McCraven's label debut deploys his own musicians with Horace Silver and the rest, giving a steamy hip-hop stutter to Blakey beats already halfway there, and letting the aching melody of Kenny Burrell's "Autumn In New York" simmer under new rhythmic cross-winds. [Dec 2021, p.31]

The LP's sonic cocoon bursts apart with the horn blasts and slashing guitar of the Lennon-like rocker "Easy To Love," rescuing the record from suffocating in whimsy. [Jan 2022, p.22]

Texis sounds like a band having more fun than they have had in years. [Dec 2021, p.33

Unpredictability is its greatest asset. [Dec 2021, p.31]

Despite Chris Martin's underdeveloped lyrics – "Be an anthem for your times" at least explains his motivation – there's something reassuring in their ham-fisted urge to bring people together. ... Glam-stomper "People Of The Pride" or well-meaning power ballad "Let Somebody Go," and instrumentals harking back to earlier Eno adventures offer pleasant reprieves. [Dec 2021, p.25]

A rum selection of Zoom collaborations with everyone from Dua Lipa to Lil Nas X, that old keenness is still there, though only on "It's a Sin," his Brits team-up with Olly Alexander. [Dec 2021, p.29]

“Move”, featuring Thomas, is a thrilling mix of swaggering pop hooks and sweltering Latin grooves and the album’s undoubted highlight. Yet, elsewhere, you can’t help wondering if Santana’s fluid guitar playing really needs “help” from such a ragbag of heavy friends. [Dec 2021, p.33]

His sixth solo album has some decent uptempo moments. ... Less compelling are the albums world-weary ballads, but one old downtempo number, "Foreign Sand," benefits from a stripped-back acoustic treatment. [Nov 2021, p.35]

Their shimmering, somnolent ambience is irrefutably palliative. [Oct 2021, p.25]

It still possesses a certain screwball charm, particularly the curdled croon of "I Don't Mind The Wait," but too often sounds like smug pastiche. [Nov 2021, p.30]

While tunes like "Honeymoon" and "Trick Mirror" have a graceful Fleetwood Mac-style charm, they lack the lyrical bite that was one of her early USPs, and the vocal rasp heard on live performances seems smoothed off. [Sep 2021, p.25]

The result is an exquisitely polished music that sometimes strays a little into fromage. [Sep 2021, p.24]

Classy but underpowered. [Aug 2021, p.24]

His vocals--as exuberant in his seventies as half a century ago. [Sep 2021, p.35]

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Ricky Medlocke co-writes one song, and most others sound like someone from Skynyrd did. But the best tracks, counterintuitively, are those furthest from Blackberry Smoke’s trademark boogie. [Aug 2021, p.24]

It's a long, convoluted, tiresome listen. [Jul 2021, p.25]

Often feels more afterthought than addition. On form, however, few write or sing human frailty with Neil Finn’s poise. [Jul 2021, p.25]

The songs are often guilty of bloated bombast, but Numan retains an impressive command of cinematic melodrama and richly layered sonic detail. [Jul 2021, p.33]

Fellow Pretender James Walbourne provides deft guitar and keyboard accompaniment, but it’s the personality and allure of a distinctive voice that keeps you in the parlour. [Jul 2021, p.27]

When it’s good, she nails squiggly G-funk (“Boom Bap Is My Homegirl”, “Action Groove”) and late-night power-cruising (“Ghostride 21716”). But with no real focus, the whole thing tends to drag. [Jul 2021,p.31]

Eventually, the unrelenting aggressiveness of Typhoons becomes exhausting; better to ignite a playlist by tossing in one of these potent cherry bombs. [Jun 2021, p.31]

Too often, however, he's overshadowed by the phlegmatic vocals of pub rocker Roger C Reale, which means the most revelatory tracks here are the instrumentals. [May 2021, p.24]

Shake The Foundations is an accurate representation of its field, taking in both its achievements and its many foibles – a smart but patchy collection. [Jun 2021, p.47]

A more stripped=down approach. [May 2021, p.28]

One for Cornell completists only. [Apr 2021, p.27]

More often than not, it seems like the Technicolor electronic sheen is masking tepid songwriting. [Apr 2021, p.30]

[The title track's] foreboding gothic folk finds equally despondent bedfellows in the more musically upbeat "Judgement Day" and the bucolic jangle of "Each Manner of Man." [Apr 2021, p.34]

The constant frenzied back and forth between power-pop hooks and furious noise, while fun, begins to feel a little repetitive. [Apr 2021, p.27]