Beacons Of Ancestorship is rather unlovely beast, sagging under the weight of hoary synths, lumbering dynamics and improvisatory formlessness--not to mention high expectations. [Jul 2009, p.101]

If you really want to hear folk-blues played with rock'n'roll attitude then go back to Boomer's Story or Into The Purple Valley. [Oct 2003, p.111]

Uplifting but ultimately lightweight. [Dec 2002, p.132]

Reduced to aural bones, Gossip's live show in Liverpool last year still rocks, but in a diminished way. [May 2008, p.100]

Rule's raw, worn vocal recalls 2Pac, a style perfect for the title track's state-of-the-nation address but wasted on fodder like "Smokin' And Ridin.'" [Jan 2002, p.140]

They aren't up to the job. [Jul 2009, p.83]

For all their deft intricacies, they're somewhat characterless. [Dec 2004, p.140]

Not wholly satisfying. [Mar 2006, p.102]

High profile fans like Jeff Beck, Kid Rock and Warren Haynes help trombone shorty create what he calling "supafunk rock," a decidedly unsexy, sub-Chili Peppers amalgam with pointless horn riffs. [Nov 2011, p.98]

His leftfield takes on protest soul have been ditched in favour of pick'n'mix revivalism and banal inspirational platitudes. [May 2014, p.67]

Too much here is self-congratulatory sloganeering. [Nov 2004, p.110]

"SuperRandom" might be a better name. [Nov 2011, p.98]

Only emphasises their problems. [Jul 2006, p.92]

Despite the laudable ambitions of the arrangements, Fray's mundane eye-witness vignettes become wearying. [Mar 2010, p.82]

Now 29 years on, The Devil You Know can't quite muster that kind of muscle [heard in Black Sabbath's "Heaven And Hell"]. [Jul 2009, p.88]

At his best he sounds spontaneous, fresh and unexpected. Yet at other times his quirky ideas can sound half-baked and his songs undeveloped. [May 2003, p.102]

They're back to tacky autopilot, forcing Sean C and LV to save face with two rousing contributions. [Apr 2010, p.84]

Documents a continuing decline. [May 2004, p.93]

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

The tentative pop entryism evident on albums like 1999's Knock Knock is largely absent here; instead we have his gruff baritone take us through an increasingly uninteresting outlook on love and life. [May 2003, p.108]

[It] sees [MacKaye] playing to his weaknesses. [Dec 2006, p.106]

Every track here is interchangeable, not only with each other, but with anything from his back catalogue. [Feb 2009, p.76]

Favours artifice over aptitude. [Apr 2003, p.122]

Frequently lovely but a fair few steps short of compelling. [Apr 2005, p.112]

The content is often too light and derivative to suggest they really are saviors in waiting. [Feb 2012, p.89]

The album is carpeted with generic riffage, shredding and mouldy memories of heavy rock's past. [Oct 2010, p.106]

At least it is in its worst moments the songs beome subservient to clunky genre experiment. [Apr 2010, p.92]

The weakness is the music. [Aug 2011, p.79]