Billboard's Scores
- Music
For 1,720 reviews, this publication has graded:
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71% higher than the average critic
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2% same as the average critic
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27% 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: | The Boxing Mirror | |
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Lowest review score: | Hefty Fine |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 1,457 out of 1720
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Mixed: 240 out of 1720
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Negative: 23 out of 1720
1720
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
Virtuosity can be impressive without being particularly enjoyable, and it's hard to shake the feeling that for all the potent-as-ever prowess here, Death Magnetic is more a stamp of authenticity than a complete record.- Billboard
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Knowle West Boy shows that regardless of era, Tricky does his thing and does it well.- Billboard
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Special guest vocalists, plus a turn at bat from longtime member Jacob Valenzuela on 'Inspiracion,' add intriguing textures to the 15-song set.- Billboard
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If it all seems messy, it isn't. GCH sounds like an American utopia, where everyone coexists joyfully and thrives on the diversity.- Billboard
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Despite detractors, Simpson remains a gifted vocalist who delivers on most every cut.- Billboard
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Alphabutt is a children's album, 15 songs in 27 minutes that have a breezy, unconditional innocence and more than a little silliness.- Billboard
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In lesser hands this collection of country classics might have been badly mishandled, but in the willing arms of traditionalist extraordinaire Patty Loveless and producer/husband Emory Gordy Jr., the past is brought to new life.- Billboard
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After taking care of some unfinished business in recent years, Brian Wilson shows he still has the stuff of conceptual brilliance on his eighth solo album.- Billboard
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Most of The Block is a reasonable enough approximation of faceless club pop, complete with standard-issue guest stars (the Pussycat Dolls, Timbaland) and out-of-left-field rap bridges.- Billboard
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Young Jeezy balances commercial/ pop aspirations with core hip-hop sounds on The Recession, getting a lift from DJ Toomp, Drumma Boy, Midnight Black and longtime collaborator Shawty Redd on this sonically enjoyable follow-up to 2006's "The Inspiration."- Billboard
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Apollo Sunshine's third album is a delightful head-scratcher that explores old and new elements of psychedelia alike, from string sections, melting organs and echoey vocals to gritty, traveling guitar lines and lyrics about love and reincarnation.- Billboard
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Underoath has made definitive strides at progression without abandoning the muscular, broad-shouldered hardcore that made it a household name.- Billboard
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It gives fans something meaningful they didn't have before (in addition to token brand-new track "Keep My Composure").- Billboard
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Flexing a bit of the angry lyrical edge he boasted on 2005's "Awfully Deep," Roots digs into "fickle DJs," no-talent rappers, Trustafarians and "bourgeois hippies" who "wanna fight my flow," as he proclaims on the track '2 Much 2 Soon.'- Billboard
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On her sophomore set, Solange not only takes on a sound that differs from her pop-driven 2002 debut, but demonstrates that unlike her sister Beyoncé--who she vehemently refutes comparisons to on 'God Given Name'--she has no reservations about sharing personal experiences.- Billboard
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The set is at once Slipknot's most ambitious and accessible outing to date, with a broad palette of sounds and textures that shift faster than Michael Phelps off the starting block.- Billboard
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Those in the know can attest DF is merely coming into its own after years on the touring circuit.- Billboard
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With a tiny voice, minimalist arrangements and simple lyrics, this Swedish songwriter has crafted what seems like a magical album, where all its small elements coalesce into something quite big.- Billboard
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While some tunes, like the Columbo-background-music-ready title track, suffer for their weightlessness ('Metronomic Underground,' we miss you), the Motown-meets-Esquivel 'Self Portrait With Electric Brain' and beat-oriented electro of 'Valley Hi!' and 'Pop Molecule' read as exquisitely wrought.- Billboard
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The set is somewhat of a shambolic affair, wherein kernels of good ideas get blown out, jumbled up or lost in execution.- Billboard
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There are more examples of cover albums gone wrong than gone right. Thankfully Glen Campbell's new set, which finds him ably putting his own twist on tunes from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Foo Fighters, U2, Green Day and John Lennon, among others, fits into the latter category.- Billboard
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The title of Staind's sixth album is a bit of a misnomer, but there are a few new stylistic directions here.- Billboard
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Hatfield does her moody, catchy indie-pop to near-perfection after so much practice (nine solo albums during the past 16 years), and entertaining examples abound here.- Billboard
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You could count the number of hooks on one hand and most tracks clock in at the three-minute mark, ostensibly to let GZA inhale occasionally. But it's worth a listen to hear what sneaky, suspicious, image-heavy tricks still emerge from his notebook.- Billboard
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Occasional clunkers aside, the impassioned delivery and stripped-down G-funk grooves are still more potent than plenty of efforts by rappers half Cube's age.- Billboard
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It's unfortunate that much of their sophomore effort is submerged in an ocean of heavy-handed production, so deep that the boys' natural talents struggle to break the surface.- Billboard
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