If the songwriting at times falls into cliche, the performances--passionate, eloquent, spilling over with regal harmonies--are anything but. [Jul 2015, p.72]

A different male duetting partner graces each track, with outstanding contributions from Jackson Browne and Willie Nelson among others. Yet all take a back seat tot he preternatural clarity of Collins' own soprano voice. [Nov 2015, p.73]

This highly agreeable live set assembles some of the choicest bits, harnessing prog, slinky space-funk and vivacious free-form jamming. [Jan 2016, p.73]

Caroline's 2CD sampler of her moonlighting efforts features charming interludes from past lives. [Nov 2015, p.96]

On I Abused Animals, Leigh works with stretched song forms--the result is remarkable. [Jan 2016, p.77]

Ultimately the notion lingers that Wax Stag's gentle fantasy is more Bedford than Balaeric. [Apr 2015, p.84]

[A] sonically rich debut. [May 2015, p.77]

Happily, the overarching bleakness is sugared by Wells' brisk, sometimes cinematic instrumentation. [Jun 2015, p.84]

More straightforward.... Lovely. [Oct 2015, p.76]

Nadia Reid's impeccable debut will maybe set a wider orbit in motion. [Dec 2015, p.77]

Futures is just as lovely as his admirers could have hoped. [Jan 2016, p.73]

It's Wells' unorthodox vision that presides. [Jan 2016, p.81]

Safe to say Wild Winter is no Mariah-styled bauble-fest, but it's all the better for it. [Jan 2016, p.80]

Chorus shows that they are more than worthy of re-examination. [Jan 2016, p.91]

Substantial tranches of the Matrix Tapes have already appeared elsewhere. [Jan 2016, p.89]

Their defining touchstones remain intact. [Jan 2016, p.81]

As noise records go, it's a thing of relative restraint, and enjoyable in its own way. [Jan 2016, p.81]

It is a fitting tribute and resounding success. [Jan 2016, p.81]

Modern Dancing suggests they're just as smitten with Pavement's affably skronky early works as they are with any '80s touchtones. [Jan 2016, p.81]

Road-toned chops and anticipation of desert homecoming combine to evince a mighty set. [Jan 2016, p.81]

They never outstay their welcome or settle into anything as complacent as a groove, leaving nothing behind but a sugary residue and a feeling of faint violation. [Jan 2016, p.80]

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

With so many other similar vehicles available, there's not much reason to choose this one. [Jan 2016, p.78]

Brimming with visceral rock'n'soul that channels the spirit of The Replacements, The E Street Band and Alabama Shakes, and mixes them into an irresistibly tasty gumbo. [Jan 2016, p.77]

The record to funk up your festive period. [Jan 2016, p.77]

You can sense the deceptively complex Art Angels will only continue to yield further depths with time. [Jan 2016, p.76]

Now the songs are sharper and prettier. [Jan 2016, p.75]

Shuffle and skip for best results. [Jan 2016, p.71]

Mixed, but mostly positive results. [Jan 2016, p.73]

It privileges technique and texture over hooks, but as a pitch to be the next Danger Mouse, Aquaria is not a bad one. [Jan 2016, p.73]

A much more orthodox, plaid-shirted affair that draws heavily from the early '70s. [Jan 2016, p.73]

A satisfying, if not earth-shattering, experiment. [Jan 2016, p.73]

Coming so soon after Depression Cherry, it would be easy to dismiss Thank Your Lucky Stars as a mere postscript, but, if anything, it's the more impressive of the pair. [Jan 2016, p.72]

Silver Liner utilises a much more effective palette [than The Reckoning]. It's certainly brighter and looser. [Jan 2016, p.72]

Few More Days To Go is a strong statement of intent in its own right. [Jan 2016, p.76]

We Are Nots is an impressive, if punishing, introduction. [Jan 2016, p.78]

The musical themes are narrow and somewhat repetitive but Kubrick duly delivers on atmosphere. [Jan 2016, p.80]

Not pretty, necessarily, but pretty good. [Jan 2016, p.75]

What are we left with? A handful of wonderful "new" songs, some interesting also-rans and alternative choices, and the sobering realisation an entirely different double album from The River: a work not quite of equal quality, but still of a remarkable standard. [Jan 2016, p.86]

It's a mixed bag in the best, revelatory sense. [Jan 2016, p.91]

A welcome comeback. [Jan 2016, p.73]

The results can be stirring. [Jan 2015, p.74]

Right On! casts its own seductively austere shadow. [Jan 2016, p.77]

Purple is a formidable show of power and resilience, the band--with the help of produce Dave Fridmann--achieving its most consistently thrilling fusion of metal, southern rock and the edgier end of '90s alt.rock. [Jan 2016, p.72]

Kannon will leave other neophytes feeling awed by the complexity and physicality achieved here. [Jan 2016, p.70]

After the crunchy riffs of The Next day, Blackstar has a more nuanced approach. [Jan 2016, p.67]

A pleasantly bitchy book gives all Ork acts their due, a raft of rare tracks completing the picture. Prix offcuts are essential listening for Big Star fetishists.

Loaded: Reloaded stands as a lavish sequel. [Nov 2015, p.92]

Songs are largely centered on shrill, surfy guitar and all of then are built to be absorbed, affixed to undulating rhythms that ebb and flow before they eventually slip into a groove. [Dec 2015, p.78]

There's a clear confidence in their third album. [Dec 2015, p.74]

The result is vast and apocalyptic. [Dec 2015, p.81]

Disappointingly, there's a lack of biting vocal interaction between the half-sisters, nothing ti match the delectable harmonies that graced the McGarrigles or less feted Roches. [Dec 2015, p.81]

AmERICa finds Wreckless Eric reborn in the USA, his home since 2011. Curmudgeonly, maybe, but a sly joy pervades. [Dec 2015, p.81]

Their latest dismantles the genre boundaries often used to pen them in. [Dec 2015, p.79]

At times, it's redolent in scope of Paul Weller's 21 Dreams. [Dec 2015, p.78]

As ever, the single 44-minute track sis immersive; those coming to The Necks for a transcendent mindfulness session, however, may find it distinctly unnerving in places. [Dec 2015, p.75]

Joining the fun are pals such as Ethan Miller, Stephen Malkmus and Cass McCombs, who add to the sense of chaos, but do not diminish the cohesion that make these diverse jams so stupidly, thrillingly rewarding. [Dec 2015, p.79]

Ultimately dissolves into a beautifully arranged and slightly sickly morass of curdled pop tropes, out of which spurt a bodacious riff or glossy rave arpeggio. Oddly no-one does this better. [Dec 2015, p.76]

While the orchestral flourishes on "Beloved Wife" and "River" are nice enough, it's when Merchant pares back the arrangements on "Wonder" and "Carnival" and focuses on her voice (which has become deeper and grainier with age) that these songs really soar. [Dec 2015, p.75]

They're pleasingly bleak on their second studio set. [Dec 2015, p.78]

Italian jobs come no finer. [Dec 2015, p.73]

Too often, frontman Euan Hinshelwood's strivings for tragedy come off as merely morose. [Dec 2015, p.81]

Silver Bullets sounds, instantly and unmistakably, like a Chills album.... It is also a heartening delight. [Dec 2015, p.63]

Despite the sense of loss that inevitably pervades the music here, Steve Goodman's first solo effort as Kode9 also charts out some exhilarating new directions. [Dec 2015, p.74]

It's when they seemingly reach straight down the devil's throat, as on the ferocious "Deacon Brodie," a strangled punk/blues bottleneck, that this debut really distinguishes itself. [Dec 2015, p.81]

Ryder-Jones excels at finding beauty in forbidding places. [Dec 2015, p.78]

Together, Adams and Lynne have come up with an old-fashioned FM rock album, short on nuance but strong on intent. [Nov 2015, p.71]

Lo-fi and understated, the twin vocals of Dylan Sharp and Carrie Keith are also strong throughout. [Nov 2015, p.76]

The overall effect is a carefully constructed, complex yet breezy, psych-pop collection. [Dec 2015, p.69]

Such self-conscious nostalgia is stifling at times, but the best tracks transcend retro pastiche. [Dec 2015, p.71]

His voice of loss is shrouded in inventive production. [Dec 2015, p.74]

Ethan Johns' stripped country settings on Willie Nelson and The Milk Carton Kids tunes immediately find Sir tom's grit and gravitas. [Nov 2015, p.77]

Much here, like the outstanding "Silhouettes (I, II & III)," sits elegantly in a progressive tradition that draws on Teo Macero's collage work on In A Silent Way, David Axelrod's string arrangements, and Four Tet's own "Thirtysixtwentyfive." [Dec 2015, p.71]

Marr has hit a rich vein of middle-age form. [Dec 2014, p.74]

The musical tone of Panhandle rambler is rich, yet supple. [Dec 2015, p.70]

The songs--period pieces, admirably researched--lack that spark that turns pastiche into profundity. [Dec 2015, p.73]

This is a seasoned master of what he does operating in his comfort zone, and doing it very well indeed. [Dec 2015, p.66]

Toledo offers dense, self-analytical lyrics and a style that take in everything from The Zombies to the Pet Shop Boys, ambitious in scope and clearly much agonised-over. [Dec 2015, p.69]

When the guitarist and singer pairs their familiar hard-boiled, in-the-red licks with Latin rhythms and transcendent B3 organ flights, the combination is revelatory. [Dec 2015, p.71]

There are worth while curiosities here: his "Bad Blood" is utterly tuneless, but "Blank Space" is appealingly tremulous. [Dec 2015, p.67]

Thunderbitch does a far better job of capturing Howard as a performer than either of the Alabama Shakes albums have; here, her inimitable, flamboyant voice is given free rein, ably supported by her fellow Thunderbitches. [Dec 2015, p.68]

Blitzen Trapper's rock-solid eigth boasts a pair of instant grabbers. [Dec 2015, p.69]

The album's languid pace and lack of real bite often renders it a little pedestrian. [Dec 2015, p.69]

It's her first record that could be a classic rather than just name-checking a bunch of them. [Dec 2015, p.70]

It's a muscular and alluringly saturnine record with a vintage sheen, which occasionally tilts at the Bad Seeds but sounds more like a wracked Richard Hawley. [Dec 2015, p.71]

If A Different Ship was the soundtrack to a road trip, the new record is designed for a summer afternoon. [Dec 2015, p.73]

Are You Alone? hints at a Blue Nile-like melancholy beauty; otherwise the album could be prescribed as a treatment for insomnia. [Dec 2015, p.74]

Her elegantly emotive voice locates the dark matter in these songs about the complexities of love, lighten by sweet melodies and a stirring concoction of pop-country and honky-tonk. [Dec 2015, p.75]

The results are alluring warped but this groovy nostalgia is now a well-trodden path. [Dec 2015, p.76]

It's the slowies that suffer--lacking the warm glaze of the previous album, they can sound a little hollow. [Dec 2015, p.76]

Sermon On The Rocks is a wild ride, with producer Trina Shoemaker adding vivid colours to the singer's rolling rock gospel. [Dec 2015, p.78]

Another Country largely continues the same unashamedly nostalgic tone [of 2013's Time] [Dec 2015, p.79]

Like all of his work, it's thoughtful, humble, introspective, funny and endlessly digressive. [Dec 2015, p.72]

Can feel somewhat alienating, but worth sticking with. [Dec 2015, p.76]

It's not as striking as its predecessor. [Dec 2015, p.75]

Like 2008's Slime & Reason, Bleeds can come on a bit like an episode of "Grumpy Old MCs." But there's always room for salvation in Smith's world. [Dec 2015, p.92]

Lyrically, as ever, Garvey's skill lies in combining romantic poeticism with sandpaper wit. [Dec 2015, p.80]

Many Moons is studied, but graciously so. [Nov 2015, p.73]