Props for Ned Raggett - The Buzzcocks reformation

I've always admired Ned's reviews, and therefore I hope he doesn't mind me taking a big snip of his AMG/Pandora review below. I just wanted to share it as an example of how precise a good reviewer is when it comes to finding the exact words to describe how we feel when we listen to music, while still allowing for genuine ambivalence of the heart. Anyone who's heard early and late Buzzcocks will appreciate the even-handed objectivity of this review.

The Buzzcocks
Trade Test Transmissions

Surfacing a couple of years after the band's unexpected resurrection but after the departure of bassist Steve Garvey and drummer John Maher, who were content to continue their other lines of work, Trade Test Transmissions is at once a fine, celebratory album and something of a disappointment. On the one hand, hearing the Pete Shelley/Steve Diggle partnership fully reestablished is fantastic enough; both singers sound just fine, and their guitar abilities are no less powerful than in the group's original heyday. New bassist Tony Barber and drummer Phil Barker do their jobs quite well enough. If not as distinctly powerful as the original Garvey/Maher section -- the subtle, inventive side of Maher's work is especially hard to replace -- they approach the songs with energy and don't let anything down. For all this, though, there's a sense of unfulfilled promise through Trade. It specifically surfaces in the way that Shelley and Diggle want to draw more on the strictly listener-friendly touch of the band's original days while generally ignoring the more adventuresome side that surfaced in songs like "Late for the Train," "Why Can't I Touch It?," and "I Believe. " It's not quite pandering per se, but it's almost too easy an approach for a band that so clearly transcended the punk-pop formula as much as it perfected it. [edit] Ned Raggett, All Music Guide