The sweet '70s AM harmonies sometimes sugar the pill too much, but there's no mistaking its artfully bitter taste. [Jun 2005, p.110]

Though the title track and "The Magic In You" recall his early triumphs, it's all a bit 'shoe-business' as usual. [Dec 2016, p.37]

There are no songs here to touch past glories, [3rdeyegirl's] excitement in the studio is captured.... They just remind you he's still around; short of a tune, but the unique inhabitant of a purple planet all his own. [Nov 2014, p.80]

Their fourth studio album combinds poignant odes to former drummer Ben Eberbaugh with a joyous refusal to take itself seriously. [Oct 2007, p.83]

It's a reflective set, enlivened by joyous offerings from The Civil Wars and Carolina Chocolate Drops. [Feb 2013, p.75]

Besides the odd burst of surf guitar and filigree finger-picking, the basic musical parameters remain unchanged. [May 2011, p.85]

A gift for deadpan couplets alone can't quite elevate him to [Rufas Wainwright or Pet Shop Boys'] league, [but] this album offer signs that, if he want to, Robbie might escape the neurosis of celebrity and mature into a genuinely witty songwriter. [Dec 2009, p.121]

Every note, lick, snarl and spit on this album is precisely no more and no less than might be expected of a Lynyrd Skynyrd album. [Oct 2012, p.84]

If the second stash contains a suspicion that the best stuff got smoked first time around, the spirit and energy of the first record are still here in abundance. [Jan 2012, p.95]

The Renaissance offers a compromise between the rootsy East Coast rap he helped to define and the LP you imagine the label wanted. [Jan 2008, p.111]

The murky results are sometimes frustrating. [Apr 2013, p.71]

The execution falls vexingly short of ambition, principally because a little of Darnielle's limited voice goes a long way. But the best of the songs are great. [May 2011, p.93]

Mine Is Yours is the sound of a band itching to make their breakthrough. [Feb 2011, p.81]

On "Wear Suits," the trio reveals it can pull off the measured uptown elegance of The Blue Nile, but otherwise, singer/guitarist Alex Schaff delights in scribbling over his songs, as his boyish vocals vacillate between preciousness and brattiness. [May 2012, p.84]

Their shimmering, somnolent ambience is irrefutably palliative. [Oct 2021, p.25]

A rare and fascinating glimpse into the raw stuff of the creative process. [Jan 2004, p.103]

Liars' aim is to challenge the listener with their gruelling strangeness. [Apr 2004, p.101]

In common with a lot of records called Fantasy, this is ultimately a pretty pedestrian affair. [Aug 2013, p.72]

Hot Hot Heat have recently toned down a lot of their jerkier tendencies and are a lot less annoying for it. [Nov 2007, p.107]

There is much here that is wonderful, but less of the tone set by the self-parodically chirpy 'Turqouise House' would have improved matters. [Nov 2007, p.132]

No shocks here, but a laudably short and sharp effort. [June 2008, p.94]

Often feels more afterthought than addition. On form, however, few write or sing human frailty with Neil Finn’s poise. [Jul 2021, p.25]

Young Blood is far darker than 2020’s soulful El Dorado. “Blood On The Tracks”, which chugs along behind a swampy, cowbell-accented groove, provides relief from the monolithic heaviness, which becomes enervating on the generic “Hard Working Man”. [Sep 2022, p.26]

Others paying respects are Steve Earle, Kid Rock and Lucinda Williams, though the inclusion of Lee Ann Womack and Faith Hill dilutes the overall impact. [Apr 2011, p.90]

The tunes remain no more exotic than a British cottage pie, and all the meat and potatoes that entails. [Feb 2011, p.79]

T&C are more approachable than most, replacing numbing virtuosity with a kind of meditative warmth. [May 2002, p.110]

The pair share a fascination for esoterica and ritual, and it’s this impulse that powers their new collaboration, Jinxed By Being. [Aug 2024, p.40]

A sparse, occasionally foreboding mood weighs on these 13 cues, appropriate to Richter's increasingly prolific contributions ti European arthouse soundtracks. [Aug 2010, p.93]