A pale retread of Get Rich... fashioned by lesser talents. [Feb 2004, p.69]

Intelligent and addictive. [Nov 2003, p.110]

There are clever couplets and wry winks, but the melancholy is authentic. [Jan 2004, p.112]

The fact this collection of originals is inferior to 2001's Ultraglide In Black (a covers album) reveals [Mick Collins'] songwriting has never matched his energy. [Nov 2003, p.118]

An utterly gloomungous affair with barely a crack of light piercing the lowering clouds of misery. [Jan 2004, p.116]

A record where mature contemplation and a relative flexibility triumph over despondency and formula. [Mar 2004, p.94]

Perhaps the most inappropriately-titled album since The Best Of Sting. [Dec 2003, p.116]

Sure, it flags here and there, but Skull Ring is Iggy's most sustained assault since the Instinct/Brick By Brick double whammy. [Nov 2003, p.118]

A formidable demonstration of what can still be done with guitars. [Jan 2004, p.114]

This is the best childhood summer holiday you ever had, condensed into 45 minutes of delicately arranged, beautifully performed, big, bright, cheery music. [Jul 2003, p.118]

[Casablancas'] remarkable performance enlivens even the album's most underwhelming passages. [Nov 2003, p.108]

Over-the-top histrionics are nicely downplayed by the lo-fi indie faction. [Dec 2003, p.124]

So wild and stripped-down it makes The White Stripes sound like Yes. [Jan 2004, p.102]

A truly exhilarating 50 minutes of music. [Dec 2003, p.122]

Spookily smooth. [Dec 2003, p.122]

A beautiful record. [Mar 2003, p.100]

Much of Suicaine Gratifaction sounded like it had been written in a mood of morose introspection, but Come Feel Me Tremble is brazenly exclamatory. [Jan 2004, p.102]

Streetcore negotiates a resolution between the ethnocentric beats that hallmarked the two previous Mescaleros albums and the classic Clash sound that remained pivotal to Joe's live performances. [Nov 2003, p.110]

The schizophrenic tone changes recall the experimentation of Deerhoof, yet the overall sound is as natural as The Flaming Lips. [Jan 2005, p.132]

A record which transcends any scene's fleeting credibility. [Oct 2003, p.122]

You don't expect progression from such evident classicists, but there's a new clarity, poise and refinement. [Apr 2004, p.107]

At once punchy and overwrought, and blessed with some extremely good, if slightly monotonous, tunes. [Nov 2003, p.120]

The tunes, for all their airiness, just won't stick. [Nov 2003, p.107]

A sensual, sumptuous overload. [Jan 2004, p.116]

This is mostly acoustic guitars lovingly plucked, drums delicately brushed, fiddles softly sawn. [Oct 2003, p.113]

Mostly, familiarly sombre patterns of piano and string quartet dominate this lovely album. [Dec 2003, p.118]

A beautiful record. [Nov 2003, p.122]

It's saved from twee tedium by Campbell's sumptuous orchestrartions and sly wit. [Dec 2003, p.115]