It is uneasy listening. [Oct 2009, p.107]

Throughout, his mellowness of tone is the album's defining feature. Miraculously, thanks to the minutiae of the arrangements, it's a sound that never becomes one dimensional. [Oct 2009, p.96]

It's quite lovely, and manages to be simultaneously mournful and innocent-sounding. [Oct 2009, p.106]

Freed from Torquil Campbell's mannered indie melodrama, she gives full rein to her inner country girl. [Jan 2010, p. 121]

The only thing lacking is a sense of rhythmic discipline, without which these overlong - and occasionally overwrought - songs can tend towards the self-indulgent. [Jan 2010, p. 123]

There's nothing quite as forward looking here. [Oct 2009, p.102]

This fifth album is an abstract fuzz of Floydian oddness and gothic not-quite-country. [Nov 2009, p.102]

If the audio quality is a mite cleaner this time, it seems the band have made the songs a little more prickly. [Oct 2009, p.112]

A collection of cobwebbed country and chamber-pop spiked with dark wit, it peaks with "Flirted With You All My Life", a dialogue with the reaper that Chesnutt handles with impressive dignity. [Nov 2009, p. 83]

Their heart is evident; they need to find their voice. [Oct 2009, p.115]

The rather prissy album versions are given room to breathe and take on a rather more energetic cabaret feel. [Nov 2009, p.109]

Alongside collaborator Warren Ellis [Nick Cave has] mastered the subdued, unobtrusive yet sinister piano ripple and the occasional unsettling rumble, gilding them with rare, understated vocals.

Somedays is full of great, blues-tinted folk songs. [Nov 2009, p.102]

But none of it recaptures the sheer commercial inevitability of his debut. [Nov 2009, p. 96]

Inevitably, youthful anger has been replaced by pettier bourgeois concerns (traffic wardens, the congestion charge), but there’s a sensitivity and playfulness that’s still hugely endearing.

Clearly full of ideas and enthusiasm, FrYars suffer from a cheapness of sound, the instrumentation often too basic and one-dimensional to give songs od potential the lick of sonic paint they deserve. [Nov 2009, p.94]

The commitment that Vedder brings to all this material, from the rowdiest thrashing to the schmaltziest ballad makes this feel like a unified and ultimately convincing project. [Oct 2009, p.90]

This is also a brave, compelling record that stands shoulder to shoulder with the Manics’ best.

It's fine, quietly captivating stuff, all the same. [Jun 2009, p.86]

Their choice of guest vocalists this time around indicates good tatse, although in practice there's not much call for subtlety in these chewy, club-oriented productions. [Sep 2009, p.95]

These tuneless songs which either brim with maudlin self-pity or bounce along with enforced jollity. [Oct 2009, p.123]

It’s bonkers--hilarious, maddening, ridiculous and slightly shit--yet never dull.

These commercial frailties have come to be seen, quite rightly, as cultish strengths. But it all goes to make Keep An Eye On The Sky much more than a repository of extraordinary music; it acts as the most thorough and articulate explanation of why Big Star never became superstars.

As a stand-alone album it's ultimately more laudable than loveable. [Oct 2009, p.92]

Here, his luxurious voice, weathered and warm, sits atop intuitive improvations from the likes of Christian Fennesz and Evan Parker. [Nov 2009, p.106]

Unfortunately, every note is so restrained as to verge on the apologetic, resulting in songs capable of being forgotten even while they're playing. [Oct 2009, p.101]

The backing are stately, most elegant on the trumpet and Wurlitzer of 'Mississippi River Running Backwards.' [Oct 2009, p.108]

Dense and challenging, with an unmistakable humanist undertow, ...Snow is a riveting trip. [Nov 2009, p.90]