BBC Music's Scores

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For 1,831 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 68% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 28% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1 point higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 Live in Detroit 1986
Lowest review score: 20 If Not Now, When?
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,531 out of 1831
  2. Mixed: 293 out of 1831
  3. Negative: 7 out of 1831
1831 music reviews
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    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Glowing Mouth
    Glowing Mouth is a polished, well-arranged album that could find a happy home in countless collections.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Gift
    The Gift wins at warming the heart in a time of reflection and recession, ringing subtly--via an impressively less-than-mechanical recipe--in the slushiest part of our brains.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Less You Know, The Better
    The Less You Know, the Better isn't a bad album at all, and will likely grow into something far more impressive, something that isn't quite evident on first play.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Beautiful Imperfection
    So yes, it's imperfect, and it's frequently beautiful, much like the world itself, yeah? Do you see? Oh, too relaxed to care? Righto.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Live at the Aragon
    While the technical prowess on display throughout this set is truly awe-inspiring--Mastodon might turn everything up to 11, but they never compromise the finer facets of their sound, and everything's captured here in crystal-clear clarity.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In Your Dreams
    There's still only one Stevie Nicks – witchy, mystical and romantic.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    I Am the West
    While the leader has become absorbed by the pack, however, at least I Am the West doesn't go down without a mouthy fight.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    XI Versions of Black Noise
    Far from a cynical money-maker, this is the unwieldy outfit that unanimously improves those essential runners: harder work to start with, but providing great rewards at the finish line.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fall to Grace
    Fall to Grace is proof that pop doesn't need to be grey and restrained to feel grown-up.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Optimist
    The contrasts are ecstatic, setting in stone just how remarkable a comeback New Young Pony Club have pulled off. The Optimist is a super-smart pop album at the top of its game.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Burn Your Town
    Once you strip away all this nonsense, The Chapman Family's music is thunderous and well produced.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Goldberg Sisters
    A rewarding indie-pop set that's as warm and comforting as a hot water bottle at the end of a bed.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Impossible Song & Other Songs
    The songs he's written with new acolyte Sorren Maclean and Idlewild bandmate Rod Jones are more assured than ever.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The R.E.D. Album
    Overall, The R.E.D. Album stands as a solid return for its maker, as long-time listeners will connect with his no-frills lyrics and unsettling artistic demeanour.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    New Relics
    This worthwhile venture serves as a fine complementary package, not exactly pushing at the edges of its makers' own creative envelope but exploring known ground extremely well.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    DNA
    With placid, feline production, tight harmonies and breezy beats, much of DNA ambles along the well-trodden path of the temperate demi-ballad. But it's the ventures away from this that prove Little Mix function far better either side of mid-tempo.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Boys and Diamonds
    The overriding impression of Boys and Diamonds, however, is of MIA's global smash-and-grab style of musicianship minus the bonding agent of an overarching personality.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Destroyed
    All in all, Destroyed feels like both a return to the darkness from which Moby emerged in the first place, and perhaps his most year zero offering to date.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Ascent
    While keeping his music fantastically fresh and of the moment, this often causes a speedy ageing process.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Living Room Songs
    It certainly meets every expectation, albeit without stretching far beyond anticipated designs.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sleep Mountain
    Sleep Mountain has the emotional weight of a Boxer or a Turn on the Bright Lights, but it doesn’t quite have the tunes. That said, there’s still plenty to fall in love with here.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Legendary Weapons
    The Clan sounds lean, experienced and relaxed on a recommended new collection.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Walking On A Dream
    This is the sound of the Noughties – electro enough without being harsh, interesting without being over-cool, quirky without being weird. Empire Of The Sun have cracked the perfect blend of fond reflection and sexy new frontier frisson. If this is what the future sounds like, then it's going to be beautiful.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Orbserver in the Star House
    Overall, The Orbserver… is lots of fun for late-period Perry fans, and will appeal to Orbologists, too.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Senior
    Senior makes a strong claim to be 2010's best electronic album. It's a record to lie back and drown in.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Birdy
    It's hard not to declare the record an admittedly limited success.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Timez Are Weird These Days
    On paper, everything about Timez Are Weird These Days lends itself to an ostentatious dose of elite, Hoxtonite posturing. But there's substance beneath the style, a welcome human quality to withstand the opulent demi-house compositions.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rokstarr
    Rokstarr bounces to a beat that feels fresh and vibrant.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Seven Rainbows
    Not only does it offer a bejewelled porthole into the flair of Alice Gold, but it's an album that transcends any accepted conventions of 'female singer-songwriter', and lays the foundations for a rock star.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Glee: The Music, Volume 1
    No-one will be disappointed by a Glee album which includes "Don’t Stop Believin’"--their chart-eating cover of the Petra Haden arrangement of the Journey song; or "Alone," or "Gold Digger." But it’s a shame there wasn’t room for their Winehouse-approved upgrade of "Rehab;" or the stripped-back swing at Bel Biv Devoe’s "Poison," as performed by the show’s all-male vocal group Acafellas. These would probably have lifted the second half of the CD, which loses some of the sparkle and joy once the barn-storming "Somebody to Love" has finished.
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