By revealing a snapshot of the creative process part-way through, the working mix included on IV's companion CD only adds to tone's grasp of their artistic achievement. [Nov 2014, p.106]

there are shivers galore on this box. [Jan 2020, p.96]

It's an album that at times sounds like it wants to smash your face to pieces, sometimes your heart. It's beautiful, horrible, bleak, spiteful, overwhelmed, overwhelming--a cry of panic ,despair, anxiety in the face of accelerating modernity. .... All three [previously unreleased tracks] are excellent in their way. [Aug 2017, p.100]

Ramones is pretty much perfect. [Sep 2016, p.102]

Revolver presents an accomplished, almost impenetrable sheen - which makes the archaeology provided by the outtakes and different mixes all the more involving. ... You can hear the pace of their lives and their ideas in this perfect encapsulation of The Beatles at their peak. [Dec 2022, p.96]

Whether you consider London Calling to be the last great rock album of the '70s or the first great rock album of the '80s, the extent to which it fully merits its cultural and aesthetic status is utterly beyond question. [Oct 2004, p.123]

All of the new mix’s strengths are writ large here. Ringo is restored. The voices feel ‘properly’ balanced and positioned. And in general, where there was whimsy (the bête noire of most Pepper agnostics) the power of solid drums and central voices irons it out. ... It’s an album--maybe the album.

Are these essentially live recordings of a visceral, in the moment experience? Of course they are. You can’t fake that vital spark. ... Live And Dangerous still stands as the band’s finest hour; the crystallisation of all that made them so irresistible, so brilliantly volatile. [Feb 2023, p.94]

It's the sound of a band at the absolute peak if its powers. [Jul 2015, p.100]

The seething, sweat-drenched yet shiny Doolittle is the complete package--and still a reason to believe. [Jan 2015, p.108]

Stasium's work put a spotlight beneath these 11 songs, brightening hidden corners until Bastards Of Young, Left Of The Dial and Kiss On The Bus sparkle like unworn jewels. [Nov 2023, p.103]

Collective, improvisational, Krautrock gigantism for inner space odysseys.

The Basement Tapes ignored every record-producing rule while remaining true to the muse. [Dec 2014, p.109]

The whole thing only underline what a ferocious rock band they had become. [Nov 2017, p.106]

The works-in-progress disc of this handsome reissue package gives an even starker impression of a man rummaging joyfully through the studio toy box, now slapping down an instinctively lively drum beat, now jumping on a synth he’s only just plugged in, and rolling with it.

Built on Phair's self-taught chording and a melodic sense of rich DIY potency, these compelling narratives blossom into a transfixing (and profane) particularity. [Jun 2018, p.102]

If you're the kind of listener who has come to associate outtakes from classic albums with meagre, dryly forensic spoils, prepare to be very pleasantly surprised by Disc 3.... Rumours reminds us why we should continue to indulge them. [Mar 2013, p.100]

Giles Martin hasn't dug up Abbey Road; but his subtle improvements have smoothed out the odd bump. [Nov 2019, p.103]

Sensitively remixed and remastered--like cleaning stained glass for brighter colours--and in combinations of formats, here's a masterpiece that lives up to its legend. [Oct 2018, p.106]

Much is familiar, via the archive releases VU and Another View. But with all traces of ’80s remixes removed, the performances now sound as they should--less like a rock band and more like The Velvet Underground. [Jan 2015, p.104]

Blue Lines still goes above and beyond. [Dec 2012, p.102]

Though there isn't a dud in Apple's back-catalogue, she has never sounded quite so liberated and artistically sure-footed as this. [Jul 2020, p.86]

[A] more light-hearted, and lightweight, fifth album. [Nov 2014, p.106]

There are many extras here to pique the completist's interest.... But the real punch rests in the unprecedented clarity of the remastered original tracks, and the audacious creativity and humour of the packaging. [Oct 2013, p.104]

You can file the seven bonus alternative mixes under "interesting" rather than "essential," but the sheer magnificence of the rest remains undiminished. [Apr 2015, p.108]

Even Russell's most intimate recordings could make him feel like a phantom; as details are filled in, the phantom expands. [Aug 2023, p.94]

There is a remarkable consistency about Smile's complex tapestry of delights. [Oct 2004, p.98]

Lynn's voice... is as strong as it was during her heyday, while her songwriting ability has only increased with age. [Jun 2004, p.98]