Boston Globe's Scores

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For 2,093 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 66% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 31% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 72
Highest review score: 100 City of Refuge
Lowest review score: 10 Lulu
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,670 out of 2093
  2. Mixed: 412 out of 2093
  3. Negative: 11 out of 2093
2093 music reviews
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    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mean Everything To Nothing
    The unabashed emotion in their all-out approach will surely appeal to fans of raw yet sentimental Southern rock, Weezer and Modest Mouse followers, and angst-ridden teens.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Modern Country
    “Highway Anxiety” shimmers with melancholy and evocative locomotive persistence; “Gone Clear” travels from Tyler’s intricate fingerpicking to a barrage of chiming bells and back again.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
    The thicker the walls of sound this time around, the better, too--the forward-marching layers of distortion throughout "Rano Piano" and at the end of the hyper-cinematic "You're Lionel Richie" are the most purposeful and satisfying aspects of the album.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Letter to You
    The record is a celebration of life and a reminder of how rock ’n’ roll can help transcend grief and loss. The E Street Band sounds rejuvenated with Roy Bittan’s piano work and Charlie Giordano’s resounding organ swirls and swells driving the songs and echoing early E Street magic.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    En Yay Sah
    From jaunty opener "Feba" to dense finale "Rotin," the eight songs have distinct identities but share groovy, spacey production and a mystical-futuristic feel.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My One And Only Thrill
    A model of crisp economy and deep craft, Gardot's singular vision spans bossa nova ("Les Etoile"), blues ('Who Will Comfort Me'), noir ('Your Heart Is as Black as Night'), art song ('The Rain'), and a fistful of romantic ballads that are at once timeless and thrillingly original.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ash & Ice
    The maturation of the Kills continues with this taut, emotionally complex fifth record, which deepens their sound even if it doesn’t break new sonic ground.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
    The production creates a Joe Henry feel of gently deconstructionist pop--warm and relaxed even as the instruments occasionally struggle against their leashes--giving the album's best material an extra spin.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    American Central Dust
    As usual, singer and songwriter Jay Farrar has a few things on his mind, and his lyrics have grown more plain-spoken and potent with time.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Wasteland Companion
    Full of surprises and refreshing detours, this album sometimes feels like M. Ward on steroids.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dark Night Of The Soul
    As much as Dark Night of the Soul hinges on its creators' vision, the album comes to life through its collaborators.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Beware
    With the help of an expert new backing band, Oldham wrings a polished grace out of this material, from ballads ('I Don't Belong to Anyone') to smoldering anthems ('Afraid Ain't Me').
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino
    It takes a few listens for this space oddity to come into focus, but Tranquility Base gradually proves itself a rather daring reinvention. It’s poetic and expansive, subdued yet spellbinding--altogether, one giant leap for Monkey-kind.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cause I Sez So
    With a dual guitar attack that's resolutely old-school but lyrics that often take on contemporary subject matter, Sez So has heart, soul, and swagger to spare.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Royal Toast
    The quintet adds Gary Versace on piano, and he blends in seamlessly, sometimes as ensemble player with a perfect grasp of Hollenbeck's jolty, elastic sensibility, and elsewhere with a cool pianism that brings the sound back to more familiar jazz terrain.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Two Eleven
    With her producers subtly augmenting her vocals with lush harmonies, Brandy executes these songs with confidence.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Family Man
    While Waylon's shadow will remain a constant companion, the younger Jennings continues to prove that he's a great shot in his own right.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Secret, Profane & Sugarcane
    Elvis Costello has flirted with country music in the 28 years since his classic covers homage "Almost Blue," but "Secret" marks a full-blown return to Nashville with splendid results.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Way to Blue: The Songs of Nick Drake
    They all take some liberties with the music, but Drake's lonely outcast vibe is well-preserved.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This Is Where I Live
    This is soul music with personality and real instruments; best of all, it’s unflinchingly honest.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    R Plus Seven
    On tracks like “Americans” and “Along,” this reverence for the synthetic is almost indistinguishable from his zeal for the real, and it’s a tension that gives all of R Plus Seven a unique sheen--and some potent fumes.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Return of the Tender Lover
    A satisfying mix of adult pop-soul love songs that evoke his early work. These amiable, adroitly produced and arranged songs confirm his inimitable knack for graceful melodies and effortless hooks.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Beyond
    Amazingly, "Beyond" picks up where 1988's "Bug" left off, with only slightly more streamlined polish but with the old love of volume and excess still sweetly intact.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Lion's Roar
    First Aid Kit's lustrous new album revels in its passion.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Break Stuff
    Like the pianist and composer’s other trio records, it makes for a satisfying, portable Iyer.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Rhumb Line
    The Rhumb Line--defined as a straight-shot line across all meridians, for the geospatially uninitiated--mostly just thrums with an uncommon sort of pop radiance.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    March Of The Zapotec/Holland [EP]
    Zapotec has a regal, brassy sort of sweep--check the martial melody 'The Akara'--and the best songs on Holland twist and turn over a warm, buttery backbeat.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Century Of Self
    After releasing two albums that bored even its most ardent fans, . . . And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is back to blowing minds with The Century of Self.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Westerner
    As for “Sweet Reward,” a marvelous moment-in-time narrative sketch delivered by the murmur of Doe’s voice, and “Rising Sun,” where a reverberating guitar line gives way to a singer sounding like a Sonoran Sinatra amid the song’s slow, swirling rise and fall--at moments such as those, Doe simply is making some of the most striking music of his career.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Boys & Girls
    This good old-fashioned rock and soul quartet make good on their buzz with a debut that not only shakes, but also rattles and rolls.
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