On first listen, worthy of the hype. Touching, funny, beautiful with a bop - the artifice and grandiosity somehow makes possible what feels like an authentic human connection.

Not ground-breaking but the arrangements are tastefully innovative, and the performances exceptional.

Very pleasant but a little safe compared with, say, Nepenthe. Rarely dull, but equally rarely as exhilarating as I'd hoped.

I couldn't help but think of Suno as I listened to this.

I may be a biased Dudley boy but this is excellent. Saw them live earlier this year and loved the energy, but this has a lot more contrast and subtlety than I was expecting, without losing any intensity.

While earlier albums may have been more influential, this is the one I go back to most. A thrilling ride from start to finish.

A kind of revisionism suggests that Maiden's first two albums compete with, or even better, this. They don't come close to doing so imho. It's not only Bruce's voice, but there is no let-up in energy on Number of the Beast, which can't be said for Killers or the eponymous debut. This is a genuine classic.

Rich, compelling, occasionally stunning... expect it to endure.

Pretty much every song on this is thrilling, whimsical, and/or moving. 86 feels like a low score for that, but somehow the album rambles a bit for me and doesn't quite cohere, but it's still very good indeed.

I'm missing something, perhaps, but these performances are not great to my ears. It sounds like they're having fun, but guitars are all over the place, vocals strained, and the mix muddy in places.

This is the first Laura Mvula release that really connected with me, despite always admiring her voice. The retro elements don't feel nostalgic but thoroughly and imaginatively upcycled, and compared with other 2021 releases it is holding its charm well in my view.

For the past 24 years I'd have told you Reveal is graced with a few hits but that it's less interesting and substantial that its predecessor Up (which in my view is underrated). Up sounds like the product of loss and a little friction, whereas Reveal comes across as a little safe - doesn't it?

In fact I think the Q reviewer has it right- but got there a quarter of a century ahead of me! The songwriting is exceptional, and richer than it at first seems, while the production ... read more

Not a great album, but a few great moments.

Who knew the centre of the music theatre, progressive metal and sci-fi Venn would be so much fun! The Astonishing is a shameless, indulgent and thoroughly enjoyable 130-minute rock opera which I listen to all too rarely. DT have always been an antithesis to something: grunge, nu-metal and, by 2016, streaming-driven releases. The fact that you have to put this in the diary to listen to it just makes it all the more rewarding.

Dream Theater: The album is finished.
Record label: Have you kept ... read more

We don't know what music sounded like on 7th Century Iona or the monasteries influenced by it, but educated speculations are possible. There's a text condemning the use of pipes in church or dances at mass? Then, presumably, pipes were being used and dances were happening! Reconstructions of instruments and vocalisations, and retrievals of musical fragments, reveal striking resonances with more familiar sound worlds - the Laudate Dominum here draws on Gaelic psalm singing but takes me ... read more

25 years after buying this on CD, I listened through and felt zilch, not even nostalgia, which is odd because the songs in isolation aren’t bad: decent performances, slick production, and Carlos Santana’s flawless guitar work. But there’s no fire, no ‘Black Magic Woman’ or ‘Oye Como Va’. An example of the whole being less than the sum of its parts, sadly.

An exquisite body of work presented as an unfolding journey which really adds something to the back catalogue. It shows the creative tug and tussle of brilliant artists with radically different intuitions and preferences, but who respect each other enough to keep exploring that process of contest and coalescence for 30 years.

I am astonished by the lack of Cuyahoga mind you - didn't Michael say this was his favourite R.E.M. song?!

This is a really excellent live album - the quality of recording and sparseness of arrangements showcases the songwriting craft and sensitive performances.

Critic reviews are really interesting because they're all right about something.

The energy is great, the recording quality really high, and of course the collective musicianship first-rate. I feel the critics undervalued this, but I might just be a little sentimental having enjoyed seeing them on this tour, not knowing it would be the last time.