Sighing, panting and smouldering her way throufgh a dozen digitized come-ons, she maintains the fiction of a robo-pop nymphomaniac while all around her, Rome burns. [Jan 2008, p.102]

It's a snappy, catchy hybrid, though one that irritates pretty quickly. [Apr 2003, p.105]

Knowing what she's capable of, it's impossible not to feel disappointed. [Feb 2002, p.120]

All tasteful minimalism and soft lighting, this is more Vangelis than adventurous. [Sep 2004, p.108]

The heart of The Lost Riots is drowned in bombast, and Sam Herlihy's vocals are nowhere near strong enough to compete with the melodramatic, if prosaic, arrangements they're pitted against. [Sep 2004, p.107]

If the reheated Odelay-isms of last year's Guero felt like a tactical move in the wake of the soul-bearing torment of Sea Change, Guerolito has an equally hollow ring. [Feb 2006, p.86]

A highly unoriginal record. [Mar 2007, p.86]

It's probably fair to say that Super Furry Animals would not have had such excellent run were their creative impulses not balanced perfectly between poignant songcraft and archaic weirdness. On The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness, however, we find Gruff Rhys indulging rather heavily in the latter. [Sep 2010, p.101]

It's sleek, goth-leaning alt.pop, but ILYBICD's music ultimately leaves less of an impression than their band name. [May 2006, p.109]

It's a pleasant enough listen, but the feeling of overwhelming pointlessness is hard to shake. [Dec 2010, p.98]

The results of his previous work have sometimes felt opportunistic and Go Hard is no different. [Nov 2009, p.90]

DeLaughter is stingier with his pop songs this time, filling out the album with much ponderous, quasi-symphonic ballast. [Aug 2004, p.94]

As he mostly prefers to copy the sound of the original guitarists rather than stamp his own unique style on these over-familiar songs, you have to ask what's the point? [Dec 2010, p.105]

Even fans of their main groups might feel that its sole purpose is to emphasise the 'trial' in 'terrestrial'. [May 2006, p.124]

Keith's interaction with his producers is minimal, and his creative control so thin that vocal parts often sound like samples. [Sep 2006, p.79]

Adhering to commercially fixated standards of production line R&B, E=MC2 charms soon melt away. [Aug 2008, p.87]

This serves notice that the recent Wu-Tang renaissance may now be at an end. [Sep 2008, p.100]

It's nimble stuff, but the most moving contribution comes from the late Buck Ownes. [Jan 2008, p.104]

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]

If she's going to make us read her diary entries, she's going to need something more compelling than this litany of cliche and hackneyed need-a-man Bridget Jones-wailing. [Feb 2004, p.72]

Sisters Of Mercy fans will remain defiantly nonplussed. [Nov 2005, p.103]

Even at its best, Given To The Wild sounds like British Sea power without the esoteric charm, which is hardly the heartiest of recommendations. [Feb 2012, p.91]

Telephantasm, their latest, breaks a good deal more wind than it does ground. {Dec 2010, p.105]

TMBG's nagging pop tunes are useful mnemonics, albeit irritating ones. But there is no reason why anybody over the age of eight should listen to this. [Jun 2010, p.100]

The lack of urgency makes it feel like we're eavesdropping on a well-heeled Britpop Survivors Group rather than the site of fresh rock'n'roll alchemy. [Jun 2005, p.98]

Buck's monotone and his lack of truly cutting statements make this a dour experience. [Sep 2005, p.100]

[The Warlocks] have replaced The Velvet Underground and Spacemen 3 with The Jesus And Mary Chain and Spiritualized as the objects of their affections, and Surgery is significantly less interesting as a result. [Oct 2005, p.110]

Despite the starry cameos and production turns, Shine lacks a little lustre. [May 2008, p.94]

Pleasantly discreet, resolutely unengaging. [Oct 2005, p.107]

Curiously short on atmosphere. [Nov 2005, p.100]

While this second effort has its engaging moments, Leftwich has stuck dispiritingly close to his early template of delicate folk with hushed vocals and lyrics about bruised hearts and rain. [Sep 2016, p.75]

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

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]

Repeated plays reveal little charm and less real humour. [Aug 2003, p.97]

Thomas' lyrics are too frequently overwraught. [Mar 2003, p.98]

Grand National lack Hot Chip's playful edge and by 'Joker and Clown,' thoughtful production is hitched to that last refuge of pop scoundrel--the Snow Patrol-style ballad. {Apr 2008, p.90]

"My Foolish Heart" is delivered with some delicacy, "Sunny Side Of The Street" is playful, and "Fly Me To the Moon: floats Rod's voice over synth strings and a lazy piano. Otherwise, stick with Sinatra. [Jan 2011, p.103]

For all the dazzling dynamics, much of it recalling the '90s from shoegaze to Sonic Youth, the writing leaves little lasting impression, and Brian Aubert's affected vocals drag things down. [Jul 2009, p.97]

It's largely composed of pretty humdrum strum and twang, defining The Feelies less as the missing link between The Modern Lovers and Vampire Weekend, more as the founders of '80s college rock ordinaire. [Jun 2011, p.82]

Deeply disappointing. [Jul 2003, p.114]

The likes of "Be Yourself" lack much of a dimension beyond 'Let's rock out!' [Aug 2005, p.105]

He falls well short thanks to a dated, home-cooked sound and and the earth-bound mundanity of his collaborators. [Nov 2004, p.119]

All round it makes for a slightly uncomfortable listen. [Apr 2010, p.90]

One Lupine Howl is already too much, thanks. [Feb 2002, p.111]

Too often his cluttered samples and constant fidgeting shatter [the] fragile spells. [Apr 2005, p.98]

A self-indulgent but sporadically compelling mess. [Jan 2006, p.102]

Only in Victoria Bergman's singing on "Sunbeams" do you hear any of their early shaky charm. [Apr 2006, p.113]

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

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

Jigsaw finds the diminutive London rapper shorter on cheek than on her early singles, and the moments of mischief, when they come, ring a little hollow. [Jun 2009, p.90]

The veteran Frankfort duo's rather sterile approach to arty club bangers such as "divine" and "Regenerate" leaves them creatively stranded, scoring a hair-gel as on the VIVA channel. [Jun 2010, p.83]

"Never Too Late" sounds like an unhappy mix of Randy Newman and Arrested Development, and sometimes Franti sounds like a clap-happy Seal. [Jul 2003, p.130]

Keys hasn't the charisma to indulge in the inter-song banter here, which breaks up any soulful flow that might develop despite her sharp, hectoring vocals. [Jan 2006, p.108]

A song called 'Vietnam' only reinforces the all-around impression Lenny is 40 years too late. [Mar 2008, p.92]

A huge disappointment.

Intriguingly odd in small does, Wannerstrom's cheerless, unschooled voice and rudimentary guitar chordings can get mighty oppressive over the course of 50 minutes. [Feb 2009, p.82]

Lacks not only the impressive guestlist [of its predecessor]... but also the sparkle. [Nov 2006, p.99]

Very pretty but as predictable as Haven's guaranteed elevation to the Indie Premiership before the summer's through. [Feb 2002, p.118]

Madonna's 12th album has a good title and a nice cover, but that's almost as much as you can say in its favour. [Jun 2012, p.77]

They cite Wagner as an influence, sharing his bombast but none of the drama. [Apr 2012, p.69]

A stylistic and conceptual vacuum. [Jan 2016, p.78]

An in-joke gone horribly wrong. [Jan 2013, p.80]

Mancunian hipsters will shudder in disbelief. [July 2002, p.101]

An over-produced set of soppy ballads, Eagles-styled soft-rock and cod-disco. Sadly, the once great voice is shot, too. [Dec 2016, p.28]

Finds her plumbing new depths of pomposity. [Aug 2006, p.84]

An unctuous solo album mixing flaccid new songs with slick retreads of classics. [Jan 2018, p.24]

Where Flying Lotus scatterbrain brings emotive grooves out of madness, GLK can only manage ugly, mostly boring sketches. [Nov 2012, p.75]

From the Top of Willamette Mountain sounds more confident than the UK debut he released earlier this year.

A dozen songs of unremitting blandness by a man with absolutely nothing left to say. [Oct 2005, p.96]

Toxicity is virtually unlistenable: thrash metal splintered into a million pieces by unnecessary time changes, topped off with excruciatingly theatrical vocals. [Dec 2001, p.118]

Moffat doesn't do much with Mendelssohn's music except to chop it into annoying loops or stretch it out into quivering ambience that lacks the warmth and charm of his previous cut-up efforts. [Jun 2017, p.33]

It hard to work out what's more annoying from the rest, be it Dustin Payseur's forgot-my-gym-kit vocals, the self-important but frankly juvenile ambient interludes, otr the neat riffs, which sound like plugins from some indie-pop iPad composition app. [May 2013, p.67]

Starts badly and gets worse for a very long time (77 minutes). [Jan 2002, p.146]

"Heaven" is a decent stab at '80s synth pop; "Looking Hot" and "Push And Shove" mix bubblegum R&B with ragga-inspired middle eights; the rest is rather forgettable. [Dec 2012, p.75]

It might work as visual theatre, but as an album, it's horribly relentless. [Jun 2016, p.71]

No range of light here, just a wan glow that denies the need for shade. [Apr 2014, p.71]

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

It was the anger and angst of a jilted 20-year-old that gave the original songs their edge--something entirely absent from these blandly matured acoustic versions. [Aug 2005, p.90]

A dreary debut. [Feb 2006, p.74]

Much of this flaccid digi-guitar funk sounds like rough ideas Daft Punk rejected for Discovery. [Jun 2002, p.122]

Perhaps the most inappropriately-titled album since The Best Of Sting. [Dec 2003, p.116]

Chiefly consists of lumpen and joyless AOR rock, with a few rhythm loops to give an illusion of modernity. [Apr 2002, p.104]

Their ragtag religious signifiers, stretching from the Mediterranean to Bengal, feel like gap year blog entries, and Cisneros' wizened sage delivery is ludicrous. [Aug 2012, p.77]

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

Maximalists and circus ringmasters might enjoy it, but many will be scrabbling for the stop button. [May 2012, p67]

The problem with The Weirdness is that it shoots its bolt immediately and has nothing left to offer. [Apr 2007, p.93]

He still sounds like a blue-collar phoney trying to be a poor man's Springsteen. [May 2002, p.104]

This is music that was manufactured to be played everywhere except those places to which people go when they want to hear music. [Oct 2008, p.105]

A sentimental indulgence destined for a theme-pub half-life. [Nov 2002, p.114]

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

This is turgid, formulaic guff. [Nov 2003, p.114]

A pale retread of Get Rich... fashioned by lesser talents. [Feb 2004, p.69]

Life Processes sounds like mice playing Hundred Reasons covers. [May 2008, p.95]

Squire's voice is awful, while his music and lyrics are those of a busker. [Nov 2002, p.113]

Lyrically, the fare wavers from the unspectacularly anecdotal to the spinelessly soppy. [Jul 2011, p.121]

The results are risible but the joke is no longer funny. [Feb 2003, p.77]

Her music is similarly annoying, with her sugar-fuelled rockabilly-pop, she's the female Jack Penate. [Jan 2008, p.93]

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]