He writes about his rock'n'roll background, but embraces a more straightforward twang that's both poignant and boisterous. [Sep 2018, p.32]

Close It Quietly is billed as a collaborative, full-band release--and while the singer's distinctive vocals prevent too radical a departure, even the minute-long cuts here sound sturdier, more confident. [Oct 2019, p.27]

Occasionally, the sunniness and repetition of the songs can be exhausting, despite the provocative semiotic games Gibb is playing. [Aug 2004, p.100]

If Egypt Station is quite startling enough to shift preconceptions about the most famous musician on the planet, it's sufficiently vibrant to justify its existence, and strong enough to ensure that McCartney can sprinkle three or four tracks into the set on his upcoming world tour without setting off any alarms. [Oct 2018, p.28]

Talk of losing his "soul and conscience" and floundering in an ocean with no land in sight suggests deep trauma, hinted at disturbingly in songs such as "Pun" "Dark Lights" Yet there's also evidence of at least a partial re-emergence into the light on "Humbug," which sounds like the Be Gees if produced by Brian Eno. [Nov 2017, p.32]

Beautifully done, with great attention to textural detail. [Sep 2012, p.83]

One of its overarching joys is its relative directness, very much a conscious deciaion on the group's part. This is Deerhoof we're talking about, though - they still play it like they're hurtling towards collapse at breakneck speed, before pulling everything together with a fantastic flourish. [May 2023, p.28]

On their fifth album, it's back go icy, slightly Gothic basics. [Oct 2014, p.73]

EXPO grooves, booms and unspools in ways all its own. [Mar 2026, p.37]

Tribute To 2 is a richer and more complex collection [than his previous cover releases]. [Jan 2018, p.20]

If their songs occasionally resemble the power ballads that grunge supposedly outmoded, that's the price of being a truly potent classic rock band. [Jun 2006, p.109]

While there are a few too many round-the-campfire gloom-fests on I Forget Where Were, there are also displays of real musical background. [Dec 2014, p.77]

As boisterously sentimental as The Cavern at closing time. [Jul 2007, p.106]

"Dog" is a reverb-heavy highlight, but the whole set is as instantly likeable as it is smart. [Apr 2018, p.35]

While there's nothing here to equal his career-changing hit "P's And Q's," opener "Hail" comes close with its down-and-dirty signature riff. [Apr 2016, p.75]

Neither the songs nor their delivery are perfect, but that's perhaps the point. [May 2018, p.30]

Persson shows she is still a dab hand at melodic indie-pop, as she tackles floundering relationships, failing memories and new horizons. [Mar 2014, p.82]

The idea is to immerse yourself in the natural flow of the music; admirable, though who these days has time to experience it all in one go? [Oct 2022, p.29]

This is another uplifting, honest set. [Apr 2014, p.71]

Musically this is arguably his most touching work since the early 2000s. [Oct 2019, p.27]

There's still a lingering sense of promise not quite fulfilled about Anna Clavi, such that Hunter feels like a make or break album. [Oct 2018, p.24]

The result is a playful and moving return to themes like the battle of the sexes, and love lost in a blur of alcohol. [Oct 2016, p.37]

A power-shower of dour. [Oct 2013, p.68]

It's the vocals that will seal this deal for you--or break it. [Feb 2006, p.79]

It's Cypress Hill's own B-Real who steals the show, though, his nasally raps still as distinctive as a whiff of the green stuff. [Apr 2022, p.26]

The album successfully tackles the spectrum of human emotions experienced after trauma. [Apr 2021, p.23]

Lost On The River is an album of good, sometimes excellent songs with a unique creation story which, in the end, adds little substance to the narrative of perhaps the most mythologised recordings in musical history. As footnotes go, however, it's an entertaining, energised and often fascinating one. [Dec 2014, p.64]

Khouri acknowledges 1980s dreampop as a seminal influence, and perfumed traces of Galaxie 500, Mazzy Star and Cocteau Twins sweeten The Salted Air in almost every breath. [Feb 2017, p.30]