Although there are no gaffes here, neither is there much to mark it out from their first. [Jul 2017, p.36]

Her simple, repeitious music is predominantly listless and washed out. [Jun 2003, p.102]

Black gothic grandeur, but with a beige, biscuit-coloured centre. [Oct 2013, p.72]

Overall it's a box-ticking collection unlikely to broaden her mainstream fanbase. [Nov 2018, p.37]

B'Day sounds oddly de-energised. [Nov 2006, p.100]

Manicured cuteness, trite melodies and a tendency to banal, genial navelgazing leave an impression of carpet-bagging slackers contriving decorous but vapid Tourist Board pop. [Mar 2013, p.79]

Other versions are so microscopically different from the originals that you wonder why they've bothered. [Dec 2013, p.71]

It's relentless, formulaic and irritating - and although things improve hugely when they drop the bombast on later tracks such as "where It Belongs", "Blood On The Page" and the gorgeous "Carry On", by then it's almost too late. [May 2025, p.33]

It would be nice to see Dido with more adventurous producers. [Apr 2013, p.69]

Is often guilty of over-earnestness and sentimentality. [Oct 2020, p.27]

There are plenty of good ideas here, but plenty of bad ones, too. [Sep 2015, p.77]

Together, Adams and Lynne have come up with an old-fashioned FM rock album, short on nuance but strong on intent. [Nov 2015, p.71]

Sadly, torrid synthesiser and billowing melodrama make it impossible to see any wry glances cast by Exile. [Apr 2013, p.73]

One for Cornell completists only. [Apr 2021, p.27]

James Devlin adds orchestral strings and cinematic melodrama to his hard-edged urban rhymes on this cluttered second album. [Mar 2013, p.70]

Something of a grind--repeat helpings of grimly strummed acoustic guitar and keening vocals becoming the folk equivalent of consecutive courses of muesli. [Nov 2019, p.29]

When it’s good, she nails squiggly G-funk (“Boom Bap Is My Homegirl”, “Action Groove”) and late-night power-cruising (“Ghostride 21716”). But with no real focus, the whole thing tends to drag. [Jul 2021,p.31]

The caustic wit of their first two albums is too often buried under shouty non-choruses and dirgey post-punk bluster, either side of a couple of more notable moments. [Mar 2023, p.35]

It reprises their indie-modified take on panoramic, heartland rock and synth-pop, though with little emotional impact and no clear intent. [Jun 2025, p.30]

Immaculately crafted as ever, even if his enviable ability to pastiche everyone from Elvis to The Beach Boys ultimately obscures his own musical identity. [Mar 2014, p.75]

Often audacious, occasionally unpalatable. [Jun 2020, p.25]

On the whole it struggles to strike a light, far less catch fire. [Aug 2016, p.78]

There are some pretty-ish tunes here, especially "Butterfly" and You Don't," but an awful lot of workaday garage rattling. [Jun 2016, p.81]

It's so generic it could be sold in a supermarket basics range. [Apr 2012, p.83]

There's no doubting To Kill A King's musicianship, nor their potential to be absolutely massive, but singer Ralph Pelleymounter's mid-Atlantic drawl is as irksome as the abundant lyrical truisms. [Apr 2013, p.79]

Sometimes beautiful, although an ADD-ish attention span means it occasionally comes off somewhat lacking in character. [May 2012, p.75]

Works best when it diverts furthest from the originals. [Aug 2022, p.25]

Most of this album is more laudable than listenable. [Jun 2023, p.26]