Some tracks lean too far towards tastefully decaffeinated worldbeat. But there are soulful depths and deliciously supple rhythms too. [Aug 2020, p.33]

His return is an oddly subdued affair. [Aug 2019, p.35]

The soft-rock paradigm with its classic Fleetwood Mac/Carole King references is self-limiting, but the songs are lucid and heartfelt in their graceful ruminations on the passage of time. [Sep 2019, p.34]

The LP's sonic cocoon bursts apart with the horn blasts and slashing guitar of the Lennon-like rocker "Easy To Love," rescuing the record from suffocating in whimsy. [Jan 2022, p.22]

In many ways [it] seems in thrall to its predecessor. As a study in System Of A Down's multifarious strengths and occasional weaknesses, however, it's indispensable. [Jan 2006, p.110]

Ultraista never quite shake off the sense of a session-muso studio supergroup dressing down in indie clothes. [Dec 2012, p.78]

Much of [Buckshot's] edge is lost but fans of hip hop's yellowing indie template will find much to enjoy nonetheless. [Sep 2008, p.90]

Less effectively soothing than 2022's A Journey..., it's unconventionally beguiling, more ambient predecessor. [Dec 2023, p.34]

It's an album of two halves, with "Rock And Roll Again" summarising a scene-setting opening hand that focuses on good-time, AC/DC-worshiping rockers. A shade more subtlety comes late on. [Mar 2015, p.72]

For his last couple of albums, cowpunk songster Snider has pitched himself in the sort of satiracally confrontational and liberal-minded territory occuupied by Randy Newman or Steve Earle. Peace Queer follows that pattern. [Jan 2008, p.113]

The resultant mash-up of Noughties Brooklyn cool and Flaming Lips grand folly can exhilarare, but there is also a worrying tendency for Magic Chairs to strain for significance like Coldplay. [Mar 2010, p.84]

Finn seems more at home with the melancholy Paul Simon-isms of "Little Words" than with "The Struggle," a strained attempt to get weird and wired. [Aug 2011, p.84]

An acquired taste. [Jan 2005, p.124]

The Information often feels hygienised and missing some grit. [Nov 2006, p.100]

Weirdly, it sounds like a modern-day Alice Cooper album.[May 2018, p.35]

Ibifornia features slightly too many faceless party-friendly dance-pop bangers. [Aug 2016, p.73]

Despite its meaty themes Our Inventions feels rather slight. [May 2010, p.94]

The result is a seductively melancholy and unashamedly serious album that claws insistently at the heartstrings. [Nov 2011, p.91]

Alas, she doesn't have the power or swing to ride a big band, and as soon as producer Tommy LiPuma turns up the contrast and volume, her voice hardens. [Oct 2006, p.112]

Barnes' lyrics remain a stumbling block. [Oct 2001, p.98]

The material on what's intended to be her big breakthrough is however unispired. [Mar 2009, p.80]

This is more Wilshire Boulevard than Cyprus Avenue, trading largely in a kind of light Vegas-y swing. [May 2015, p.77]

Guest spots from vocalists Andrea Galaxy and Jessy Lanza make explicit the R&B influence, but the most emotive, intimate moments come when Abdel-Hamid makes her synths sing to themselves. [Jul 2017, p.32]

It's fine, quietly captivating stuff, all the same. [Jun 2009, p.86]

Basement Jaxx still manage to exceed expectations with each album. [Oct 2009, p.91]

Cat's Eyes has nice moment's has nice moments, but it makes you realize how much we'll miss Broadcast, who explored similar terrain with more aplomb. [May 2011, p.86]

Their mischievousness is still palpable, but it's shot through with purpose, gumption and spectacular riff-raunch action. [Sep 2002, p.114]

It is pure nostalgia, and some of these songs are familiar to the point of tedium, but even a Beatles sceptic would find it hard to suppress a shudder of recognition on hearing these tunes sung by the man who wrote them.