Adele 21

3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Adele has toughened her tone, trimmed the jazz frippery and sounds ready for a pub fight....When the grooves are fierce, Adele gives as good as she gets."
Ranked #1 in Rolling Stone's '50 Best Albums Of 2011' -- "21 was this year's most stunning pop success....The sound is state-of-the-art retro soul..."
"[S]he wails harder and writes bolder, piling on the dramatic production flourishes to suggest a lover's apocalypse."
"[T]his album is that rarest pop commodity: timeless." -- Grade: A-
Ranked #1 in Entertainment Weekly's 'The Top 10 Albums Of 2011' -- "21 features a rare thing: a singer who can seriously sing, belting out inspired love songs inspired by another time on an album that feels genuinely timeless."
"ADELE alchemized pop, gospel, and folk into an irresistible musical mix and dug into her own heartbreak to create pure radio gold."
3 stars out of 5 -- "'Rolling In The Deep' sounds thrillingly like a girl group govering Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy,' 'Rumour Has It' is a driving, bluesy stomp and 'Take It All' has Aretha written all over it."
Paste (magazine) - "On 21, she sounds refreshed and poised to attack....Adele emerges with a well-manicured batch of songs that, while still showcasing her interest in layered musicality, shoot straight for the pop charts..."
Clash (Magazine) - "Adele is sincere, poignant and affecting throughout; the emotive 'Someone Like You' closes the album magnificently."