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]