While he's not breaking any boundaries, when Moore keeps the tempo up.... he's as good as any other would-be Moroder, even if the title track's lyrics and FM swagger owes as much to US soft rock behemoths Foreigner as it does to Studio 54. [Jun 2012, p.107]

An inventive album whose impact is lessened by Guthrie's illustrious past. [Jun 2004, p.107]

A fun if disposable diversion. [Feb 2006, p.105]

There's plenty of schmaltzy cobblers on Another Country, too, but the good bits are just about worth hanging in there for. [Dec 2015, p.114]

The model can work successfully--There IS Nothing Left recalls a sunnier, more sugary take on '80s Cure, for example--but elsewhere songs would benefit from editing. [Nov 2014, p.111]

It's an addictive dream-pop blueprint, yet it's only when the percussion powers down, as on closer "The Wait," that the band hit the ethereal heights they're shooting for. [Aug 2010, p.125]

The title track sounds like it was written for a TV movie and Lower The Tone is a sexless sex-jam, but it's an energetic return regardless. [Mar 2018, p.113]

Bontempi organ drum tracks merge together to create a hypnotic funk. [Sept. 2010, p. 118]

It's still on the dancefloor showstoppers--No Enemiesz, Giant In My Heart--that she really comes alive. [Jan 2015, p.127]

Magnificent Fiend recycles a lot of hairy late-'60s/early '70s rock moves. [June 2008, p.149]

The album is fine enough, undeniably modish and much better than you might anticipate. [June 2008, p.136]

The five Retina tracks are hauntingly intense....Iris is far warmer-sounding. [Sep 2010, p.123]

Both enticing and disorientating in equal measure. [Jun 2019, p.116]

Though the quality rarely dips, at almost 2 hours long it does get rather wearing. [Aug 2009, p.110]

Animal Wisdom is pretty enough, while drone epic Silent Stream nails his Velvets fetish. But to call the other Nuggets-style fodder here "something else" is overstating it. [Summer 2018, p.109]

An adult rock record in which nuance succeeds over bombast. [Dec 2002, p.108]

It's essentially ambient comedy cabaret. [Nov 2003, p.117]

Hard to pin down, and all the better for it. [Jun 2012, p.111]

Drenched in feedback and carbuncled with extra riffs, Familiar To Millions makes Be Here Now sound like it was recorded on a four-track by Elliott Smith. Yet unlike recent Oasis albums it's mostly fun, going right back to the broad, singalong Gallagher-karaoke of more innocent times. It helps that the Oasis 2000 set consisted mainly of their earlier, more familiar, better material being put through a wringer of behemoth-rock.

A few pop-soul cliches creep into the album's cluttered middle section. But the rest is 21-st-century electronic pop delivered with style and ambition. [Aug 2013, p.106]

Although his monotone becomes a little wearing over an entire album, this is still his best work in a long time. [Oct 2012, p.106]

There's nothing as heroic as Smashing Pumpkins' Tonight Tonight, but Now (And Then) is a surprisingly successful attempt at emotion. [Jul 2005, p.113]

At 65-plus minutes' duration, Honeymoon's submarine/somnambulant vibe does rather overstay its welcome. [Dec 2015, p.115]

Willfully meandering yes, but it's an enjoyable shambolic ride that bottles early Pink Floyd, Skip Spence's cracked psych-folk and the ragged majesty of the Stones' own magnum opus. [Nov 2014, p.111]

No Doubt have always been a platinum-haired party band, but, over 20 years into the game, such platinum pop perfection feels far less forced. [Nov 2012, p.108]

Dense swirls of electronic noise, baleful, twanging gothic country guitars, lyrics that never quite reveal some horrifying secret - fans of Lynch's films with find themselves on familiar ground. [Dec. 2011 p. 129]

Their slow, brooding, impeccably delivered songs exude menace and promise drunken but regrettable sex, while the symphonic closer 'Waves' suggests they have the wherewithal and inclination to evolve. [Aug 2008, p.145]

Dimensional People III is the key. Its multi-layered ambience is indicative of the record as a whole and it serves to highlight this duo's zest for reinvention. [Jun 2018, p.113]

Not everything works, but there's a painful honesty throughout that befits a songwriter with no desire to lapse into a complacent middle age. [Mar 2012, p.111]

Somewhat laid-back for a record made by an ex-punk, even one in his mid-50s. [Apr 2013, p.96]

There's nothing here to match the heavy thump of his mid-noughties collaborations with the Melvins such as Sieg Howdy!, but it still punches hard. [May 2013, p.95]

The attentions of trendsetting producer Dave Kelly ensure the music is tight where it matters. [Dec 2002, p.112]

An eerily precise facsimile of the grandiose, broken-down dream rock of The Verve.... Close your eyes and it could be 1997 again. [Nov 2002, p.105]

A genuinely quirky record. [Oct 2009, p.112]

The results are accomplished, but the yearning twang of the porch is never far away. [Jan 2005, p.127]

Undoubtedly ambitious, drawing on soul, jazz and squalling rock, the best moments keep the focus on Monche's own voice, with Shine's radical poetry reminiscent of veteran firebrands The Last Poets. [May 2011, p.112]

There are moments when their balance is perfect and the Fleetwood Mac tumble of Feel It Coming Near or the parting-mists of the title track keep their undoubted talents in sharp focus. [Jun 2012, p.111]

It's true that there's no grand new ground broken here, but Bright Light Bright Light has a pastel-coloured appeal that's all Thomas's own. [Aug 2014, p.104]

While the individual elements all sparkle, at times there are so many stylistic tics that the songs can get lost in the mix. [Oct 2016, p.106]

Over two discs, the schtick loses it flashpan charm. In bursts, though, there's much that impresses. [Oct 2014, p.120]

Christians The Devil Wears Prada are in possession of the worst name is metalcore, yet their music is punishing. [Oct 2011, p.120]

If It's Never Been Like That sees them rocking out by their own standards, they're still a sweat-free prospect by most others. [Jun 2006, p.118]

To a saucer-eyed teenager with a head full of pills stood amidst Deadmau5's immersive, impressive son-ET-lumiere experience, watching everything "going right off," it'll probably sound amazing. Maybe the rest of us should just wait outside in the car until the show's over. [Nov 2012, p.105]

What remains is a skeletal approach to production, all spare pulses and baleful samples channeled echo-chambered effects. It turns out, thought, that Mitchell also has a feel for deceptively simple melodies. [Jan 2015, p.129]

There's enough to help fans rekindle the love affair. [Dec. 2011 p. 129]

They don't make quite such a startling leap forward on this third effort [as on 2016's Love Yes], but tweak it by reworking their sound with electronic experiments. [Apr 2019, p.116]

Purists may bristle at his irreverent modifications, but consider these old songs' community spirit well served. [May 2016, p.112]

This is his best in aeons. [Nov 2008, p.121]

At times, they still stray into Nirvana territory, particularly on 'Braindead,' but they do so with enough brio to get away with it. [Nov 2008, p.123]

The idea of crossing over is approached like somebody running onto a motorway wearing a blindfold. [Mar 2012, p.111]

Their gentle, dreamy glide sounds like Foals without the hubbud. [Apr 2013, p.111]

Living Thing, equally lovely and contrary, is somewhere between the two [albums, "Young Folks" and "Seaside Rock"]. [May 2009, p.116]

Manson the man at least seems re-energised here....The same cannot always be said for his band; their limp glam metal consistently threatens to undermine the performance. [Jul 2009, p.127]

The Heart Speaks In Whispers is the sound of her getting it right again. [Jul 2016, p.105]

[A] thoughtful solo debut. [Apr 2014, p.118]

Not everything succeeds but on Imagination's fusion of ambient synths and stadium-rock guitars or the electro-pop of Collide-A-Scope, Rundgren fashions a sound that offers nods to his '70s prog past but still sounds utterly of the moment. [May 2013, p.109]

If surprises on Intersection are few, even rarer are the disappointments. [Mar 2012, p.105]

The real revelation is Kaur herself, a wonderfully gifted singer whose shimmering vocals prove every bit as effervescent as her name. [Apr 2011, p.98]

In an age when marketing departments rule, Scott has fashioned an album of epic intent that gamely goes its own way.

Crow Sit On Blood Tree is a bizarre, schizophrenic, and determinedly unmelodic record that lurches drunkenly from the cascading fury of Burn It Down to the acoustic I'm Goin' Away, in which he sounds like an acid casualty from the original Woodstock.

What holds it all together is Henderson's blank, uninflected vocals, though the resulting ambience couldn't be more self-consciously avant-garde if the album came packaged with wrap-around shades and a copy of White Light/White Heat.[Sep 2016, p.106]

Though his band can meander, Harrison has proven himself his own man. [Oct 2-012, p.107]

Captivating. [Oct 2011, p.120]

There is kitsch charm throughout. [Nov 2014, p.112]

As a functional piece of music, it's fitness-for-purpose isn't in question,. But as a stand-alone album, the satisfaction it can offer, perhaps, is. [Dec 2014, p.119]

Yet, for all the dumbing down, they have much going for them. [May 2007, p.122]

Not a novelty record, then, nor entirely old hat. [Jan 2015, p.128]

Get cherry-picking. [Oct 2013, p.116]

Temper Temper, their fourth, adds an aggressive edge to their sound. [Apr 2013, p.96]

A few too many of these songs follow an all-too-familiar formula -- slow-burning introduction building to a crashing finale -- but on Still Tonight, Lately and last year's single Til The End, the bluster melts away to reveal Haven's passionately beating heart.

An enchanting snippet of life in the left-field. [May 2012, p.106]

The results are spooky, poignant and impressively unique. [Apr 2010, p.111]

Their first album since 2009's Broken, gains strength from being all Gahan, all the time. [Jun 2012, p.111]

The core subject matter remains Gedge's mordantly fatalistic view of love but the ambitious nature of the project seems to have put a spring back in his step. [Oct 2016, p.113]

Despite a few missteps her and there, it's good to have them back. [Oct 2015, p.109]

A promising start, but there's room for improvement. [Oct 2018, p.108]

Rough, scuzzy and rasping, there's plenty within its tattered edges to enjoy. [Oct 2014, p.120]

Perhaps not something you'd put on to get the party started, Yung Lean has though nailed the comedown. [Jan 2018, p.114]

For the most part, it works. [Nov 2012, p.108]

Brown's pleasant if largely unremarkable voice rid[es] a set of lean and sultry funk grooves. [Nov 2006, p.149]

Stewart keeps that see-sawing balance alive here. [Jan 2015, p.128]

Dirty Projectors' David Longstreth deserves praise for the way he's reinterpreted "Damaged." [Dec 2007, p.116]

A 1991-2001 covers record is an odd move after just two solo albums, but he carries it off with unusual choices and twinkling instrumentation. [June 2008, p.137]

Admittedly, the mostly spoken Musical Theatre is indulgent twaddle and she often squawks where others sing, but there's Hole-like grit to both Life In Oink and the raised middle finger of Hate You, where cascading choruses butt against stroppy verses. [Jun 2018, p.113]

It's beguilingly slapdash, but its brevity - seven songs in 23 minutes - nonetheless makes this a frustrating listen. [April 2012, p.98]

Take Me Over makes a misplaced attempt at funk, which grates slightly, but it's hard to dislike the well tuned synths and dreamy choruses of tracks such as Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat. [Apr 2011, p.101]

Fascinating thumbnails of the blissful, abstract funk which was to come. [May 2012, p.115]

It's not as electric as some performances, but it's no wondder he had a heart attack soon after and retired...for now. [Apr 2010, p.126]

It's perverse, contrary and, on stand-out tracks No Home Without Its Sire and Just For Love, surprisingly engaging. [Aug 2002, p.120]

Ultra is one for the hardcore fans. [Oct 2016, p.113]

There's nothing wrong with this record... Yet it's only on Feel The Beat, in which he lets his ego off the leash, that LL gets into gear. [Oct 2004, p.128]

Despite some strong material, the relentless gloom gets a little wearing well before the end. [Nov 2016, p.113]

Rather too many hats, perhaps, but still an impressive showcase. [Mar 2013, p.105]

Imagine a hillbilly White Stripes and you're almost there. [Oct 2014, p.119]

Their 14th album sees them once again focusing on stripped down Nuggets-era garage rock. [Oct 2012, p.107]

The record suffers from a surplus of hired guns. [Nov 2014, p.112]

It's heartening to see a band still in the grip of an ideas overload 11 albums in. [Nov 2012, p.94]

These skeletal blues are for addicts only. [Nov 2012, p.98]