An album whose scope, diversity, wit and heart make it instantly the best album of 2002.

While there is nothing new on Alice, the songs he develops are well-structured, elegant and as bawl-worthy as ever.

The Notwist are, for me, the band New Order never had a good enough singer, or a creative enough programmer, to be.

Shins fans will find this a solidly enjoyable album.

Sure it's a stereotype of all the things the South is. At the same time, it is a clearer-eyed view than has been offered before.

Rarely has a record balanced such quality lyrics with such pretty music; it is also a rare occasion when a record can be both deeply sad and uplifting at the same time.

For people friendly to western pop traditions, there is little or nothing in the music to dislike, and lots to sing along with.

This is a magnificent album.

Even at its worst, Don't Give Up On Me is never anything less than elegant.

Central Reservation ... is ambient too, but not so much in terms of beats as echoey space and unobtrusive production. The focus here is on ballads, sweet and slow, and every string of every strum can be heard.

The whole album is as musically stirring and creative as anything TMBG have ever done, and that’s saying a lot.

If the young, brooding Waits had done this score it would have been too much--too miserable--but our older, wiser Waits possesses the perfect combination of cynicism and idealism to pull it off.

Where The Soft Bulletin was an intricate assessment of rock's potential, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is merely a rough sketch of a new musical direction.

“Weeds,” an excellent tune which compares the English working class to this type of plants, is only one of the various epic, melodramatic tunes in the key of Scott Walker (who produced the record) present here that use elements of nature to symbolise aspects of modern society and the human condition itself.

Think Tank is an uneven album that only those with a very open mind and a big love for the band will be able to stomach.

A summery pop journey, complete with mellow melodies and gentle guitars.

The Rising is a tiresome battle between the sheer spirit that Bruce and his sidekicks invest in their work and the material itself, which is underwritten and overproduced.

For the first time in their careers, Sonic Youth are willing to stand for something and give it to you, no frills. No more hiding behind black shades and pretending you're Lou Reed, no more “let's try to make the scariest noises possible from our guitars” sessions, no more poses. Sonic Youth have grown up.

The same studio experimentation that makes much of Ugly Casanova's music interesting also results in a handful of throwaway tracks enough to prevent Sharpen Your Teeth from becoming a wholly cohesive album.

Without the emotional resonance of Martin's voice at its most free, Coldplay's brilliantly minimal musical foundation has nothing to support. So it falters.

Lucky for him, he has Lisa Hannigan on board on several tracks in this album--her breathtaking vocals almost manage to make this take of epic heartbreak to the backdrop of Irish lullabies worthwhile. Almost.

Untouchables ends up heavy on stadium rock bluster, with precious little of the musical texture and intricacy that made Follow the Leader one of the few transcendent albums of its genre.

Sea Change is different (and, in a way, less interesting) than everything Beck has previously done, but he has a rare gift that he shares with precious few artists, Prince and Bob Dylan amongst them: no matter what he does, Beck will always be interesting.

Somewhere within the radio-friendly, xylophone-banging tracks, Badly Drawn Boy finds space for artistic experimentation and growth.

With The Sea and Cake, the question is never whether the album is good or bad, but whether the album is good or excellent. One Bedroom then is a good album.

There's no way you won't be listening to this CD on repeat for anything less than two weeks straight.

Having covered so much territory, the album leaves you completely fulfilled--like any nightclub act--but ready to do it all over again the next night.

Summer Sun is full of beautiful melodies that fail to excite for the sole reason that, for the already initiated, it seems like old hat.