A tour de force of intertwined sound and imagery. [Oct 2006, p.117]

Where in the past he has often impressed rather than engaged us, here there's an emotional warmth that makes it by some distance the best record he's ever made. [Apr 2003, p.110]

It’s a unique performance, with a wealth of rarely played material. ... The Bottom Line bootleg was the kind of listening experience that turned casual fans into obsessives. Now remastered and officially part of Neil’s ongoing saga, its seductive power remains undimmed. [Jun 2022, p.43]

The unquestionable highlight is the seven-minute version of "The Rainbow Willow," but there's so much to admire throughout. [Jul 2019, p.27]

It's a set as vast as it is remarkable. [Sep 2021, p.36]

He Squeezes endless crescendos into numerous mastered genres, from the no-wave funk of "Jerskin Fendrix Freestyle" to surprise post-rock hurricanes on "Sk1". The straight-talking piano ballads, meanwhile, contain almost too much grief and joy to bear. [Nov 2025, p.32]

On The Cinder Grove he has a simple, yet profoundly effective modus operandi - setting streams of notes afloat and listening for the way their resonances commingle with strings and piano. [Mar 2021, p.31]

Cate Le bon's terrific run of form continues with what must be her best album. ... She enchants at every turn. [Jun 2019, p.30]

Simple, graceful, moving, tender. [Nov 2024, p.26]

"You Were The Ones I Had to Betray" is a heady opener, the title track is a rich stunner, while the brilliant, bittersweet "Yesterday's Hero" is a bold missive from a songwriter who is still producing some of his best work. [Apr 2025, p,39]

Savour all the strangeness, the power and the glory that fill the present. [Oct 2019, p.22]

Her darkest effort yet, a harowing chronicle of a woman barely keeping herself together. It's also her liveliest effort yet--not to mention her most confidently diverse. [Jul 2016, p.71]

Hardly an alienating, experimental listen... White hasn't written such an accessible set of songs since 2000's De Stijl. [Album of the Month, Jul 2005, p.88]

It's this mix of songwriting voices as well as the tight thematic concept of The Dirty South that makes this such a strong LP, and the new songs don't diminish that. [Jul 2023, p.44]

The bulk of the material comes from Crosby, Nash and especially Stills. These include early versions of several tracks that would soon appear on the trio’s own solo albums. ... There are more Stills rarities – “Same Old Song”, “Right On Rock’N’Roll” – and the musician accounts for seven of the eleven songs on the outtakes CD, making this something of a Stills mother lode. Added to these are several completed CSN tracks, complete with the harmonies that brought them together in the first place.

It's all done with such obvious love and affection and literate craft that Rouse has gone and made one of the albums of the year. Even if the year is 1972. [Oct 2003, p.114]

As stylistically adventurous and technologically innovative as the album is, this community of musicians ensures it remains accessible and soulful. [Oct 2019, p.24]

No one thought that Dylan would make one of his finest albums in 1997 (or maintain that hot streak for the next quarter-century). No one thought, either, that the outtakes from such sessions could fill a compelling, sometimes revelatory box set. But here it is.

I Know I’m Funny Haha is her most seamless melding of urban country, warm ’70s soul, gutsy classic rock and introspective indie-pop, as she settles easily into the cracks between categories. ... I Know I'm Funny Haha could only been made by no-one else but Faye Webster. [Jul 2021, p.16]

Are We There's subtler songs point to a painfully well-honed understanding of what drives and degrades long-term love. [Jun 2014, p.70]

Wildflower does a robust job of reiterating core skills rather than offering radical reinvention. [Sep 2016, p.66]

An album of great depth and richness, Sukierae finds Tweedy at his most dignified, addressing life-changing events across all aspects of the full emotional spectrum. [Oct 2014, p.64]

Total Dive is once again remarkably cohesive. .... There’s a dramatic urgency to a lot of this music that’s sometimes distantly reminiscent of the REM of, say, “Begin The Begin”, or the wild upheavals of “Just A Touch” from Life’s Rich Pageant, perhaps the dark churn of Document’s “Oddfellows 501”. [May 2026, p.20]

They sound as Zappa seldom does: not over-thinking it, and guilelessly lost in the moment and in the exuberant joy of the playing. [Feb 2020, p.40]

A heroic, controlled crash landing. [May 2020, p.25]

Constant Noise is a majestic state-of-the-nation polemic, novelistic in scale, eclectic in sound, humane and lyrical even at its most nihilistic. [Apr 2025, p.28]

Fetch The Bolt Cutters is mostly the soundtrack of liberation, not recrimination, with Apple's piano keys, battering on the walls and barking dogs as its percussive, beating heart. [Jul 2020, p.27]

It's as touching, beautiful and dark as any of Collins' records, and even pushes her sound into new territories. 65 years into her recording career, that modern approach to folk music is still yielding treasures. [Sep 2020, p.24]

Cook puts Staples right at the front of the mix, accentuating her voice to the point where it's like she's whispering in the listener's ear. [Dec 2025, p.37]

Youngs' take on British folk and art traditions remains rich and enthralling. [Apr 2018, p.37]

While English Oceans carries its quota of Truckers staples, there's also much that sets this fantastic 10th studio album apart from its predecessors. [Apr 2014, p.82]

Their fifth album comes with a cathartic feel. Densely layered - four of the 11 tracks are over five minutes - it's also as complex as a Rubik's cube, the elaborate arrangements owing more to progressive rock than contemporary pop. [Oct 2020, p.38]

A cresting, rolling record of complexity and depth. [May 2024, p.24]

The melodies are uniformly strong, the guitar playing never less than stunning: This is top-quality Thompson. [Jun 2024, p.39]

There's a uplifting buoyancy to these eight tracks. [Oct 2019, p.30]

It's an album that unfurls like a flag on a battlefield, glorious, tattered, defiant, full of big choruses, vaulting harmonies, a brazenly windswept sound. The guitars couldn't be louder, bolder, more heroically deployed. [Nov 2023, p.28]

Unironically majestic set pieces that offer a ray of hope as this wild ride ends. [Oct 2020, p.28]

Enchanting. [Jun 2024, p.33]

An album of their most beautiful tracks. [Dec 2020, p.27]

Yet really immerse yourself in the thing, and these seven extended pieces become lighter, transcendent, strangely accessible. [Oct 2024, p.33]

The fifth album to feature Kentucky's Joan Shelley has an immensely welcoming ease that was absent in 2014 anxious solo breakthrough, Electric Ursa.... A major talent. [Oct 2015, p.83]

When bassist Anna Butterss breaks free for a lubricious solo around the 14-minute mark of "Life Swimwear", it's to usher in an exquisite passage of dubbed-out psychedelia threaded through with Josh Johnson's tender saxophone. [Jun 2026, p.34]

This is a thrilling album, one that contains an extremity of sound and emotion that's unlikely to be matched by anyone else this year. [Album of the Month, Aug 2004, p.90]

Their music is an intoxicatingly vivid evocation of the mythology of the American west and its Hispanic heritage, and Feast Of Wire lays down an optimistically early marker as one of the albums of the year. [Mar 2003, p.98]

Just about every song's a banger, but pay particular attention to the jagged metal shredding of "Persuasion Architect"; then contrast with the outstanding country rocker "Twins". [Aug 2023, p.29]

Impossible not to love. [Apr 2005, p.110]

Skittishly improvisational without undermining the overall serenity. A good time for your chakras guaranteed. [Dec 2018, p.18]

You Belong There is an album rich in moments of beauty and wisdom, even as it confesses that there are no easy answers. [May 2022, p.18]

This is a tremendously assured album, beautifully paced and full of great rockers. [Apr 2014, p.77]

It's certainly a brave move to furnish it with such exotic pieces, but one that pays off beautifully. [Apr 2012, p.81]

Platform is not a manifesto, but it feels like a galvanising challenge to Herndon's peers to embolden their ideas, broaden their horizons and push on into an undiscovered continent of sound. [Jun 2015, p.70]

Robin Pecknold's ruminations on ageing and loss are a soothing balm in uncertain times. [Dec 2020, p.29]

Taken From Life offer[s] a fascinating new perspective on the collaboration. ... But the real find on this new disc, almost justifying the box on its own, is "Look Up Again." ... It's further testament to the strength of this collaboration, amply bolstered by live performances of Bacharach and Costello songs old and new on disc three and four. [Apr 2023, p.44]

The miraculous, heartbreaking conjunction of found text and ancient lament, forged together in the alchemy of Elkington’s production, feels the most perfect realisation yet of Fussell’s project: tradition sparked back to life by unexpected everyday encounters. [Aug 2024, p.24]

There's barely a wrong-placed note on the whole magnificent album. [Jun 2013, p.81]

[A] splendid debut for Blue Note. ... Backed by a brilliant ensemble of strings, wind and percussion, Cline's guitar creeps stealthily through arrangements elegant and enigmatic, lush and low. [Sep 2016, p.71]

A potent, heavy distillation of everything the group have done. [Aug 2023, p.30]

Delivers intimately detailed tales set to hushed arrangements. [Sep 2023, p.37]

Feels more like a refreshment, refinement or even fulfilment of Radiohead core principals, rather than an extracurricular dalliance. [Jul 2022, p.24]

This is an album that sounds like it’s had time spent on it. It’s brilliantly recorded, pristine and perfectly imperfect. [Jan 2024, p.20]

[African Scream Contest's] successor is every bit as thrilling, extending its remit to cover the years from 1963-1980 and thus offering a more diverse range of cross-cultural fusion. [Jul 2018, p.49]

Electric guitars crackle at the edge of the mix like Caribbean lightning, Jay Gonzalez's "Oliver's Army" piano glittering in the gathering storm. "Tough To Go" is from the Memphis sessions. Doom-laden drumbeats, gloomy organ and blasts of wracked guitars punctuate a song about disenchantment, lost opportunities, stacked odds. [Dec 2020, p.32]

Consistently startling and affecting. [Jan 2023, p.21]

Dawson's most direct album to date. ... It's hard not to conclude that 2020 is the record we need now: a state-of-the-nation address for a nation in a bit of a state. [Nov 2019, p.20]

Where Ryan Adams replicates old records, this is something new. [Album of the Month, Feb 2005, p.72]

As thrilling as it is unexpected. [Jul 2022, p.30]

This LP captures him very much on the up. ... A delightful heaviness to songs like "Irrational Poison" and "Sin King" that gives the whole thing real heft and drive, protecting it from whimsy. [Mar 2019, p.32]

The results are spectacular ... Its thematic concerns – memory, transformation and lost innocence – prove a perfect complement too. [Jul 2021, p.30]

The performance of a lifetime. [Dec 2020, p.27]

A truly singular record. [Mar 2026, p,33]

An unusual taste that's well worth acquiring. [Dec 2013, p.66]

A little like The Strokes of Is This It trying their hand at metronomic Can jams or mesmeric slowcore. And yet melody is key throughout. [Sep 2025, p.33]

Thorpe achieves a balance of high-shine electro-pop, gauzy ambient flow and jazzier acoustic elements that couldn't be more attuned to his formidable skillset. [Nov 2021, p.35]

Each song seems subtle, even sparse, but with repeated listens the complexity of the arrangements starts to astound. [Jan 2022, p.14]

A formidable demonstration of what can still be done with guitars. [Jan 2004, p.114]

Now adds a shimmer of spiritual awaking to the mix. ... An energising release. [Mar 2019, p.27]

These are nuclear-grade pop hits that don't sacrifice on adult emotional complexity: a rare power. [Jul 2016, p.81]

On this inspired album, jittery characters sketches alternate with introspective ballads bearing echoes of Simon & Garfunkel, astride variations on the exotic rhythms that have propelled his music since Graceland. [Jul 2016, p.79]

Almanac Behind's message rings loud and clear. [Dec 2022, p.25]

He's very much the equal of Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood in terms of versatility and sheer invention. [Sep 2001, p.90]

All are rapturous in their repetition and irresistibly otherworldly. [Apr 2023, p.29]

While you'll find little direct trace of Odessey And Oracle here, or of course White's distinctive songwriting contributions, Blunstone's heartfelt interpretation of Argent's classicist craft does, though, endure. [May 2023, p.34]

There's variety like never before: bludgeoning tech-punk, disco beats and Screamadelica-era Primal Scream eruptions. That it exists is exhausting; that it works is extraordinary. [Nov 2018, p.29]

Rapid-fire delivery often make catching his drift difficult, but when spaces allow it, as on the hallucinogenic "Upsweep" or pointed "Retirement Ode," Busdriver's wit and wisdom flash through. [Oct 2014, p.69]

A vibrant record that is a self-deprecating yet poignant reflection on a complicated and chaotic upbringing. [Jul 2023, p.27]

Their naggingly overused Farfisa is balanced by otherwise beautifully layered, complex arrangements of trombone, electronics and harmony vox. [Apr 2006, p.118]

Five years in the making seems like a long time for an hour's worth of music, but Jonti clearly had plenty of fun along the way. [Jan 2018, p.22]

Giraffe applies a drowsy charm to a wide variety of characters on songs that tap into the traditions of Harry Nilsson and Van Dyke Parks. [Feb 2021, p.30]

Though still meditative, they're now more dynamic. [Jan 2020, p.24]

Their sixth sees the band hitting a peak of airy, classic modernism, marked by elegant polyphony, smart dynamics and Kate Stables' thoughtful lyrics. [Aug 2023, p.38]

There's always been a hazy and reflective feel to her songs, but despite the title, her fourth is Power's most resolute set yet. [Jul 2023, p.22]

This fourth album is his most satisfying yet. [Feb 2017, p.28]

Repeated listens--it's a grower--reveal a number of meatier, surprisingly hard-rocking songs. [May 2007, p.99]

Twin Fantasy marks another leap in ambition. [Mar 2018, p.22]

The music is varied, best expressed by "Peace Or Quiet", which stretches their loud-quiet dynamic as far as it can go. [Oct 2023, p.28]

The people in these songs are losing their listeners, memory or love, suffering partial erasures. And yet this melodic music holds them close with familial warmth. [Jul 2021, p.27]

It's an album of rich multifaceted complexity that showcases what a truly inimitable artist Björk is. [Nov 2022, p.24]

This is as riveting and beautiful a valedictory address as you could hope for from these underground heroes. [Jan 2011, p.95]