By far the strongest collection of songs the band have ever assembled. [Nov 2003, p.114]

Her best in two decades. [Dec 2003, p.120]

Quietly devastating. [Dec 2002, p.131]

It's like Belle & Sebastian slopping sorbet with early Jonathan Richman. [Feb 2004, p.82]

An efficient if fairly joyless hybrid of the Stones, AC/DC and Oasis. [Nov 2003, p.109]

This is a record of rare beauty and poise. [Nov 2003, p.107]

The greatest interest lies in the lyrics--intriguing, charming, highly insightful and sometimes violently confessional, often on a par with the very best of Elliott Smith. [Dec 2003, p.118]

Like 1999's The West, The Civil War negotiates a fragile entente between Americana and electronica, but does so on a bigger, constantly astonishing scale. [Oct 2003, p.122]

Music at its most passionate. [Sep 2002, p.112]

As a rule, the more breakneck the pace of these instrumentals, the less effective they are. [Nov 2003, p.107]

Takes his lush, orchestrated pop to staggering new heights. [Nov 2003, p.124]

Fatherfucker pillages Missy Elliott, Suicide and "Justify My Love"-era Madonna, and even outfoxes the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. [Oct 2003, p.126]

You won't hear a more humane, moving or mysterious record all year. [Album of the Month, Oct 2003, p.110]

This may well be the most exhilarating debut of the year. [Nov 2003, p.107]

Arid and mannered. [Nov 2003, p.112]

Frequently utterly mesmerising. [Nov 2003, p.124]

It suggests there's far more to him than the anonymous middle-of-the-road college rock for which the Americans have such an insatiable appetite. [Dec 2003, p.118]

The Love Below... comprises the most sublime pop music heard on record this year. [Dec 2003, p.118]

Deviant, brainy re:teen angst, slightly arrogant, and they kick ass despite themselves. What's not to love? [Dec 2003, p.116]

An album that is as poignant as it is over the top. [Oct 2003, p.118]

This is the album Lynne should've made after I Am.... [Nov 2003, p.120]

Frequently intoxicating. [Jan 2004, p.103]

She has all the signifiers of deep soul experience: the husky, rich timbre; the confident testifying; the honeyed transitions. But the ruefulness, grime and pain... aren't there. [Feb 2004, p.73]

The Darkness are genuinely in thrall to the power of stadium rock in all its bombastic, unreconstructed glory. [Sep 2003, p.97]

While it's very much a rock album... it kicks in a very 'now' way (this ain't Tin Machine). [Oct 2003, p.112]

Shields' four contributions are everything you'd hope for. [Oct 2003, p.126]

Even the proficient production of Trevor Horn can do nothing to perk things up. [Nov 2003, p.114]

A riveting debut packed with ideas and invention. [Jul 2003, p.126]