Here Lies Love could do with a lot less reportage and a great deal more drama, melody and wit. If anything, with morem not less, artistsic licence. [Mar 2010, p.99]

Cocteau Twins, MBV and Angelo Badalamenti are obvious touchstones for the narcotised, heat0haze beauty of Penny Sparkle, which might stupefy were it not for the stylishly gloomy "Love Or Prison" and the deliciously frost-bitten "Oslo." [Oct 2010, p.87]

Off The Record marks a return to form. [Jun 2013, p.69]

The record feels lifeless. [Apr 2006, p.112]

No No No is limited overall, and finds Condon's filigreed production out of step with the minimalist balladeering peers who have flourished in his four-year absence. [Oct 2015, p.71]

So far, so far out. [Feb 2014, p.89]

Welcome tweaks to the template, but Schnauss could do with taking a more dramatic step out of his comfort zone. [Feb 2013, p.78]

Adhering to commercially fixated standards of production line R&B, E=MC2 charms soon melt away. [Aug 2008, p.87]

Putnam's songs still walk a fine line between brittle psychedelia and morosely tuneful pop. But there's a wrinkle in their textures, courtesy of a new rhythm section of bassist Be Hussey and drummer Stevie Treichel. [Jun 2010, p.97]

Delve further into Human, though, and you find sterile R&B and schlocky, overwrought lyrics. [Mar 2017, p.37]

The album doesn't just bludgeon. There is an attention to detail, an appreciation of dynamics at work. [May 2003, p.108]

An album that proves he's worthy of the legacy he cherishes. [Apr 2002, p.102]

The tense chemistry has been, to some degree, recaptured. [Oct 2014, p.68]

Pearl Necklace seem to be honing their edge, not losing it. [May 2013, p.75]

It's a poignant, occasionally awkward addition to their catalogues, pitting Stills' earthy burr against Collins' soaring soprano. [Apr 2018, p.35]

This time out, the band wants you to have an experience, and that's what you get, on a record that's over the top, wildly inventive and satisfying in the ever-deepening way of landmark longplayers from the last century. [Nov 2010, p.89]

Lerner's voice--pale and uninteresting, rather than poinant--allow his songs to sag. [Sep 2009, p.96]

Madonna's 12th album has a good title and a nice cover, but that's almost as much as you can say in its favour. [Jun 2012, p.77]

The Stills remain a little too anonymous. [Dec 2008, p.116]

As a studio album it's dull and rather pointless. [Dec 2008, p.116]

An uneven listening experience, to put it mildly. [Feb 2010, p.90]

Like The Fall, PSB are always different, always the same. [Mar 2012, p.97]

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

The dentist-drill whine of Klachefsky's voice will scare off all but the hardy, but Boats rock regardless. [Jul 2013, p.71]

There's no dazzle here, but that's precisely the appeal of the Glen Campbell-like "Searching For The Sun," "You And I" and the high noon mariachi of "I'm A Man." [Jul 2013, p.81]

These 18 short tracks comprise a refreshingly un-self-conscious reinterpretation of lo-fi punk, '90s slacker rock, shoegaze an d bedroom electronica, but each one dodges categorisation. [Mar 2014, p.78]

Quality levels are high, with Cate Le Bon's sleek Krautpop chanson "Gallant Foxes" and Claire Tchaikowski's aqueous ambi-folk ballad "That Fever" helping to excuse a small handful of underpowered, over-polished numbers. [Mar 2014, p.73]

The listener is left longing for a change of texture and pace. [Sep 2015, p.81]