous producers. [Apr 2013, p.69]

For the most part this is worthy of a half-decent coffeehouse open mic night, nothing more. [Dec 2011, p.79]

On the cautionary rockabilly of "Put Out The Fire" and low-slung raunch rap of "Ain't No Rhyme," he demonstrates a firm grasp of his essential strengths. [Jul 2016, p.70]

There is an occasional excess of histrionics, particularly on "Boat Yard," but her teenage talent has found a convincing adult path. [Sep 2011, p.96]

Sickly aspiring novelist turned singer-songwriter Mikel Jollett can knock out a powerful anthem, but his relentless yearning choruses and chiming guitar harmonies ring rather hollow as signifiers of emotion. [Jun 2011, p.77]

For the most part, Laugh Now, Cry Later plays like an unsuccessful attempt to regain hood status. [Sep 2006, p.86]

This seventh studio album doesn't find them doing anything much different but still doing it with grit and conviction. [Dec 2009, p. 113]

Sadly, torrid synthesiser and billowing melodrama make it impossible to see any wry glances cast by Exile. [Apr 2013, p.73]

This complacent record from long-time drone lover and former Lungfish guitarist Asa Osborne gets the recipe badly wrong. [Jun 2011, p.103]

It's dumb, downhome fun, and deliberately gizmo-free. [Jul 2006, p.86]

Here Scott Weiland lets off steam in grand style. [Feb 2009, p.101]

It's less wacky than their first--if still faintly smart-alecky--and boasts a clutch of impressively efficient, synth-powered indie pop numbers. [Jun 2011, p.103]

As powerfully evocative as a French arthouse flick. [Sep 2002, p.116]

Despite the 28-year gap since they first disbanded, this lineup resumes as if it were only yesterday, in a joyously abrasive, renegade reggae style with lyrics that don't mess about. [Dec 2009, p. 113]

A fairly conservative affair. [Nov 2006, p.101]

Album four sees tracks pushing more into more arcane territory, but otherwise we see Zero 7 putting a subtle electronic spin on Elton John, Syreeta, Pentangle and Nick Drake. [Oct 2009, p.123]

Not hopeless, but hopelessly self-indulgent. [Jul 2005, p.94]

The View's handicap is the sheer lumpen ordinariness of their songwriting. [Apr 2011, p.100]

The sparkier La Liberacion goes some way to restoring their reputation as festival favourites. [Sep 2011, p.81]

It's all over the shop, but worth a rummage. [May 2026, p.33]

Guitar band goes synth' isn't going to stop any presses, but this new phase perfectly suits Editors well. [Nov 2009, p. 84]

Cool and clever without being contrived, this is sharp, commercially astute pop music that ebbs and flows to the rhythm of a very human pulse. [Jan 2011, p.84]

It's the album's deft balance between Sitek's freewheeling and darkly ambient aesthetic and the familiar sub-Beatles melodies that make BE a bold leap forward in the mould of Paul Weller's recent psych-inspired reinventions. [Jul 2013, p.71]

This is scant compensation for his lack of fire, lyrical inspiration, or indeed anything that might distinguish him from his legion of peers. [Mar 2008, p.85]

Much of it is endurance-defyingly dull. [Jul 2006, p.84]

The music on this debut is nutritionally meager powerpop. [Nov 2008, p.120]

Other than the limp "Money," they ["Lose Control" and "Push Yourself"] pull these off pretty well--they're certainly more memorable than bog-standard guitar anthem "welcome To The Rave." [Mar 2013, p.69]

As an artistic exercise, it's interesting enough. [Nov 2023, p.33]

The albums three producers create a gloopy mix of mid-'80s soft rock and air-punching choruses which lack the urgency of the Killers, while the gambling metaphors and religious images quickly irritate. [Oct 2010, p.94]

All and all, it's a little too cool for its own good. [Feb 2012, p.97]

The guests are more intriguing than the material. [Dec 2002, p.152]

The truth is, this is actually rather safe music. [Apr 2008, p.94]

[An] elaborate, sophisticated collection. [Sep 2012, p.79]

The results are suitably polishes, but their pleasures are ephemeral. [Mar 2016, p.71]

Assured, yes, but there's very little rebellion here. [Dec 2018, p.23]

Zeitgeist comes on with a vicious energy, a jugular-grabbing intensity.

It's an odd confection, part digitally-lush Spector-pop, part Dido-esque thirtysomething ennui. [Feb 2006, p.68]

It's certainly a bold move that will either send them stratospheric or sink them completely. [Feb 2013, p.71]

Not everything works as well, but its entertaining enough and a portion of proceeds go to charity. [Dec 2014, p.76]

This large, noisy album will probably satisfy Embrace enthusiasts while continuing to baffle those who can't see the point. [May 2006, p.105]

Maybe the cycles of nostalgia may yet surprise us, but the group's puppyish enthusiasm can't redeem one of the less charming periods in pop history. [Apr 2010, p.81]

Though it flags towards the end, The Music is, for the most part, a shot in the arm. [Oct 2002, p.110]

[A] disappointing move into bland, dinner-party-backdrop territory. [Nov 2004, p.106]

Much of it is a coffee-table approximation of the producer duo's more irreverent work. [Aug 2011, p.89]

The real problem is the corporate production--the cleaner and slicker it gets, the flatter each song sounds. [May 2011, p.86]

Wallflower is quintessential adult pop, with solid if predictable selections. [Nov 2014, p.76]

Cohesive and pleasingly understated, drawing on post-punk, Afro-pop and Talking Heads-style funk-pop, and glued together by Fraiture's gauzy vocals. [May 2017, p.39]

Pleasant, but utterly inessential. [Mar 2009, p.104]

Although at times it can sound a little too carefully planned, there are some wonderful moments. [Jun 2017, p.23]

Johansson’s bland, flat contralto leaves you admiring the Cocteau Twins-style sonic backdrops and wondering how another singer--Liz Fraser, perhaps?--might improve them.

What follows is the most overblown album in recent memory, every song instantly hitting the "big Music" button without giving the listener a chance to become acquainted. [May 2011, p.87]

Most of the tracks were written on the piano and jettison guitars for chamber orchestrations. There are Brechtian oom-pah songs, elegant tangos, and two bruise-coloured ballads that might be the best Barat has written. [Nov 2010, p.81]

That it far surpasses its cut-up, protracted origins, and might even be the best thing the Floyd have released for over 30 years, is a welcome surprise. [Dec 2014, p.68]

Ultimately, though, it's another Squarepusher album you don't really need. [Oct 2009, p.112]

It's well done, but the price of reinvention has been the band's personality. [Jul 2014, p.76]

The Vision unveils a colorful, sensualist take on the dubstep sound, flexing basslines set into relief by twinkling R&B melodies and a host of guest vocalists. [Dec 2011, p.87]

As usual, Lewis' rocking material doesn't compare to his softer fare, but the likes of "pirates Declare War" and "Klutter" plot a fun that's infectious. [May 2010, p.85]

Flats look to be stranded between hipster grunge and true hardcore. [Jul 2012, p.71]

Buffed to a hyper-compressed, anodyne sheen by John McLaughlin, The Fountain is so craven in its bid for airplay it even includes an insipid number called "Drivetime". [Nov 2009, p.84]

He name-drops so many famous folks he's obviously banking on his connections. [Sep 2003, p.97]

At times thrilling and at times frustrating. [Feb 2005, p.83]

A haunting cover of the Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind' rounds off a quite remarkable debut. [May 2008]

For the most part, though, Long Way Down is relentless in its pursuit of a teen audience easily won over by a sensitive man-boy who knows his way around a piano. [May 2013, p.75]

There's no doubting To Kill A King's musicianship, nor their potential to be absolutely massive, but singer Ralph Pelleymounter's mid-Atlantic drawl is as irksome as the abundant lyrical truisms. [Apr 2013, p.79]

More memorable for famous guests than fine tunes, The World Is Yours does not diminish Brown’s reputation, but it lacks the exotic, adventurous reach of his best work.

These languid strums would sound suitably fine and mellow stoned on a beach at sunset. [May 2005, p.95]

Your appreciation of Scab Dates will be predicated on a high tolerance to long bongo solos and songs called things like "Abrasions Mount The Timpani". [Jan 2006, p.113]

Unfortunately, this conservative album wastes his eight-member backing band, who have much more range and power than these songs would indicate. [Jul 2017, p.26]

Rather desperately impersonates The Killers. [Mar 2006, p.94]

The sound they've fashioned is glossy and supersaturated while still exhibiting the subversive impulse that yielded the supremely catchy but subtly sinister smash "Pumped Up Kicks." [Apr 2014, p.74]

The quartet are once again playing it safe with their crowd-pleasing formula of surging riffs, queasily memorable choruses and lyrics which, like Mystic Meg horoscopes burn with portent while saying nothing. [Dec 2011, p.96]

Amped to an industrial sheen by producer Youth and packed with stripped-back stadium choruses, Born Into This rips from the speakers like an irate Velvet Revolver, Billy Duffy’s relentless axe-hero riffing matched by Astbury’s typically waspish lyrics.

Padded out with too much of the Europap that has blotted Perfecto's scoresheet over the years. [Jul 2002, p.116]

It's covers that make the bulk of the songs, and some are more successful than others. [Apr 2016, p.90]

Varies immensely in quality. [Dec 2004, p.137]

Beefy but unremarkable debut album. [Sep 2011, p.105]

Ocean Colour Scene return to remind us that no one loves the mid-'60s beat boom more than they do. [May 2005, p.103]

Joyless but effective. [May 2006, p.124]

Dig beneath the murky punk riffs (“Chinese Dogs”) and difficult time signatures (“Buzzards And Crows”) however, and you uncover a lyricist of rare promise, at his best when he’s on home turf.

Yes, Beck was always unpredictable, but this is one weirdly unfocused album. [May 2010, p.83]

It's a partially successful approach that starts promisingly with the disco trust of "Never Let Me go" and "Night People," but the plodding tempo begins to drag, and by "Single Minded" the listener feels worn out. [May 2011, p.88]

Alas, too much of this heavily glossed and processed album lacks wit or passion. [Oct 2011, p.86]

Pleiades may not live up to the cerebral promise of its title, but boats songs, in the likes of "Play," "Sunset & Echo," and single "Further." [Sep 2012, p.74]

Gone, for the most part, are the aching ballads in favour of identikit stadium rock epics somewhere between Simple Minds and Coldplay, overlain with '90s dance beats. [May 2014, p.73]

Pleasantly surprising, then to hear Moonlust take a rather more delicate approach. [Jun 2015, p.76]

He's a little too old to be playing the lecherous pick-up merchant on tracks like "Tight Tones;" but the lovesick swing of "The Old Man And The Beer" rather suits him. [Jul 2015, p.83]

The cod-mystical lyrics to tracks such as "Infinite Sun" and "Mountain Lifter" suggest that embers of the hippy-dippy sitar rockers survive, but a short, Hare Krishna-style sitar and acoustic guitar chant called "Hari Bol (The Sweetest Sweet)" suggests that dear old Crispian has an awareness of his own ridiculousness. [Mar 2016, p.75]

Blood Red Roses is as stylistically varied as its predecessors. [Nov 2018, p.37]

It's far from original, but nonetheless highly effective, and the sweaty, lad-friendly nature of the title betrays its inherent good humour. [Aug 2011, p.82]

Delivers much of the same. [Feb 2007, p.86]