American Songwriter's Scores

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For 1,814 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.8 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 Rockstar
Lowest review score: 20 Dancing Backward in High Heels
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,458 out of 1814
  2. Mixed: 352 out of 1814
  3. Negative: 4 out of 1814
1814 music reviews
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    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    25 Years
    As 25 Years proceeds, the music grows fussier and increasingly self-impressed in its jazz and world music flourishes, yet even as Sting's voice grows slightly deeper and more textured over the years, he never really evolves or develops as a solo artist.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Great Escape Artist
    This is the comeback album they should have released in '03.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Mylo Xyloto
    Mylo Xyloto is fully realized and instantly revealed on first listen.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Divine Providence
    Divine Providence, music that the Creator Himself may have sent, is the best, funniest, most detailed, thrilling blast of rock and roll since The Hold Steady's Boys And Girls In America.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Velociraptor!
    The "big-in-England" quartet's fourth release is more of the same that made them so admired overseas;ie trippy yet expansive psychedelic Brit-pop sung and played with attitude (some may say ego), a whip smart attention to melody and an arena sensibility/swagger that screams "rock stars."
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    People and Things
    Although Jack's Mannequin hasn't been able to match the balls to the wall gusto of Everything in Transit, its 2005 critically acclaimed debut, People and Things is easily the most musically cohesive album in the band's catalog thus far.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Deeper into Dream
    Marriage, fatherhood, L.A., and devotion to Sri Sakthi Narayani Amma may have mellowed the former Noise Addict leader, but Lee continues to release engaging, if slightly more introspective, work.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Bad as Me
    Even as he enters his 60s, Waits still sounds as lively and as cagey as ever, indulging both his most brazen and his most sentimental urges to upend all of our expectations.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams
    The songs that stand out here are the ones that have the most authentic feel.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Beauty Queen Sister
    Combining their soft and sensual harmonies and energetic, pop song craft into a set of lovely songs, Beauty Queen Sister confirms The Indigo Girls are still making invigorating and emotional music, have plenty left to say and show no signs of slowing down or easing into nostalgia.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Modern Art
    Modern Art stands as one of Sweet's most mature works, displaying his unique gifts as a songwriter and musician.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    New Blood
    Despite two new numbers near the end of this album, New Blood feels, despite it's occasional avant-garde touches, like another holding pattern from an artist who has not been particularly prolific since his 80s commercial heyday.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Behind the Parade
    Soaringly tuneful rock is back on this brilliant, cohesive CD.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Reverie
    In Reverie, Joe Henry and his group have created a raw, raucous and messy masterpiece.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Listen to Me: Buddy Holly
    Everyone acquits themselves admirably with highlights being Chris Isaak's sumptuous "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" and Imelda May's rocking "I'm Looking for Someone to Love." However a closing trash-up by Monty Python's Eric Idle is painfully unfunny and borderline disrespectful to a still influential artist who deserves all the accolades he receives.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Clear as Day
    Even though there's nothing here Randy Travis didn't do first, McCreery flies the C&W flag proudly, singing hummable cherry picked songs that spotlight his impossibly deep voice and backwoods spirit.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Metals
    Her voice flutters, bounces, and hiccups through the twelve songs on Metal, and her singing is dynamic and never boring.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ashes & Fire
    It's a solid, not spectacular album with a few very fine songs.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Nevermind [20th Anniversary Edition]
    That sense of hostile irony may be one of the most underrated qualities on Nevermind, whose sly dismissals and cagey lyrics sound like an extension of Cobain's scabrous guitars and Dave Grohl's thundering drums.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down
    The famed slide guitarist and world music enthusiast releases his most incisive and sardonic political album.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Elsie
    Elsie sounds like a step down from his Gaslight Anthem fare, lacking the emotional and regional details that make that band's songs sound so lived in.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Mockingbird Time
    This is a solid album that will make fans happy without an instant classic like "Waiting For The Sun" or "Blue."
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Minnesota
    Jennings' songwriting is at its best in Minnesota when reflecting this troubling sense of uncertainty and contradiction.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Whole Love
    If Wilco (The Album) was the band tempering their experimental nature into something more accessible, The Whole Love refines that approach and showcases the full range of Wilco's considerable abilities.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pearl Jam 20 [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
    If there's more of this stuff in Pearl Jam's vault, here's to hoping the guys sticks around long enough for Pearl Jam Thirty.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Duets II
    In the end, though, whether you're a Bennett fan or a follower of one of his duet partners, this album is nothing extraordinary, and it will be a rare listener who gives this disc more than a couple curious spins before turning to something from the Bennett catalog of yesteryear.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Wild Flag
    As enjoyable as the album may be, this band needs an audience of excited, cheering fans to transform these songs from 1s and 0s into transcendent experiences.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    I'm with You
    The Chili Peppers try to strike that same balance on their latest, I'm With You, which may turn out to be a minor installment in their canon but still accomplishes the impossible.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    American Goldwing
    American Goldwing is an all-around great listen - one perfectly suited for late fall nights on the porch or holiday road trips - and it may even be the band's best record to date.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Keeper
    Songs with poetic yet plainspoken lyrics about found love and lost souls twist in unusual directions and often take a while to absorb. But repeated spins are rewarded with sharply realized words atop melodies that, like most of the gems in his catalog of eight solo albums (along with work in the previously mentioned bands), entice you back for more.
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