Back in 1998 The Sunday Times ‘Culture’ section album reviews served as an excellent guide to the new, musical quality and adventure. In more recent years it has become less useful because of its tendency to review and admire the over-hyped and over-valued. There are also occasions when the paper’s reviewers have been scathing in their criticism – often in my opinion quite wrongly. At this time of year there’s little of any consequence to review as the industry goes into short-term, deep hibernation. It also seems to be the period in which Times reviewers (and one in particular) seek victims and unsheathe razor-sharp blades to murder music most brutally – regardless of quality. Now one has to acknowledge that reviewing is dominated by the subjective - beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder – and is the reason why we listen to albums several times over a period of weeks before we pass our humble judgement. With very few exceptions, we only feature albums which achieve a minimum standard and can be recommended with some confidence.

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