There’s a new sense of maturity, even kindness, starting with “More Power”, a song of odd, regretful sentiments, reputedly addressed to Noel and full of family references. ... Songs mostly remain Frankenstein stitch-ups, though: Jeff Lynne’s softly simulated psychon the Threetles’ “Real Love” seems the production template, when not mixed for terrace power, minus tunes. [Jun 2022, p.26]

This will make a happy memento of a rollicking show, but set against the invention and distinctive voices elsewhere in folk, it;s rather marking time. [May 2013, p.71]

Those who adored The Make-Up may find the skeletal drum machine thunk of "Stuck In A Box" a little demo quality. But Svenonius' charisma is unflagging, and his commitment to the theme can thrill. [May 2014, p.71]

While a large proportion of these Swords are decidedly blunt blades, a few could have easily found a place on a greatest hits.

Reissued by Matador mere months after its boutique debut, Love Comes Close is shaping up to be the indie-noise synth-pop crossover hit of the year. [Nov 2009, p. 83]

Silver Age revisits Sugar's thick-set pop style. [Nov 2012, p.79]

Even when Orbit treads water--which by and large he is with this record--the ripples resonate beautifully. [Mar 2006, p.104]

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

After a moment of comparative restraint he returns with a double album so spectacularly grandiose you have to wear 3D specs to hear it properly. [Nov 2011, p.91]

Too lo-fi for its own good. [Jul 2006, p.102]

Pocket Symphony drifts inconsequentially along. [Apr 2007, p.92]

The record features contributions from a host of their pals, such as The Orb's Alex Paterson on the blissed-out "Burnt Umber," writer Vivien Goldman on Bizarro Bond-theme "Rhino" and Alabama 3's Aurora Dawn on reggae spiritual "Keep On Moving." [Apr 2020, p.37]

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]

Although the tongue-in-cheek title nods to the familiarity of these new songs, there's no shortage of ideas. [May 2020, p.27]

You could call it happy hardcore, even if there's nothing particularly upbeat about its content. [Feb 2012, p.83]

Still mourning the loss of The Bravery? Look no further. [Feb 2009, p.85]

Semi Detached is stuffed with perverse gear such as acid shanty "Deep In The Mine." [May 2015, p.71]

At 36 minutes, Preliminaires is slight and covers-heavy, but points to a promising new career phase for Iggy as Detroit’s answer to Serge.

Some tracks sail a little too far into MOR but Meiburg takes care to balance these out with more robust moments. [Mar 2010, p.95]

A spirited album that runs the gamut from pop to pop-punk to punk. Not everything works. [Jan 2021, p.23]

It's stylistically impressive, but Worden only connects emotionally when she goes for simplicity. [Nov 2011, p.93]

If it's a little predictable, it's still easy on the ears. [Jul 2007, p.127]

The approach is scattershot, but the pace of his productivity means that you're never far from a great song. [Nov 2008, p.124]

It's almost as if the quieter tracks allow her to relax, while the full band numbers--fleshed out rather over-eagerly by a group containing several Mumfords and a Whale--subdue and constrain her. [Apr 2010, p.101]

These are sighs as much as songs, with Cale's vice rarely wavering into anything more obviously declarative than a half-snarl, half-mumble. [Sep 2015, p.71]

This new album is a bit of a mess at times, though its scope is almost as impressively broad as its top-loaded guestlist. [Dec 2017, p.25]

Exceedingly pleasant, if hardly groundbreaking. [Aug 2005, p.104]

Having phased out the shoegaze from their sound, Blondes at times struggle to address the dancefloor head-on. [Oct 2013, p.63]

Some of their poppiest songs to date. [Nov 2006, p.106]

Kweli, whose wordy rhymes can often read better than they flow, sounds nimble and at ease most of the time. [Oct 2007, p.96]

While the arrangements are loaded with clever touches, the LP comes off like an exercise in technique, preventing Price from reaching the transcendent moments she's clearly capable of. [Mar 2016, p.76]

Too eclectic for his own good, perhaps? [Sep 2005, p.100]

Gahan's lyrical moochings are inevitably less assured without his umbilical cord to [Martin] Gore, at times bordering on moon-in-June banality. [Jun 2003, p.108]

The understated gospel-style fervor and steely determination of "Nothing But The Whole Wide World" with Neko Case stands out. [Jun 2010, p.84]

It's for fans only, but that's where Crush Songs' power lies. [Oct 2014, p.76]

She's at her best on the lachrymose likes of "Close To The Edge" and "Just A Dream," less successful when angling for Grand Ole Opery classicism or-- as on "Un-Break"--flirting with funk-metal pop. [Nov 2012, p.81]

Cumulatively, the brassy blare and breakbeats are like Dayglo plasticine, now merging into an paterfamilias brown ball. [Feb 2018, p.27]

Gonjasufi's nervous energy makes MU.ZZ.LE strangely soothing. [Feb 2012, p.86]

In general, the album's too bare, reserved and repetitive to be easily loved by many. But it is brave, from a man still in motion. [Oct 2005, p.104]

Although its boundary-stretching ambition is cheering, Hidden ultimately struggles to engage. [Oct 2012, p.87]

The overall effect feels arch and a little insubstantial, James Bagshaw's airy vocals adding tot he sense of impermanence. They're best at their most direct. [Apr 2017, p.39]

Elegant backgound music, better live, you suspect. [Dec 2007, p.98]

Moments of sweetness. ... But there are other, less successful experiments. [May 2020, p.31]

There's a punch that saves them [from] drifting into coffee-table politesse. [Feb 2011, p.98]

The sinewy electric guitar lines and occasionally stodgy songs at times stray into the realm of windy stadium-folk, as blandly generic as Smith's name. When it does cut to the heart of the matter, however, Headlong impresses. [Aug 2017, p.37]

While rarely adventurous or surprising, is reassuringly familiar. [Feb 2020, p.27]

Tasteful stuff, for sure, but The Gamble could take a few more risks. [Mar 2016, p.77]

Restriction certainly has its moments, but you have to wade through a lot of dross to find them. [Feb 2015, p.73]

If you’re simply after retro thrills, though, these boozy anthems will provide you with one very happy hour.

At times he tries too hard, but there's much here to commend. [Nov 2002, p.114]

West and his Congo crew hook up with On-U Sound's Adrian Sherwood for a familiar set that marries reggae spirituals to the fortified jungle of the soundsystem. [Aug 2013, p.69]

An experimental and melancholic set. [Dec 2004, p.157]

These 19 tracks feel designed to float in a space between clear genre boundaries, somewhere purposefully undefined. [Nov 2011, p.106]

Rather than producing themselves, they could benefit from a wise head adding a touch of reverb, a sting of echo.

Those who like a little light and humour in their rock--or, indeed, an acknowledgement of the last 25 years of popular music--may find themselves unmoved. [Jan 2015, p.78]

The heavy-lidded atmosphere grows stifling on Warpaint, a codeine fog muddled by synthy tricks from the arsenal of producers Flood & Alan Moulder. [Feb 2014, p.83]

It all sounds like a band working out who they are. [Sep 2011, p.88] [Review of UK release The Future Is Medieval]

Only those with blind faith could love everything here, but dipping in randomly produces gems. [May 2015, p.91]

Striped of the visual element, what remains here is sparkling Nordic synth-pop, uplifting and accessible, but increasingly conventional. [Dec 2014, p.77]

A slight disappointment. [Jun 2007, p.88]

What could be a kitschy nostalgia trip, however, becomes something more thanks to the songs themselves. [Apr 2008, p.94]

It lacks many truly original hooks, but this is a nice updating of Count Five-style psych menace to file with fellow lo-fi '60s revivalists like King Khan and Dum Dum Girls. [May 2011, p.82]

Commendable ambitions, uneven results. [Sep 2017, p.26]

Mr Beast, by Mogwai's normally formidable standards, underwhelms. [Apr 2006, p.96]

It all sounds intensely personal and pleasingly remote. [Nov 2011, p.104]

[The title track's] foreboding gothic folk finds equally despondent bedfellows in the more musically upbeat "Judgement Day" and the bucolic jangle of "Each Manner of Man." [Apr 2021, p.34]

This is a finely polished album, but low on guts, grit or urgency. [Nov 2007, p.129]

Gorillaz' second round-up of offcuts, noodles and sketches still has an excellent strike rate. [Dec 2007, p.84]

Occasional, more straightforwardly anthemic moments approach the mawkishness of Nickelback, but Slipknot remain showmen at heart. [Oct 2008, p.108]

Treading familiar terrain on a succession of tracks that adhere to his comfort zone of mannered electro-pop. [Sep 2022, p.29]

There's something awkward about the whole: the album wins attention but doesn't keep it. [Jun 2010, p.95]

Trad ballads, Americana and well-chosen contemporary folk covers mix with smart original compositions sung in a plaintive voice, while his virtuoso finger-piking is augmented by splashes of electric in a style clearly modeled on Richard Thompson. [Oct 2017, p.39]

A fairly straightforward indie offering, covering mid-tempo jangle with layers of guitars, and lyrics about growing up and suburban escape. [Oct 2016, p.25]

A murky return to the denim'n'leather heartlands of 2000's Thirteen Tales. [Oct 2005, p.96]

The LP struggles a little in variation of pace and tone, and the auspicious spark fizzles out somewhat but the end. [Jan 2017, p.24]

You wish Neil and Chris had hooked up with a younger, switched-on, even more sympathetic producer. [Jun 2006, p.110]

The excellent "Misheard" and "Useless" swirl with a cathartic sense of rage and helplessness, but while it's effective, the entirety is a lot to take. [Apr 2018, p.30]

Songs like 'Turkey Sandwich' are nothing new, exactly, but win out on guts. [Jul 2009, p.91]

More than just rote electro workouts, Carey successfully transforms 'Can't Stop Feeling' and 'Turn It On' into rich, dubby bleepfests. More of this invention on the album proper wouldn't have gone amiss. [Jul 2009, p.88]

There's excitement her in 'ATX' and the title track, but when the bluster's died down, disappointingly little is left. [Oct 2009, p.89]

It's hard to begrudge the Boos this sunny, mellifluous midlife comeback. [Aug 2023, p.25]

The Charlatans make commendable attempts to expand their creative horizons. [Oct 2010, p.88]

There is, as usual, a lot of brass on cake's sixth album, a flourish that seem idiosyncratic 20 years ago but now leaves them sounding a little stale. [Feb 2012, p.83]

The songs are raunchy and resentful, idealising and vocally aching for a lover, or wrestling with more complex feelings. [Nov 2022, p.26]

Yet vocal gymnastics cannot compensate for an unmemorable set of tunes. [May 2011, p.91]

Cool or not, at least they're going for it. [Sep 2015, p.76]

Still shambles too freely but features stellar moments. [Jun 2005, p.108]

The result can be a thrilling hybrid of Muse and Magazine, but also a bit of a dog's dinner. [Sep 2010, p.96]

The listenable authority of Campbell’s voice, especially on Foo Fighters' 'Days Like These,' confers the poise you suspect Richard Ashcroft was looking for while solo, but never found.

This is an exercise in extravagant claustrophobia, not nostagia. [Apr 2009, p.86]

On the fifth album this East Coast trio make it patently clear this is not the same band whose 2005 debut placed them in the rustic shadow of former Young God Records labelmate Devendra Banhart. [Jun 2009, p.83]

Like recent Tindersticks albums, these ballads need time and attention before sounding tailor-made for misery. [July 2002, p.103]

It's not the kink in the tail of FTP's impeccably groomed pop that makes them so intriguing, but rather their unembarrassed, first-level readability, which is such that you begin to suspect fiendish subversion. [Sep 2017, p.28]

[The album] is not so much a radical departure as a dalliance with a marginally more brooding, textural musical aesthetic. [Sep 2014, p.75]

Riley has mellowed with age, so the politicking is shot through with humour. [Jun 2006, p.94]

The problem... is that size seems to be used as an excuse for the lack of musical ideas. [Nov 2006, p.102]

Gonzalez's cooing voice tends to sing the same pentatonic scale over the same minor chords on every song, which does make things a little repetitive. [Oct 2010, p.98]

The humourless skits drag... but somehow the Handsome Boy charm still wins through. [Dec 2004, p.137]