This drab, psych-wimsy-garnished exercise in English indie classicism stretches his [Oasis's Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs] goodwill. [Jul 2013, p.80]

Where there was once ragged glory there is now only a sort of bludgeoning earnestness which, as in the nine-minute "Goin' Home," blusters a lot to little effect. [May 2002, p.108]

'Fire' and 'Drugs' certainly boasts the head-in-the-speakers mania of old, but it's the more meditative 'Vision' that suggests a future beyond Rizla conventions. [July 2008, p.104]

Abandoning their trademark has forsaken their identity. [Jun 2015, p.80]

The result is rather tiring. [Dec 2011, p.95]

The languid vocal delivery does little to dispel the Dido comparisions of old, the polite and impassionate tones irking the listener even in the smallest does. [Mar 2009, p.89]

The sing-along antics of the home crowd can be a little irritating. [Aug 2002, p.107]

There's plenty here to suggest that the combination of Skinner's skillful, funny songwriting and Harvey's bluesy choruses will deliver something special soon. [Jun 2013, p.73]

Most of the original tunes on this self-titled debut are formulaic, slogan-heavy jams that rest too heavily on past glories. [Oct 2017, p.36]

The music, though lithe and limber in a jazz-fusion-funk bag, lacks melodic distinction, while the vocals are delivered in a variety of electronically treated styles that are irritating at first and increasingly so on repeated exposures. [Feb 2002, p.125]

It's business as usual. [Nov 2007, p.98]

Their resolutely adolescent outlook is set to the usual thunderous drums, fiddly-widdly guitars and fist-pumping choruses, though none possessing the magnificent dumb charm of '89's 'Kickstart My Heart.' [Oct 2008, p.101]

Anone who saw the original Cars will tell you that these guys blow those guys off the stage. [Jul 2006, p.104]

All albums are vanity projects, but this vanity may be in vain. [Feb 2003, p.76]

They've perfected a kind of free-wheeling, self-conscious pop classicism with immediate surface appeal but little emotional depth, a disappointingly familiar amalgam of Coldplay, Cast, Arctic Monkeys and The verve. [Oct 2011, p.91]

A collection of vanilla indie-pop that paints a portrait of a group clinging on rather than pushing forward. [Jul 2013, p.73]

It painstakingly captures the carefree spirit of hard rock as you'd have found it halfway down the bill a Reading Rock, 1998. [Apr 2009, p.78]

All up, a subtle repositioning that deserves attention. [Feb 2013, p.79]

Aladdin is Green's most satisfying album in awhile. [Jun 2016, p.73]

For anyone else, Going Back is a heartfelt but pointless exercise in ersatz soul. [Nov 2010, p.84]

A stylistic and conceptual vacuum. [Jan 2016, p.78]

Without DFA tricknology to enliven their mix, they struggle with monotony over the course of an album. [Mar 2005, p.94]

The result is earworms aplenty, but any angst feels airbrushed, the effect is rather like rlaxing to a mobile phone commercial. [Apr 2010, p.95]

Finds her plumbing new depths of pomposity. [Aug 2006, p.84]

Light is a dog's breakfast of weedy vocals, preachy platitudes and banal melodies that makes Sting sound like The Last Poets. [Jul 2010, p.112]

Falls into an identikit pattern of string-laden sentiment. [Oct 2003, p.120]

It's a pleasant enough listen, but the feeling of overwhelming pointlessness is hard to shake. [Dec 2010, p.98]

Seems dated. [Feb 2005, p.73]