His voice must be heard to be believed. [Apr 2005, p.105]

A couple of missteps aside, this is Ghost's best since that '96 debut, Ironman. [Jun 2006, p.102]

So full of imagination and life-enhancing radiance that you could wallow in their fragrance all day. [Nov 2024, p.43]

Instantly satisfying, but its charms and mysteries will resound for years. [Mar 2022, p.25]

What threads these eight songs together into a true album rather than just a compilation is the idea – the threat, the inevitability – of leaving and being left. Partly that’s due to Auerbach’s judicious curation, but that fear of loss animates almost all of Son House’s music, if not all of the blues in general. ... House conveys as much joy on these songs as he does pain, telling us so many years after his death that we cannot experience one without the other.

he power of Landless lies in their own exquisitely intertwined four-part vocal harmonies, which add spine-tingling beauty to even the most fatalistic lyric, from an achingly gorgeous rework of traditional Celtic heartbreak lament “Blackwaterside” to the adventurously chosen Slovak-language ballad “Ej Husari”, a radiantly lovely murmuration of swooping, cooing, chirruping voices. [Jul 2024, p.35]

Still only 26, Marten's writing is a strong scaffold for an experienced live studio band, whose every flourish (the irresistible keyboard arpeggio on the breezy "Crown" is a particular delight) add depth to her words. [Aug 2025, p.33]

M.I.A.'s vivid debut already sounds like a booty-shaking milestone to rank alongside The Streets and Dizzee Rascal. [May 2005, p.98]

What Negative Capability has for you at its best is just this kind of upending of expectations. [Dec 2018, p.16]

A colorful fusion, blunted underground hip-hop flowing into delirious live bass jams and cosmic balladry. [Nov 2014, p.75]

The Sadies’ nebulous country-rock moves through glistening psychedelia (“Message To Belial”), gorgeous string ballads (“All The Good”) and fierce garage fuzz (“Ginger Moon”). [Aug 2022, p.31]

This sprawling, beguiling collection strives to reveal all, but every answer brings more questions. [Jul 2019, p.18]

Merciless perfection. [May 2019, p.30]

The concept is implicit in the music's gospel-soul communion, the lyrics' yearning and reckoning, and the rousing, towering power of Jones' purposively nostalgic soul vocal. [Jun 2023, p.31]

A remarkably cohesive and dynamic record that oozes flair, and feels like something of a hybrid between a solo offering and an ambitious group project. While it may escape easy categorisation, it’s unquestionably the most progressive and expansive record White Denim have made to date. [Review of the Year 2024, p.20]

For Emma, Forever Ago is such a hermetically sealed, complete and satisfying album, the prospect of a follow-up--of a life for Vernon beyond the wilderness, even - seems merely extraneous.

They make a welcome return to the looser, roots sound of earlier albums. [Feb 2024, p.28]

Unavailability has also played its part in pumping up the myth – so much so that you wonder if, heard in 2008, these songs stand to disappoint. In fact, key moments of Pacific Ocean Blue square dramatically up to your loftiest expectations.

McMurtry's flair for the cinematic shines brighter than ever. [Apr 2015, p.78]

An album that is leaps and bounds above anything else Shah has done before – a record that’s layered and detailed, coated with beautifully rich production, yet also spacious and considered. [Feb 2024, p.23]

A stunning record. [Aug 2023, p.23]

A reawakening to be reckoned with. [Jan 2018, p.21]

Confirm that the brothers have fully absorbed their influences in a work of stunning sophistication. [Jun 2023, p.32]

There are points where his relentless utopianism can sound trite. .... But, let’s face it, these are nice flaws to have. In an era where so many of our musical heroes seem to be growing more cantankerous and ill-tempered with age, it comes as a welcome relief to see one heritage act pushing positively into the future – and making some of the warmest and most joyous music of his career. [Review of the Year 2023, p.21]

With Have You In My Wilderness her songs feel brighter, more pop, yet they're also just as lush, as considered and as quietly experimental. [Oct 2015, p.77]

Like the equally rapturous "Sun Giant" EP which preceded it, Fleet Foxes' debut album is a fastidious, sometimes overwhelmingly pretty evocation of the American wilderness; a dreamy companion piece to last month's superb Bon Iver album.

The lasting impression is of a record whose most tangible identity is that of a band on the verge of change contemplating their own back pages. [Dec 2021, p.47]

Once you’ve heard Fleetwood Mac or Rumours, Buckingham Nicks feels a little threadbare, like sketches for the main event – and that’s fine, because before fate or destiny intervened in the form of Mick Fleetwood in November 1974, this captured the duo at their best. Taken on its own, Buckingham Nicks is a nifty collection of floral folk cuts and quicksilver instrumentals, with one foot in Laurel Canyon, the other in Nashville, that show Buckingham and Nicks’ songwriting promise. [Oct 2025, p.44]